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
1 comment:
Early on there was much mystery over who would play Alabama for the NC. Oregon had the inside track, but if they stumbled, would it be FSU, OSU, Baylor, etc.
I don't like the BCS (should I use the past tense). Beauty pageants and computer programs setting the two team match up, esp. if three or four teams were legitimate, but with the nod going to offensive minded teams who could score points and create more lopsided results.
That being said, everybody had their shot to get there this year. You can't lose to ND, or Utah, or get blown out by OK St. and make a claim for an undisputed opportunity to play for the National Title. You can't lose your conference title game (because winning one vs. not having one is an edge to bump up), or not even get to it and say you deserve.
No, you have to have a weaker schedule and then dominate it, or get a little luck (vs. Georgia) and make a big play (vs. Ala.) to get there.
Next year there will be four teams when the preliminary dust settles to line up the final four teams. If a team isn't in that group, there'll be a reason. The 5th team might be better than the 4th or the 3rd team. No matter what, someone will be on the outside looking in. But in the end, the program will have to look in the mirror and also look back on their season and realize that they controlled their destiny and didn't fully deliver.
I'm not in favor (right now anyway) for expansion to 8 or more teams, though I fear that it will come. It will diminish the regular season, conference championships, etc. and make it more likely that a good team will win the NC instead of the best team. In the BCS set up (two teams only), the best team could get shut out of the action. In a four team set up, that's not likely (e.g., Bama would be in this year if the top four were taken for a playoff). I doesn't bother me too much that they are out, but I can understand the Tide fans desire for redemption after the Iron Bowl.
Parenthetically, let me say that those who demanded a 1-loss SEC team over an undefeated Big Ten (or other major conference team) after Auburn's win was drinking the CBS-SEC Kool-Aid.
The SEC schedule and the conference championship set up was always an advantage to the SEC. The perceived strength of schedule has always given the nod to the SEC in the polls. Win your games and you are in, no question. Plus, for the conferences that had a conference championship game, that too gave them an additional boost up the polls over teams what were watching TV instead of playing a conference championship game in prime time. What if the Big 10 wouldn't have had a conference championship game this year to knock OSU out of the picture and Auburn and Missouri played that no defense, all offense game? Wouldn't there have been a big appeal to push Auburn over OSU? But wait, couldn't one say that a one loss Missouri team or a 1 loss Alabama team should be there (maybe even over a zero loss FSU team). To think that everyone in the SEC should go to 2 losses before an undefeated team from a major conference can be considered is absolutely ludicrous.
Next year, four teams, most with legitimacy, will have earned the opportunity to determine the national championship on the field, where it should be decided.
Doctor L
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