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2011 Bowl Projections: Missouri, Illinois With Outside Chances At Bowl Games

Can the Tigers and Fighting Illini salvage their mediocre seasons with bowl appearances? The experts seem divided.

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The experts have spoken! The college football bowl season is beginning to materialize, and a panel of college football's gurus has made their mid-season college bowl projections. SB Nation has tabulated the predictions of Scout.comPhil Steele and the ESPN duo of Brad Edwards and Mark Schlabach (see below) for the avid college fan's convenience, but let's take a closer look at some of the key teams in the region:

Unfortunately for Mizzou fans, their pedestrian 4-4 overall record and 2-3 conference record has put a major damper on their bowl season's chances. Both Phil Steele and Mark Schlabach project the Missouri Tigers to make a play for the New Era Pinstripe Bowl against presumably the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

Meanwhile, Brad Edwards foresees a Mizzou matchup against the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl -- a pairing that no-doubt favors Penn State -- and Scout.com expects a matchup against the Arizona St. Sun Devils in the Valero Alamo Bowl. Altogether, the experts don't seem terribly optimistic about Mizzou's chances at a bowl game, and seem altogether unconvinced they can make it to any prestigious bowl game.

For Illinois Fighting Illini fans, the outlook is only marginally less bleak. The panel seems divided between whether the Illini are bound for the TicketCity Bowl or the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. Perhaps a strong finish -- a finish that would require wins against ranked teams -- can net the Illini some December or January games, but the chances seem slim.

 

Bowl Phil Steele Edwards Scout Schlabach

 

BCS Championship, 1/9 Alabama-Oklahoma State Alabama-Oklahoma State LSU-Oklahoma Alabama-Oklahoma State

 

Orange, 1/4 Clemson-Cincinnati Clemson-Cincinnati Clemson-West Virginia Clemson-West Virginia

 

Sugar, 1/3 LSU-Stanford LSU-Boise State Alabama-Boise State LSU-Boise State

 

Rose, 1/2 Michigan State-Oregon Wisconsin-Oregon Wisconsin-Oregon Stanford-Nebraska

 

Fiesta, 1/2 Oklahoma-Boise State Oklahoma-Stanford Oklahoma State-Stanford Oklahoma-Oregon

 

GoDaddy, 1/8 Temple-FIU Toledo-UL Lafayette Temple-UL Lafayette Toledo-UL Lafayette

 

Compass, 1/7 Pitt-UL Lafayette South Florida-Vanderbilt Rutgers-Vanderbilt Syracuse-Ohio

 

Cotton, 1/6 Texas A&M-Arkansas Texas-Arkansas Kansas State-Auburn Kansas State-Georgia

 

Outback, 1/2 Nebraska-South Carolina Nebraska-South Carolina Nebraska-Georgia Penn State-South Carolina

 

Gator, 1/2 Penn State-Florida Ohio State-Florida Michigan State-Florida Wisconsin-Florida

 

Capitol One, 1/2 Wisconsin-Arkansas Michigan-Georgia Michigan-Arkansas Michigan-Arkansas

 

TicketCity, 1/2 Iowa-Tulsa Iowa-SMU Illinois-SMU Illinois-SMU

 

Chick-fil-A, 12/31 Virginia Tech-Auburn Virginia Tech-Auburn Virginia Tech-South Carolina Virginia Tech-Auburn

 

Liberty, 12/31 Houston-Mississippi State Houston-Tennessee Houston-Mississippi State Houston-Mississippi State

 

Sun, 12/31 Georgia Tech-California Georgia Tech-Utah Georgia Tech-California Georgia Tech-Utah

 

Texas, 12/31 Ohio State-Baylor Penn State-Missouri Ohio State-Texas A&M Ohio State-Baylor

 

Kraft, 12/31 Syracuse-N.C. State Fresno State-Wake Forest Utah-Pitt Fresno State-N.C. State

 

Insight, 12/30 Kansas State-Michigan Michigan State-Kansas State Penn State-Texas Michigan State-Texas A&M

 

Music City, 12/30 Miami-Tennessee Virginia-Mississippi State Wake Forest-Tennessee Virginia-Vanderbilt

 

Armed Forced, 12/30 Southern Miss-BYU Southern Miss-BYU Tulsa-BYU Southern Miss-BYU

 

Pinstripe, 12/30 Rutgers-Missouri Rutgers-Baylor Syracuse-Baylor Rutgers-Missouri

 

Alamo, 12/29 Texas-Arizona State Texas A&M-Arizona State Missouri-Arizona State Texas-Arizona State

 

Champs Sports, 12/29 Florida State-Notre Dame Florida State-Notre Dame Florida State-Notre Dame Florida State-Notre Dame

 

Holiday, 12/28 Texas Tech-Washington Texas Tech-Washington Texas A&M-Washington Texas Tech-Washington

 

Military, 12/28 Virginia-UTEP N.C. State-East Carolina Miami-Marshall Miami-Western Michigan

 

Belk, 12/27 North Carolina-West Virginia West Virginia-North Carolina Cincinnati-North Carolina Cincinnati-North Carolina

 

Little Caesars, 12/27 Illinois-Toledo Illinois-Northern Illinois Toledo-Iowa Temple-Iowa

 

Independence, 12/26 Air Force-Wake Forest Miami-Air Force Wyoming-Virginia Wake Forest-Wyoming

 

Hawaii, 12/24 SMU-Hawaii UTEP-Hawaii UCF-Hawaii Tulsa-Hawaii

 

Las Vegas, 12/22 TCU-Utah TCU-California TCU-UCLA TCU-California

 

Poinsettia, 12/21 San Diego State-Nevada San Diego State-Nevada Air Force-Louisiana Tech San Diego State-Nevada

 

St. Petersburg, 12/20 South Florida-UCF Syracuse-UCF South Florida-Southern Miss Pitt-East Carolina

 

New Orleans, 12/17 Arkansas State-Marshall Arkansas State-Tulsa Arkansas State-UTEP Arkansas State-UTEP

 

Idaho Potato, 12/17 Fresno State-Ohio Temple-Louisiana Tech Nevada-Northern Illinois Louisiana Tech-Northern Illinois

 

New Mexico, 12/17 Colorado State-Northern Illinois Wyoming-Ohio San Diego State-Purdue Air Force-Eastern Michigan