It was bad enough watching this year's Big Ten Championship game knowing that either Michigan State or Ohio State would claim this year's conference title. But if we were going to lose to the Buckeyes this year, they could have at least had the decency of finishing off Sparty and shutting the SEC out of the national championship picture. Now, two years in a row, a 1-loss SEC champ sneaks in because someone else can't take care of business. Nevertheless, I would be lying if I said I wasn't somewhat interested to see how the Florida State/Auburn match-up plays out.At least NIU is out of the BCS this year and are in a game that better suits a MAC team: the Poinsettia Bowl. The rest of the BCS games look decent this year. I would have preferred to see Oregon rather than Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, but the Ducks could use an attitude adjustment. Both UCF and Baylor will make their BCS debut against one another in the Fiesta Bowl. No complaints here about Baylor as they are the undisputed winners of the Big 12. But the Knights raise a bit of suspicion. Even though their program has been getting better lately, they have still been part of Conference USA until this year. To their credit, they've done what they have to do to earn AQ status instead of trying to "bust" the BCS by remaining a big fish in a little pond. However, they did it by joining the highly suspect American Athletic Conference. Nevertheless, I commend them for scheduling both Penn State and South Carolina in their non-conference games (beating the Nittany Lions by 3 and losing to the Gamecocks by 3). I can't fault UCF for the way they are pursuing legitimacy in the college football world, but we'll see how close they've actually come to arriving by the end of New Year's Day.
Happy Bowling.
Schedule
New Mexico Bowl, Sat., Dec. 21, 2 pm EST, ESPN
Washington State vs. Colorado State (Played in Albuquerque, NM)
Las Vegas Bowl, Sat., Dec. 21, 3:30 pm EST, ABC
Fresno State vs. USC (Played in Las Vegas, NV)
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Sat., Dec. 21, 5:30 pm EST, ESPN
Buffalo vs. San Diego State (Played in Boise, ID)
New Orleans Bowl, Sat., Dec. 21, 9 pm, ESPN
Tulane vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (Played in New Orleans, LA)
Beef O’Brady’s Bowl, Mon., Dec. 23, 2 pm EST, ESPN
East Carolina vs. Ohio (Played in St. Petersburg, FL)
Hawaii Bowl, Tue., Dec. 24, 8 pm EST, ESPN
Boise State vs. Oregon State (Played in Honolulu, HI)
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Thu., Dec. 26, 6 pm EST ESPN
Pittsburgh vs. Bowling Green (Played in Detroit, MI)
Poinsettia Bowl, Thu., Dec. 26, 9:30 pm EST, ESPN
Utah State vs. Northern Illinois (Played in San Diego, CA)
Military Bowl, Fri., Dec. 27, 2:30 pm EST, ESPN
Marshall vs. Maryland (Played in Annapolis, MD)
Texas Bowl, Fri., Dec. 27, 6 pm EST, ESPN
Syracuse vs. Minnesota (Played in Houston, TX)
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, Fri., Dec. 27, 9:30 pm EST, ESPN
BYU vs. Washington (Played in San Francisco, CA)
New Era Pinstripe Bowl, Sat., Dec. 28, Noon EST, ESPN
Rutgers vs. Notre Dame (Played in Bronx, NY)
Belk Bowl, Sat., Dec. 28, 3:20 pm EST, ESPN
Cincinnati vs. North Carolina (Played in Charlotte, NC)
Russell Athletic Bowl, Sat., Dec. 28, 6:45 pm EST, ESPN
Miami vs. Louisville (Played in Orlando, FL)
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, Sat., Dec. 28, 10:15 pm EST, ESPN
Michigan vs. Kansas State (Played in Tempe, AZ)
Armed Forces Bowl, Mon., Dec. 30, 11:45 am EST, ESPN
Middle Tennessee vs. Navy (Played in Ft. Worth, TX)
Music City Bowl, Mon., Dec. 30, 3:15 pm EST, ESPN
Ole Miss vs. Georgia Tech (Played in Nashville, TN)
Alamo Bowl, Mon., Dec. 30, 6:45 pm EST, ESPN
Oregon vs. Texas (Played in San Antonio, TX)
Holiday Bowl, Mon., Dec. 30, 10:15 pm EST, ESPN
Arizona State vs. Texas Tech (Played in San Diego, CA)
AdvoCare V100 Bowl, Tue., Dec. 31, 12:30 pm EST, ESPN
Arizona vs. Boston College (Played in Shreveport, LA)
Sun Bowl, Tue., Dec. 31, 2 pm EST, CBS
Virginia Tech vs. UCLA (Played in El Paso, TX)
Liberty Bowl, Tue., Dec. 31, 4 pm EST, ESPN
Rice vs. Mississippi State (Played in Memphis, TN)
Chick-fil-A Bowl, Tue., Dec. 31, 8 pm EST, ESPN
Duke vs. Texas A&M (Played in Atlanta, GA)
Gator Bowl, Wed., Jan. 1, Noon EST, ESPN2
Nebraska vs. Georgia (Played in Jacksonville, FL)
Heart of Dallas Bowl, Wed., Jan. 1, Noon EST, ESPNU
UNLV vs. North Texas (Played in Dallas, TX)
Capital One Bowl, Wed., Jan. 1, 1 pm EST, ABC
Wisconsin vs. South Carolina (Played in Orlando, FL)
Outback Bowl, Wed., Jan. 1, 1 pm EST, ESPN
Iowa vs. LSU (Played in Tampa, FL)
*Rose Bowl, Wed., Jan. 1, 5 pm EST, ESPN
Stanford vs. Michigan State (Played in Pasadena, CA)
*Fiesta Bowl, Wed., Jan. 1, 8:30 pm EST, ESPN
UCF vs. Baylor (Played in Glendale, AZ)
*Sugar Bowl, Thu., Jan. 2, 8:30 pm EST, ESPN
Oklahoma vs. Alabama (Played in New Orleans, LA)
*Orange Bowl, Fri., Jan. 3, Time TBD, ESPN
Clemson vs. Ohio State (Played in Miami Gardens, FL)
Cotton Bowl, Fri., Jan. 3, 7:30 pm EST, FOX
Oklahoma State vs. Missouri (Played in Arlington, TX)
BBVA Compass Bowl, Sat., Jan. 4, 1 pm EST, ESPN
Vanderbilt vs. Houston (Played in Birmingham, AL)
GoDaddy Bowl, Sun., Jan. 5, 9 pm EST, ESPN
Arkansas State vs. Ball State (Played in Mobile, AL)
*BCS National Championship, Mon., Jan. 6, 8:30 pm EST, ESPN
Florida State vs. Auburn (Played in Pasadena, CA)
*Denotes games worth 2 points
