Could Rutgers end up in a New Year's Day bowl?

A little over 2 weeks ago, Rutgers was :22 seconds away from falling to 0-3 in the Big East and becoming an afterthought on the national scale for the remainder of the season.  But Tim Brown's catch and run to lead Rutgers to a 28-24 victory at UConn, has completely turned the destiny of this football team.  College football is a funny world in the difference that one single play can make (ask Texas how bad they'd like to have Michael Crabtree's last second TD catch back last season).

Rutgers is now bowl eligible for the 5th consecutive season and has re-entered into this weeks Top 25 AP Poll.  Rutgers has not been ranked in the poll since the middle of the 2007 season, and signifies an impressive turn-around from the beating they took against Cincinatti in the 1st game of the season.

Rutgers currently sits in 4th in the Big East standing at 2-2 (a half game behind West Virginia), and can help themselves greatly in the 3 game closing stretch.  9-2 looks probable with games ahead at Syrcacuse and Louisville.  The season finale against West Virginia could loom large for bowl positioning within the Big East. 

Here's my best case scenario for Rutgers over the last few weeks of the season in terms of positioning themselves for a better bowl bid:

-Notre Dame loses to both UConn and Stanford, knocking the Irish down to 6-6 and rendering them unable to steal a bowl from the Big East teams.

-Pittsburgh beats West Virginia in the backyard brawl

-Cincinnati beats Illinois the day after Thanksgiving

-Cincinnati and Pitt square off for the Big East title in the last game of the season.  Both teams play great football, with Pitt narrowly beating Cincy on a last second field to win the Big East title.

-Rutgers thoroughly man-handles West Virginia on National TV, and leaves no doubt that they are the 3rd best Big East team behind UC and Pitt.

Under this scenario it would be entirely possible for Rutgers to land in the Gator Bowl which would be the best destination possible for the Knights.  If Pitt wins the Big East, the BCS would have an intriguing situation of whether to take an 11-1 Cincinnati teams as an at-large.  If both Pitt/UC are in BCS games, the Gator Bowl would then be left to choose between the rest of the Big East to fill it's slot as ND is eliminated at 6-6.  Why wouldn't they jump at the chance to take a 10 win Rutgers team?

Of course, this is all speculation.  The most important thing right now for Greg Schiano to get this team ready for Saturday's game against 'Cuse.

But hey, it never hurts to dream....