OT: FSU vs Northern Illinois in Orange Bowl...
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:03 PM ^
Pretty obvious selection given how well the NIU fanbase travels.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:56 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:03 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:03 PM ^
Interested to see what Vegas does with the spread in this game
December 2nd, 2012 at 8:55 PM ^
The line will be something like FSU -21.5.
And I will take NIU +21.5 any day.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:04 PM ^
Considering the alternative was Louisville, I don't see where the TV ratings/ticket sales are going to suffer that much.
December 3rd, 2012 at 11:46 AM ^
The Orange Bowl was screwed either way. They were either getting the Big East champ or a team from a non-BCS conference.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:04 PM ^
For whatever reason it just clicked to me that OSU being ranked #3 in the AP poll means they are ahead of FLA and Oregon. I realize FLA and Oregon both have a loss but FLA lost to #6 Georgia (and beat FSU, LSU, Texas A&M, and South Carlina) and Oregon lost to #8 Stanford (and beat Washington, Arizona, USC, and Oregon St). OSU has not beaten a single top 15 team. Does anyone think OSU would beat Oregon or FLA? OSU should be #6 IMO.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:14 PM ^
You also have Utah State, San Jose State, and Kent State in the top-25. Broken systems don't make sense.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:05 PM ^
Predictor ratings:
- 1. Alabama 98.96
- 2. Oregon 95.72
- 3. Notre Dame 93.16
- 4. Kansas State 93.06
- 6. Florida 91.32
- 9. Stanford 88.83
- 14. Florida State 86.24
- 20. Wisconsin 83.39
- 41. Northern Illinois 77.22
- 60. Louisville 72.25
Predicted spreads (ignoring possible home field advantages for teams playing near home):
- Alabama 6 over Notre Dame
- Oregon 2 1/2 over Kansas State
- Stanford 5 1/2 over Wisconsin
- Florida State 9 over Northern Illinois
- Florida 19 over Louisville
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:06 PM ^
Good for N.Illinois.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:09 PM ^
What if it was Georgia Tech vs NIU
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:13 PM ^
OMG Utah can never beat mighty Alabama. OMG Boise St can never beat Oklahoma. OMG TCU can't hang with the big boys on the big stage. OMG Kansas can't hang with Virginia Tech. OMG West Virginia can't hang with big-bad Georgia.
Do we never learn?
I bet N. Illinois wouldn't have lost to the lowly Wolfpack earlier this year. Let them play the game; they'll be just fine against the all-mighty Florida State.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:26 PM ^
Boise St. beat Oklahoma, it is
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:33 PM ^
Nothing aginast NIU, but all of those "BCS Busters" you mentioned had more quality wins over FBS ranked opponents. NIU has played two FBS teams, Iowa and Kansas and split with them.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:36 PM ^
For reference, Boise's non-conference results when they beat Oklahoma:
Boise 45, Sacramento State 0
Boise 42, Oregon State 14
Boise 17, Wyoming 10
Boise 36, Utah 3
TCU 30, Oregon State 21
TCU 62, Tennessee Tech 7
TCU 45, Baylor 10 (I think RG3 was hurt by this point)
TCU 41, SMU 24
Closer analogue, the Hawai'i team that got crushed by UGA
Hawai'i 63, Northern Colorado 6
Hawai'i 49, UNLV 14
Hawai'i 66, Charleston Southern 10
Hawai'i 35, Washington 28
December 2nd, 2012 at 6:33 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:15 PM ^
Whatever happened to surprises? Some people like watching the bowl selection show without knowing the opponents. This is almost as bad as the real reporter who prefers to be the first to announce something, despite being correct.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:23 PM ^
You think the Big East v. ACC Orange Bowl match ups of the past few years were snoozers? Ha! Just wait until you see ACC v. MAC!
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:28 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:36 PM ^
For the reference of the MGoBoard, per SBNation, the complete table of confirmed and to-be-decided as of a little after 5 PM EST. You will note that Michigan State is listed as going to the much-touted Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl to face the Big 12 #4.
