Realistic Bowl Game projections/Desired opponent
November 27th, 2017 at 3:52 AM ^
Where is USC going if they lose the Pac 12 CG?
I want them.
November 27th, 2017 at 7:39 AM ^
I'd imagine the Alamo bowl vs. Oklahoma State.
USC went to the Holiday Bowl during the 2015 season (loss to Wisconsin), I'm not sure they'd send them back so soon.
The PAC 12 also has a more rigid bowl order than the Big Ten does.
The Champion will be in the NY6 (probably in the Fiesta Bowl), the next best team Alamo, then Holiday. Basically, Washington is going to the Alamo if USC wins, unless they manage to sneak into the NY6 (say TCU gets slaughtered in the Championship game and the committee chooses 10-2 Washington over 9-3 ND).
November 27th, 2017 at 1:57 PM ^
November 26th, 2017 at 10:34 PM ^
November 26th, 2017 at 10:36 PM ^
Washington, WSU or others in pac 12 don’t do it for me.
I live in NYC and the Pinstripe bowl idea makes me want to vomit.
November 26th, 2017 at 10:37 PM ^
Holiday Bowl vs. Stanford.
Great match-up.
Intrigue. History. Academics.
Remember - the FIRST EVER BOWL GAME WAS BETWEEN THESE TWO TEAMS!
November 26th, 2017 at 10:40 PM ^
Only difference is...we got the D line they’ll be worring about this time around!!
November 26th, 2017 at 10:41 PM ^
They are ahead of Penn State (6), Auburn (7), Oklahoma (9), Clemson (10), and Miami (12).
I'd like a bowl win for recruiting and program perception, and Washington isn't getting its due (which means a loss to them won't be recognized for what it is). So, sign me up for Stanford (assuming Washington St. is out of the picture).
November 27th, 2017 at 3:58 AM ^
And they just killed a highly-motivated Washington State.
Not sure who in the Pac 12 is better than them right now.
They are not playing in the Pac 12 CG because they lost to Stanford by a TD in a Friday night game at Stanford. I think that result would be different if they played now.
November 26th, 2017 at 11:04 PM ^
November 26th, 2017 at 11:16 PM ^
November 26th, 2017 at 11:26 PM ^
November 26th, 2017 at 11:24 PM ^
November 26th, 2017 at 11:41 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 6:57 AM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 9:01 AM ^
Not only that, but it's in primetime on a broadcast network.
November 26th, 2017 at 11:41 PM ^
Anyone we can beat....need to end on a positive note.
November 27th, 2017 at 12:02 AM ^
Stanford in the Holiday Bowl would be fun.
November 27th, 2017 at 12:39 AM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 2:07 AM ^
San Diego - Holiday Bowl..
question is who we will play: Stanford or Washington.
We have a better shot to beat Stanford. Our weak safety play would be exposed if we face Washington.
November 27th, 2017 at 7:42 AM ^
We could theoretically get Washington State IF Stanford beats USC AND Washington manages to sneak into a NY6 spot with a 10-2 record. Notre Dame's blowout loss keeps the Huskies in the conversation. They need TCU to get destroyed by Oklahoma and then it becomes somewhat likely.
That scenario puts Stanford and Washington in the NY6, USC in the Alamo, and WSU (fourth best PAC 12 team) likely into the Holiday.
November 27th, 2017 at 5:57 AM ^
everyone's going to be spewing their favorite Harbaugh/Michigan sucks storylines this offseason because we lost last week. A bowl win would get some people to shut up and talk about how great Michigan should be in 2018 vs. "Harbaugh never finished higher than 3rd in his division lol"
November 27th, 2017 at 7:40 AM ^
But seriously, I like OP's suggestion.
November 27th, 2017 at 8:05 AM ^
These are the years bowl games are fun. Bowl games like last year kind of suck when a senior packed team underperforms and is in some meaningless bowl it just feels very "meh". When a young team like UM goes to a bowl it sort of feels like the start of the next season sort of like when UM played florida two years ago. I'm much more excited for the bowl this year than last and hope UM shows up big.
November 27th, 2017 at 9:23 AM ^
I agree. Plus, the years when we are 10-2 or 11-1 or 9-3 or whatever, we play the same teams over and over. We've played Florida like 4 times in bowl games over the past 15 years. Give me some school we haven't played in 20 years.
November 27th, 2017 at 8:19 AM ^
The only team I really don't want to play is Arizona, but I haven't seen them too much in bowl projections in the last week so I doubt that'll happen.
My first guess is the Holiday Bowl vs. Stanford (creates a lot of intrigue with Harbaugh going against his old program and his old OC in Shaw), or against Wazzu. A combined press conference of Mike Leach and Jim Harbaugh, two of the biggest kooks in the business, would be pretty fantastic.
A distant third option, to me, is the Outback Bowl against LSU or South Carolina. But I think the Outback Bowl gets to pick before the Holiday Bowl and they'll probably take MSU over us.
November 27th, 2017 at 1:26 PM ^
Neither one picks before the other. They are the same "tier." They put their requests in to the Big Ten, and the conference assigns teams to the games depending on who is available and who each bowl prefers (and who has played recently in each game).
So...NY6 is going to include Wisconsin and either Penn State or Ohio State, depending on who wins the conference championship. I think OSU is out of the NY6 if Wisconsin wins. A 9-3 Ohio State team isn't holding a spot in the top 12.
Because the Orange Bowl will almost certainly end up with an SEC team, that means the Citrus gets a Big Ten team...who will probably be 9-3 OSU or 10-2 PSU.
Next up are the Outback and Holiday bowls, and next up for selection are clearly Michigan and Michigan State. Even though the two have equal say in who is picked, I think the Holiday Bowl expresses a strong preference for Michigan and the Outback Bowl prefers Michigan State, so the 2 bowls don't have to fight over the schools at all. Northwestern might get picked ahead of Michigan at the insistence of the conference office, though: they have final say and I don't know that I trust the conference office to do the right thing in this situation.
After the Outback & Holiday, the next tier is TaxSlayer (Dallas), Music City (Memphis), Foster Farms (Bay Area) and Pinstripe (The Bronx). If something weird happens to the Big Ten in the NY6, or Northwestern gets sent to the above tier instead of Michigan, you might see Michigan get bumped to this tier. The Foster Farms Bowl in the San Francisco area is the obvious choice if this happens.
November 27th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^
Stanford and Washington would both be slight favorites over us. I'd prefer Stanford, I think Washington's defense is just as good as ours and gets after the QB as well as we do too.
November 27th, 2017 at 9:34 AM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 9:50 AM ^
While I think UM trounces Arizona, I'm not so sure I "want" to play them. That is a classic nothing to gain and everything to lose!
If the unthinkable happens and Khalil Tate runs roughshod over the UM defense and Michigan loses to Arizona, I cannot begin to imagine the meltdown in this fan base.
November 27th, 2017 at 1:58 PM ^