Starting this year, bowls that have spots which are not filled by contract obligations are free to pick any team they wish, which means they can pass a 7-5 at large team for an at large 6-6 team. I don't think there's a selection order for at large bowl bids, so it's really just up to the bowls and school ADs to get the deals done. But bowls can't pass on a bowl eligible team from a contracted conference for an at large team. If there aren't enough bowl eligible teams to fill all bowl spots, then the remaining bowls would be allowed to invite a 5-7 team. I would like to thank Iowa for losing today. There's now a chance a better bowl might pick a 7-5 Michigan over a 7-5 Iowa or 7-5 Northwestern team because Michigan fans travel well. Of course, we'll get routed in said bowl, but at least it could be better than the Texas Bowl or whatever.