By our count there are 79 bowl eligible teams. With 39 bowl games, one team will be left out. The easy answer here would be to leave out a 7-5 Liberty team with two wins over FCS programs and no conference affiliation. However, the Flames did get a secondary bowl agreement with the Cure Bowl to fill that spot should the AAC or Sun Belt not be able to fill all their bowl spots. It sounds simple enough, but it is not. The Sun Belt is filling their spot, but the AAC may not. It will depend on whether or not the AAC champion can represent the Group of Five in the Cotton Bowl. And right now it is very tight between Memphis and Boise State. If Boise State loses in the MWC title game, the AAC will almost certainly leave a spot open for Liberty in the Cure Bowl. If Boise State wins and Cincinnati can beat Memphis, the Broncos will likely make it and that would leave the AAC in the Cure Bowl and, likely, Liberty on the outside looking of the bowls. We project Memphis to reach the Cotton Bowl though and that puts Liberty in the Cure Bowl and leaves out a very disappointed Eastern Michigan team. Eastern Michigan and Toledo have some pretty good wins throughout the season, but both are just 3-5 in MAC play, a full two games behind the rest of the bowl eligible teams in the conference. Never before has there been so much Cure Bowl drama.
American: Cincinnati, Memphis, Navy, SMU, Temple, Tulane, UCF
ACC: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Big 12: Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas
Big Ten: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin
C-USA: Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Southern Miss, UAB, Western Kentucky
Independent: BYU, Liberty, Notre Dame
MAC: Buffalo, Central Michigan, Kent State, Miami (OH), Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan
MWC: Air Force, Boise State, Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego State, Utah State, Wyoming
Pac-12: Arizona State, California, Oregon, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State
SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Texas A&M
Sun Belt: Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Louisiana
