If Michigan replicates is paltry 5-7 2009 season ending record in 2010, the team could be bowl eligible
To be bowl eligible, you have to win at least 6 games during the regular season. In prior seasons, even if you won the requisite amount, a team may still not receive a bowl bid. As the NCAA prepares for the 2010 kick-off, this rule of thumb can be tossed out the window.
With the NCAA approving two additional bowl games, there are now 35 bowl games lined up for the upcoming season. This means 70 teams will play in the post season. As it stands, there are currently 120 D-1 programs eligible for bowl births.
With these numbers, it is statistically possible to not have enough 6 win programs to fill all 70 slots. Therefore to fill the vacancy, you would need to invite teams with 5-7 records. The NCAA would be forced to reward a losing program.
This clearly sends the message that the NCAA is money hungry and is squeezing every dollar out of the programs. The NCAA might as well have 60 bowl games so every team gets a post season birth.
Fortunately, a new president is taking the reigns over at the NCAA in Mark Emmert. He is no stranger to football and had great success making unpopular decisions that actually worked (as chancellor of LSU, he fired the popular Gerry Dinardo for Nick Saban; at Washington, he fired AD Todd turner and fired Tyrone Willingham for Steve Sarkisian).
Emmert knows football and his first order of business should be to reinstate the value of post season play. Fortunately, he is a man who is pro-playoffs. Perhaps the end of this bowl ridiculousness is forthcoming.
