With the Bobcats resting on their bye week, it’s a good time to evaluate when and where they might play in an upcoming bowl game in December.
Ohio (7-3, 5-1 Mid-American Conference) technically only has two games remaining on its schedule, but that number will grow in coming weeks.
For starters, the program is bowl eligible — a team needs six wins to do so — for the eighth-consecutive season.
More importantly, the Bobcats are a win away from claiming the MAC East title and securing a place in the MAC Championship Game in Detroit on Dec. 3. The Bobcats haven’t won the conference outright since 1968 and haven't won the East since 2011.
That said, the focus here is on potential bowl games, and any bowl eligible team in the MAC can play in a possible seven games.
From there it gets confusing. A MAC school is a secondary option in two bowls, and some bowls are for teams that will finish lower in the conference than the Bobcats.
So… the focus here is on realistic options and locations for Ohio’s 2016 bowl game.
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl — Dec. 22, Boise, Idaho (MAC 2 vs. Mountain West Conference)
The Potato Bowl isn't the most geographically pleasing.
Most college fans know this bowl for the blue field Boise State typically uses, but Bobcat fans should feel much more sentimental about the game.
Ohio’s first bowl win in program history came in 2011 at the Potato Bowl, where the Bobcats beat Utah State 24-23.
If Ohio was to make this bowl, it’d come in two options. One, No. 14 Western Michigan must go undefeated and make a bowl better than the MAC was previously offered, which bumps Ohio up, even if it doesn’t play in the MAC Championship Game. Another bowl would have to have picked someone other than Ohio for the MAC spot.
The other option is losing the conference title game to someone other than Western.
As it stands now, Western Michigan is the highest Group of 5 team in the rankings, which means the Broncos would go to the Cotton Bowl if they remain that way.
Dollar General Bowl — Dec. 23, Mobile, Alabama (MAC 1 vs. Sun Belt 2)
The Dollar General Bowl appears to be the most likely bowl for Ohio — at least at the moment.
If the Bobcats win the MAC, they’ll play in Mobile; If they lose to Western in the conference title game, they’ll play here, too. Again, Western going undefeated has as much to do with Ohio’s event planning as its own program’s itinerary.
Raycom Media Camellia Bowl — Dec. 17, Montgomery, Alabama (MAC 3 vs. Sun Belt 3)
Does this bowl sound familiar? It should.
Ohio played in the Camellia Bowl game in 2015 and lost 31-29 to Appalachian State on a game-winning field goal.
The only way the Bobcats play here is if they lose the next two games and fail to make the Championship Game. If it happened, at least they'd know their way around Montgomery again.
