Posted by sinverguenza on 12/2/2012 7:49:00 PM (view original):
The MAC has pretty decent football. The state of Ohio is deep enough to support a bunch of solid mid-level programs. NI should be able to keep it within 10, assuming there's not too much chaos left by their coach's departure

The only one who truly believes that is the guy who schedules Ohio State's OOC schedule.

Seriously.  NIU apparently lost a bunch of their team to graduation last year, and so maybe can get a bit of a pass for early season struggles, but still...

 

Loss to Iowa
7 point win against Kansas after trailing in the 4th
1 point win against Army after trailing in the 4th

Boise State/TCU they ain't.

Posted by cydrych on 12/3/2012 8:25:00 AM (view original):

Posted by sinverguenza on 12/2/2012 7:49:00 PM (view original):
The MAC has pretty decent football. The state of Ohio is deep enough to support a bunch of solid mid-level programs. NI should be able to keep it within 10, assuming there's not too much chaos left by their coach's departure

The only one who truly believes that is the guy who schedules Ohio State's OOC schedule.

a bit harsh since OSU generally only plays 1 MAC school a year, which isn't much different than the SEC scheduling the Sun Belt or the Pac 12 scheduling the WAC teams every year. 

Posted by AlCheez on 12/3/2012 8:35:00 AM (view original):
Seriously.  NIU apparently lost a bunch of their team to graduation last year, and so maybe can get a bit of a pass for early season struggles, but still...

 

Loss to Iowa
7 point win against Kansas after trailing in the 4th
1 point win against Army after trailing in the 4th

Boise State/TCU they ain't.

Yeah.  The MAC does have quite a few wins against AQ teams (Penn St., Indiana, Iowa, Rutgers, Cincinnati, South Florida, Connecticut).  Even Bowling Green gave Florida a very strong game in Florida to start the year.  This is perhaps the best the MAC has been overall perhaps ever.  That said, Oklahoma is a much better team than NIU and would the Sugar and Orange bowls a lot better if it was there rather than NIU.  Of course, I don't mind seeing the little schools play in the big stage against the big boys so I don't have any problem with it. 

LOL at the Big 10 and Big East...

The good news is NI/FS is the 8:30 game on 1/1.

After SC/Michigan, GA/Nebraska and Stanford/Wisconsin, you'll have enough good football for the day.

Good point.

As a Oklahoma fan, I dislike them getting a lesser bowl, but whatever. I'm not getting the BCS cash and Texas A&M is a great matchup.

By my own little calculation that I just did.. Northern Illinois was the 24th best team in the country this year & if my "system" were to go with the BCS rules.. Northern Illinois would NOT have made the Orange Bowl & it wasn't even particularly close, as you can see.

But, I just want to point something out.. After 4 weeks of the season were up in the AP Poll, Oklahoma was #16. Guess who finished the year #16? You guessed it.. Northern Illinois. Not that it means much, but that is pretty strange.

One other thing that I find interesting is that Northern Illinois finished the season earning a 15 slot in the BCS Rankings while USC didn't even manage to secure a Top 25 slot. I would say that's pretty impressive for Northern Illinois. I'm not saying that they're better than Oklahoma or more deserving of the spot in the Orange Bowl than Oklahoma or some other team.. I'm just saying that for Northern Illinois, finishing ahead of USC ANY YEAR, much less a year where USC had National Title aspirations is a huge deal & so.. if they got rewarded for such a season.. I won't say too much against it.

By my calculations, this season CUSA was by far the weakest top to bottom. The Sun was very close to the ACC, but still not above water.