Bowl Story: Reno Gazette-Journal

[The Historian]

WAC trying to find dancing partners for upcoming bowl season
Chad Hartley
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 11/22/2005

Welcome to bowl speculation season, college football's version of "Bracketology."

National media outlets are throwing out their bowl projections almost on a daily basis, and conference commissioners are working the phones and "all the angles" to try and place as many of their teams as possible in the postseason.
For mid-major conferences like the WAC, which don't get the luxury of automatic millions from the Bowl Championship Series, the task is a hard one.

The WAC has four bowl-eligible teams and just two guaranteed spots, though the Liberty Bowl is on the record as wanting Fresno State. And commissioner Karl Benson said he is confident that all four -- Fresno State, Boise State, Nevada and Louisiana Tech -- will have a spot.

"I am very confident we will have a minimum of three and quite certain there will be a spot for the fourth," Benson said Monday on the league's conference call with reporters.

But the only thing that is certain at this point is that the top two teams in the WAC are getting spots, and all four teams still have a shot at one of those guaranteed spots -- in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl and the MPC Computers Bowl.
Anything beyond that is rumors and speculation.

"There is always a chance for any of this stuff to go in different directions," Benson said after listing some other bowls that have openings. "I am not going to rule out anything at this time."

But it is logical that Boise State will stay at home for the MPC Computers Bowl. If Fresno State gets the Liberty Bowl bid, then that opens the door for either Nevada or Louisiana Tech in the Hawaii Bowl. Nevada might prefer a spot in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco because of the ease of travel and higher payout, but with no marquee victory and three losses by a total of 90 points, the Wolf Pack might not have the luxury of being choosy.

And at this point, the Emerald Bowl, which has a Pac-10 tie-in, might not even have a spot open, though only four Pac-10 teams are eligible at this point for the league's six bowls.

Other bowl games that either have or may have open spots include: the Las Vegas Bowl, the Fort Worth Bowl, the Motor City Bowl and the Music City Bowl.

If Fresno State goes to a bigger bowl and Nevada gets a spot in the Emerald Bowl, that would leave Louisiana Tech in the Hawaii Bowl, though Benson said there is a chance that a trade could be engineered to keep Louisiana Tech closer to home.

"At this juncture, there are other teams out there that I am sure are looking at all their options," Benson said. "It wouldn't surprise me that somebody might suggest a trade or that if we are able to place all of our teams ... but right now, we are planning to send a team to Hawaii.

"There are still a lot of unknowns in terms of final bowl placement. We are working all the angles."

[The Historian]

Pack bowl aspirations looking up
Chad Hartley
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 11/21/2005

There has been no invitation extended, and the location is still very much up in the air.

And it can't be said with certainty, but the Nevada football team is likely headed to a bowl game for the first time since 1996.

The Wolf Pack's 30-24 win over Utah State gave Nevada seven wins, making the team more appealing to potential bowl suitors. Perhaps more importantly, three games played elsewhere worked into Nevada's favor.

Oregon beat Oregon State, ensuring that the Beavers won't be bowl eligible and Cal beat Stanford, meaning the Cardinal has to beat No. 6 Notre Dame this weekend to be eligible. And Fresno State gave top-ranked USC all the Trojans could handle, making the Bulldogs more attractive to a bigger postseason game, like the Liberty Bowl.

"I would say that this weekend increased Nevada's chances tremendously," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said Sunday. "And the WAC's chances at placing all four eligible teams have increased as well."

Nevada will host Fresno State on Saturday in a game that will air on ESPN2 at 4 p.m., and there are a handful of bowl game represenatives expected to be on hand to see both teams. Benson said a representative from the Liberty Bowl will likely be at the game, presumably to offer an invitation to Fresno State. Officals from the Emerald Bowl, Poinsettia Bowl and Hawaii Bowl are also expected.

"We won't do anything until Saturday," Benson said. "No invitations have been extended and no invitations have been accepted. And no invitation would be accepted until Saturday."

Liberty Bowl executive director Steve Ehrhart was in Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday to watch Fresno State play USC, and he took part in a handful of pre-game festivities with the Bulldogs.

"Yes, we're going to invite them," Ehrhart told the Fresno Bee, adding that details must be worked out with WAC officials before anything is made official. "That's why I'm here. They're our team."

If Fresno State gets the invite, then that opens up a bowl spot for Nevada, possibly in the Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24, which is one of the WAC's two bowl tie-ins. The other tie-in is the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho, which is likely going to Boise State.

But the Pack could also be in the running for the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 22. That game matches up a Mountain West team against an at-large team. Navy has been considered the favorite for that at-large spot, but the Midshipmen have also been mentioned for other games and Nevada is on the Poinsettia Bowl's radar if the Midshipmen go elsewhere.

The Pac-10 is likely going to have five bowl-eligible teams for its six bowl spots, meaning a slot in San Francisco's Emerald Bowl on Dec. 29 could be open. However, the Pac-10 could fill all of its spots if Arizona State beats Arizona on Friday and if Stanford upsets Notre Dame.

Nevada could be attractive to the Emerald Bowl because of its proximity to the Bay Area and the school could probably deliever a better crowd than a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference, for example.

The ACC is one of four leagues that will have more teams than spots in bowl games. It has two extra teams and the Mid-American has four extra teams while the WAC and Mountain West each have two extra. Benson said conference commissioners believe there will be nine open spots between the two bowl games with at-large spots (Liberty and Poinsettia) and games that will have openings because some leagues won't be able to fill all of their spots.

