Noted Iowa State hater Pat Forde is at it again.
What about the move to outlaw 6-6 teams from bowl games: That will definitely spur some discussion and debate. In that scenario, several bowls likely would be put out of business.
On one level — the Vanderbilt/Washington State/Syracuse/Duke/Indiana/Iowa State level — getting to 6-6 and going to a bowl is an accomplishment. Commissioners are cognizant of that and don’t want to keep their lower-echelon programs from hitting a high point on occasion.
Iowa State went 6-6 in the regular season last year, and Paul Rhoads got a contract extension, so this isn’t a random point. Remember, Rhoads is one failed two-point conversion away from being perfectly mediocre in the regular season for three years. (He’s 18-20 overall.)
I don’t particularly like bowls for 6-6 teams either, and I say that as a fan of one of the major beneficiaries. However, when there are so many bowls that it is imperative to a coach’s job that six wins be attained in some manner, it’s inescapable. It also leads to a nonconference schedule of Iowa, a I-AA team that more often than not is UNI, and a non-BCS team. The home-and-home with UConn and the 2002 Eddie Robinson Classic against Florida State have been the only regular-season games against any BCS opponent not named Iowa since Minnesota in 1997 — and before that, TCU and Rice when they were still in the Southwest Conference. A nine-game conference slate isn’t going to change that any time soon, although Navy’s move to the Big East will happen before a home-and-home with them in 2018-19.
I think the number of bowls should be cut such that even some 7-5 teams stay home, as long as coaching contracts and ADs and fans recognize that that doesn’t automatically mean someone should be fired. That may be the biggest mental block of all.
But all that is tangent to my original point of contention: Lumping us in the same football category as Duke? That hurts. (Counterpoint: The Blue Devils actually managed to win a couple of conference championships.)