Bowl | Date | City | Team | Team |
BCS National Championship | 1/7/2013 | Miami | Notre Dame | Alabama |
Fiesta | 1/3/2013 | Glendale | Kansas State | Oregon |
Sugar | 1/2/2013 | New Orleans | Florida | Louisville |
Orange | 1/1/2013 | Miami | Florida State | NIU |
Rose | 1/1/2013 | Pasadena | Stanford | Wisconsin |
GoDaddy | 1/6/2013 | Mobile | MAC | Sun Belt 2 |
BBVA Compass | 1/5/2013 | Birmingham | SEC 8/9 | Big East 5/C-USA |
Cotton | 1/4/2013 | Arlington | Big 12 2 | SEC |
Heart of Dallas | 1/1/2013 | DUHH | Purdue | Big 12 |
Outback | 1/1/2013 | Tampa | Michigan | SEC |
Gator | 1/1/2013 | Jacksonville | Northwestern | Mississippi State |
Capital One | 1/1/2013 | Orlando | Nebraska | Georgia? |
Sun | 12/31/2012 | El Paso | Georgia Tech | Pac-12 4 |
Music City | 12/31/2012 | Nashville | N.C. State | SEC 7 |
Liberty | 12/31/2012 | Memphis | Tulsa | Big East/SEC 8/9 |
Chick-fil-A | 12/31/2012 | Atlanta | Clemson | SEC 5 |
Pinstripe | 12/29/2012 | New York | Big 12 7 | Syracuse |
Kraft Fight Hunger | 12/29/2012 | San Francisco | Arizona State | Navy |
Buffalo Wild Wings | 12/29/2012 | Phoenix | Big 12 4 | Michigan State |
Armed Forces | 12/29/2012 | Fort Worth | Air Force | Rice |
Alamo | 12/29/2012 | San Antonio | Big 12 3 | Pac-12 2 |
Russell Athletic | 12/28/2012 | Orlando | Rutgers | Virginia Tech |
Meineke Car Care | 12/28/2012 | Houston | Big 12 6 | Minnesota |
Independence | 12/28/2012 | Shreveport | SEC 10 | ULM* |
Military | 12/27/2012 | D.C. | ACC 8 | San Jose State |
Holiday | 12/27/2012 | San Diego | Pac-12 3 | Big 12 5 |
Belk | 12/27/2012 | Charlotte | Cincinnati | Duke |
Little Caesars | 12/26/2012 | Detroit | MAC | Big Ten 8 |
Hawaii | 12/24/2012 | Honolulu | MWC-WAC | SMU |
New Orleans | 12/22/2012 | DUHHH | UL Lafayette | ECU |
Las Vegas | 12/22/2012 | DUHHH | MWC 1 | Pac-12 5 |
Beef O'Brady's | 12/21/2012 | St. Petersburg | Big East 6 | UCF |
Poinsettia | 12/20/2012 | San Diego | San Diego State | BYU |
New Mexico | 12/15/2012 | Albuquerque | Nevada | Pac-12 7/WAC |
Idaho Potato | 12/15/2012 | Boise | MAC 3 | Utah State |
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:32 PM ^
FSU lost to a mediocre NC State team and barely beat GT. NIU could beat them. Plus who cares about who plays in the BCS anyway. Half the time the teams that make it don't deserve to be there.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:37 PM ^
Nobody gave boise a shot in hell at beating oklahoma...nobody gave utah a shot in hell at beating bama...
December 3rd, 2012 at 1:53 AM ^
weren't both of those teams you know undefeated? There is something to be said for only being able to beat the teams you play, but when you lose to a bad iowa team that sort of thing changes. In addition both boise and utah had already had a few years of success at that point, not just a sympton of an easy schedule and a down year when you go undefeated or with 1 loss for a few years in a row. This NIU team seems more like that Hawai'i team that got stomped by georgia than a boise or a utah, hell even hawai'i had a better history of success to back up their claim to actually being a pretty good team.
December 2nd, 2012 at 5:45 PM ^
I may be one of the few people who likes the bowl system, but the way the teams are chosen needs to be fixed.
December 2nd, 2012 at 6:01 PM ^
Will. Not. Watch.
December 2nd, 2012 at 6:06 PM ^
this is a joke.. all those years Boise State had one loss and made like one BCS game.. I guess Florida St will have a good New Year
December 2nd, 2012 at 6:09 PM ^
Good for the Noles. They deserve this game after that extremely tough schedule they played this year...
Murray State, Savannah State, Wake Forest, South Florida, Boston College, Miami, Duke, VaTech, Maryland, Georgia Tech with losses to Florida and 7-5 NC State.
Maybe this was on purpose. If you play that kind of schedule, you deserve to play against a MAC team in your bowl game. Just the fact that you're ranked 13th with that kind of competition is extremely generous.
December 2nd, 2012 at 6:53 PM ^
Now we see the problem with guaranteeing a team a BCS berth if it makes a certain ranking... because I have little doubt that many of the pollsters said, "you know what, let's put Northern Illinois in the BCS." In other words, the system changed the voting patterns, which it should not do. Hell, the announcers at the MAC CG were pretty much unable to hide their enthusiasm for Kent State with the assumption that Kent State would go to the Orange Bowl if they won.
December 2nd, 2012 at 7:01 PM ^
I see no coincidence in the fact that NIU was ranked exactly 16th.
December 2nd, 2012 at 7:01 PM ^
...would a Big 12 Championship game have changed any of this or will Oklahoma be left out regardless?
