THE BOWL COMMITTEES GOT MORE WRONG THAN RIGHT
I'm not going to rehash my thoughts from Saturday night, but the BCS & the bowl committees continue to cheat the fans. Once again, performance means little, having a great season doesn't matter, it's all about money. When does "Occupy the Sugar Bowl" begin? I was shaking my head for two solid hours last night trying to figure out how these matchups were made. You know what I was doing wrong, why I couldn't come to grips with these decisions? I was using logic, what a ridiculous concept when we're talking about money.
For the first time ever, I'm going to pass on a few bowl games. Oh I already pass on the Florida International vs.Marshall-type matchups. But now I'm going to pass on a few of the bigger bowls, including the Sugar Bowl. Big talk now, but can I back it up on January 3rd, actually not watch a major BCS bowl game? Right now, I'm that pissed off, so tired of having matchups that are total B.S. while really solid teams are completely ignored.
The Sugar Bowl passed on #7 Boise State, #8 Kansas State & #12 Baylor to invite Virginia Tech to play Michigan. Tech was smoked for the second time this season by Clemson in the ACC Championship game. Their two losses, 23-3 & 38-10 made it very clear the Hokies were unable to play with Clemson. That's #15 ranked Clemson. The main reason everyone who is stuck on LSU vs. Alabama is Oklahoma State has a "bad loss" to Iowa State. Is getting pounded twice by the same friggin' team not a "bad loss?" Clemson will host #21 West Virginia in the Orange Bowl giving the ACC 2 BCS teams for the first time ever. So why did the Sugar Bowl invite Tech? For money, they believe the Hokie fans will come to New Orleans & spend more money than the faithful from Boise, K-State or Baylor. Maybe that's true, maybe the Tech fans will spend $50-$100K more than the others. But maybe they'll be sorry, the City of Miami was hoping to never host Tech again after their fans didn't show up or spend money in their fair city the past three years when they were the ACC's representative in the Orange Bowl. I have no issues with Michigan being invited & I believe they'll handle the Hokies.
Providing great matchups no longer is any part of the bowl committee's evaluation, it's rating the bankrolls of their traveling alums. How many rounds of golf will they play, how upscale will their hotels need to be? We don't want Denny's diners, we want people willing to pay $50 for a steak. I get that, I just think they underestimate the spending power of many of these alums & boosters. What galls me is when they try to explain away these bullsh*t matchups as "two schools with great tradition, great fans & we're honored to invite both to our city." Horsesh*t! They cut that off without saying "they better spend a helluva lot of cash or otherwise we'll never invite their cheap asses back here again."
Oklahoma State is going to the Fiesta to play Stanford like I predicted Saturday. Should be a good game, one I'll definitely watch. Same for the Rose Bowl with Oregon vs. Wisconsin. The Cotton Bowl pitting Kansas State against Arkansas is a good matchup. So is Georgia vs. Michigan State in the Outback Bowl Jan. 2nd. I also predicted Boise would get no better than the Las Vegas Bowl & that's exactly what they got, a game with 6-6 Arizona State. Boise won 11-games, but they're pitted against a 6-6 team that lost their last 4 & notified their coach he would be history right after the bowl. Nice.
Baylor & their fans are surely thrilled for their winter vacation about 3 hours away on I-35. From Waco to San Antonio to see a game with 7-5 Washington in the Alamo Bowl. Seriously? This is the best matchup the folks in San Antonio could come up with? Are you expecting tens of thousands of Husky fans to travel from Washington or are you going for 30,000 driving down from Waco, watching the game, hitting a drivethru & then back up the interstate home? Unbelievable. One more item per USA Today, Colorado head coach John Embree failed to Baylor on his ballot at all. Very nice.
TCU won 56-9 Saturday & didn't move up a single spot in the BCS poll, thereby keeping them out of the BCS, they had to get to sixteen or higher to be eligible for an at-large, non-automatic qualifying spot. So the 10-2 #18 Horned Frogs will face unranked, 8-4 Louisiana Tech in the Poinsettia Bowl. TCU took nearly 30,000 people to the Rose Bowl last year, but now they're not wanted for a major bowl.
