First off...let me get to this.
Someone....somewhere....linked my blog entry about Notre Dame not deserving to get a BCS invite. I still think Oregon deserves the invitation over the Irish...though I am happy to see the Irish get there. I heard rationale from all over the place...mainly of the "well, if...." variety. "Well if...." the Irish finished off USC and would've taken care of Michigan State...they'd be undefeated. Well, if my aunt had nads...she'd be my uncle.
Oregon deserves the BCS at large bid over Notre Dame. Oregon's lone loss was to USC....though it was quite a beating. But they didn't lose another game...and beat four bowl teams. The Irish also lost to USC...but also lost a game to a team that finished BOWL INELIGIBLE. Both games at home. And only 3 of their wins were against teams that will be in bowls. Navy [7-4], Michigan [7-4] and BYU [6-5]. Not to mention the topper is that OREGON FINISHED WITH A HIGHER BCS RANKING THAN NOTRE DAME!!! What's the point of having this poll if you aren't going to use it to figure out your BCS at large bids.
Now...onto the bowls themselves...
We get what we all wanted with a ROSE BOWL featuring USC and Texas. In those same comments about Notre Dame, I was incorrectly called a Trojan fan for some odd reason. Please, read something else in my blog before pulling something out of your hide. If you had...you'd know that I've been ranking Texas as my #1 team all year....and I am strongly considering picked the Horns to beat USC for the championship. As it is, this game should be quite a great one with so many intangibles. I mean, these two have clearly been the top two teams all season. Both came off complete dismantlings of their final opponents. The game will be almost a home game for USC....but Texas played in the Rose Bowl more recently, beating Michigan this past New Year's Day.
Aside from my opposition to the Irish getting to a BCS game...the FIESTA BOWL with Notre Dame and Ohio State should be quite good. Two programs who share a state line but must travel to Arizona to square off. The marquee value alone is compelling...but we get to see what Charlie Weis can do with a month to break down that Ohio State defense. And while people are waxing love for Notre Dame....remember that the Buckeyes two losses were to the teams currently sitting #2 and #3 in the BCS rankings....with a combined 22-1 mark.
Because of their surprising ACC Championship....Florida State meets Penn State in the ORANGE BOWL. Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno are the two winningest coaches in Division I history...and this historic meeting should be treasured by everyone. And, for those predicting a Nittany Lion romp, remember that this is a "home game" of sorts for the Seminoles. Hey, it worked to their advantage against Va Tech.
Georgia and West Virginia square off in the SUGAR BOWL....which this year will be held in Atlanta due to the damage the Superdome in New Orleans. Atlanta? Wasn't that the site of the Bulldogs upset of LSU last week?? Good omens. But don't underestimate the 10-1 Mountaineers.
And that is just the BCS bowls!!
How about an Alabama-Texas Tech matchup in the COTTON BOWL?? That stingy Tide defense against that explosive Red Raiders offense!! That's what I love about bowl games!!!!
Or the PEACH BOWL which features LSU and Miami. Three weeks ago, this would have been a likely Orange or Sugar bowl game.
Or the CAPITAL ONE BOWL which will see, in my opinion, two of the most underrated teams in the nation: Wisconsin and Auburn.
Or the big name recognition of the ALAMO BOWL....Michigan v Nebraska.
Iowa and Florida meet in the OUTBACK BOWL for the second time in three years.
Or my Oregon team dropping to the HOLIDAY BOWL and facing Oklahoma. If you remember, last year Califiornia was screwed by the BCS [aka the Mack Brown recruitment of voters] and dropped to the Holiday Bowl. They were spanked by Texas Tech.
And bowl week has those little matchups that are great to see. UTEP head coach Mike Price will be in Mobile, Alabama to play Toledo in the GMAC BOWL. Remember, Price was briefly the head coach of Alabama before a scandal forced him out. Or Arkansas State in the NEW ORLEANS BOWL. Arkansas State last played in a bowl back in 1970....the Pecan Bowl. Also, Arkansas State are the Indians...and are one of those schools the NCAA had denied appeals to in order to keep their nickname. Or how about Central Florida who will be in the HAWAII BOWL. They lost every game last season before putting it together in the revamped Conference USA this season. We also see names like Akron, Rutgers, Houston and Nevada during bowl week.
It should be a great 28 games!!!!!
