CFB Late Season Bowl Motivation Handicapping

CFB Late Season Bowl Motivation Handicapping

It is late in the regular season and you are going to hear a lot of people talking about teams needing to win to become bowl eligible. It is important to remember that not all of this situations are the same. Some in the media talk about bowl eligibility for teams like that is the top priority for everyone. What if your aspirations were much higher and you simply would want the season to be over? There are always a few teams in that kind of spot each year. On the whole, I do think accounting for bowl motivation is a good idea, but it should be done on a case by case basis. 

Let’s take a look at a few teams who are on the edge of being bowl eligible:

UCLA Bruins (4-6 Straight Up Record) UCLA hosts rival USC this weekend in the biggest game for them (and USC). USC is also 5-5 and the Trojans play Notre Dame the following week. UCLA plays Fresno State in the final week, so if they can win this game they’ll have a great shot at going bowling. UCLA knows this is their best shot too though. This game will be intense!

Arizona Wildcats (4-6 Record) Arizona goes to TCU where they are a double digit dog this week. The Wildcats benefited from Houston being dreadful last week, but they have played very poorly in the last few weeks overall. They expected better from this season. It is tough to gauge whether they care a lot or not.

New Mexico Lobos (5-6 Record) Bronco Mendenhall has done a great job with this Lobos team. Their expectations were extremely low after the program hadn’t even been competitive in recent seasons. The fact that they even have a shot at a bowl is amazing. New Mexico goes to Hawaii next weekend. That’s a tricky spot with the long travel, but I trust New Mexico to be fully prepared for that contest. 

UL Monroe Warhawks (5-5 Record) Coach Vincent is another guy who has done a great job this year. ULM was 2-10 and 0-8 in the Sun Belt last year. This team would absolutely love to go to any bowl and get the extra practices to keep things going in a positive direction for next year. A highly motivated team.

Virginia Tech (5-5 Record) Virginia Tech is an interesting case. The Hokies had much higher goals for this season. They have been upset multiple times, and injuries are at least part of the reason for their failures this season. They play at Duke and host Virginia in their remaining games. They should want that Virginia game because it is a rivalry, but overall I find it hard to know the motivation of this team for a bowl game in general.

UTSA Roadrunners (5-5 Record) UTSA was much better last year, but they lost a bunch of very talented players. Coach Traylor does a good job with this program, and UTSA has improved as the season has gone along. A nice upset win over North Texas last week has this team going in the right direction. They also upset Memphis the week before. They host Temple this week, and I think this group will be focused on getting the job done and reaching another bowl.