Posted on 12/05/2006 7:33:22 AM PST by sean327
This year’s college football bowl pairings were released Sunday, and the last-place teams from the biggest conferences will be crying all the way to the bank. The top teams from the small conferences will be crying poverty.
In NCAA Division I football, profits are higher for doormats from the six "major" conferences--Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern--than for champions from the five smaller conferences.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
What's that?
"I don't think it will be, and I am in no way a Michigan or even Big 10 fan."
Is it Michigan's talent advantage over USC, their coaching advantage, their tougher schedule this year or the history of the head-to-heads between the two programs that leads you to believe that USC won't be able to stay on the field with them?
Not really. In 1991, Colorado's coaching staff decided to switch from an option attack to a passing attack the next season. The coaching staff used their bowl game with Alabama to try it out. This is a famous example but very typical.
No one cares about bowl game victories unless it is a high stakes bowl. Do you think that Auburn fans care more about beating Alabama or beating Wisconsin in a bowl game?
When LSU beats Georgia, the UGA fans are crushed - when UGA loses to WVU in the bowl game, the UGA fans don't like it but they just laugh it off and move on to recruiting.
The only teams that remember bowl games for many many years are those that don't go to very many or for teams where the bowl game is the highlight of their season.
For teams that go to bowls on a regular basis, the bowl games are for preparing the team for the NEXT year and rewarding the players.
When Alabama was restricted from going to bowls for 2 seasons, the fans and coaching staff weren't upset about the missing the actual bowl game but about the extra practice time they would miss.
No... though I'd throw in the caveat that if there are fewer than 4 undefeated teams, that they all get a spot in the playoff.
To avoid scheduling abuse, maybe require a threshold for a certain BCS ranking as well as undefeated.
Be an Independent like Notre Dame.
"History doesn't mean much and coaching can only go so far. It's watching both teams play. Frankly, I'm not at all impressed by USC. Michigan has the superior team this year."
History only matters since it seems like almost every time Michigan or Ohio State come to the Rose Bowl, they are supposedly better than the Pac-10 team, but they don't win very often, especially against USC. My God, in 2004 most of the pundits had Michigan better than USC and that game wasn't even close. I disagree with you on coaching. In college football, coaching is the primary factor in a program's success level.
If you have seen both programs play a number of times, that's great and you like Michigan to win. I was just trying to determine what made up your opinion.
No doubt about the importance of coaching in overall "program success" especially when it comes to recruiting and development, but when it comes any single game, I'll stick with coaching can only go so far.
Sounds fair to me!
I wanted to comment on this a little more. Could you list some coaches who have had their careers made in non-national championship bowl games? I certainly don't know of any.
People remember bowl games for many many years.
Ask college football fans to name the last five national championship games and most will be able to.
Now ask them to name the last 5 Sugar Bowls or Cotton Bowls. How about the last 5 bowl games that UGA, Louisville, Texas Tech or California have played. How about the #4 ranked team the last the five years in the final poll? Does Auburn have a winning or losing record in bowl games the last 5 years? How about Virginia Tech?
What I'm getting at is that people only remember bowl games for years to come if it was involved in determining the National championship, something memorable happened or a team that they cared about played in it.
Coaches do want to win their bowl game, but some care more than others depending on the status of their program. For example, a team like Wake Forest which has a chance for an historic top 8 finish is going to put a lot more emphasis winning their bowl game than a team like UGA that wouldn't mind winning but must place a priority on getting ready for next year.
Think of it this way, when Texas plays Texas A&M, the Texas coaches would be willing to play a gimpy underclassman but in a meaningless bowl game they would sit him and allow him to heal and be 100% for spring practices.
OSU and Michigan are going to get beaten badly because they haven't played a game for at least two weeks longer than their opponents. They get beat in the bowl games every year because of this and will continue to get beat every year.Huh? Ohio State is 4-1 in bowl games (including the 2003 Fiesta Bowl where they won the National Championship) since Jim Tressel took over.
-Eric
Well there are apppoximately 120 schools in Division 1 (championship) football and I think 109 in Division 1 (bowl) football.
The Division 1 (bowl) BCS entrants are: Ohio State, Florida, Michigan, LSU, Notre Dame, USC, Oklahoma, Boise State, Wake Forrest and Louisville.
