Official Illinois has more wins than Michigan and ND combined thread

[NozeCandy]

Bowls don't have to choose teams with a better record (except with 7-5 and 6-6, I believe). A bowl with the 2nd big ten team just gets second choice of available teams from the big ten. If Illinois gets this over Michigan, I would be surprised.

OSU would probably still get picked over Illinois even in the event of a blowout. Fanbase matters a ton with these things.

[MyTurn2Raise]

Illinois fanbase will travel as well as any big11ten team to a bowl game right now

Illinois has a huge alumni network

Illinois = good share of Chicago tv market

[vhawk01]

Am I wrong in thinking that the way it USED to be, for the Rose Bowl at least, was that if there was a tie then the team that had been the longest w/o a Rose Bowl was selected?

[MyTurn2Raise]

yeah...that's how it worked for the Rose Bowl

other bowl slots were never determined that way
but, it's very rare for a team a full game ahead in the Big11Ten standings to be passed over by another team for the other bowls

the debate is when teams have the same conference record

[MyTurn2Raise]

Just want to say that Illinois actually has a shot at a BCS bowl.
No joking.

I was surprised when I first heard it mentioned and had to dig through to see it.

****FIRST: BEAT NORTHWESTERN***** Impressively would help

The main thing is that no conference can have more than 2 of the 10 bids.

SEC, Pac10, and BigXII are limited to 2 bids---that makes 6 teams
Big11Ten, ACC, and Big East champ are in --- that leaves one bid


If tOSU beats Michigan, Illinois becomes the second highest Big11Ten team by a decent margin and will climb the polls as other teams play games and lose

Need Hawai'i to lose, preferably not to media darling Boise St

Need W Va to handle UCONN and Cincy in the BigEast

ACC is set-up so that all but the champ will have a 3rd loss coming that will drop them below Illinois, but it will be close.

It's possible it could come down to Illinois, ACC runner-up, and mid-major for the last BCS spot!

It shocked me to hear it, but it is a real possibility when I looked at the situation.

[Troll_Inc]

I think a Jan 1st bowl game would be cool. BCS acceptable too.

[MyTurn2Raise]

Time to start the cheering for a BCS

1. BEAT NORTHWESTERN (impressively would help)
2. Ohio State beat Michigan
3. Hawai'i pick up a loss (among @ Nevada, v Boise, v Washington)
4. Be nice for Boise to pick up a loss (v Idaho and @ Hawai'i)
5. Go West Virginia! (beating Cincy and UConn would put those teams well behind Illinois in bargaining position)
6. pull for V Tech out of the ACC--all but one ACC team will pick up a late season 3rd loss, the team best able to handle a 3rd loss and compete for a BCS berth with Illinois is V Tech--best to have V Tech just win that conference and compete verse the other 3 (Virginia, BC, and Clemson)
7. Go South Carolina v Clemson--along with the point before, Clemson is the second best at having a 3-loss argument with Illinois. Tougher argument if Clemson beats BC, wins @ S Car, and then loses an ACC title game on the way to 10-3.

8. Oregon losing opens up a slim chance that the Pac10 might not send 2 teams...pull for another Oregon loss and ASU to look impressive beating USC.

While not a great chance, chances still exist.

New Years in Florida is not a bad fallback plan--BEAT NORTHWESTERN!!!!!

[illini43]

This is nuts and I hope it happens. Although driving to Tempe will take a lot longer than driving to Orlando [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Troll_Inc]

[ QUOTE ]
Time to start the cheering for a BCS

1. BEAT NORTHWESTERN (impressively would help)
2. Ohio State beat Michigan
3. Hawai'i pick up a loss (among @ Nevada, v Boise, v Washington)
4. Be nice for Boise to pick up a loss (v Idaho and @ Hawai'i)
5. Go West Virginia! (beating Cincy and UConn would put those teams well behind Illinois in bargaining position)
6. pull for V Tech out of the ACC--all but one ACC team will pick up a late season 3rd loss, the team best able to handle a 3rd loss and compete for a BCS berth with Illinois is V Tech--best to have V Tech just win that conference and compete verse the other 3 (Virginia, BC, and Clemson)
7. Go South Carolina v Clemson--along with the point before, Clemson is the second best at having a 3-loss argument with Illinois. Tougher argument if Clemson beats BC, wins @ S Car, and then loses an ACC title game on the way to 10-3.

8. Oregon losing opens up a slim chance that the Pac10 might not send 2 teams...pull for another Oregon loss and ASU to look impressive beating USC.

While not a great chance, chances still exist.

New Years in Florida is not a bad fallback plan--BEAT NORTHWESTERN!!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]


I want some of the cool-aid you've been drinking!

[iron81]

MT2R isn't delusional, there was a Tribune article a few days ago saying basically the same thing. He did skip the best 3 loss team that would definately go over Illinois: Florida.

That said, Illinois winning last week was big for Northwestern. It's my totally unsustantiated opinion that teams generally have letdowns after huge wins like that. I thought last week the line would be around NU +17, but its only +13.5 which I think reflects that line of thought. Plus, we need the win to go to a bowl game. So GO CATS!!

I always hated Illinois. When I was a grad student there, my roomates were so pissed that I was pulling for North Carolina in the title game.