Nebraska is a 1.5 point favorite over Iowa this morning, with an over/under of 26.5.
LJS has a story running about whether or not Nebraska could go to a bowl game with a 5-7 record. The short answer is it is possible but a lot of things have to happen. The link is below but here’s the best line:
Barring a divine intervention of fate, there remains one clear workable path to the postseason — beating Iowa.
Mike Nolan
Not to be overly technical but six wins doesn’t mean a team is going to a bowl game. Six wins just makes a team bowl eligible. I understand the Huskers would likely go to a bowl game. One reason people believe the Huskers will go is their following. That was a big deal years ago. I am not sure that is a factor anymore.
I know I wouldn’t travel some distance with all the expense of doing that just to see some mediocre bowl game. Some people might, though. The only way I would is if the location is somewhere I would like to go.
John Papenhagen
I would go just because I’d love to see our Huskers in a bowl game personally. Got the see them in the back-to-back Holiday Bowls when we curb stomped Arizona (remember their “Go Bigger Red”) and then lost to Washington who we’d beaten in the regular season.
Unfortunately, if they win and go to the projected bowl games on 12/26, we’ll be in Alaska with family for Christmas.
GO BIG RED! Beat Iowa!
JB
The bowls associated with the Big Ten have an order in which they pick the teams they want from the list of bowl-eligible teams in the conference, but they can pick any team from that list.
If the Big Ten runs out of bowls, any remaining bowl-eligible teams go into the list of teams that can be picked for at-large bowls.
If there are fewer bowl-eligible teams (currently 67) than there are bowl slots (82), then eventually some bowl will have to take the last 6-6 team on the list before they can start picking other teams, including the two teams in transition that aren’t eligible (JMU and Jacksonville State.)
At least one prognosticator is suggesting that there may be one or two 5-7 teams invited to bowl games, but Nebraska is not at the top of the list by APR scores.
So I think it is a near certainty that a 6-6 Nebraska team would go somewhere, but a 5-7 team is far less likely. And that’s without taking into account Nebraska’s history of doing well with fans attending their bowl games.
Nebraska now listed as a 2.5 point favorite over Iowa on Friday.
It appears Minnesota will be the only 5-7 team to get a bowl game this year, as they have the best APR score among the 5-7 teams. 81 eligible teams, including JMU and Jacksonville State, had records of 6-6 or better.
Nebraska, Colorado and Florida will likely not go to a bowl game. Who would’ve thought this possible in 1988 or even 1998?