While most of the drama has subsided in the WAC, there’s still that chance of an upset of Boise State is spending too much time worrying about bowl selections, and one game that nobody is going to watch will have huge ramifications on many teams nationwide.
Fresno State at Illinois, 12:30, Big 10 Network: Illinois has had a disastrous season, staggering toward the finish line at 3-8 and wondering if and when the axe will fall on Ron Zook. Meanwhile, Fresno has won six of their last seven and are already bowl eligible, but an 8th win might help their bowl placement situation (more on that in a moment). This wraps up a bizarre road-warrior season for the Bulldogs, who you may remember have played in 5 time zones and all over the map- at Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Hawaii, Idaho, and more. Personally, I think the International Bowl up in Toronto would be a perfect fit, but they won’t have an opening this year.
San Jose State at Louisiana Tech, 2:00, espn360: A season finale for the also-rans, two teams that had hoped for a little more this season. Louisiana Tech has lost a series of heartbreakers- 2 points at Utah State, one point at Idaho, then two very competitive games where they lost by 10 to Boise and just 8 at LSU, then another 2 point loss at Fresno two weeks ago. A few different bounces and they’d be 6-5 and at least fighting for a bowl bid, but so goes the football season. Meanwhile, SJSU bids goodbye to Dick Tomey, who hangs up the clipboard after 29 years as a head coach. This might be an interesting game in a vacuum, but with so much else going on Saturday afternoon, it’s relegated to an afterthought.
New Mexico State at Boise State, 3:00, espn360: Another game relegated to internet viewing or pay per view, simply due to the championship weekend around the country (I suspect this is why the MWC opted to go dark this weekend- their teams can’t be overshadowed). New Mexico state is not a good team- not awful, but not good either. They only have two 1-A wins this year, against 1-11 New Mexico and 4-8 Utah State. Boise State should have their way with them, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them light up the scoreboard, just so they get a mention here and there given the fashion show that is the BCS selection procedures.
Wisconsin at Hawaii, 11:30 PM, ESPN2: This game has huge ramifications nationally. I’d projected 3 at-large spots out there, but there may be four, since I’d neglected to allow for some BCS conference getting one of the at-large bids. What that means is that if everyone’s projections continued to hold, one 6-6 team somewhere out there would get into a bowl game. Of course, it is widely accepted that Notre Dame will be that team, although UCLA is probably second in line. However, those projections started back when Hawaii was about 4-6 and still had to get past Navy & Wisconsin. Well, now they’re past Navy and 6-6, and if they win, they’re going to bump somebody from the WAC out onto the at-large market with at least 7 wins. Which, therefore, shuts out the 6-6 at-large bunch, including the Domers. So not only is Hawaii’s season and bowl hopes on the line, so are the hopes of the 6-6 teams, and the bowls that are hoping to land ND or UCLA, and the WAC kids that might like to play in Hawaii.
As for whether Hawaii can pull it off, who knows? They’re playing for a shot at their old coach in their home bowl game, while Wisconsin hasn’t played in 3 weeks and is practically on a bowl trip already. They’re eligible, there’s plenty of room on the Big 10 bowl roster, so there’s just not that much that the Badgers can be worried about. Wisconsin should win, but they could very easily get tripped up here.