What Are Iowa State's Bowl Chances? Week 11 Edition Part 2 - Who To Root For/Against

by Mark Kieffer on Nov 8, 2009 8:20 PM CST in Iowa State Football Comment 5 comments

Alright. Assuming you've read Part 1, I thought I'd create a list so that Iowa State fans can figure out who they want to see win or lose to give us the best bowl chances. After Week 11 action, I will update the list for Week 12.

Captain Obvious: Root for ISU over Colorado
Root against K-State. With Missouri and Nebraska left, they could lose out. This will get Missouri to at least 6 wins. I think Missouri gets to 6 wins regardless anyways, so might as well root against the team that isn't a definite in with K-State. Having K-State out of the picture would open up possibilities for ISU and Kansas (assuming both get 1 more win, which isn't a sure thing either) to get a Big 12 bowl.
Root Against Michigan. Having a Big 10 team in the At Large Picture would hurt ISU's chances
Root Against Duke. If you hate them in basketball, hate them in football too! Duke needs 1 more win with 3 games left. If Duke doesn't get in, the EagleBank bowl would be open.
Root Against Wake Forest. If Wake loses this week, they are out of the picture, and the chances of the GMAC Bowl being open would be higher.
Root Against Arizona State and UCLA. If neither become bowl eligible, then Nevada will get the Poinsettia Bowl instead of them going to a different open bowl. Hell, root against Nevada too! If they avoid getting to a bowl, the Poinsettia Bowl would be open as well.
~~Root Against UConn~~. Normally I would say to do so, so that Middle Tennessee State would take the St. Petersburg bowl. That would work out better for ISU. BUT, after what UConn had to go through during this season, this is a team I'm rooting for to make a bowl game.

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Is it just me or does this talk seem premature? Keep in mind we still have to win one or two more games depending on the situation.

Colorado looks resurgent and not pushovers from early in the season. Same is the case with Mizzou, who are tough despite their recent record. I’d like to see wins before any bowl talk.

by cyke on Nov 9, 2009 4:22 PM CST reply actions

I debated that too, but honestly, I’m personally trying to sort out the bowl situation. It is looking more and more like the Big 12 will fill all of it’s bids, regardless of whether ISU gets to 6 wins. I wanted to see if ISU even had a shot at getting a bowl bid if they won 6 games. Many fans think it’s a foregone conclusion we’d be invited but it’s not.

That said, it was a topic of debate between my friend and I tailgating, and I heard lots of fans in the stands talking about the bowl situation. Many were scoreboard watching without knowing what exactly to look for.

It is very possible that we end up with only 5 wins, since we have been playing horribly the past few weeks.

At the same time, wouldn’t you be disappointed if the Cyclones didn’t at least get eligible, especially with the way they started? I know I’d do almost anything to go to a postseason game invovling ISU, regardless of whether it’s in Boise, Detroit, Mobile, etc.

There won’t be anymore bowl talk between now and the Colorado game. Hopefully they get that 6th win, and we can dig into this further.

Clone Chronicles

by Mark Kieffer on Nov 9, 2009 4:38 PM CST up reply actions

I’m with you. If they make it to a bowl, i’m definitely going. However, there’s still this feeling of putting the cart before the horse and talking of bowls at this point. Hopefully there’s a way to beat Colorado whom we almost did last year.

by cyke on Nov 9, 2009 8:10 PM CST up reply actions