D2 Bowl Games

[S&TMinerfan]

How many Bowl games does D2 Football have. What are they called and are they all tied to a specific conference. Seeing how my Mo S&T Miners are going to finish a great season and not get a playoff invite I was wondering if maybe a Bowl game would be a possibility? Also, how long after the regular season finishes until the Bowl game is played?

[GorillaBred]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

How many Bowl games does D2 Football have. What are they called and are they all tied to a specific conference. Seeing how my Mo S&T Miners are going to finish a great season and not get a playoff invite I was wondering if maybe a Bowl game would be a possibility? Also, how long after the regular season finishes until the Bowl game is played?

Last year there were 4 bowls. They were all played on the first Saturday in December. I'd expect the same to be true this year.

Mineral Water Bowl: Excelsior Springs, MO - Northern Sun vs. At-large (had been MIAA for many years until this year)
Heart of Texas Bowl: Copperas Cove, TX - Not sure, might be two at-large teams
Corsicana Bowl: Corsicana, TX - MIAA vs. LSC (I believe this had been LSC vs. MIAA or GAC until this year)
Live United Bowl: Texarkana, AR - GAC vs. at-large, I believe. And I think the at-large maybe has to come from either the LSC or the MIAA

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I'd be a little surprised if S&T got any of those, just because I do think the bowls have relationships with the conferences, even if not formalized, that dramatically help the MIAA, GAC and LSC with the three farther south bowls.

Your best bet would be the MWB. It's not clear (to me) if the MIAA-MWB relationship actually soured or if it was just un-formalized. If the relationship soured, I would think the MWB would want someone as local as possible and S&T would be their best option there.

[EveryCatAWildman]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

4 Bowls - there are loose affiliations that change and have a lot this year so

Mineral Water Bowl - Excelsior Springs, MO (last year MIAA vs NSUN)
Corsicana Bowl - Corsicana, TX (last year MIAA vs LSC)
Live United Bowl - Texarkana, AR (last year MIAA vs GAC)
Champs HOT Bowl - Waco, TX (last year MIAA vs LSC)

I doubt MIAA fills out 4 bowls, if I'd guess the Mineral Water or Live United would be good options for S&T

[EveryCatAWildman]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

L
Your best bet would be the MWB. It's not clear (to me) if the MIAA-MWB relationship actually soured or if it was just un-formalized. If the relationship soured, I would think the MWB would want someone as local as possible and S&T would be their best option there.

Not sure either but even if they are further down the pecking order than they'd like I can see them taking a 7-4 MO Western over 9-2 S&T (sorry S&T). The NSUN team looks to be Winona St. who was there last in 2012 or Moorhead St. which has never gone.
if they really ran it to fill seats you'd think they'd want a MO West vs S&T game

[Water Bowl Fan]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

It looks like to me the team from the NSIC will be the winner of the St. Cloud- MSU Moorhead game as neither team has played in the Bowl game. Winona State could make it in if they win and there's a tie in the other game. As for the other team I'm guessing S&T would be someone they would look at if they win against Truman State or other teams that are in the 8-10 spots of the regional rankings or top 25 that don't make the playoffs and after next weekend I'm sure they will have schools calling wanting to come to the game.

[BartonTiger]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

S&T makes sense as they are close and foreign to post season play. It would likely be a big deal to them.

[laker]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

It looks like to me the team from the NSIC will be the winner of the St. Cloud- MSU Moorhead game as neither team has played in the Bowl game. Winona State could make it in if they win and there's a tie in the other game. As for the other team I'm guessing S&T would be someone they would look at if they win against Truman State or other teams that are in the 8-10 spots of the regional rankings or top 25 that don't make the playoffs and after next weekend I'm sure they will have schools calling wanting to come to the game.

I don't know why any team would have a tie unless there is a power failure or weather cancellation. They do have overtimes.

[jimbo slice]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

UCO and S&T would be a fantastic game in the MWB!

[GorillaBred]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

UCO and S&T would be a fantastic game in the MWB!

I'm guessing UCO is making another trip south for a bowl game. There are just too many bowls in TX/So AR for UCO to be one of the obvious bowl candidates and them not to go to one of those bowls.

[jimbo slice]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

I'm guessing UCO is making another trip south for a bowl game. There are just too many bowls in TX/So AR for UCO to be one of the obvious bowl candidates and them not to go to one of those bowls.

prolly end up being correct. i just know we have a choice of all 4. at least as of right now.

[ShirtedBearcat]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

With the Mineral Water Bowl not "officially" having ties to the MIAA, I could see S&T playing in Excelsior Springs against St. Cloud or Moorhead.

[jimbo slice]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

With the Mineral Water Bowl not "officially" having ties to the MIAA, I could see S&T playing in Excelsior Springs against St. Cloud or Moorhead.

like i said, we have our choice of 4 games...miaa ties or not

[GorillaBred]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

I'm not sure I got my conference tie-ins correct earlier:

Mineral Water - NSIC vs At-Large
Texarkana - GAC vs LSC or MIAA
Corsicana - LSC vs MIAA
Heart of Texas - LSC vs At-large

Barring upsets this weekend, LSC may only have two eligible non-PO teams, so they wouldn't have a squad for the Texarkana Bowl. That means MIAA would have slots in Corsicana and Texarkana. Once again, barring upsets, those two slots are probably UCO and Pitt State. Bowl predictions:

Texarkana - Harding vs. Pitt State
Corsicana - UCO vs. West Texas A&M
Heart of Texas - Angelo State vs. ???????? (No idea who to guess, maybe MoWest?)
Mineral Water - Whoever comes out of the weird mix of 7-3 NSIC teams (my gut tells me Winona State gets the bid) vs ???????? (I'm guessing MUS&T)

In a world where there wasn't this new separation between the MIAA and the MWB, flipping MUS&T and MW would make all the sense in the world. I'm not sure what to think about that now.

[EveryCatAWildman]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

Texarkana - Harding vs. Pitt State
Corsicana - UCO vs. West Texas A&M

I would think these two bowls would switch their MIAA options as Pitt went to Texarkana last year and UCO went to Corsicana.

[jimbo slice]

Re: D2 Bowl Games

I would think these two bowls would switch their MIAA options as Pitt went to Texarkana last year and UCO went to Corsicana.

i would think uco would pick heart of texas to make a clean sweep of the bowls in the last 5 years