By Woodrow Carroll
A wave of college football bowl games are upon us. It will start Friday, Dec. 17 with two games and there will be virtually no letup through January 10, 2022 when a national champion will be determined in Indianapolis.
There are 130 schools playing major college football subsumed under the acronym FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision). They are the Alabamas and Michigans of the world in the programs in which a crowd of 100,000 for a home game is within reach.
We all know that only a select handful of teams, four, will play for the national championship. Still, there are many bowl games. For the program that finished .500 or better, think six victories minimum, a bowl game is the reward.
The Land of Lincoln has three FBS programs in Illinois, Northwestern, and Northern Illinois. Only Northern Illinois reached a bowl threshold.
The Huskies of Northern Illinois were a surprise to some observers this season. After a 0-6 record in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, Northern Illinois finished 9-4, including a 41-23 victory over Kent State in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship game.
Northern Illinois is one of two MAC teams to play Friday, Dec. 17. Toledo, 7-5, a team Northern Illinois edged, 22-20, in the regular season, will play Middle Tennessee, 6-6, in the Bahamas Bowl, 11 a.m.. Northern Illinois will square off against Coastal Carolina, 10-2, at 5 p.m. in the Cure Bowl in Orlando, Fla..
Although Northern Illinois has been a power in MAC play, the Huskies have yet, recently, to translate conference success at bowl time.
Entering the game with Coastal Carolina, the Huskies have lost six straight bowl games and were 4-9 overall.
After defeating Arkansas State, 38-20, in the 2011 GoDaddy.com Bowl, the Huskies hit the skids, which started with a memorable appearance in the 2012 Orange Bowl in which Northern Illinois lost, 31-10, to Florida State.
Although it may be a bit secondary to each team’s individual success in a bowl game, a conference’s overall record in bowl games is followed closely by many observers.
Eight teams from the MAC earned bowl games. In addition to Northern Illinois and Toledo in bowl games, are Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Ball State, Western Michigan, Miami, Ohio, and Central Michigan. (See page 11.)
If you look at the teams faced by MAC members in this season’s bowl schedule, you will not find any teams from Power 5 conferences. There are no Big Ten, Southeast, Pac-12, Big-12 or Atlantic Coast Conference opponents.
There are 14 teams in the Southeast Conference (SEC). All but one team from the SEC qualified for a bowl game. That one non-bowl qualifier is Vanderbilt. Northern Illinois will play host to the Vanderbilt Commodores, September 17 2022.
Attracting big name foes to DeKalb for a football game is no easy task for the Huskies. No Big Ten school has played a game in DeKalb, although Maryland, prior to joining the Big Ten Conference, did play the Huskies in DeKalb.
Pac-12 member Utah played in DeKalb three years ago as part of a home-and-way series. The Utes surprised observers by winning the Pac-12 championship this season and will play Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.
Try finding which station will carry the Arizona Bowl, Friday, Dec. 31, in Tucson! The Arizona Bowl will pit Central Michigan, 8-4, against Boise State, 7-5.
Television coverage is listed as to be determined. The game is not to be televised! Sponsor, Barstool Sports, is eschewing a television broadcast in favor of using a combination of streaming, an app, and social media to provide game coverage. It will be interesting to see how this concept plays out.