Tracking the EagleBank Bowl tie-ins

Time for a new weekly feature —- Tracking the Tie-Ins

Unlike well-established bowls that have the luxury of selecting the second or third choice from a major conference, the new EagleBank Bowl has the No. 9 selection from the ACC, as well as Navy, set to play in the Dec. 20 game at RFK Stadium.

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Now, it’s obviously waaaay too early to come up with a realistic projection for who will come out of the ACC. But it is worth paying attention to whether the league can come up with nine bowl-eligible teams.

As for Navy, this feature will match up the Mids’ schedule and results this year to last season’s, with identical opponents paired together and the other foes matched up in as comparable a manner as possible.

ACC

Teams with at least two victories: 8
Teams at .500 or better: 10
Projected EagleBank Bowl participant: Boston College or Duke

Bottom line for the ACC tie-in: So far, so good.

NAVY

2008 Opponent	Result	2007 Equivalent	Result
Towson	W, 41-13	Delaware	L, 59-52
at Ball State	L, 35-23	Ball State	L, 34-31 (OT)
at Duke	L, 41-31	Duke	W, 46-43
Rutgers		at Rutgers	L, 41-24
at Wake Forest		Wake Forest	L, 44-24
at Air Force		Air Force	W, 31-20
Pittsburgh		at Pittsburgh	W, 48-45 (2OT)
Southern Methodist		at North Texas	W, 74-62
Temple		at Temple	W, 30-19
vs. Notre Dame		at Notre Dame	W, 46-44 (3OT)
at Northern Illinois		Northern Illinois	W, 35-24
vs. Army		vs. Army	W, 38-3

As for the Midshipmen, their run to six wins took a slight hit yesterday with a loss at Duke. The setback flipped one of last year’s wins into the loss column, and at the least made it much more difficult for Navy to manage another 8-4 regular season.

There’s still plenty of time to go, but without a win in the next two weeks the Mids will be 1-4 and probably stuck in a fight for bowl eligibility deep into the season.

And neither they nor the EagleBank Bowl need that.

—- Patrick Stevens