December 2nd, 2012 at 7:33 PM ^
As much of a joke this is (NIU ranked higher than Michigan? Northwestern? Nebraska? Who knows), the $$$$$ that this program and the MAC will get is great for them. The MAC is a lot more than those Tuesday night 60-55 shootouts, I'm pretty sure that of all non BCS-AQ conferences they have the best record when playing against AQ conferences (I'll look for the stat). They've produced lots of professional level talent, and I'm all for seeing these non Big Six football conferences get better, for the competitive balance of football and for the occasional upset. Except for Toledo....
I'm pulling for the little guy in this one. Hopefully some exposure and a marquee win, albeit unlikely, gets some people fired up to take MAC football to the next level.
December 2nd, 2012 at 9:57 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 7:39 PM ^
They should just call the Cotton Bowl a BCS game. Every year that ends up being one of the top matchups.
December 2nd, 2012 at 8:21 PM ^
over Louisville? Applying the arguments used upthread:
first, here's Louisville's OOC results:
- 32-14 over Kentucky (2-10)
- 35-7 over Missouri St. (3-8, FCS)
- 39-34 over North Carolina (8-4)
- 21-17 @ Southern Mississippi (0-12)
Not too impressive if you ask me--that last result is far worse than NIU's close loss to Iowa back when Iowa still had a couple of running backs. Credit for nipping UNC at home, though.
And here's the MAC against the Big East head to head:
- Kent State 35, Rutgers 23
- Cincinnati 52, Miami 14
- Toledo 29, Cincinnati 23
- Pittsburgh 20, Buffalo 16
- Western Michigan 30, Connecticut 24
- Connecticut 24, Buffalo 17
- Ball State 31, South Florida 27
If a one-loss MAC team shouldn't get in because they're in the MAC, how do you justify a team with two losses in a conference that had a losing record against the MAC? Even the Big East co-champions had a losing record, combined, against the MAC.
NIU is 19 spots ahead and 5 points ahead of Louisville on the Sagarin predictor, 19 spots and 6 1/2 points ahead of Louisville on the Massey power rating.
December 2nd, 2012 at 10:51 PM ^
Because the Big East has an automatic bid baked into the contract so there's not much we can do about that. Yes it's dumb, and yes Louisville will also almost definitely be horribly outclassed by Florida (unless Florida feels like giving it away like they did against UL-Laf).
December 2nd, 2012 at 11:18 PM ^
Northern has an automatic bid baked into the contract too.
I think the Big East thing bothers me more because those teams have names that would allow them to get consideration if they were actually any good. No Big East school (well, maybe going forward, but not up to now) could go undefeated and get sent to the Motor City Bowl.
December 2nd, 2012 at 8:23 PM ^
I'm happy for UNI. Glad the little guys got recognition by the BCS for a change.
December 2nd, 2012 at 8:26 PM ^
UNI = Northern Iowa
NIU = Northern Illinois
regards-
-the Acronym Police
December 2nd, 2012 at 8:49 PM ^
I guess I should be happy for the little guy getting some respect but I'm not sure why this year, all of the sudden, the MAC champion is getting love in the rankings.
Marshall's 1999 team with Chad Pennington went 13-0 and Miami's 2003 team with Ben Roethlisberger went 13-1, both of those squads had better resumes than this year's Northern Illinois squad yet weren't even close to getting a BCS birth. NIU, although they should have beaten Iowa in week one, did not really play anyone with a pulse until the MAC championship game. And they barely escaped a 9 loss Army team by 1 point.
I just don't think that resume deserves a BCS game.
December 2nd, 2012 at 10:22 PM ^
Marshall finished that season #12, Miami finished #11. Under current rules both would have played in BCS bowls.
Instead, Marshall got sent to the Motor City where they whipped BYU and Miami got shipped to the GMAC Bowl where they beat the crap out of Louisville--if memory serves they were up something like 35-7 in the first half. Frankly, I think the current system would have been more fair in both cases.--those teams deserved a chance to be tested.
December 3rd, 2012 at 12:29 PM ^
Yes, but that Miami team also lost to Iowa thus invoking our "Any team that loses to Iowa is rendered ineligible for BCS selection rule."
I kid, but I do wish those teams got tested. I wish there was some way to match up a top MAC school in years when they do have a team like this with a Big Six school that isn't just going to the Little Caesers Consolation Prize/Congrats You Only Got Six Wins Now Go Fire Your Coach in the Next Year or Two Bowl.
December 2nd, 2012 at 8:55 PM ^
December 2nd, 2012 at 8:57 PM ^
if you ever supported Boise making the Fiesta Bowl, you have zero right to bitch
December 3rd, 2012 at 12:03 AM ^
December 3rd, 2012 at 12:30 AM ^
I hope NIU beats FSU. I know almost nobody thinks they can pull the upset, but stranger things have happened.
December 3rd, 2012 at 12:40 AM ^