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You might be wondering, why would the Outback Bowl want Penn State anyway? Well, perhaps it’s the fact that Penn State has not been to the Outback Bowl since 2011. However, that guideline DID NOT protect Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Purdue from Penn State. Though to be fair, no bowl in their right mind would have selected any of the middle tier over those teams this season anyway. The “two more wins” rule meant that no one in the middle tier was going to hop OSU, Iowa, or MSU. Penn State (7-5) and Maryland (6-6), The remaining teams.Minnesota, Wisconsin, Purdue - The middle of the pack.Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan State - The best of the rest.In the Big Ten this year, the basic breakdown of the bowl eligible teams was as follows: Unfortunately, this is a season where it hurt Minnesota. It will benefit the Gophers in the future.but not this year It kept them from getting hopped by Iowa for the Outback back in 2019. Under the old bowl pecking order, there’s no way (let me say again, NO WAY) the Gophers play Missouri in the Citrus Bowl as an 8-4 team in 2014 without this process. This process has benefited the Gophers in the past. This change has been good for the Gophers. *NOTE: I know this is part of the new bowl contracts the conference has signed since 2014, but I’m unclear how many of the longest tenured top-level B1G bowls have contracts predating this guideline. Sorry, life isn’t fair, the Big Ten doesn’t hamstring it’s business partners into worrying about how things played out in the Quadrangle of Hate. However, head to head wins don’t mean anything.
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For the purposes of the Big Ten’s criteria, that’s generally meant you don’t get hopped by a team with 2 fewer wins than you. And yes, in general, they make sure teams don’t get hopped by schools with inferior seasons. The system the Big Ten implemented prioritizes variety in bowl destinations, generally requiring the non-New Years Six bowls affiliated with the conference to feature 5 different Big Ten teams over a 6 year window.* They also work to make sure that non-conference rematches don’t occur in bowl games. The goal: to freshen up the bowl landscape. While most conferences will continue to assign their contract bowls a selection number after all the spots in the College Football Playoff and other BCS-type bowls are filled, the Big Ten will adopt a tiered system for its postseason tie-ins.īowls likely will be played in an upper tier, a middle tier and a bottom tier, and the Big Ten will work with bowl officials to place teams in games. It’s been this way since the College Football Playoff started in 2014. The Big Ten has built a tiered system that helps keep things a little more mixed up.
#BEST NON CONFERENCE FOOTBALL GAMES 2018 FREE#
The bowls don’t pick their Big Ten teams in a free for all anymore.
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The old “bowls run the show” system is dead I’ll explain, but first, it’s time for a reminder for those who aren’t aware (or who have forgotten).
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They got screwed by how things shook out with the other bowl eligible Big Ten teams. So why are so many folks acting like Minnesota got disrespected? Sorry, but no. I’m going to open with something that should be VERY clear to any Gopher fan.