Palm talks Purdue bowl scenarios
Below is a transcript of Sunday's interview with CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm:
GoldandBlack.com: Jerry, we know you'll have a lot going on in the next few hours and days but please explain your rationale for having Purdue in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit.
Jerry Palm: "Yes, when we last spoke during the post-game show, I was saying it was likely Purdue would be headed to the Pinstripe Bowl. However, since then, Minnesota defeated Wisconsin to get bowl eligible and that shuffled things around. Minnesota has already played in this bowl cycle in the Quick Lane Bowl so in order to avoid repeats, I put Minnesota in the Pinstripe Bowl and Purdue went to Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit."
GB: And you have them playing Virginia Tech in that scenario at this point?
JP: "Yes. Virginia Tech will need to win next week to become bowl eligible as they have a make-up game scheduled with Marshall. Both of them lost a game, not with each other, because of the Hurricane Florence and just rescheduled last week to play each other."
GB: What scenario or dominos have to fall for Purdue to possibly move up to the Pinstripe Bowl?
JP: "Well, one of the things that determine where Purdue ends up, and other Big Ten teams as well, is how many Big Ten schools end up in New Year's Six bowl games. The champion, whether it is Ohio State or Northwestern, will end up there. Michigan will also end up there but if Northwestern were to beat Ohio State then all three of those teams could end up in New Year's Six bowl games. That would move everybody up a spot. Another way this could work is if Penn State were to get ranked high enough to get one of those New Year's Six games as well. In that scenario, you could have Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State high enough to put them in New Year's Six games and then, everybody would move up a spot. To me, it seems likely to me that it will be two Big Ten teams in the New Year's Six and the dominos fall from there."
GB: We're in the fifth year of a six-year bowl arrangement with the Big Ten and while they don't like repeats, they can theoretically take a repeat once in the cycle. Is that correct?
JP: "Yes. So the way it works is for every bowl but the pinstripe, we're in the middle of a six-year bowl deal with the bowls and the Big Ten Conference outside of the New Year's Six bowls. So the rules are you have to have at least five different teams in the six-year window. Since we're in the fifth year, I'm operating under the assumption that they're going to save that flexibility for next year if they can. For example, if it had to get down to the Pinstripe for Northwestern to avoid repeats then the Big Ten Conference would accept repeats to give Northwestern, a divisional champion, a better bowl game. The Pinstripe Bowl is actually different with a eight-year deal that allows for two possible repeats but again, I don't have a repeat in there this year."
GB: Operating, of course, that things could change in the near future but you have Minnesota-Virginia in the Pinstripe Bowl, Iowa-Stanford in the Redbox Bowl, Northwestern-Oregon in the Holiday Bowl, Wisconsin-Missouri in the Taxslayer Bowl, Michigan State-Texas A&M in the Outback Bowl and Penn State-Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl. However, please explain how much more influence the Big Ten officials have in placing teams in bowls than other conferences.
JP: "Yes. The Big Ten is unique in the sense that it has the final say in which teams play in which bowls. Every other league has it where they work with the bowls but the bowls have the final say in who they get to pick. The Big Ten Conference will take into account the bowl's wishes but they want to protect teams from sliding too far down the list and create games that will be interesting to fanbases for travel purposes. In fact, the Big Ten doesn't want to send the same team to Florida three years in a row if it can avoid something like that."
GB: Jeff Brohm's situation has little to no impact on Purdue's bowl destination, correct?
JP: "That's right. It may be a factor in what the bowls may desire but Purdue is going to be a lower priority bowl team because they finished 6-6. So when you get to a situation where you're trying to place Purdue in a bowl game, there's not going to be a lot of options where Jeff Brohm coaching this team or not will not be a factor."
Other bowl projections as of Nov. 26:
ESPN's Kyle Bonagura: Dec. 27 - New Era Pinstripe Bowl (Bronx, New York) vs. Pittsburgh
ESPN's Mitch Sherman: Dec. 27 - New Era Pinstripe Bowl (Bronx, New York) vs. Duke
SB Nation's Jason Kirk: Dec. 26 - Quick Lane Bowl (Detroit, Michigan) vs. Wake Forest
Orlando Sentinel's Brant Parsons: Dec. 27 - New Era Pinstripe Bowl (Bronx, New York) vs. Pittsburgh
CollegeFootballNews.com: Dec. 27 - New Era Pinstripe Bowl (Bronx, New York) vs. Georgia Tech
Sports Illustrated Eric Single: Dec. 27 - New Era Pinstripe Bowl (Bronx, New York) vs. Pittsburgh
The Sporting News' Bill Bender: Dec. 27 - New Era Pinstripe Bowl (Bronx, New York) vs. Duke
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