BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The game had been over for more than an hour Saturday night, and Arkansas State players and coaches were still trying to make sense out of the flag-filled events leading to its 34-31 loss to Western Kentucky.
One thing was certain: Losing the regular-season finale didn’t add clarity to ASU’s bowl hopes.
“We just have to wait and see,” ASU safety Sterling Young said.
ASU (7-5, 5-2 Sun Belt Conference) thought there was reason for optimism when Louisiana-Lafayette accepted an invitation to the New Orleans Bowl for the third consecutive season after its 31-28 loss to Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday night.
Louisiana-Lafayette (8-3, 5-1) clinched at least a tie for the conference title with ASU’s loss, and would clinch the outright title with a victory at South Alabama on Saturday.
But ASU would tie for the conference title if Lafayette were to lose next Saturday, reinforcing its bowl hopes based on the Red Wolves’ interpretation of a Sun Belt guideline guaranteeing co-champions a bowl spot.
The guideline states that “if there are co-champions both teams are guaranteed a spot [in a bowl game] as long as both have a minimum of 7 regular-season wins.”
The Sun Belt office issued a clarification late Sunday night.
“We do have a working set of guidelines that can be used as a principle for how the Sun Belt would ask that bowl selections be made - with importance being placed on the champion and co-champions,” the league said. “However the guidelines have no bearing on the actual contractual relationships with the bowl games.”
ASU Athletic Director Terry Mohajir said the statement appeared to contradict the league’s guidelines, but said ASU is still committed to getting into a bowl game whether it is one tied to the league or not.
“One thing we as ADs are all trying to do is get the league in the best possible bowl games,” Mohajir said. “There are guidelines with the league, but we’re also contractually obligated with the bowls. It is what it is.”
That’s not to say ASU’s bowl chances depend on South Alabama beating Louisiana-Lafayette.
The GoDaddy.com Bowl, which had a representative at Western Kentucky Saturday night, has not yet offered an invitation to any school. It gets to choose its Sun Belt team after the New Orleans Bowl.
Mohajir said the GoDaddy.com Bowl could decide by Tuesday, and Western Kentucky Athletic Director Todd Stewart told the Bowling Green Daily News on Saturday night that his school could know its postseason fate as early as Sunday, but that did not happen.
Coach Bobby Petrino’s Hilltoppers have the inside track to the GoDaddy invitation, based on their better overall record and Saturday’s head-to-head victory over ASU.
The Little Caesars Bowl in Detroit and the AdvoCare V100 Bowl in Shreveport remain possibilities for ASU if gets bypassed by the GoDaddy, where it has appeared two consecutive years.
The Sun Belt does not have direct ties to either game, but each one is looking for replacement teams after the Big Ten (seven bowl eligible) didn’t fill its slot for the Little Caesars and the SEC (10 bowl eligible) came up short to fill its tie-in with Shreveport.
Western Kentucky got into the Little Caesars Bowl last year and Louisiana-Monroe landed in Shreveport. The Little Caesars Bowl has taken a Sun Belt team four of the past seven years,
“We should be in a bowl game,” ASU Coach Bryan Harsin said. “We play a good brand of football, our guys are fun to watch. We’ve been a good football team all year long. I think we’re attractive to a bowl game. … That being said, that’s out of our control.”
A surplus of bowl-eligible teams makes ASU’s situation tenuous.
There are 78 eligible teams for 70 spots, and there could be as many as 81 after this week’s games.
There were 72 eligible teams last year when the Sun Belt had a record four teams play in bowl games.
History says ASU has a reasonable chance to making a bowl.
Sun Belt teams have won at least seven games since it became a football-playing conference in 2001 and seven have made it to bowls, including four landing in games that had no tie-in to the conference.
Mohajir said ASU has a case even in a deep pool.
“We have one of the best fan bases in the league,” Mohajir said. “We paint the town red anywhere we go.”Arkansas State (7-5, 5-2 SBC) DATE OPPONENT (TV) TIME/RES.
Aug. 31 Ark.-Pine Bluff W, 62-11 Sept. 7 at Auburn L, 38-9 Sept. 12 Troy W, 41-34 Sept. 21 at Memphis L, 31-7 Sept. 28 at Missouri L, 41-19 Oct. 12 Idaho W, 48-24 Oct. 22 La.-Laf. (ESPN2) L, 23-7 Nov. 2 at S. Alabama W, 17-16 Nov. 9 at La.-Monroe W, 42-14 Nov. 16 Texas State W, 38-21 Nov. 23 Georgia State W, 35-33 Nov. 30 at W. Kentucky L, 34-31 Sun Belt game
Sun Belt bowl scenarios FBS BIDS AVAILABLE 70 FBS TEAMS ELIGIBLE 78 SUN BELT ELIGIBLE (6) Louisiana Lafayette (8-3), Western Kentucky (8-4), Arkansas State (7-5), Texas State (6-6), Troy (6-6), Louisiana-Monroe (6-6) SUN BELT TIE-INS (2) New Orleans Bowl, GoDaddy.com Bowl SUN BELT BIDS ACCEPTED (1) Louisiana Lafayette, New Orleans Bowl (Dec. 21, Superdome, New Orleans)
Sports, Pages 15 on 12/02/2013