OU fell all the way to #14 after getting whacked around at Oklahoma State, they also fell into unfamiliar bowl territory, the Insight Bowl vs. Iowa. Iowa can't play with the Sooners on any normal day, but how motivated is OU at this point?
Mizzou was relagated to the Independence Bowl, which has no connection to the Big-12. This is the 2nd time the conference shipped the Tigers off to this bowl they have no history with. They'll play the 7-5 North Carolina Tar Heels. Could be a decent game, who knows, Gary Pinkel's bowl history isn't the greatest. Texas, also 7-5 was given a plum bowl bid, the Holiday Bowl against Cal. No surprise to me. Another thing I don't understand(logic again) Texas was ranked 22nd last week in the BCS poll. They were crushed by Baylor Saturday night 48-24 but they fell only 2 spots to #24. The Tigers were ranked 25th last week but fell out of the poll so Texas could stay in I guess. Mizzou beat the Longhorns & were beaten by 4 of the same teams as Texas. Difference was their only blowout loss was to Oklahoma State while Texas suffered losses of 12, 12, 24 & 38. One of those 12-point losses was to Mizzou. Texas received zero votes in the AP Poll & only a 25th place vote in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Mizzou received 11 votes in the USA Today Poll & 5 in the AP Poll. How does that equate? Money & power. People wonder why Mizzou is fleeing this conference, this is why.
By the way, Houston fell from #6 to #19 after they lost big to Southern Mississippi, their only loss of the season. Thirteen spots, but Texas gets beaten just as bad for their fifth loss but drops only 2 spots. You think this crap isn't political? Houston will play Penn State in the Ticket City Bowl.
Here's a bowl game I can't wait to miss. The Fight Hunger Bowl(great charity, terrible game) that matches the 6-6 Fighting Illini against the 6-7 UCLA Bruins. Both teams have fired their coaches, Illinois fresh off a 6-game losing streak & UCLA going in with a losing record but with an NCAA waiver to play in a bowl with a losing record. This is a prime example of having too damn many bowl games.
In the Look How Far They've Fallen Gator Bowl we'll get a pair of 6-6 titans, Ohio State & Florida. Yahoo! I'm going to put the over/under of camera shots of Urban Meyer at 17 1/2. He used to coach Florida & next season he will coach Ohio State, it just irresistible isn't it?
As to the LSU-Alabama matchup, the Crimson Tide was rewarded for losing their SEC division, not winning the conference & sitting at home on Championship Saturday with a get out of jail free card into the BCS title game. Oklahoma closed the margin dramatically but they lost out by .00886. I heard Nick Saban say, "well they choose not to have a conference championship game so.........." Saban, on his USA Today Coaches Poll Ballot, placed Oklahoma State 4th. Gary Pinkel did as well, gotta get in good with SEC guys. Air Force coach Troy Calhoun placed them 5th. See how that .00886 came to be? They altered the BCS rules 7-years ago in an effort to put a stop to all the crap that plagues this phony-baloney system. But, he we are again. The excuse this time is "we have the two best teams in the game." That's based on what? That Oklahoma State beat more ranked teams, that Oklahoma played more winning teams, that Alabama lost at home & played a horrible game, do any of these facts enter into this decision to match "the two best teams" in this game? If you're going to use the "but" excuse, when does it stop? I'll tell you something else I truly believe, if this was Oklahoma or Texas & not Oklahoma State, Alabama wouldn't be in the title game, it would be Sooners or Longhorns.
"Yes Alabama didn't win their division, or their conference & they didn't play as many winning teams or beat as many ranked teams as Oklahoma State, BUT, we believe we have the two best teams."
