2018-19 Bowl Games

[dawg80]

Okie State held on 38-33 to beat Mizzou.

[FriscoDawg]

Oklahoma State holds on 38-33 over Missouri.

Pac 12 must win both of its remaining games (Utah vs Northwestern and and Washington vs Ohio State).
Big Ten must win its four remaining games (Northwestern vs Utah, Iowa vs Mississippi State, Penn State vs Kentucky, and Ohio State vs Washington).
SEC must sweep its five remaining games (Texas A&M vs N. C. State, Mississippi State vs Iowa, LSU vs UCF, Kentucky vs Penn State, and Georgia vs Texas).

Northwestern-Utah loser's conference is out tonight.

[olddog75]

Not a good argument on two points. I don't hear anyone saying that the NCAA Tournament has 60 teams too many, even though that is probably the case most years. And it would help if the committee picked the right four teams, as Notre Dame clearly wasn't one of the best four teams with its overrated schedule.

8 is the minimum number of teams that should be in a playoff bracket, and it should eventually get to 16.

Back to 2018...Cincinnati's 35-31 win over Virginia Tech pushes C-USA into the Bowl Challenge Cup lead. Losses needed for a C-USA cup win--ACC 1, SEC 2, Big Ten 2, Pac 12 1.

I am just having fun, FriscoDawg. I just know that the NCAA will go to eight teams in the future, just like they knew that they would go to four teams. Going to 16 teams would result in two teams playing in 17 games. At that point, we won't have to call the players student/athletes anymore.

I didn't know that there was such a thing as the Bowl Challenge Cup. How must money does the conference get for winning it?

[Bulldog Tom]

I am just having fun, FriscoDawg. I just know that the NCAA will go to eight teams in the future, just like they knew that they would go to four teams. Going to 16 teams would result in two teams playing in 17 games. At that point, we won't have to call the players student/athletes anymore.

I didn't know that there was such a thing as the Bowl Challenge Cup. How must money does the conference get for winning it?

Oh yes the Bowl Challenge Cup is a real thing. Wanna guess who started it? Wanna guess why? ESPN started it, of course. Gotta do something to try to make that Tater Bowl matter. I don't think it pays anything. But who knows?

[dawg80]

Not a good argument on two points. I don't hear anyone saying that the NCAA Tournament has 60 teams too many, even though that is probably the case most years. And it would help if the committee picked the right four teams, as Notre Dame clearly wasn't one of the best four teams with its overrated schedule.

8 is the minimum number of teams that should be in a playoff bracket, and it should eventually get to 16.

Back to 2018...Cincinnati's 35-31 win over Virginia Tech pushes C-USA into the Bowl Challenge Cup lead. Losses needed for a C-USA cup win--ACC 1, SEC 2, Big Ten 2, Pac 12 1.

ND's 2018 Schedule

Michigan
Ball State
Vanderbilt
Wake Forest
Stanford
Virginia Tech
Pittsburgh
Navy
Northwestern
Florida State
Syracuse
Southern Cal


Most years those 6 are Top 25 ranked, and often Top 10 ranked. Navy usually has a good year, sometimes cracking the Top 25. Northwestern and Syracuse can usually be counted on to win 7+ and sometimes cracked the Top 25. MOST knowledgeable college football pundits viewing this schedule when it was made some years back would have expressed concerns about the SOS re: Ball State, Vandy, Wake, but expressed concerns it COULD be a killer schedule if Michigan, Stanford, Va Tech, Pitt, Navy, FSU and USC have the kind of seasons they often have.

As it was this year, Mich and 'cuse each finished 10-3, Stanford 9-4, and NW is 8-5 heading into their bowl. The combined record of ND's opponents, at this point, is 80-69.

The question is not that ND finished 12-0, the question is if each of these schools would have had a normal year, would ND still have finished 12-0?

[FriscoDawg]

I am just having fun, FriscoDawg. I just know that the NCAA will go to eight teams in the future, just like they knew that they would go to four teams. Going to 16 teams would result in two teams playing in 17 games. At that point, we won't have to call the players student/athletes anymore.

I didn't know that there was such a thing as the Bowl Challenge Cup. How must money does the conference get for winning it?

ESPN has done the Bowl Challenge Cup for years now. C-USA trying to win it for the 4th time in the last nine years.

Unfortunately ESPN doesn't pay anything to the winner.

With a 16-team playoff, conference championship games would just need to go away or be the 12th game scheduled.

[eagle2180]

So, take the division champs from each P5 conference,take the highest ranked team from each G5 conference and one at large team which would be Notre Dame every year. Games are played in existing bowl cities awarded by bid on a five year basis. The remaining bowl games can played as usual with teams not in the sixteen team playoff.

[FriscoDawg]

So, take the division champs from each P5 conference,take the highest ranked team from each G5 conference and one at large team which would be Notre Dame every year. Games are played in existing bowl cities awarded by bid on a five year basis. The remaining bowl games can played as usual with teams not in the sixteen team playoff.

Or take all G5 conference champions ranked above a certain point (minimum 2 guaranteed regardless of ranking). Then the other 1-4 spots are at-large.

And I would have no problem with the 8 first round playoff losers also being eligible for a bowl game.

[eagle2180]

How do you determine conference champions without a championship game in conferences with more than 12 teams?

[FriscoDawg]

How do you determine conference champions without a championship game in conferences with more than 12 teams?

Play the conference championship games in Week 12. Only count division games in the standings. If cross-division rivals want to schedule a regular season game they can but they don't impact standings.

All teams in the conference could play the team that finished in the same position in the other division in Week 12, and sites would alternate by year (for example all East teams host one year and all West teams host the next year) for schedule certainty.

[eagle2180]

So play an 11 game schedule with Championship games in week 12. Interesting idea...it would be easy enough to eliminate an FCS or big payout game for most teams.

[FriscoDawg]

So play an 11 game schedule with Championship games in week 12. Interesting idea...it would be easy enough to eliminate an FCS or big payout game for most teams.

Instead of 8 conference games for C-USA, there would be only 6 division games plus the one cross-division game in Week 12. FCS games would not necessarily be eliminated, but it would make sense to schedule more OOC G5 games.

Example C-USA schedule
home FCS
road P5
3 G5 (alternate 2 home/1 road and 1 home/2 road)
3 home C-USA division
3 road C-USA division
Week 12 C-USA cross-division #1 East vs #1 West through #7 East vs #7 West (alternate road/home)

[eagle2180]

Instead of 8 conference games for C-USA, there would be only 6 division games plus the one cross-division game in Week 12. FCS games would not necessarily be eliminated, but it would make sense to schedule more OOC G5 games.

Example C-USA schedule
home FCS
road P5
3 G5 (alternate 2 home/1 road and 1 road/2 home)
3 home C-USA division
3 road C-USA division
Week 12 C-USA cross-division (alternate road/home)

Things could definitely improve with a few adjustments.

[FriscoDawg]

ESPN has clarified the rules for the Bowl Challenge Cup by saying that the SEC has 6 games remaining as of now, so the Santa Clara game next Monday counts (it isn't a bowl game, so it shouldn't).

So with that the SEC needs to lose two more to be eliminated since only one loss would leave an 8-4 record. SEC would win the cup on the most wins tiebreaker (8-4 vs 4-2).

[Blue Dawg]

Why should I care about the Bowl Challenge Cup?