Saw this posted on the Downtown Huntington facebook page.
The new website won't be ready until Dec. 1, but we're already cranking out material that will probably be dated by then. So here's a sneak peek at what's coming soon!!
HERD'S LOSS IN SAN ANTONIO MUDDIES ALREADY CLOUDY BOWL PICTURE
By Justin Prince
With most Football Bowl Subdivision teams down to their final week of the regular season, the college bowl picture is as out of focus as it was more than a month ago.
Perhaps no conference’s bowl picture is harder to make out than Conference USA’s. The league has six bowls that it is contractually tied to, but heading into week 13 of the college football season, CUSA already has eight teams bowl eligible.
The CUSA bowl breakdown gets even more complicated when you factor in that at least one more team will reach the six win plateau as Old Dominion and Middle Tennessee each sit one win away from bowl eligibility heading into Saturday’s showdown between the two teams. A tenth team, Louisiana Tech also sits at 5-6 with an opportunity to qualify for post-season play if it can knock off the Roadrunners of UTSA this weekend.
In most years, this many CUSA teams with the minimum six wins would mean that a few teams would be left out despite meeting the bowl requirements. But, in 2017, it is likely that the league will be able to find a bowl home for all of its bowl eligible teams as current projections show that of the 78 bowl slots available only 76 teams will reach the necessary six wins.
Marshall’s bowl situation was far from solidified before this past weekend, but its loss at Texas-San Antonio Saturday night has complicated things for Herd fans even further. Before CUSA sends teams to bowls it isn’t affiliated with, it will meet its contractual requirements.
Those six bowl games are listed in chronological order below.
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl – December 16th (CUSA vs. Sun Belt)
Gildan New Mexico Bowl – December 16th (CUSA vs. Mountain West)
Boca Raton Bowl – December 19th (CUSA vs. American)
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl – December 21st (CUSA vs. American)
Bahamas Bowl – December 22nd (CUSA vs. MAC)
Armed Forces Bowl* - December 23rd (CUSA vs. Army)
* CUSA swapped the Heart of Dallas Bowl with the Big 10 for the Armed Forces Bowl back in September.
The conference Champion, which will be either west division winner North Texas or the east division winner Florida Atlantic, will get first dibs at selecting a bowl. From there the conference will work with the remaining teams to create the most interesting matchups while also trying to stay somewhat regional.
Assuming FAU beats North Texas for the second time this season the Owls are likely to stay at in the sunshine state and take on an American conference team, with South Florida and Charlie Strong being the matchup Lane Kiffin and company want the most. Also with the Gasparilla Bowl, the Owls could end up with a team like the Oregon Ducks, which would also be a enticing opponent for the league champion.
So with FAU staying in Florida that would mean the Mean Green will probably occupy one of the games out west. Now, North Texas just played Army and defeated the Black Knights 52-49 so sending them to the Armed Forces Bowl doesn’t make a lot of sense, especially after the two teams played in a bowl game against each other last year as well. So pencil North Texas into the New Mexico Bowl spot likely against a very good San Diego State team.
The New Orleans Bowl will get either Alabama-Birmingham or Southern Mississippi while UTSA will probably head to Forth Worth, Texas for the Armed Forces Bowl to keep the regional flavor going. That means the Bahamas Bowl and whichever Florida bowl the Owls chose not to take are the only remaining slots that need filled.
This is where things get interesting as Marshall, Western Kentucky and Florida International are all 4-3 in conference play. The Hilltoppers and the Panthers play each other this weekend so one of them will be 5-3. If FIU wins that means no matter what the Thundering Herd does the Panthers will finish higher in the standings due to holding the head to head.
If FIU finishes ahead of Marshall they will likely be spared the Bahamas Bowl and will make a short drive north to Boca Raton for their bowl spot. If Western Kentucky wins this weekend, however, the Hilltoppers can only finish ahead of Marshall if the Herd loses at home to the Golden Eagles. But, CUSA officials have made it clear that each conference team will eventually have to “take their turn” in the Bahamas Bowl and WKU had its turn in 2014 when they defeated Central Michigan in the first ever Bahamas Bowl.
Then there is also Middle Tennessee and Old Dominion playing each other to determine who sits at home during bowl season and who gets to participate. Neither of them are likely Bahamas Bowl candidates as the Blue Raiders played in the 2015 game while the Monarchs were CUSA’s 2016 representative.
Which means if Marshall wants to avoid a trip to the Bahamas Bowl to play a MAC school like Central Michigan or Ohio then it needs to win this weekend. An eight win season would give the Herd a little more say-so in where it ends up, especially if WKU knocks off FIU, and if given the choice, the Herd will obviously choose Florida over the Bahamas.
Then there are games like the AutoNation Cure Bowl in Orlando, Florida, that doesn’t have a contract with CUSA but is likely to nab a CUSA team to play against an offering from the Sun Belt. This scenario likely doesn’t happen for Marshall if it wins Saturday but the Herd could be on the short list of CUSA teams being looked at by Cure Bowl officials. The bowl game will likely pair a CUSA team with Appalachian State, an old rival of the Herd’s from its Southern Conference days. That’s a matchup that would intrigue and excite many older Marshall fans, but the Cure is more likely to snag WKU or Middle Tennessee than Marshall due to where the teams are in the standings.
I say all of that to say this, the bowl picture is still a mess but, if fans want to plan in advance to see the Herd in post-season action, you might want to get your passport ready. At least the weather in the Bahamas will be nice, even if the opponent isn’t.
📷: Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch
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