Posted on 12/07/2009 9:10:25 AM PST by The Pack Knight
This should feel like a just reward for an offseason where the non-automatic qualifiers extolled their virtues in front of Congress, then reached unprecedented heights in the BCS era on the field.
It can't be understated that for the first time, two teams from outside of the major conferences have been granted access behind the BCS' velvet rope as No. 3 TCU and No. 6 Boise State will meet in the Fiesta Bowl. "I think the Fiesta Bowl, to their credit, is putting two very, very deserving teams on the field against each other," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said.
It's a statement, no doubt, but maybe not the one that this landmark moment should deliver, because the Broncos and Horned Frogs are having to play each other.
The Fiesta Bowl has created a matchup that seems more like a cop-out than an achievement; denying the two unbeatens a chance to validate their seasons against the big boys on the sports' biggest stage and opening up an entirely new chapter of BCS bashing/collusion allegations.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/cory_mccartney/12/06/boise.state.tcu/?xid=cnnbin#ixzz0Z1WkeLVo Get a free NFL Team Jacket and Tee with SI Subscription
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.cnn.com ...
Fexus did lose, the refs. as usual gave them the game!
Big 12 has same problem as the SEC.
Dick heads in charge of flags!
Fexas is not the best, they just have the best access to money and that is all today’s football is!
I really don’t think you can compare the week-to-week drama of football vs. basketball because there are 3 times as many games in a college basketball season.
I certainly don’t think you can say the NFL doesn’t have week-to-week drama despite the fact that it has a playoff system, and despite the fact that the NFL season is 4 games longer than college. Also, it is far easier to make the 12-team NFL playoff field than it would be to make even the 16-team playoff field in the most ambitious college playoff proposals.
The most ambitious proposal I’ve seen would be for a 16-team playoff, with each of the 11 conference champions receiving an automatic berth, with the rest being filled by at-large bids. There would be no more than two teams from any one conference, so there would still be a great deal of competition week-to-week for conference championships and for the very limited number of at-large berths. Also, even the top teams would still have a lot to play for, because there would be a big incentive to get a high seed and play, say, the Sun Belt conference champion rather than, say, Iowa.
While the small conference champions are obviously going to be big underdogs, that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t see surprises like we do from time to time in college basketball.
Finally, the basic fact is that while we can all throw out statistics on “strength of schedule”, that doesn’t tell us squat about which team is actually better. Where I come from, the way you find out if one team is better than another is to have them play each other. That’s the whole point of competitive sports. If we could decide which team is better through a bunch of statistics, we could just save everyone the trouble and simulate every game with a computer - which, when you think about it, is all the BCS really is.
Football championships should be decided on the field, not through computers or through AP beauty contests.
Common knowledge? What a crock. I’ve been following college football for 40+ years. Thanks for the info., cupcake.
They “have the best access to money”?? They fund themselves and don’t draw from the athletic budget. What access to money? From the near 100k crowds who pay to see Texas live? Or the TV contracts?
I would like to see Boise State get past TCU first. People are griping over the #4 team v. the #7 (BCS ranked) team playing in the Fiesta Bowl, and carrying on about how these teams were cheated. #4 or #7 generally don't play for the national championship in football. There were 14 weeks of AP polls and 7 or 8 weeks of BCS polls. Hundreds of sportswriters all over the country currently agree than TCU is #3 and Boise St. #6. That's just the way it is.
This, of course, is why the “weak sister conferences” are 3-1 in BCS games.
Looks like you ought to check the stats yourself.
So that warrants obliterating the football program at SMU for more than a decade?
Boise State is not going to get a home and home series with a school that has an 80,000 plus seat stadium. The amount of money such a school would miss out on would put a serious dent in their athletic budget.
I’d certainly rank Georgetown and probably Villanova above Notre Dame as private academic schools in the Big East.
So Oregon had a rough time with Boise this season. BFD. Oregon isn't the only "big-name" school out there. I'd suggest you petition the powers-that-be at Boise to join a "big-name" conference. Btw, the world of college football doesn't revolve around Boise St.
Just one more game and the winners of those could square off, so TCU and Boise could have a shot.
Also, it won’t happen, but I would like to see Boise State join the Big 12 north, they need a couple of power houses in the north.
Cincy’s Kelly to meet with Notre Dame (AP)
Coach Brian Kelly confirmed on Monday that he will meet with Notre Dame officials about their open job, leaving fourth-ranked Cincinnati with a lot of uncertainty heading into its first Sugar Bowl appearance. Kelly met with his players on Monday afternoon, and confirmed his interest in the Notre Dame job on his Twitter feed.
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A major distraction for them.
SMU only got the death penalty because it had little impact on the local economy. High school games outdraw SMU games. Shutting down football at an SEC school would have had a devastating impact on the local economy. So SMU made for the perfect program to pick on.
LOL! I missed that little nugget of BS when I first read through your comment. A 61% homefield winning record doesn't exactly demonstrate to opposing teams that Oregon are "nearly unbeatable" at home.
That’s an interesting thought. I never considered the NCAA to be thoughtful of local economies when deciding whether or not to destroy a college football program.
“This, of course, is why the “weak sister conferences” are 3-1 in BCS games.”
“Looks like you ought to check the stats yourself.”
3-1 against the ALSO rans in other conferences...
Remember that 11-0 Hawaii team that all of you weak sister boys said got robbed because they were not in the “big game”...Well, they got beat 45-10 by the THIRD place SEC team....
The weak sister teams CAN beat the third and fourth place teams in the PAC-10 (no defense in that conference), and they can beat the also rans in the BIG-10...
The last weak sister team to win the National Title was BYU when they lucked up (due to conference ties before the BCS)and drew a 6-5 Michigan team in the Rose Bowl....This year BYU beat a weak OU team and all you weak sister folks said “WE HAVE ARRIVED !!”....Oh, but then a 6 loss Florida State beat them 54-28.
I am telling you that if Boise and TCU had to play in the SEC, they would NOT be undefeated and all this whinning about not getting a shot would be OVER..
And, if we had a playoff system, we could cull them long before the big game, thus saving all this “we got robbed” crap....because in a playoff system, they wouldn’t be playing New Mexico State, Weber State, San Jose State, UC Davis...etc, etc.
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