I was curious after seeing N. Illinois getting invite to Orange Bowl (17 mill payout), how the Sunbelt #9 FBS conference matched up with the MAC #11 ranked when it comes to bowls and payouts. Here's what I found. Aside from NI, these MAC teams received bowl invites: Bowling Green-Military Bowl (2 mill), C. Michigan-Little Casears (1.5 mill), Kent st.--Go Daddy (1.5 mill), and Toledo- Idaho bowl (650,000). Five bowl teams.
Meanwhile the #9 sunbelt recieved two bowl bids being: Arkansas St.- Go Daddy (1.5 mill) and Louisianna Lafeyette-New Orleans bowl (1 mill). Not sure how the Sagarin conference ratings are derived, but seems to me a 13 team conference, with 5 bowl invites dividing 24 million in revenue, stacks up better than a 2 bowl bid 10 team conference sharing 2.5 million. I realize N. Illinois in Orange Bowl is a fluke, But say they had 1 more loss and only received 2 mill for bowl, still the MAC would stack up much better than the sunbelt. jmo GO APPS!

yosefederation wrote:I was curious after seeing N. Illinois getting invite to Orange Bowl (17 mill payout), how the Sunbelt #9 FBS conference matched up with the MAC #11 ranked when it comes to bowls and payouts. Here's what I found. Aside from NI, these MAC teams received bowl invites: Bowling Green-Military Bowl (2 mill), C. Michigan-Little Casears (1.5 mill), Kent st.--Go Daddy (1.5 mill), and Toledo- Idaho bowl (650,000). Five bowl teams.
Meanwhile the #9 sunbelt recieved two bowl bids being: Arkansas St.- Go Daddy (1.5 mill) and Louisianna Lafeyette-New Orleans bowl (1 mill). Not sure how the Sagarin conference ratings are derived, but seems to me a 13 team conference, with 5 bowl invites dividing 24 million in revenue, stacks up better than a 2 bowl bid 10 team conference sharing 2.5 million. I realize N. Illinois in Orange Bowl is a fluke, But say they had 1 more loss and only received 2 mill for bowl, still the MAC would stack up much better than the sunbelt. jmo GO APPS!

The Sun Belt also had one of the two bowl-eligible schools not to receive an invite; the 8-4 MTSU Blue Raiders.

Of the available options, the MAC would be my preference right now, but it's probably also the least likely.

edit. wrong thread.

??? I started this thread in "other schools athletics"

yosefederation wrote:??? I started this thread in "other schools athletics"

I think he meant he posted in the wrong thread.

Academically and athletics-wise I think the MAC would be an exellent fit. Geography-wise, not so much.

yosefederation wrote:I was curious after seeing N. Illinois getting invite to Orange Bowl (17 mill payout), how the Sunbelt #9 FBS conference matched up with the MAC #11 ranked when it comes to bowls and payouts. Here's what I found. Aside from NI, these MAC teams received bowl invites: Bowling Green-Military Bowl (2 mill), C. Michigan-Little Casears (1.5 mill), Kent st.--Go Daddy (1.5 mill), and Toledo- Idaho bowl (650,000). Five bowl teams.
Meanwhile the #9 sunbelt recieved two bowl bids being: Arkansas St.- Go Daddy (1.5 mill) and Louisianna Lafeyette-New Orleans bowl (1 mill). Not sure how the Sagarin conference ratings are derived, but seems to me a 13 team conference, with 5 bowl invites dividing 24 million in revenue, stacks up better than a 2 bowl bid 10 team conference sharing 2.5 million. I realize N. Illinois in Orange Bowl is a fluke, But say they had 1 more loss and only received 2 mill for bowl, still the MAC would stack up much better than the sunbelt. jmo GO APPS!

The Sunbelt actually received 4 bowl bids. The two you mentioned and:
The Little Caesar's Bowl - Western Kentucky vs Cent Michigan; and
The AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl - Louisiana Monroe vs Ohio

So the MAC with 13 teams sent 5 teams to bowl games and the Sunbelt with 10 teams sent 4 teams to bowl games.

The payouts may be greater for the MAC but it's hard to tell as bowl payouts are usually determined by ticket sold by the school participants not by the payout listed. i.e. if you can't sell the required amount of tickets, your payout is reduced by the unsold amount. From my understanding the GoDaddy.com bowl doesn't completely tie payouts to tickets sold so it's actually one of the better paying bowls (among those w/o an AQ school participant).

yosefederation wrote:...I realize N. Illinois in Orange Bowl is a fluke, But say they had 1 more loss and only received 2 mill for bowl, still the MAC would stack up much better than the sunbelt. jmo GO APPS!

MAC would've received a BCS bid either way. Kent State was actually ranked/rated a few spots higher than N Illinois before the game. Herbie and everyone at ESPN seem to be forgetting that.