When East Carolina lost to Temple on Saturday, visions of Fiesta Bowl invitations started going through my mind for Boise State. So , I decided to take a closer look at the whole situation. Here is what I found:

The College Football Playoff committee will be making the decisions on who gets invited to the New Years Day 6 games. A spot in the Peach, Cotton or Fiesta Bowls will go to teams like Boise State or Marshall. I would think the committee would put Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl so they could help max out on fans traveling to Glendale IF they make it. The game is at 2pm NY eve. That makes for a great NY eve party or a ruined one. Fans could travel back on NY day fairly easily and get back to watch the Rose Bowl semi final at 3:00pm. The other semi is the Sugar Bowl and it's set for 6:30pm. 

Jerry Palm of CBS, who comes on the show a lot, is picking Arizona State to play in the Fiesta Bowl vs Nebraska with Marshall getting the automatic Non Power 5 spot in the Peach Bowl vs Ole Miss. Jerry doesn't like Boise State's schedule strength.

If Marshall does run the table, they may have to get by La Tech in the Conference USA Championship Game. La Tech is undefeated in conference play and may be Boise State's best shot at having a loss go up in the Marshall column. No kick off time has been made for the C-USA game. Boise State may have a 8pm  kick off for the MWC Championship Game. Any loss would knock them out I think.

East Carolina doesn't have a championship game to worry about. The AAC doesn't start one up until 2015 when Navy joins to give the league 12 members. ECU only has 2 losses but will drop out of the Top 25 and face tougher games vs UCF and Cincy. Their loss to Temple may be worse then Boise States to Air Force. And,ECU lost on the road to South Carolina by 10. That's comparable to Boise State loss vs Ole Miss in Atlanta. Another loss would be nice but maybe not necessary. 

Northern Illinois has to beat Toledo in a few weeks to even make the MAC title game so they don't seem to be a problem. Boise State routed ULL who is headed to win the Sun Belt where Georgia Southern is not yet bowl eligible because they are in their first year of FBS. 

I guess it is good for Boise State to have Colorado State ranked in the polls as long as no other Group of 5 team is ranked. It helps their strength of schedule but doesn't boost the ego much. 

I like the feel of November games with big bowl game stakes for Boise State.