When you play football in the MAC, you know you have zero chance of playing for a national title. Your reward for all the unpaid work you put in during the year is the chance at a bowl game. The bar is relatively low at 6 wins, but considering the schedules they play, it generally means they played reasonably well. 7 MAC teams reached that bar, only 5 were invited to play in a bowl game.
However, this is more than just a bummer. It turns out that Florida State is going to a bowl they didn’t actually earn the right to attend.