Here are a few Division 1 (championship) schools some of which were/are in the playoffs: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Eastern, Hofstra, James Madison, Villanova, Lehigh, Holy Cross, Bucknell, Fordham, Georgetown and The Citadel...
Anyone care to discuss the academic achievement of the schools in the championship sector versus those in the bowl sector?
My point is that the arguement that having a "Big Time College Football Championship" would be distructive to the academic achievement of the "student athletes" is specious.
Wrong.
Georgia beat Wisconsin and LSU lost on a last minute hail mary play.
Like this:
Arrange the conferences so we have 16 conferences of 12 to 16 teams each (192-256 schools). Each conference has two divisions. The division champs play each other to determine conference champs. Only conference champs can progress on to the 16 team play off rounds. "Elite Eight" (four games) would be New years day.
Independents?
two choices:
1) They choose to be independent, so they do not participate in the play offs. Tough. Their decision
2) Have a "Independent league" (I know sounds contradictory), but, One slot would be reserved for the Independent that is either the highest rated or has the best record.
How so? They lost, they are out. Period.
Tell that to the former Coach at Arizona State. Three bowls in three years got him fired. I know, they weren't the 'right' bowls.
I propose that we create a second, "lower" league then. Let's let the top 20 college teams have their own BCS league and the rest of the schools can have a playoff. The ratings can be the judge later.
Not that there really was much difference in dates, but here's a summation:
MasterCard Alamo
(20)Michigan (7-4) 28
vs. Nebraska (7-4) 32
San Antonio, Texas Dec. 28
“Nebraska overcame a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter. “ With the game ending with Nebraska having dozens of additional players all over the field during the final play, and Michigan players walking on the field as well, the referees declined to call a penalty in a game that was so poorly refereed that it was hard to call this football. Michigan ended the game with time expired, at the Nebraska 13 after earlier having to blow two timeouts to get the replay officials to review obviously wrong calls – of which the night was full of for both teams.
Gaylord Hotels Music City
Minnesota (7-4) 31
vs. Virginia (6-5) 34
Nashville, Tenn. Dec. 30
“Connor Hughes kicked a 39-yard field goal with 1:08 left […]The Gophers had one last chance to pull out their fourth straight bowl victory, but Marcus Hamilton intercepted Bryan Cupito's ill-advised pass into double coverage in the end zone with 36 seconds remaining to seal the game for Virginia.”
Vitalis Sun
(25) Northwestern (7-4) 38
vs. (16) UCLA (9-2) 50
El Paso, Texas Dec. 30
“The Wildcats (7-5) pulled within 36-31 with 2:29 remaining when Brett Basanez threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Mark Philmore, but Breazell -- a receiver lined up to make sure the Bruins kept the ball -- returned the ensuing onside kick 43 yards.
“After Basanez added a 5-yard TD pass to Shaun Herbert with 23 seconds remaining, Breazell struck again by taking the next onside kick for a 41-yard score, punctuating the highest-scoring Sun Bowl ever.”
Outback
Iowa (7-4) 24
vs. (17) Florida (8-3) 31
Tampa, Fla. Jan. 2
“Tate completed 32 of 55 passes for 346 yards and three touchdowns. He rallied his team from a 31-7 deficit in the fourth quarter with TD throws of 4 and 14 yards to Ed Hinkel, then moved Iowa into position for a 45-yard field goal to pull the Hawkeyes within a touchdown with 1:24 remaining. “
Capital One
(18) Wisconsin (9-3) 24
vs. (9) Auburn (9-2) 10
Orlando, Fla. Jan. 2
Not close, as Wisconsin took a knee for the final plays within the Auburn 5 yard line.
Tostitos Fiesta
(6) Notre Dame (9-2) 20
vs. (4) Ohio State (9-2) 34
Tempe, Ariz. Jan. 2
The score was closer than the game.
FedEx Orange OT
(3) Penn State (10-1) 26
vs. (22) Florida State (8-4) 23
Miami, Fla. Jan. 3
“Smothering defense and sudden scoring strikes -- including an Orange Bowl-record 87-yard punt return by Florida State's Willie Reid -- kept the teams close. So did errant kicks by both sides that could have won the game.”
This was a defensive good matchup, but Penn State should have been able to handle FSU much more easily.
No need to bother with the ooc games. If OSU had lost all of its OOc games and then went through its conference schedule like it did, it'd go and MI and WI would set at home. It happens more often than you'd think, especially in the middle conferences.
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