Useless ESPN Bowl Projections Week 11

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

In this week's useless ESPN bowl projections, here are the B1G bowl games predicted by ESPN's Edwards & Schlabach.

Italics= Not enough B1G teams bowl eligible to fill slots

Bowl Schlabach Edwards
Rose Bowl presented by Vizio Nebraska vs Notre Dame Nebraska vs Notre Dame
Capital One Bowl Michigan vs Texas A&M Michigan vs Florida
Outback Bowl Wisconsin vs Florida Wisconsin vs Alabama
Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl Northwestern vs Miss. State Northwestern vs Miss. State
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl State vs Texas Tech State vs Texas Tech
Meineke Car Care Bowl of TX Minnesota vs West Virginia Minnesota vs TCU
Heart of Dallas Bowl Purdue vs Ball State Purdue vs Arizona St.
Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl No. Illinois vs Utah State Kent State vs San Jose St.

Other matchups of note-

Bowl Schlabach Edwards
BCS National Championship Kansas St. vs Oregon Kansas St. vs Oregon
AT&T Cotton Bowl Texas vs Alabama Texas vs LSU
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Air Force vs Tulsa Air Force vs Tulsa

Thoughts?

Gordon

November 11th, 2012 at 9:45 PM ^

- Win out.

- Watch Nebraska lose one game.

- In the course of winning out, end Ohio State's undefeated season, in Columbus.

- Beat Wisconsin for the Big Ten championship.

- Go to the Rose Bowl, against an undefeated Notre Dame (who spent a solid month complaining about being left out of the championship game, how they'd be co-champs with a win, et cetera.)

- Beat Notre Dame on New Year's Day.

This is what we have left to root for, let's do it.

ijohnb

November 12th, 2012 at 11:06 AM ^

the problem.  And it is a problem.  Beating Iowa next week means they literally have nothing to play for against Nebarska.  And since we ARE going to beat Iowa, I don't think senior day is going to give them enough motivation to go out and beat the Huskers, that one is a Nebraska win.  It is Minnesota, they have to be it.  They will be game, but I am not sure the Gophers have enough.  One can hope though.

Picktown GoBlue

November 12th, 2012 at 12:32 PM ^

"Hy-Vee Heroes Trophy" to play for!!!!

It was hard to find a picture of the trophy itself that Iowa would want to take back, but here's a Nebraska Hy-Vee store director with a replica:

 

BOX House

November 11th, 2012 at 9:39 PM ^

Texas A&M scares the shit out of me. Our defense struggled against Kane Colter and I think Manziel is twice as deadly as him. Thankfully this probably won't happen.

Also, if Texas played Bama, the schadenfreude from Texas fans after that mauling would be epic. 

mGrowOld

November 11th, 2012 at 9:39 PM ^

Yikes - Texas A & M?  That might not be much fun.

Seriously though - did anybody see the rise of A & M coming when the announced the move to the SEC?  I thought they'd have about as much success as Missouri is having and think Sumlin should be a lock for coach of the year.  And it wouldnt surprise me a bit if an NFL team gave him a shot next year given the amazing job he did at Houston and now Texas A & M.

Gordon

November 11th, 2012 at 10:06 PM ^

Sumlin will stay at Texas A&M.  I don't think he's going anywhere for a while, and the other opportunities would only get better if he actually wins some titles in the SEC.

And frankly, the SEC isn't as good as everyone says.  It's an incredibly unbalanced conference, with three good teams and four bad teams in each division.

(The SEC West has Alabama, Texas A&M, and LSU with a combined record of 9-0 against everyone else in their division.  The SEC East has Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina with a 12-0 record against everyone else in their division.)

The conference has its power teams beat up on everyone below it, and are always talked up as the greatest thing ever. Frankly, any of the one-loss teams in the SEC should be grouped in with any one-loss team from around the nation.  No SEC worldbeaters this year.

Sten Carlson

November 11th, 2012 at 10:10 PM ^

Seriously though - did anybody see the rise of A & M coming when the announced the move to the SEC?

I did!

I live in Austin, my brother-in-law is an A&M Alum and booster, and my dad is a VP of the University, so I am a bit of an adopted Aggie now.

