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

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.com, Phil 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.