8-4 Temple

[PonyPlayer4]

Will be sitting at home this year and will not be going to a bowl. I don't care the conference affiliation. I think they should be going to a bowl over any of the 12 teams that are 6-6.

[Bergermeister]

Nobody cares. It's Temple. One of those Owl teams. Boo Hooooooooooooooo

[ponyboy]

Bill Cosby cares so I care.

[ponyte]

Sure it isn't fair.

[goldenstang]

Yes Temple (8-4) got screwed. They beat UCONN (8-4) who gets to go to the BCS and Temple gets to stay home. It's pretty jacked up.

[Harry0569]

The MAC is a terrible football conference that does not draw fans. Bowls are all about putting butts in the seats and making money. Why would a game want to bring in a team like Temple, who will fail to sell their allotment of tickets?

I know they went 8-4, and it sucks for their players/fans/coaches, but unfortunately, money rules the world, and Temple won't make the cash money these bowls want.

[CacheMoneyMustang]

I always thought 6 wins makes you eligible, but 7+ means you WILL be going to a bowl. Could a bowl have picked UT over Temple just because?

[sbsmith]

I always thought 6 wins makes you eligible, but 7+ means you WILL be going to a bowl. Could a bowl have picked UT over Temple just because?

The NCAA got rid of the rule that states 7 + win teams must be placed before 6 win teams. A few weeks ago when our bowl status was up in the air a few mentioned that they thought we could be casualties to the rule before they were made aware of the rule change.

[CacheMoneyMustang]

Wow, on one hand I feel like that's messed up because Temple definitely earned it. However on the other hand I get it because only like 25 people outside of the team give a flip whether they go or not.

[Harry0569]

Wow, on one hand I feel like that's messed up because Temple definitely earned it. However on the other hand I get it because only like 25 people outside of the team give a flip whether they go or not.

Even Deadspin writer, and Temple Graduate, Barry Patchesky does not care.

Temple's not very good. But the fact that there's anyone out there getting upset over a crummy-to-mediocre program not getting picked is a great way to highlight the vagaries, the business interests and the all around strangeness of college football's postseason.

I vaguely remember a Bowl Game, capital B capital G, meaning something, though it might just be a legend passed down by my grandfather. These days it takes just six wins to become bowl eligible, and only five against FBS schools. There are 35 bowls, with openings for 70 teams — well over half the number of schools playing football at that level. That makes the NBA look stingy in the number of teams it lets make the playoffs.

A lot of things had to break just so to keep Temple out of the bowl picture. They were penciled in for a matchup against a fellow MAC school until Middle Tennessee State pulled out a win against FIU to move to 6-6 on the season, making them eligible and allowing the Sun Belt Conference to fulfill their bowl game obligations. Why does the Sun Belt have bowl obligations? Why does the MAC, for that matter? (Western Michigan was the only other bowl eligible team to get snubbed.) Who's rushing across the country to watch Florida International, or Troy, or Miami of Ohio play in the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl or the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl or the GoDaddy.com bowl?

While we're on it, is anyone flying to Glendale to see UConn in an actual BCS Bowl, because the Big East used to be good once? Yes, the UConn with the same record as Temple, who lost by two scores to Temple. (Traina puts the spreads for all the BCS Bowls at 3, except for Oklahoma -18.)

Bitter? Not really. My team was No. 71 out of 70. That can't compare to the bitterness felt by MSU or LSU or Boise State, who were Nos. 9, 10 and 11 out of 10, but missed out thanks to conference guarantees. And even they can't compare with the bitterness felt by TCU, who as No. 1B, doesn't get a chance to prove themselves against 1 or 1A.

And therein is the best argument against the BCS. The defense that "one team would still be left out" in a playoff is ludicrous. No one's going to weep for the school that just misses out on an eight-team playoff, just as no one's weeping for the school that just missed out on a 70-team bowl system. But TCU, or whoever the undefeateds happen to be each year that don't make the BCS Title Game? That's very different.

So I'm quite cool with Temple not making a bowl, and not just because last year I froze my [deleted] off in DC just to watch them lose to a .500 UCLA team. I said it last night, but it bears repeating: if you live and die with Temple football, you likely killed yourself long ago.

[EastStang]

Why did other MAC teams get chosen ahead of them?

[Dukster]

Another example of why we need a playoff. It sucks for Temple 8-4 and beat UConn who's going to a BCS bowl game 17 mil......

[BeatNavy]

Why did other MAC teams get chosen ahead of them?

Because Temple finished 3rd in the MAC East and had only the fifth best record in conference games (5-3, behind NIU, Toledo, Ohio, & Miami).

[Big Hoss]

Another example of why we need a playoff. It sucks for Temple 8-4 and beat UConn who's going to a BCS bowl game 17 mil......

A playoff wouldn't solve this particular issue unless you have 71+ teams in it.

[Dukster]

Another example of why we need a playoff. It sucks for Temple 8-4 and beat UConn who's going to a BCS bowl game 17 mil......

A playoff wouldn't solve this particular issue unless you have 71+ teams in it.

Maybe not, but with a playoff, everything is earned on the field.