I’m sure you’ll be shocked, shocked to learn that six wins will still get a school into a bowl game. And for all the usual suspects reasons.
“I see it staying at 6-6 for the foreseeable future,” said Wright Waters, the new executive director of the Football Bowl Association. “When commissioners went back to their conferences, they found out there’s an awful lot of support for 6-6. That’s 35 athletic directors who get an early jump on selling season tickets and 35 coaches who are talking to recruits about winning a bowl game.”
SEC Executive Associate Commissioner Mark Womack, whose conference supports six-win eligibility, also no longer hears discussion of switching to a 7-5 standard. “Thirty-five bowl games can be a lot, but certainly those games provide an opportunity for a lot of student-athletes to experience the postseason,” Womack said.
Throw in the other squeaky wheel…
Staying at 6-6 helps ESPN, which televises most of the bowl season during the TV doldrums of December and owns seven lower-tiered bowls, including Birmingham’s game. The BBVA Compass Bowl has invited a 6-6 team in three of the past four years.
… and I think they’ve got all the food groups represented.
Now as someone who doesn’t have a problem with watching college football in December, I’m more than fine with this. But I’m wondering about something else: since the seven-win requirement for bowls is being ignored, what’ll be the next flimsy excuse for why the SEC can’t go to a nine-game conference schedule?
Get The Picture 
The kids, Senator. Won’t someone please think of the kids! I’m not sure how it hurts them, but I’m pretty sure the kids will be negatively impacted by a 9th conference game and we’ll stay at 8 because the SEC prioritizes the needs of our student-athletes.
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Is this, “… and I think they’ve got all the food groups represented” not thinking of the kids?
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Are creampuffs part of the food groups. The SEC loves creampuffs so no 9 game conference schedule and more Buffalo and FAU doneybrooks. 😉
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I get it that the value of being a “bowl team”, or “bowl eligible” is cheapened by the inclusion of 6-6 teams, but I honestly don’t understand CFB fans wanting fewer games to watch. If you don’t like them, or have no interest, watch Wheel of Fortune. With all the sports channel needing filler entertainment it is either bowls, or more talking heads, or more re-runs, or perhaps coverage of cricket/soccer. As someone who participates in bowl pools I can verify that many of the minor bowls are often more competitive match-ups (and harder to pick) than the bigger bowls that get played on New Year’s Day. That causes me to research more teams, coaches, and players than I would normally have heard of. I personally like those games on a December 18, or 21, etc. than other available programming. I know at that time of year the sand is really running out of the hour glass.
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“watch Wheel of Fortune.”
Am boycotting that until they trade in Vanna for a younger version who is familiar with all the food groups and even more fabulous with the alphabet.
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I agree about the flimsy excuses. I am tired of them. Just come right out and be honest. The SEC should release a statement, “We do not need no stinkin 9th conference game and will not schedule it until TV offers so much money that we cannot ignore it.”
Honesty that I can appreciate.
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