C-USA's in the Bowl Books at 4-1

Maybe this College Football Playoff thing needs to be radically reconsidered.

Like expanding it to 12-16 teams or so.

Conference USA is assembling the makings of a decent argument for the Other Five joining the Power Five in the bracket scramble for that chunk of metal that gives Dr Pepper vendors wet dreams.

Let Mr SEC Old School spell it out:

Can't publish it any louder.

Sure, they were all undercard bowls, but those are what the C-USA was tossed, and since they were there ...

• New Mexico Bowl ... Utah State 21 UTEP 6
• Boca Raton Bowl ... Marshall 52 Northern Illinois 23
• Bahamas Bowl ... Western Kentucky 49 Central Michigan 48
• Hawai'i Bowl ... Rice 30 Fresno State 6

And for the coup de grace, Louisiana Tech took a bite out of the Big Ten with an all-around 35-18 thumping of Illinois.

What else is there to say but full marks to the Illini? They gave the Techsters a better fight this time around than they did in 2012:

As Feldman pointed out in his tweet, this year's results are part of a larger sample size. C-USA has been holding its own against Other Five peers and, when the occasion allows, can give a fair game to Power Fivers.

Of course, Illinois isn't a typical Power Five program. It's Illinois, where somehow, Cubness from upstate mutated and transgendered itself. But it's still a card-carrying member of the Big Ten, and one whose coach thought the heat might be off for a while since the squad got a bowl invitation.

Maybe not.