{"id":22220,"date":"2015-12-05T08:57:28","date_gmt":"2015-12-05T14:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=22220"},"modified":"2015-12-05T08:57:28","modified_gmt":"2015-12-05T14:57:28","slug":"outback-bowl-seems-inevitable-for-northwestern-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/outback-bowl-seems-inevitable-for-northwestern-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Outback Bowl seems inevitable for Northwestern football"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jordan Ray<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

After his team beat Illinois last weekend, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald<\/a> made it clear he wasn\u2019t happy with how the College Football Playoff committee has been ranking his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a team (Stanford) ranked X amount of spots ahead of us that we beat,\u201d Fitzgerald told reporters. \u201cI don\u2019t get it. Pop on the tape, and watch the film. Our kids dominated that game, and I don\u2019t think they get any credit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe he\u2019ll feel better about Tampa.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

All signs indicate the No. 14 Wildcats won\u2019t get picked for a New Year\u2019s Six bowl game despite their win against the No. 7 Cardinal, but that doesn\u2019t mean the Wildcats won\u2019t get to ring in 2016 with a game, specifically the Outback Bowl.<\/p>\n

\"Pat<\/a>
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald is pictured. (Big Ten)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI would be surprised if they ended up somewhere else,\u201d said Jerry Palm, a college football bowls expert for CBSSports.com.<\/p>\n

No. 4 Iowa and No. 5 Michigan State play in the Big Ten Championship this weekend with the winner likely making the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n

The loser will likely fall behind No. 6 Ohio State in the rankings, giving the Buckeyes a spot in the Rose Bowl, but still get a bid from the Fiesta Bowl as an at-large team.<\/p>\n

That leaves Northwestern, No. 15 Michigan and Wisconsin as the three teams available for the Big Ten\u2019s top tier of non-New Year\u2019s Six bowls: the Citrus Bowl, the Outback Bowl and the Holiday Bowl.<\/p>\n

The Citrus Bowl gets to pick first and indicated on Twitter that the discussion would center around Northwestern and Michigan if the top three Big Ten teams are all unavailable.<\/p>\n

\n

If Iowa\/MSU\/OSU are all off the board, our discussion centers on Michigan and Northwestern in the B1G.<\/p>\n

\u2014 BWW Citrus Bowl (@BWWCitrusBowl) November 29, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Palm said it\u2019ll pick Michigan if given the choice between the two.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bowls want fans to show up in the seats,\u201d Palm said. \u201cThey want people to watch on TV. There are very few stories in college football more compelling than Jim Harbaugh, and Michigan is a brand name that would attract casual viewers even without (him).\u201d<\/p>\n

In a 2013 study<\/a>, TicketCity named Michigan the most engaged fanbase in college football.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin travels better and has a bigger fanbase than Northwestern, but the Badgers already played in the Outback Bowl last season. Palm has them slated to play in the Holiday Bowl instead.<\/p>\n

Outback Bowl communications director Mike Schulze said Northwestern is attractive for a number of reasons, namely Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Fitzgerald is one of the best coaches in the country, has done an awesome job there and is great to work with,\u201d Schulze said.<\/p>\n

\n

Projecting the Big Ten<\/h1>\n

Cotton Bowl: Michigan State<\/p>\n

Rose Bowl: Ohio State<\/p>\n

Fiesta Bowl: Iowa<\/p>\n

Citrus Bowl: Michigan<\/p>\n

Outback Bowl: Northwestern<\/p>\n

Holiday Bowl: Wisconsin<\/p>\n

Music City Bowl: Penn State<\/p>\n

Pinstripe Bowl: Minnesota<\/p>\n

Foster Farms Bowl: Indiana<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A win would give Northwestern its first 11-win team in school history.<\/p>\n

When Northwestern last went to a bowl game, the 2013 Gator Bowl, it beat Mississippi State 34-20. In the Outback Bowl, the Wildcats would get to play someone from the SEC again, but projecting which team is difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost like pulling names out of a hat,\u201d Palm said.<\/p>\n

Palm currently projects No. 25 Tennessee, but said No. 18 Florida, No. 21 LSU, Georgia, Mississippi State and Texas A&M, which each have 8 or 9 wins, are all possibilities.<\/p>\n

Regardless of whom they\u2019d play, there is almost zero chance Northwestern gets a better bowl than the Outback. Even if Michigan State beats Iowa 170-0, it would likely drop the Hawkeyes out of the New Year\u2019s Six and into the Citrus Bowl, forcing Northwestern down another spot in the pecking order to the Music City Bowl.<\/p>\n

How does Tampa sound?<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Fans cheer at Ryan Field during a Northwestern football game. (Flickr via Frank Gruber<\/a>)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jordan Ray After his team beat Illinois last weekend, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald made it clear he wasn\u2019t happy with how the College Football Playoff committee has been ranking his team. \u201cI saw a team (Stanford) ranked X amount of spots ahead of us that we beat,\u201d Fitzgerald told reporters. \u201cI don\u2019t get it. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":22227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[509,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2015","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nOutback Bowl seems inevitable for Northwestern football - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/outback-bowl-seems-inevitable-for-northwestern-football\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Outback Bowl seems inevitable for Northwestern football - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jordan Ray After his team beat Illinois last weekend, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald made it clear he wasn\u2019t happy with how the College Football Playoff committee has been ranking his team. \u201cI saw a team (Stanford) ranked X amount of spots ahead of us that we beat,\u201d Fitzgerald told reporters. \u201cI don\u2019t get it. 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