I would love to see this. 6-6 teams do not belong in bowls. Especially when you can schedule for wins in a BCS conference. Losing 10-12 bowl games wouldn't be a bad thing. They are a joke that no one takes that seriously.

Fitz: Don't limit bowls to 7-win teams

By Teddy Greenstein, Tribune reporter

Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald hopes the Big Ten does not support potential legislation to limit bowls to seven-win teams.

“I think the best part of bowl games is about the opportunities -- not just the teams, but for your students, your fans, your alumni, your fans in the area,” Fitzgerald told the Tribune on Tuesday. “I’m not for limiting it.”


Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told the Tribune last month that in preliminary discussions with league athletic directors, he has seen “a lot of head-nodding” in support of the seven-win requirement.

“We’re seriously considering being supportive of that,” Delany said. “Gosh, you had a number of coaches who lost their jobs (after six-win regular seasons). You had this anomaly where coaches may be receiving bonuses for going to a bowl but losing their job and having their whole staffs in transition. That’s not a celebration (of a season).

“You look at the whole environment and you think: ‘Is that is a reward? Is that enough to merit a successful season?’ In some cases you could say yes, where a team had not been to a bowl in five years. It energizes the fans. But in a lot of other cases, clearly not, and there’s bowl fatigue within the fan base.”

The lower bowls tend to be money-losers because of poor ticket sales. Schools and conferences have to soak up the losses.

A seven-win requirement, which could become reality for the 2014 season, could torpedo a half-dozen of the 35 bowls.

The flip side is that bowls are rewards for players and opportunities to see new parts of the country. And even the lowest-level bowls draw decent TV ratings.

“I’m all for letting guys have the opportunity to play,” Fitzgerald said. “A .500 record in our league, I think, is pretty darn good. Is it great? No, it’s not great.

“But you can still have a great bowl game like we did this year with two 6-6 teams. It was very entertaining. Our fans traveled well.”

Texas A&M’s 33-22 victory over Northwestern in the Meineke Car Care Bowl drew 68,395 to Houston’s Reliant Stadium.

“I’m not for five-win teams even being able to receive a waiver,” Fitzgerald said. “I think that’s tough noogies. If you have a losing record, you are out. A .500 record should be the benchmark, in my opinion.”

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Come on, everyone should play in a bowl. Every kid should get a trophy, win lose or draw.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

All this would do is make it nearly impossible for BCS schools to go to the bad bowl games because except for 4-0 out of conference and 3-5 conference teams they'd never be that low. This would actually hurt many of the small schools as the bowls would shrink with less teams and less teams that can make them money. We'd lose most of the pre-Christmas bowl games as they aren't going to survive when the best they can hope for is Marshall vs. Fresno State.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I kinda disagree with Fitz. He really cares more about the extra practices than he does about the actual bowl game.

Back in the day (I think up until the mid 1970's), the Big Ten would only accept a bowl bid to the Rose bowl. I don't think we should go back to that, but I don't see any problem with raising the standards for bowl admittance and getting rid of some of the lesser bowls.

greenstein is a turd..he likes the current system and is against a playoff system...no 7 win teams should play in any postseason..no 8 win team either

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Here is what I would agree to: 6 wins need to be against D1 teams, wins against FCS teams shouldn't count. FCS teams would likely bitch since they would lose out on some pay days.

you should be penalized for playing d1aa teams..they should not allow it

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Why? There is zero harm in it and it's a really nice payday for schools

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Team Cutler.

ohio st should not play youngstown and akron..it is a massacre and only adds a couple easy wins .

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They used to not count FCS wins towards bowls and then changed it. I believe now they might only count 1 (would have to check) but if you schedule two FCS teams in a year, only one win counts against the number needed for bowl eligibility. In addition, the FCS games hurt you if you are looking to make the BCS.

There's gonna be some sort of RPI system that will have to follow... scheduling will become an art.

Akron is D-1, FBS, whatever.

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Right. Top teams use it to get going into the season. The D2 teams get a fat check. The computers and voters take into account teams that schedule too many easy games. There's nothing wrong with this

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Team Cutler.

Everybody needs to shift their thinking on the bowls. They are just fun little exhibition games that don't matter 90% of the time.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.