You just might, but why not skip the charade, ditch the polls, the computers & just give berths to teams that are the 'believed" to be the best two teams in the country. You know I've said over & over I think LSU is the best team in the nation & is certainly worthy of the national championship. But short of a playoff, which will never happen without lawmakers getting involved & they can't agree on anything, we're stuck with this crappy system that uses a "BUT" to qualify it's decisions.
There, I'm done, rant complete.
For the first time ever, I'm going to pass on a few bowl games. Oh I already pass on the Florida International vs.Marshall-type matchups. But now I'm going to pass on a few of the bigger bowls, including the Sugar Bowl. Big talk now, but can I back it up on January 3rd, actually not watch a major BCS bowl game? Right now, I'm that pissed off, so tired of having matchups that are total B.S. while really solid teams are completely ignored.
The Sugar Bowl passed on #7 Boise State, #8 Kansas State & #12 Baylor to invite Virginia Tech to play Michigan. Tech was smoked for the second time this season by Clemson in the ACC Championship game. Their two losses, 23-3 & 38-10 made it very clear the Hokies were unable to play with Clemson. That's #15 ranked Clemson. The main reason everyone who is stuck on LSU vs. Alabama is Oklahoma State has a "bad loss" to Iowa State. Is getting pounded twice by the same friggin' team not a "bad loss?" Clemson will host #21 West Virginia in the Orange Bowl giving the ACC 2 BCS teams for the first time ever. So why did the Sugar Bowl invite Tech? For money, they believe the Hokie fans will come to New Orleans & spend more money than the faithful from Boise, K-State or Baylor. Maybe that's true, maybe the Tech fans will spend $50-$100K more than the others. But maybe they'll be sorry, the City of Miami was hoping to never host Tech again after their fans didn't show up or spend money in their fair city the past three years when they were the ACC's representative in the Orange Bowl. I have no issues with Michigan being invited & I believe they'll handle the Hokies.
Providing great matchups no longer is any part of the bowl committee's evaluation, it's rating the bankrolls of their traveling alums. How many rounds of golf will they play, how upscale will their hotels need to be? We don't want Denny's diners, we want people willing to pay $50 for a steak. I get that, I just think they underestimate the spending power of many of these alums & boosters. What galls me is when they try to explain away these bullsh*t matchups as "two schools with great tradition, great fans & we're honored to invite both to our city." Horsesh*t! They cut that off without saying "they better spend a helluva lot of cash or otherwise we'll never invite their cheap asses back here again."
Oklahoma State is going to the Fiesta to play Stanford like I predicted Saturday. Should be a good game, one I'll definitely watch. Same for the Rose Bowl with Oregon vs. Wisconsin. The Cotton Bowl pitting Kansas State against Arkansas is a good matchup. So is Georgia vs. Michigan State in the Outback Bowl Jan. 2nd. I also predicted Boise would get no better than the Las Vegas Bowl & that's exactly what they got, a game with 6-6 Arizona State. Boise won 11-games, but they're pitted against a 6-6 team that lost their last 4 & notified their coach he would be history right after the bowl. Nice.
Baylor & their fans are surely thrilled for their winter vacation about 3 hours away on I-35. From Waco to San Antonio to see a game with 7-5 Washington in the Alamo Bowl. Seriously? This is the best matchup the folks in San Antonio could come up with? Are you expecting tens of thousands of Husky fans to travel from Washington or are you going for 30,000 driving down from Waco, watching the game, hitting a drivethru & then back up the interstate home? Unbelievable. One more item per USA Today, Colorado head coach John Embree failed to Baylor on his ballot at all. Very nice.
TCU won 56-9 Saturday & didn't move up a single spot in the BCS poll, thereby keeping them out of the BCS, they had to get to sixteen or higher to be eligible for an at-large, non-automatic qualifying spot. So the 10-2 #18 Horned Frogs will face unranked, 8-4 Louisiana Tech in the Poinsettia Bowl. TCU took nearly 30,000 people to the Rose Bowl last year, but now they're not wanted for a major bowl.