9 comments:
Notre Dame OSU should be a great game. Weiss's offense taking on AJ Hawk and the vaunted scarlet and grey defense.
All that said, the best part about the game is going to be all the fans with the Rudy Sucked shirts on during the game.
<a href="http://fans.spreadshirt.com">fans.spreadshirt.com</a>
Wish I had tickets to head out there and see it.
What's the point of the polls is a good question. ND was higher rated in the coaches poll all season but in the final week Oregon jumped them. Did ND have a loss that we didn't see? Or was it an Oregon win?? The pac 10 coaches voted Notre Dame 9,9,12,10 and voted Oregon 4th 5 times. See a little bias there?
Oregon played a 1AA team this year. Is that impressive? Don't dog ND's schedule regarding bowl eligible teams and records of their opponents.
Sagarins strength of schedule rating has Notre Dame's rated at 19th and Oregon's at 34th
Oregon lost to USC by 32 points at home. ND played USC as well as any team USC faced this year and lost by 3.
Oregon does deserve a BCS bowl but not over Notre Dame.
Correction: Pac 10 coaches voted Oregon 3 times at # 4 and 1 at # 5. Well above the national average.
Oregon Gets SCREWED OUT OF THE BOWL SERIES AND THE PAC 10 GETS IT JUST LIKE LAST YEAR AGAIN!!! ALL FOR THE MONEY!!! I say SCREW the BCS and I think East should stay East and West in the west. AMAZING!!!! If it were the other way around , Oh boy!! you would hear nothing but screaming!
Well I'm done with ALL of it!! I'm switching to watching the NFL. I don'think it's as corrupt as the NCAA...........It's been UNreal....GOOOOOD BYEEEEEE~~~~~
Come on the ducks should be i a BCS Bowl They played to a better standard towards the end of the season then did Ohio St or ND. what about how the ducks killed stanford and Stanford should have beat Nd. There is no reson ND should have looked so poor this time of the year if they werent so bad.
Let's not forget the fact that the BCS was a couple of seconds away from having the same controversy this year that it has been having regularly. Had Michigan not been fortunate to have a couple of questionable seconds put back on the clock, Penn State would be getting the same raw deal that Auburn did last year and that Southern Cal had a couple of years ago. I don't think anyone can argue that USC and Texas belong in the championship this year - but for the BCS that is more about luck than it is about their sorry system. The Orange Bowl will be a great spectacle - but should the Bowl which is supposed to be the 2nd most important of the year have the 22nd ranked team playing in it??? Oregon certainly has a lot to gripe about legitimately and Notre Dame, once again, benefits from a "tricked up" system that gives them credit for arrogance! They are a good team this year - but nobody else in the country gets to claim a special exemption like they do.
Once again, greed prevails in a system that should award the players for their efforts - not the egos of the the college Presidents who embarassingly claim this is about academics when that same argument seems to have no meaning to them for Division 1AA football or for Division 1 basketball. If integrity and honesty matter to the people who run our universities, where do we look to find it???
Yeah, I hate the fact people are proclaiming that "the BCS worked". I mean, the only two undefeated teams are playing for the championship....wow, what a mathematical calculation!!!!
Granted, under the old system, USC would be playing in the Rose Bowl against Penn State [still a great game] and Texas would've most likely played Ohio State or Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.
But the fact that 10-1 Oregon...who is ranked #5 in the BCS rankings and who's only loss was to #1 USC...falls to the Holiday Bowl is unreal. This is the #2 team in a BCS conference not named The Big East...and they don't get to play on New Year's Day. It is also unreal that #3 Penn State must face Florida State, who just came back into the rankings, IN Florida....while not playing higher ranked Notre Dame, Georgia and West Virginia.
Instead, we have USC playing in Los Angeles....
....Florida State playing in Miami.....
....Georgia playing in Atlanta.....
-Sportz [SportzAssassin.com]
How can the BCS proclaim any kind of success when number 22 Florida State gets one of the top eight spots! Yes, I know there is a tie to FSU's conference, which is ridiculous. The top eight teams should go to the 4 BCS bowls. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that math out!!!! As for Notre Dame, they finished in the top eight, they deserve a berth! Can anyone say, figure out a playoff system and end this stupidity called the BCS and polls?!?
You damn right Sportz, don't underestimate those 'eers..As we say here in West Virginia..Cheers, Beers, and Mountaineers
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