James normally does bowl projections. This is where he'll introduce everything, tell you what happened over the weekend, so on and so forth. I'm fat and lazy and I like to get into the juicy red meat at the very beginning. Let's just get to the arguing.
GoDaddy Bowl (MAC vs. Sun Belt)
Toledo Rockets vs. Arkansas State Red Wolves
Bahamas Bowl (MAC vs C-USA)
Western Michigan vs. Marshall Thundering Herd
Boca Raton Bowl (MAC vs. C-USA)
Bowling Green Falcons vs. Rice Owls
Camellia Bowl (MAC vs. Sun Belt)
Northern Illinois Huskies vs. Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (MAC vs. Mountain West)
Central Michigan Chippewas vs. Nevada Wolf Pack
Through this, I'm taking the scenario that the Broncos beat Northern Illinois on Friday, then Toledo beats Bowling Green at Ford Field. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I am not a fan of your favorite team and seek no forgiveness for the madness I've instilled within you.
The Rockets can go on and face Arkansas State on Jan. 4. However, if I'm a Rocket fan, I'd be a little bit worried if this were to become the matchup. Something tells me that the Red Wolves might have the better offense and could be just enough to get by their defense. And given their recent bowl history, putting NIU in the Camellia Bowl just makes sense to me.
I guess if I were on the committee, I'd be lobbying for WMU and Marshall to meet up. Again, this assumes that they beat NIU on Friday. But this would be my favorite MAC bowl matchup. Pretty much any team against Marshall would make me pretty excited, but if these are the two best teams in the conferences (I'm using our power rankings to make that claim for WMU), then I want them to duke it out on a national stage. It'd make for a great first Bahamas Bowl.
Yes, I'm giving CMU the bowl bid at 7-5. If Ohio does finish 6-6 (assuming they beat Miami), the best team they would have beaten this season would still be Akron, who can finish 6-6 at best with a probable win over Kent State. Everybody else the 'Cats beat had a sub-.500 season. While the Chippewas have key losses against Syracuse, Ball State, WMU and Toledo, they still have wins over NIU (on the road, mind you) and Ohio.