OU fell all the way to #14 after getting whacked around at Oklahoma State, they also fell into unfamiliar bowl territory, the Insight Bowl vs. Iowa. Iowa can't play with the Sooners on any normal day, but how motivated is OU at this point?
Mizzou was relagated to the Independence Bowl, which has no connection to the Big-12. This is the 2nd time the conference shipped the Tigers off to this bowl they have no history with. They'll play the 7-5 North Carolina Tar Heels. Could be a decent game, who knows, Gary Pinkel's bowl history isn't the greatest. Texas, also 7-5 was given a plum bowl bid, the Holiday Bowl against Cal. No surprise to me. Another thing I don't understand(logic again) Texas was ranked 22nd last week in the BCS poll. They were crushed by Baylor Saturday night 48-24 but they fell only 2 spots to #24. The Tigers were ranked 25th last week but fell out of the poll so Texas could stay in I guess. Mizzou beat the Longhorns & were beaten by 4 of the same teams as Texas. Difference was their only blowout loss was to Oklahoma State while Texas suffered losses of 12, 12, 24 & 38. One of those 12-point losses was to Mizzou. Texas received zero votes in the AP Poll & only a 25th place vote in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Mizzou received 11 votes in the USA Today Poll & 5 in the AP Poll. How does that equate? Money & power. People wonder why Mizzou is fleeing this conference, this is why.
By the way, Houston fell from #6 to #19 after they lost big to Southern Mississippi, their only loss of the season. Thirteen spots, but Texas gets beaten just as bad for their fifth loss but drops only 2 spots. You think this crap isn't political? Houston will play Penn State in the Ticket City Bowl.
Here's a bowl game I can't wait to miss. The Fight Hunger Bowl(great charity, terrible game) that matches the 6-6 Fighting Illini against the 6-7 UCLA Bruins. Both teams have fired their coaches, Illinois fresh off a 6-game losing streak & UCLA going in with a losing record but with an NCAA waiver to play in a bowl with a losing record. This is a prime example of having too damn many bowl games.
In the Look How Far They've Fallen Gator Bowl we'll get a pair of 6-6 titans, Ohio State & Florida. Yahoo! I'm going to put the over/under of camera shots of Urban Meyer at 17 1/2. He used to coach Florida & next season he will coach Ohio State, it just irresistible isn't it?
As to the LSU-Alabama matchup, the Crimson Tide was rewarded for losing their SEC division, not winning the conference & sitting at home on Championship Saturday with a get out of jail free card into the BCS title game. Oklahoma closed the margin dramatically but they lost out by .00886. I heard Nick Saban say, "well they choose not to have a conference championship game so.........." Saban, on his USA Today Coaches Poll Ballot, placed Oklahoma State 4th. Gary Pinkel did as well, gotta get in good with SEC guys. Air Force coach Troy Calhoun placed them 5th. See how that .00886 came to be? They altered the BCS rules 7-years ago in an effort to put a stop to all the crap that plagues this phony-baloney system. But, he we are again. The excuse this time is "we have the two best teams in the game." That's based on what? That Oklahoma State beat more ranked teams, that Oklahoma played more winning teams, that Alabama lost at home & played a horrible game, do any of these facts enter into this decision to match "the two best teams" in this game? If you're going to use the "but" excuse, when does it stop? I'll tell you something else I truly believe, if this was Oklahoma or Texas & not Oklahoma State, Alabama wouldn't be in the title game, it would be Sooners or Longhorns.
"Yes Alabama didn't win their division, or their conference & they didn't play as many winning teams or beat as many ranked teams as Oklahoma State, BUT, we believe we have the two best teams."
You just might, but why not skip the charade, ditch the polls, the computers & just give berths to teams that are the 'believed" to be the best two teams in the country. You know I've said over & over I think LSU is the best team in the nation & is certainly worthy of the national championship. But short of a playoff, which will never happen without lawmakers getting involved & they can't agree on anything, we're stuck with this crappy system that uses a "BUT" to qualify it's decisions.
There, I'm done, rant complete.
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