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2014-15 Bowl Season- Day 6 Open Thread- Can Sarkisian Avoid a Five Loss Season?

Yep- We are looking up at the good teams in the Pac-12 - Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

If Southern Cal can preserve its four loss record, it will be only the second time in six seasons as a head coach that Sark's teams have lost as few as four games in a season.

There are five bowl games on tap today, including two with Pac-12 teams. So, after allowing the Minnows their time in the spotlight, the "Power Conferences" will now be playing regularly. But if there was any doubt that bowl games have ceased being a reward and are now a given, look at the records of some of the teams playing today.

First up is the Military Bowl. This matches the winner of the American Athletic Conference, Cincinnati (the Minnows will just not go away) against a #7-#10 team from the ACC, Virginia Tech. Game time is 10 am (Pacific time) on ESPN.

Cincinnati is 9-3, 7-1 in American play. The Bearcats were part of a three way tie for 1st place in the conference. Cincinnati won its first two games, lost three in a row (including a 27 point home loss to Memphis, three weeks after UCLA beat Memphis), and then finished the season with a seven game winning streak. Virginia Tech, which was beaten by 28 points by the Bruins in last year's Sun Bowl, is 6-6, 3-5 in ACC play. The 3-5 record puts the Hokies in a three way tie for 5th (glass half full) or last (glass half empty) in the ACC Coastal division. Virginia Tech definitely had a strange season. They won by 14 in Columbus to give Ohio State their only loss of the season. They beat #21 ranked (at the time) Duke on the road. They also lost four games at home to unranked team. And they played probably the worst college game of the season, a 6-3 (!) double overtime (!) loss at 3-9 Wake Forest.

The Sun Bowl, as we know from last year, matches teams from the Pac-12 and the ACC. Game time is 11 am (Pacific time) on CBS. The Sun Bowl has the 5th pick from the Pac-12, and picks a team in the #5-#8 range from the ACC.

With Arizona moving up to the Fiesta Bowl, that meant that the Sun Bowl actually picked the 6th Pac-12 team chosen. But with the Foster Farms opting for a worse record but more local Stanford team, this left Arizona State open for the Sun Bowl. So the #15 team in the country per the final College Football Playoff rankings travels to El Paso for a Saturday afternoon game. PAC 12- WAKE UP. These bowl pairings suck for the conference. The Sun Devils are 9-3, 6-3 in conference play. The 6-3 record put Arizona State in a three way tie for 2nd place in the Pac-12 South, which had five teams in the top 25. Arizona State's season included a home thumping against the Bruins, a bizarre loss at Oregon State (which allowed the Bruins to control and fumble their destiny), and a regular season ending loss at Arizona. The season also included a win on the road at Southern Cal, and home wins over Stanford and Utah.

Arizona State's opponent is Duke. The Blue Devils (pitchforks are an easy accessory for this game) are 9-3, 5-3 in ACC play. The 5-3 record was good for 2nd place in the ACC Coastal Division. The 9-3 record includes signature wins over Elon, Troy and Kansas. So this school played a bunch of cupcakes to get to 9 wins, as compared to Arizona State. Duke is unranked. So we have a no-win for the Pac-12. If Arizona State wins, it is "of course". If Arizona State loses, it is "really?"

Next up is the Duck Commander (!) Independence Bowl, at 12:30 pm (Pacific time) on ABC. Two 6-6 teams face off, with the winner barely finishing above .500 and the loser being relegated to the Sun Belt (I wish). Today definitely has an ACC flavor, as we have an ACC team again. The Independence Bowl matches a #7-#10 ACC team against the #10-#11 SEC team. When you pick from the bottom of the barrel from two Power Five conferences, you are going to get a pretty awful matchup. Duck Commanders everywhere are shaking their heads.

The ACC team is Miami. The Hurricanes are 6-6, 3-5 in ACC play. The 3-5 record is "good" for a three way tie for 5th or last in the ACC Coastal Division. And that 6-6 record includes wins over FCS stalwart Florida A&M and Arkansas State from the Sun Belt. Just to show how suspect the Criminoles are, Florida State only won by 4 at Miami.

Miami faces South Carolina. The Gamecocks are also 6-6, 3-5 in SEC play. The 3-5 record puts South Carolina in a tie for 4th in the weak SEC East. And the 6-6 record includes a win over FCS power Furman. You have my permission to take a snooze during this one.

At 1:30 pm (Pacific time), ESPN will televise the Pinstripe Bowl, "featuring" one team with a winning record (7-5) against another 6-6 team. The Pinstripe Bowl is in the same pecking order as the Sun Bowl for the ACC. So this will be the 4th consecutive game with an ACC team today. The Pinstripe Bowl takes the #6-#8 team from the Big 10. So the Sun Bowl, with the #15 team in the country from the Pac-12, is on the same level as a bowl with the #6-#8 team from the Big 10, as seen from the perspective of the ACC. This shows again how the Pac-12 needs to upgrade the bowl pairings.

In the Pinstripe Bowl, we have Boston College vs. Penn State. Boston College is 7-5, 4-4 in ACC play. The 4-4 record puts the Eagles in 4th place in the ACC Atlantic Division. Boston College did beat Southern Cal in week 3, so I do have a soft spot for them. But they also lost at home to Colorado State, a minnow from the Mountain West. And their wins include Maine from the FCS, and U Mass, another minnow. And despite this mediocre record against a suspect list of opponents, Boston College only lost by three on the road at Florida State. Again, go Ducks and their commanders against the Criminoles.

The final game of the day is the Holiday Bowl, where Steve Sarkisian will try to finish a season with only four losses. Game time is 5 pm (Pacific) on ESPN. Losing only four games in a season would be a real milestone, as this has only happened one time in Sarkisian's coaching career. The Holiday Bowl now pairs teams from the Pac-12 and the Big 10, unlike two years ago when we were thumped by Baylor from the Big 12. The Holiday Bowl gets the 3rd pick from the Pac 12 (actually the 4th selection this year, with Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl). And they get a #3-#5 team from the Big 10. This year, that results in Southern Cal vs. Nebraska. Again, why the #3 team in the Pac 12 should face a team as low as #5 in the Big 10 is beyond me. Southern Cal is #24 in the College Football Playoff rankings, and they are facing an unranked opponent. So we have a rank (but ranked) team and an unranked team. The Pac-12 needs to fix this.

Southern Cal is 8-4, 6-3 in Pac 12 play. The Trogans season featured a heartwarming beatdown at the hands of UCLA, a home loss to Arizona State, a loss at Utah, and a win at Stanford.

Nebraska is 9-3, 5-3 in Big 10 play. The Huskers non-conference schedule included wins over two minnows, Florida Atlantic (Conf USA) and Fresno State (MWC) and a win over an FCS team, McNeese State, by 7 points at home. It is no wonder they are unranked. The conference season included a close loss at Michigan State, a 35 point rout at Wisconsin, and a home loss to Minnesota. We will always have Bo Pelini's postseason tirade as a statement on the season.

But as we know from last year in Lincoln, Nebraska has a classy fan base. And as we are reminded every week in and out of season, Southern Cal does not. This one is easy. Go Huskers !!

This is your open thread for ACC Saturday. Fire away.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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