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The race to 70 has reached its final laps in the 2012 season. With 35 bowl games, the NCAA has played with fire over the past few seasons, hoping to get enough teams to finish at 6-6. This year, their luck may run out because of the number of teams not participating in bowl games through punishments. So as we are kicking off the final full week of football, here is a conference by conference breakdown of the race.
|
Conference |
Eligible |
Still alive |
Not Bowling |
Max Total |
|
ACC |
FSU, Clemson, North Carolina State, Georgia Tech*, Duke (5 teams) |
Wake Forest, Virigina Tech |
Maryland, Boston College, North Carolina, Miami, Virginia |
8 |
|
Big 12 |
Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, West Virginia, Iowa State (8 teams) |
Baylor |
Kansas |
9 |
|
Big East |
Rutgers, Louisville, Syracuse, Cincinnati (4 teams) |
UConn, Pitt |
Temple, South Florida |
5 |
|
Big Ten |
Nebraska, Michigan, Northwestern, Minnesota, Wisconsin (5 teams) |
Michigan State, Purdue |
Iowa, Ohio State, Penn State, Indiana, Illinois |
7 |
|
CUSA |
East Carolina, UCF, Tulsa (3 teams) |
SMU, Rice |
Marshall, Memphis, UAB, USM, Houston, UTEP, Tulane |
5 |
|
Independents |
Notre Dame, Navy, BYU (3 teams) |
Army |
3 |
|
|
MAC |
Kent State, Bowling Green, Ohio, Northern Illinois, Ball State, Toledo, Central Michigan (7 teams) |
Buffalo, Miami (OH), Massachusetts, Akron, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan |
7 |
|
|
MWC |
Boise St, Fresno St, San Diego St, Air Force, Nevada (5 teams) |
Wyoming, Colorado St, UNLV, New Mexico, Hawaii |
5 |
|
|
Pac-12 |
Stanford, Oregon, Oregon St, Washington, UCLA, USC, Arizona St, Arizona (8 teams) |
California, Washington St, Utah, Colorado |
8 |
|
|
SEC |
Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, Mississippi State (8 teams) |
Missouri, Ole Miss |
Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Auburn |
10 |
|
Sun Belt |
Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee St, UL-Monroe, UL-Lafayette, Western Kentucky (5 teams) |
Troy |
North Texas, FIU, FAU, South Alabama |
6 |
|
WAC |
Utah State, LA Tech, San Jose State (3 teams) |
Texas State, Idaho, New Mexico State, UTSA** |
3 |
|
|
Grand Totals |
64 |
12 |
76 |
*If Georgia finishes off their win over Georgia Tech, and if the Yellow Jackets lose to Florida State, they will finish 6-7. In that situation, they would need a special exemption to play in a bowl game. This was given to UCLA last year, and I am going ahead and assuming one would be given for them this year.
**UTSA has enough wins to be bowl eligible, but since it is in the transition to FBS process, it cannot qualify for a bowl game.
While a doomsday could happen and 5-7 teams would play in bowl games, none of the teams fighting for eligibility play each other. Here are the games with teams fighting for eligibility.
UConn at Louisville--11 am
Rutgers at Pitt--11 am
Tulsa at SMU--11 am
Indiana at Purdue--11am
Virginia at Virginia Tech--11am
Baylor vs Texas Tech (Cowboys Stadium) 1:30pm
Troy at Middle Tennessee State--2:30pm
Michigan State at Minnesota--2:30pm
Vanderbilt at Wake Forest--2:30pm
Mississippi State at Ole Miss--6pm
Missouri at Texas A&M--6pm
Rice at UTEP--6pm