December 3, 201213 yr I think we have morphed off point. My beginning point is that NIU has had a great season going 12-1 and winning the MAC Championship. To go calling their pairing as a "joke" is unfair. They played their season within the BCS guidelines and now everyone is giving them hell over it. They progressed up the three major polls while others moved down. Just because they lost the first game of the season to Iowa is no reason to downgrade the rest of their season. The 41-40 win over Army may be uglier then the loss to Iowa.
December 3, 201213 yr Final BCS rankings. Notre Dame .9978 2 Alabama .9441 3 Florida .8984 4 Oregon .8621 5 Kansas State .8226 6 Stanford .7683 7 Georgia .7583 8 LSU .7511 9 Texas A&M .6756 10 South Carolina .6604 11 Oklahoma .6502 12 Florida State .5047 13 Oregon State .4716 14 Clemson .4693 15 Northern Illinois .3276 16 Nebraska .3264 17 UCLA .2872 18 Michigan .2537 19 Boise State .2513 20 Northwestern .2327 21 Louisville .1808 22 Utah State .1787 23 Texas .1519 24 San Jose State .1346 25 Kent State .0772 How many of those other 24 do you think NIU beats on a neutral field? At least 1
December 3, 201213 yr The 41-40 win over Army may be uglier then the loss to Iowa. Anytime Army loses at football its a great day.
December 3, 201213 yr The system is horribly screwed up, but it picked the team that was best given the way it was designed. NIU played its best football, won 12 games and its conference championship. To go back and try to answer all the other questions that have popped up: 1) This season, based what I have seen - I take NIU over UC everytime. 2) NIU in the SEC is 0-6 3) NIU in the Big East and they are 4-2 (Losses to Louisville and possible Rutgers). 4) Are they at Top 8 as the BCS "Premier" Bowl teams should be? No. But the fell into the way it was designed. 5) Given a schedule at a neutral field against the top 24? Maybe 5-19. But there aren't going to be too many others that will have a much better record either (given that each team has to play each other). 5) Who should be in that spot? Georgia or LSU. The question to me isn't why is NIU playing in this bowl, as much as it is why did the BCS continue to ignore when we could have had true playoff football years ago? Edited December 3, 201213 yr by MNCM Spelling Correction
December 4, 201213 yr Lines are out on Betus for the bowls, UL is 14 point dog and Bama is a 10 point fav.
December 4, 201213 yr It's worth noting that all NIU has to do is stay within 37 points and they'll make the Orange Bowl a better game than the ACC Champion could last year...
December 4, 201213 yr Why yes, I do think NIU could have beaten UC and most likely Vandy. NIU got the shot of because of their record and rankings. We shouldn't hate on them because of that or call them being there a joke. No way NIU could beat Vandy they had all they could handle with a Kent St. team the Wildcats beat 47-14.
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