To summarize:
Heading into this week, there were 10 open bowl spots for which Illinois could receive an invitation. Unfortunately, two of those invites will be guaranteed to be given to other teams regardless of the outcomes of this weekend’s games. So, there are 8 invites up for grabs that will be determined by the results of the games over the next two weeks. Removing all reasoning behind
why we are rooting for the following outcomes, here is a table showing when games are scheduled, who we are rooting for, and how many bowl invitations are still up for grabs. Each team that we need to lose that ends up winning takes one bowl invite away. When this table is completed, if the number of bowl invites is greater than or equal to 1, then Illinois
should be guaranteed an invite. Even if it's less than or equal to zero, there's still some weird things that could go Illinois' way. But for now, let's root for the following.
Of course, this assumes Illinois wins tomorrow...
Game Time (CST): | Needs to Win: | Needs to Lose: | Invites Remaining: 8 |
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Tue 6:00 PM | Buffalo - 3 | Ball State - 20 | 7 |
Thu 2:30 PM | Fresno State - 40 | San Jose State - 9 | 7 |
Fri 11:00 AM | Kansas State - 17 | Texas - 22 | 6 |
Fri 2:30 PM ESPN+ | Coastal Carolina | South Alabama | |
Fri 3:30 PM FS1 | Iowa State | TCU | |
Sat 11:00 AM ESPN | Florida | Florida State | |
Sat 11:00 AM BTN | Rutgers | Maryland | |
Sat 1:00 PM ESPN+ | UTSA | North Texas | |
Sat 1:00 PM ESPN+ | Georgia State | Troy | |
Sat 2:45 PM ACCN | Virginia | Virginia Tech | |
Sat 3:00 PM ESPN2 | SMU | Tulsa | |
Sat 6:00 PM ESPN | Texas A&M | LSU | |
Sat 6:00 PM | Middle Tennessee | Florida Atlantic | |
Sat 6:00 PM FS1 | Kansas | West Virginia | |
Sat 6:30 PM ACCN | Pitt | Syracuse | |
If both Cal and USC win on Saturday, then one of them is guaranteed a bowl invite. If they both lose, then neither will receive one. If only one wins, then we will be rooting against that team next week. For this week, let's just root against both.
Game Time (CST): | Needs to Win: | Needs to Lose: |
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Sat 9:30 PM ESPN | UCLA | Cal |
Sat 9:30 PM FS1 | BYU | USC |
Hopefully this provides a nice viewers guide for all of us tomorrow!