San Jose State In The Mix For A Bowl Bid, Because Hey, Almost Everyone Is

At 6-6, David Fales (10) and the San Jose State Spartans are in the mix for a potential bowl bid. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

John Elway just played at the wrong time.

The NFL Hall of Famer, former No. 1 overall draft pick and Stanford standout never played in a bowl game during his four years at Stanford.

With Elway as the starter, the Cardinal went 6-5 in 1980, 4-7 in 1981 and 5-6 in 1982 (the sixth loss being the somewhat remembered play involving a bunch of laterals and a trombone).

So why bring up ancient history? Because, wow has college football changed.

There were 16 bowl games in 1982, Elway’s final season at Stanford. There are 35 today.

That means 70 teams are going bowling this year … out of the 125 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision; 56 percent of the teams in the division will play in the postseason.

And they say the NBA and NHL have watered down postseasons.

Jimmy Durkin of the San Jose Mercury News broke down the bowl permutations for the Spartans and the rest of the Mountain West Conference in this piece on Sunday.

College football in 2013 means debating the bowl worthiness of 6-6 teams from middle of the road conferences.

Middle of the road might be kind to the Mountain West—Jeff Sagarin’s conference ratings have the two divisions in the MWC ranked above Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference and the Sun Belt Conference.

But with more than half of the teams in college football “earning” the right to go to a bowl game, the bar is set pretty low.

I don’t know why, but I am envisioning a day in the near future when Anchorage, Alaska, announces it will be hosting the Alaska Freeze Your Patootie Off Bowl, sponsored by Columbia, the winter gear specialists.

Record-wise, San Jose State is the worst of the seven bowl-eligible teams in the Mountain West. But they feature a dynamic passer in senior David Fales and an offense that can light up a scoreboard like an Independence Day fireworks show.

Of course, the Spartans also have a defense that can make a lot of offenses do the same thing; hence the 6-6 record.

San Jose State’s six losses, with notes:

• Sept. 7 at Stanford, 34-13: Stanford’s a top 10 team. No shame in losing a road game to a top 10 opponent.
• Sept. 21 at Minnesota, 43-24: The Gophers are 8-4 overall, 4-4 in a Big Ten that isn’t exactly chock full of dominance. On the other hand, Minnesota is a Big Ten program, so not a horrible loss.
• Sept. 27 vs. Utah State, 40-12: Hammered at home by a team that is playing in the Mountain West title game. The margin makes this loss sort of touch the border of failing the smell test.
• Nov. 9 vs. San Diego State, 34-30: The Aztecs got better after losing their opener to FCS Eastern Illinois 40-19. But still, the Spartans lost at home … to a team that lost to Eastern Illinois … by three touchdowns. Put this in the bad loss column.
• Nov. 16 at Nevada, 38-16: Blown out by a team that finished 4-8 and had come in with five straight losses. If there’s a red mark on the schedule that should just about automatically disqualify the Spartans, this is it.
• Nov. 22 vs. Navy, 58-52, 3OT: Navy is 7-4. They’re a bowl team that played a decent schedule. But, hey, it’s the option. The quarterback might run. Might have wanted to watch out for that.

The Spartans’ six wins, on the other hand:

• Aug. 29 vs. Sacramento State, 24-0: It’s Sacramento State. No disrespect to the Hornets intended, but this is one San Jose State absolutely should win. No points.
• Oct. 6 at Hawaii, 37-27: The Warriors won one game, their last, against a 3-8 Army team. Not exactly a strength-of-schedule bonanza.
• Oct. 12 at Colorado State, 34-27: A solid road win against a bowl-eligible squad. Nothing to sneeze at.
• Oct. 26 vs. Wyoming, 51-44: The Cowboys fired their coach after a 5-7 finish, so they’re disappointed in Laramie. This team lost at home to Colorado State by 30, by means of comparing style points.
• Nov. 2 at UNLV, 34-24: A solid road win against a bowl-eligible squad. See Colorado State reference above.
• Nov. 29 vs. Fresno State, 62-52: The signature victory of the season for the Spartans. They busted Fresno’s BCS dreams and made themselves bowl eligible in the process. If San Jose State is picked for a bowl, they can point to this game right here as the one that put them over the hump.

I suppose the upshot of all of this is that we can chuckle at the ridiculousness of 6-6 teams being considered for postseason play in the first place, but the system is the system, the games are scheduled and someone has to play in them.

At least with Fales, there should be plenty of scoring to keep us entertained.