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Teel Time: Keeping 6-6 teams eligible for bowls fine by ACC coaches
By David Teel
4:26 p.m. EDT, August 1, 2012
No 6-6, bowl-eligible ACC team has ever missed college football’s bloated postseason, a trend that’s likely to continue.
As the Birmingham News’ Jon Solomon reported this week, a Big Ten proposal to elevate the minimum record for bowl qualification to 7-5 has gained little traction.
That’s just fine with the ACC. The conference had no formal position on the matter, associate commissioner for Michael Kelly said, but the league’s coaches unanimously opposed the idea.
No shock there. Even after a .500 regular season that likely was disappointing, bowls offer coaches a selling point to recruits, three extra weeks of practice and – wink, wink – a sweet bonus.
ACC coaches’ opposition intensified with the conference’s adoption of a nine-game league schedule, Kelly said. Indeed, an extra conference game means one less chance to play a winnable non-league contest.
Increasing the standard to 7-5 would have been a death knell for several of college football’s 35 bowls, hardly catastrophic.
For example, last year only one 7-5 team, the Sun Belt’s Western Kentucky, was bypassed for postseason. Meanwhile, 14 teams with six victories played in bowls, including the ACC’s Wake Forest.
Four bowls matched six-win teams: the Music City (Wake-Mississippi State), Meineke Car Care (Texas A&M-Northwestern), Kraft Fight Hunger (Illinois-UCLA) and Gator (Florida-Ohio State).
Here are the 6-6 ACC teams that have played in bowls, and their results:
2002: Wake Forest defeated Oregon in Seattle Bowl.
2003: Georgia Tech defeated Tulsa in Humanitarian Bowl.
2006: Miami defeated Nevada in MPC Computers Bowl; Florida State defeated UCLA in Emerald Bowl.
2007: Maryland lost to Oregon State in Emerald Bowl.
2008: North Carolina Sate lost to Rutgers in Papajohns.com Bowl.
2009: Florida State defeated West Virginia in Gator Bowl.
2010: Clemson lost to South Florida in Meineke Car Care Bowl; Georgia Tech lost to Air Force in Independence Bowl.
2011: Wake Forest lost to Mississippi State in Music City Bowl.
Miami finished 6-6 last season but self-imposed a bowl ban in the wake of the Evan Shapiro scandal.
Easy to see why. Oh and the Dude is everywhere...
David Teel@DavidTeelatDP
From last night:#ACC coaches happy 6-6 teams to remain eligible for bowls. http://bit.ly/MzockO
Details Expand Collapse
1h
The Dude of WV@theDudeofWV
@DavidTeelatDP insert joke about ACC football here. 6-6 gets an Orange Bowl bid against a 7-5 ND.
1h
David Teel@DavidTeelatDP
@theDudeofWV Would have to be 7-6 after winning ACC title game. 
By David Teel
4:26 p.m. EDT, August 1, 2012
No 6-6, bowl-eligible ACC team has ever missed college football’s bloated postseason, a trend that’s likely to continue.
As the Birmingham News’ Jon Solomon reported this week, a Big Ten proposal to elevate the minimum record for bowl qualification to 7-5 has gained little traction.
That’s just fine with the ACC. The conference had no formal position on the matter, associate commissioner for Michael Kelly said, but the league’s coaches unanimously opposed the idea.
No shock there. Even after a .500 regular season that likely was disappointing, bowls offer coaches a selling point to recruits, three extra weeks of practice and – wink, wink – a sweet bonus.
ACC coaches’ opposition intensified with the conference’s adoption of a nine-game league schedule, Kelly said. Indeed, an extra conference game means one less chance to play a winnable non-league contest.
Increasing the standard to 7-5 would have been a death knell for several of college football’s 35 bowls, hardly catastrophic.
For example, last year only one 7-5 team, the Sun Belt’s Western Kentucky, was bypassed for postseason. Meanwhile, 14 teams with six victories played in bowls, including the ACC’s Wake Forest.
Four bowls matched six-win teams: the Music City (Wake-Mississippi State), Meineke Car Care (Texas A&M-Northwestern), Kraft Fight Hunger (Illinois-UCLA) and Gator (Florida-Ohio State).
Here are the 6-6 ACC teams that have played in bowls, and their results:
2002: Wake Forest defeated Oregon in Seattle Bowl.
2003: Georgia Tech defeated Tulsa in Humanitarian Bowl.
2006: Miami defeated Nevada in MPC Computers Bowl; Florida State defeated UCLA in Emerald Bowl.
2007: Maryland lost to Oregon State in Emerald Bowl.
2008: North Carolina Sate lost to Rutgers in Papajohns.com Bowl.
2009: Florida State defeated West Virginia in Gator Bowl.
2010: Clemson lost to South Florida in Meineke Car Care Bowl; Georgia Tech lost to Air Force in Independence Bowl.
2011: Wake Forest lost to Mississippi State in Music City Bowl.
Miami finished 6-6 last season but self-imposed a bowl ban in the wake of the Evan Shapiro scandal.
Easy to see why. Oh and the Dude is everywhere...
David Teel
From last night:
Details Expand Collapse
1h
The Dude of WV1h
David Teel
