Simply reaching bowl eligibility isn’t enough incentive for Western Kentucky. The overall success this season of teams in Conference USA means the league’s bowl tie-ins aren’t enough to cater to every team.

Thankfully for the conference, other leagues aren’t filling the requirements with six-win teams like C-USA. But more importantly for WKU, getting a seventh win would all but assure it would get a C-USA bowl bid rather than jockeying for a spot in a secondary bowl.

It makes WKU’s regular-season finale Friday at Florida International (6-4, 4-3) that much more crucial. The Hilltoppers (6-5, 4-3) kick off at Riccardo Silva Stadium in Miami at 6 p.m. with the game broadcast on beIN Sports.

WKU athletic director Todd Stewart said while last Friday’s 41-38 triple overtime win over Middle Tennessee State was obviously important to reach the benchmark of six games, it’s more important to win a seventh.

“Great win to get us six wins to make us bowl eligible for the seventh straight year, but we need to keep it going,” Stewart said. “We really need to beat FIU next week, which will be a tough game to get to seven. The way Conference USA is set up this year, in order to get Conference USA bowl games, you need to get to seven wins.”

WKU has been bowl eligible the last seven seasons and has three straight wins in the Bahamas (2014), Miami Beach (2015) and Boca Raton (2016) bowl games. WKU made its first bowl game appearance in Detroit in 2012.

There are currently eight teams that are bowl eligible in C-USA with the chance to add three more by the end of the regular season. Florida Atlantic (8-3) and North Texas (8-3) are the only eight-win teams and will meet for the C-USA championship Dec. 2 in Boca Raton, Fla. Marshall (7-4), Alabama-Birmingham (7-4) and Southern Mississippi (7-4) are the seven-win teams while WKU, FIU and Texas-San Antonio (6-4) round out the already-eligible teams.

Middle Tennessee (5-6), Old Dominion (5-6) and Louisiana Tech (5-6) can win this weekend to become bowl eligible, which overloads C-USA with 11 of its 14-member schools qualifying for the postseason.

“The more wins you have, you’ll be placed first,” Stewart said. “All eight-win teams will be placed over seven-win teams and all seven-win teams will be placed over six-win teams. We need that separation. … It’s a big week coming up.”

C-USA has primary tie-ins with the New Orleans, New Mexico, Boca Raton, St. Petersburg, Bahamas and Armed Forces Bowls, and a secondary tie-in with the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La.

Schools with the most wins will get first priority for the C-USA bowls, meaning if WKU finishes the year 6-6, at least five – potentially seven – teams will be ahead of WKU on the priority list.

It wasn’t that way for WKU when it was in the Sun Belt Conference. The Hilltoppers went 7-5 in 2011, but three teams finished ahead of them in the standings and the league only had two primary bowl tie-ins in Mobile, Ala., and the New Orleans Bowl. Florida International took the St. Petersburg spot at 8-4.

In 2013, WKU finished 8-4 and won the regular-season finale at home over Arkansas State, but the Red Wolves were picked over WKU for the second bowl spot.

Conference USA obviously offers more security for teams to reach a bowl with six wins, but the seventh win would eliminate a lot of anxiety.

“It’s a little bit better because the league is working on some secondary agreements,” Stewart said. “We’ll probably still be OK there, but you don’t want to go to bed Friday or Saturday night having hypotheticals go through your mind – be nice to go ahead and finish it out.”{&end}