[1L_dawg]

I heard on Fox Sports Radio this morning that the Poinsetta Bowl will pair Navy versus Colorado State. I doubt this is official though. oops, just read the other thread.

[george]

right after the idaho game, i thought there was no way a 6-5 tech team would go bowling and i thought a 7-4 tech team was maybe a 50-50% shot to get a bid. but reading this article and thanks to a couple of nice upsets last weekend (thank you vanderbilt), i am now confident that a win over boise state makes it very likely we get a bowl bid, regardless of the outcome vs. fresno state. shockingly, even a 6-5 team would have an outside shot at a bowl (but i still think quite unllikely). that makes this saturday all the more important. PLEASE BE THERE and be loud and bring friends. i know its a holiday but you'll be sick of your family by then and they'll be sick of you too!

[PawDawg]

right after the idaho game, i thought there was no way a 6-5 tech team would go bowling and i thought a 7-4 tech team was maybe a 50-50% shot to get a bid. but reading this article and thanks to a couple of nice upsets last weekend (thank you vanderbilt), i am now confident that a win over boise state makes it very likely we get a bowl bid, regardless of the outcome vs. fresno state. shockingly, even a 6-5 team would have an outside shot at a bowl (but i still think quite unllikely). that makes this saturday all the more important. PLEASE BE THERE and be loud and bring friends. i know its a holiday but you'll be sick of your family by then and they'll be sick of you too!

Some of us more positive:icon_wink BBBrs have been saying this all along. But noooooooo, we can't talk about bowl possibilities until we play Boise this week. It all boils down to how well Benson does his job.

All threads not related to beating Boise should be deleted immediately!

[digidawg87]

Hawaii would be great this time of year. What am I saying Hawaii is great any time of the year.

Fort Worth would be better to let us know if our fan base will come out to support the Bulldogs.

[The Historian]

Wolf Pack's bowl picture starting to clear up some
Chad Hartley
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 11/23/2005

In the span of a day, the bowl world both opened and closed for the Nevada football team.

First, the good news. Fresno State accepted an at-large bid to the Liberty Bowl on Tuesday, which all but assures Nevada or Louisiana Tech a bowl spot. If Fresno State and Boise State go on to finish one-two in the Western Athletic Conference standings, as expected, then Boise State will go to the MPC Computers Bowl and Nevada or Louisiana Tech would likely get a spot in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

Because Nevada beat Louisiana Tech, it would likely have the edge over the Bulldogs for the spot, though that decision is made by the WAC Bowl Placement Committee. However, Louisiana Tech has games remaining against Fresno State and Boise State and can clinch a bowl bid, possibly leaving Nevada at home, if its wins both.

"We have placed one team, and now our goal is to place either Nevada or Louisiana Tech in a non-affiliated WAC bowl," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said Tuesday. "That would open up the slot for the other to go to Hawaii."
But the bad news is that slots in other bowl games that were open on Monday rapidly started closing on Tuesday.

The Wolf Pack can forget about a spot in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco. That bowl invited Utah to fill the Mountain West slot and indicated it will fill the spot left open by the Pac-10 conference with a team from the ACC.

The ACC will also fill an open spot in the Music City Bowl, which has an open spot because the SEC will not have enough teams to fulfill its tie-ins. That was the case in the Houston Bowl as Mountain West champion TCU has been invited there.

The Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego closed up Monday as Navy accepted the at-large spot and the Midshipmen will face Colorado State, which accepted the Mountain West's slot in the game on Tuesday.

And the Fort Worth Bowl is likely going to invite New Mexico if Kansas does not beat Iowa State on Saturday. So another possible at-large slot is probably gone.

BYU accepted an invitation from the Las Vegas Bowl on Tuesday, filling the Mountain West spot there.

So, here is the situation for Nevada:

The Pack's likely destination, as it has been the last two weeks, is Hawaii against a Conference USA team on Dec. 24. That being said, there are still two other bowl games that potentially have open slots, the Motor City Bowl in Detroit (Dec. 26) and the Las Vegas Bowl (Dec. 22).

The Las Vegas Bowl opens up if Notre Dame beats Stanford and if Arizona upsets Arizona State on Friday. Nevada would probably enjoy a Las Vegas Bowl spot because of the proximity to Reno and because Las Vegas is one of the Wolf Pack's recruiting areas. A Stanford upset likely puts Oregon or UCLA into the BCS so the bigger game for Nevada fans to keep an eye on is Arizona-Arizona State, where Arizona is a 9-point underdog.

The Motor City Bowl will be open if Ohio State gets an at-large spot in the Bowl Championship Series and if that happens, that bowl will likely be filling the Big Ten's slot with either a WAC team or a Conference USA team. If it is a WAC team, it would likely be Louisiana Tech, based on geography.

The only way Nevada can guarantee itself a bowl spot is if it beats Fresno State on Saturday at Mackay Stadium.

[The Historian]

With Arizona State's win over Arizona, the Las Vegas Bowl's potential opening is gone, barring a Stanford win over Notre Dame, which would put Oregon in the BCS. Arizona was up 20-5 in the second half when its starting QB went down with an injury. The Wildcats then fell apart.

[aubunique]

Just win!