CORRECTION: Found an article that said that Army and Navy will NOT be bowl eligible because they play their last game after the bowl selection. Therefore, that’s one other spot that’s available.
I’m torn on whether I want State’s “streak” to end or for them to go as a 1-7 SEC team, just so we can poke even more fun at their “streak.”
Either way, I looked into the numbers and what they need to have happen.
There are 41 bowls, so 82 teams needed. Currently, there are 70 bowl eligible teams, including James Madison and Jacksonville State that both get priority to go bowling ahead of 5-7 APR teams, so I’m counting them.
There are also two 5-6 teams (Rice and Minnesota) with a higher APR than State, so that’s a total of 72 teams that would go to a bowl ahead of State without winning another game.
That means they would need 9 teams or less to get the additional win needed. If 10 teams get that additional win, they’re out. There are currently 21 other 5 win teams (not counting Rice/Minn), and there is one 4 win team with a higher APR than State (Wake), so 22 total teams needing 1 win to be ahead of State in the pecking order.
Breaking down further, Wake (4-7) and Syracuse (5-6) play today, so one of them gets in ahead of State with a win. That would make for 73 teams guaranteed ahead of State. These are the other 18 teams, and who they play today and tomorrow, listed in order of the lines.
NIU (-19.5) at Kent State - WIN
UCF (-14) v Houston - WIN
ULL (-12.5) v ULM - WIN
Illinois (-6) v Northwestern - LOSS
USF (-6) v Charlotte - WIN
Colorado State (-5.5) at Hawaii - LOSS
Utah State (-4.5) at New Mexico - WIN
Nebraska (-2.5) v Iowa - LOSS
Virginia Tech (-2.5) at UVA - WIN
Old Dominion (-2.5) v Georgia State - WIN
Marshall (-2) v Arkansas State - WIN
Florida (+6.5) v FSU - LOSS
South Carolina (+7.5) v Clemson - LOSS
Cal (+9) at UCLA - WIN
TCU (+10) at Oklahoma - LOSS
Central Michigan (+10) v Toledo - LOSS
Washington State (+16) at Washington - LOSS
BYU (+16.5) at Oklahoma State - LOSS
11 of the 18 are favorites, though some are close lines. 9 winners keeps State at home and ends their streak, if my math is right.
Yes I’m bored and not working today, and yes I like to have reasons to watch games I normally wouldn’t.
ETA: adding a countdown that I can update.
Wins needed to eliminate State: 0