Conventional wisdom has Rutgers headed to the International Bowl in Toronto for their New Year's festivities. But wait, Greg Schiano still seems to be a bit cagey about the Knight's ultimate destination. What's to be cagey about? West Virginia's in the BCS, Connecticut has agreed to the Meineke Car Care Bowl and Cincy has committed to the papajohns.com bowl. Everyone believes the Sun Bowl will take South Florida, which is the highest ranked Big East team after the Mountaineers. So that leaves the International Bowl for Rutgers right?
During his radio show last night, Schiano wouldn't quite say that this was the case. He mentioned again that there might be the possibility of some kind of "bowl trade" with a bowl that doesn't have enough bowl eligible teams. He noted that this should definitely be sorted out by Saturday.
So which bowls don't have enough bowl eligible teams? Only two. The Texas Bowl in Houston, this year pits Conference USA against the Big 12 which may not have enough bowl eligible teams. The Armed Forces Bowl, in Fort Worth, featuring the Pac-10/Mountain West, may not have a bowl eligible Pac-10 team. Rutgers won the Texas Bowl last year so a return there would be unlikely. The Armed Forces Bowl however is slated to serve up Air Force as an opponent. The Falcons are presently ranked 29th by the BCS, which has pegged Rutgers at 35. None of Rutger's potentional MAC conference foes in the International Bowl are ranked by the BCS. Could Schiano be angling for an invite to the Armed Forces Bowl to complete a service academy sweep? (RU beat both Navy and Army this season). Could be. Rutgers would improve its final ranking much more with a win over Air Force than an unranked MAC opponent.
Schiano's comment that this should play out by Saturday is also illuminating. If Rutgers beats Louisville on Thursday, they'll finish at 8-4. That's one game better than Purdue, which is presently being touted as an Armed Forces Bowl participant, who finished the season at 7-5. So here's the prediction. If Rutgers beats Louisville they head south to the Armed Forces Bowl. (My apologies to Fort Worth for the "border" comment. I know you guys are a good distance from Mexico, but it made for a good headline!) If Rutgers loses and finishes 7-5, get out the dogsleds because it's Toronto for the Knights. So the result of the Rutgers/Louisville may not be as "meaningless" as the pundits profess. We'll see!
Ya know as much as I pick on Canada I've always wanted to go. And being that this isn't a political website, I won't say who, but if one of the candidates wins I promised I'd move up there. So I guess I should try practicing.
However, AF sounds like a good opponent too. Any other team, I'd say no thanks. But how will that look to us for next year when all the people start whining in who we played? It won't look as good either way...because fans are stupid.
I'd be interested in either or bowl. Is there any speculation on who the other International Bowl opponent is?
Death,
Central Michigan, Bowling Green, Miami(Ohio) and Ball State are the likely choices. The pecking order of the MAC's three bowls are GMAC, Motor City, and International. Central Michigan is the favorite to win the conference so we won't see them. Miami plays CM this week but is not bowl eligible unless they win. Pundits are split between Bowling Green and Ball State as the team that will go to the International.
I'll be in Canada with you if the event you mentioned comes to fruition.
A bandwagon jumping Rutgers fan who is thrilled to have a true New Jersey football team to root for.
Hobbies- nuclear physics, brain surgery, international diplomacy, and acquiring enough monthly funds to eat and keep my son at Rutgers.
Turn-ons- sarcasm, rooting for the Yankees to lose, wit, and laughing at the absurdities of life (like the BCS).
Turn-offs-Lou Holtz pep talks (Sorry Lou, I think you're better at euthansia than inspiration), Brent Mussberger (I think he's an alien), and any argument based on a bowl game result more than 3 years ago.
Reason for this blog-To hear from fans in other parts of the country who have something more interesting to say than GO (your team name here)!
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