Football Follies

[cactuswatcher]

27 of the 70 Bowl game slots are filled with teams with a record of 7-5 or worse (including my Missouri Tigers). It does no good to say that a third of games are a waste of everyone's time. Team supporters want their favorites to play and win regardless. Some general fans will watch anything and many a bored guy will tune in a game or two even if they don't care. At least most of us are not employed by NFL teams and are thus not compelled to watch because of work.

The best that a lot of the lower ranked bowls can hope for is a good close game. Some of them are not likely to get anything close to a close game. The worst matchups:

1. MAACO (Las Vegas) Bowl, Boise State (11-1) vs Arizona State (6-6). Arizona St. has already fired their coach and Boise can't be happy about playing on Dec 22. This could be a massacre.

2. Poinsettia Bowl, TCU (10-2) vs Louisiana Tech (8-4). Headed to the Big 12 next year, the Horned Frogs are going to take this game seriously which is bad news for Terry Bradshaw's old school.

3. Hawaii Bowl, Nevada (7-5) vs Southern Mississippi (11-2). If this were last year's Nevada team it would be a good game. This year's Nevada has to hope the Eagles decide to screw the game and have a good time in Hawaii.

4. Alamo Bowl, Baylor (9-3) vs Washington (7-5). This is the best bowl either team has been offered in a long time. My guess is Baylor wants to prove they belong which is bad news for a mediocre Washington.

5. Fight Hunger Bowl, UCLA (6-7) vs Illinois (6-6). Illinois lost their last six games and UCLA needed a waiver to qualify. Both head coaches are long gone. Don't expect much from this one.

And then there's that game everyone does expect to be close...

6. BCS Championship, LSU (13-0) vs Alabama (11-1). Despite knowing what happened the first time (essentially a tedious draw), sportswriters insisted on this matchup. Would it better this time at 59-56 in three overtimes? I doubt it. Two very good teams, and either could win. But seriously, if you believe in a playoff, this is a joke.

Comments

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

More than anything else, I think the rematch is a product of EPSN's really heavy financial stake in the SEC.

Certainly odd that they selected a rematch nobody outside of Alabama wants to see and also yet another way to expose flaws in the system. "The BCS is good because it means that every game counts except for the one we said was the most important game of the year..."

And, then, there's Virginia Tech getting put in the Sugar Bowl over K State and Boise despite playing in a terrible conference, beating absolutely nobody of consequence, and having a long history of post-season face-plants.

Well, could be worse. At least you don't root for 2-10 Maryland which is in year one of an three-year minimum coaching disaster.

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

Or the BCS is bad cause it gives us exactly what we BCS haters have been demanding???