The dynamic, and recruiting competition, between A&M and UT is interesting. A&M really needed to get out from under the large shadow cast by UT, and going to the SEC was a great way to do just that. Recently, A&M was sort of stuck getting players that were already Aggie fans, and/or those guys that didn't get UT offers. Remember too, A&M is not only competing for recruits with UT, but also OU whose roster is almost entirely made up of Texas players. Add to that the in-state fights with teams like TTech, Baylor, and TCU, and you have a rich, but tough environment. Other schools really played up the A&M cultural thing against the Aggies. Further, if you've ever been to College Station and Austin, there is really no comparison. All that added up to UT getting the lion's share of top talent in the state.

But, now that the Aggies are in the SEC, they've added a HUGE recruiting selling point to top in-state recruits. Add to that the magnetic personality and coaching ability of Sumlin, and I think the move was the best thing to happen to A&M since splitting from UT -- which they STILL sing about. I've been saying for a while that I think Sumlin is going to win the Coach of the Year in the SEC, and maybe even the nation. He's a great recruiter -- he was the guy that came down to Austin and recruited Drew Briese to Purdue, he's got guts, and like Hoke, his players never quit.

I would LOVE to play the Aggies in a bowl game this year, although I think they'd be a hard team to beat. They're a great fanbase, they show up, cheer hard, and treat the opposition with the utmost respect. On a side note, if you've never been to Kyle Field for a game, you really need to try to make it there sometime. The Big House is awesome in its size, but Kyle Field is amazing in its intensity and tradition.

BlueinLansing

November 11th, 2012 at 10:48 PM ^

but it really doesn't explain this years success since the SEC thing was just announced a year ago.  3/4's or more of that team was recruited to a Big 12 school.

 

Bottom line, Sumlin is a good coach in charge of a top program and the SEC is a bit overrated. 

Marvin

November 11th, 2012 at 9:57 PM ^

Nebraska could lose to Minny or Iowa. It's true people. Especially Minny. Jerry Kill is a good coach. I'm not kidding.

 

Also people who live in areas where there are lots of corn plants get pissed when they play other people who live in areas where there are lots of corn plants, so Iowa might also win. It's at Iowa, which has a pink locker room for the visitor, which emasculates them.

 

So Michigan could go to the Rose Bowl, despite the anger of that one dick who posted on here earlier about Michigan's lousy coaching.

 

Marvin out!

spartanfan123

November 11th, 2012 at 9:58 PM ^

Gator Bowl doesn't want Northwestern, FWIW, but if they beat MSU next weekend, they may not have another choice. They would take a 7-5 MSU team over 8-4 Northwestern though. 

Avant's Hands

November 11th, 2012 at 10:00 PM ^

I wouldn't hate a match up with the Gators. I think it would be a low scoring battle, which of course means it would probably end in the neighborhood of 41-35. Or, you know, something like that.

I don't want any part of A&M, though. That QB would shred us.

Mich Mash

November 11th, 2012 at 10:01 PM ^

...what a fall for Alabama.  For previously holding the perception of an unbeatable uber-team, to descend all the way to the Outback Bowl is shocking.  If Brad Edwards's lineup holds, good luck Wisconsin.

Logan88

November 12th, 2012 at 9:10 AM ^

The prediction of Bama to the Outback is beyond ridiculous. Bama's remaining games are against andFCS team (Western Carolina) and the tire fire that is Auburn. They will still win the SEC West. Even if Bama were to lose the SEC championship game and finish 11-2, there is no way they would drop to the Outback Bowl. Finally, I believe that the Outback Bowl almost always takes an SEC East team. The SEC West teams usually go to the Cotton Bowl or Chick-fil-A Bowl.

ghost

November 11th, 2012 at 10:04 PM ^

Nebreska-ND would be an ugly Rose Bowl.  I think Texas A&M is going to be in a BCS bowl, most likely the Fiesta.  I can't see them leaving Johnny Football out.  Texas A&M at this point would draw the most viewers outside of the title game.  I also think think one of Stanford or UCLA may end up in the top 14 and possibly in the Rose Bowl

funkywolve

November 12th, 2012 at 12:48 AM ^

They both have brutal schedules left.  There's probably no way either one gets to the BCS with an at-large berth.

Stanford has:  Oregon, UCLA.

UCLA has: USC, Stanford.

I don't see Stanford beating Oregon in Autzen.  At 9-3 they probably don't qualifty for an at-large berth (need to be 14 or higher in the BCS standings).  I could see UCLA winning out but then they'd have to play Oregon.  A 10-3 UCLA team would be borderline Top 14, but if Nebraska wins the big ten I doubt the Rose Bowl wants a rematch.