Ranking the Bowl games.

**ChiefSalsa** · 12-06-2010, 02:47 PM

I love this list.

Rivals.com College Football - Huguenin: Ranking the bowl matchups

I get off on BYU being dead last! Their brand is fading.

What games are you guys interested in? I, for one, find the Boise-Utah and ND-Miami games to be worth a view.

**PhillyCuse** · 12-07-2010, 09:28 AM

Pretty boring season capped by lousy bowl games. I would've liked to have seen TCU and Andrew Luck vs. Ohio St or an SEC team respectively. Instead they get Wisconsin and Va Tech? zzzz

**ChiefSalsa** · 12-07-2010, 09:41 AM

TCU vs. Wisconsin is a great game! If I was not marching in the parade I would love watching that game.

**Illiniwek** · 12-07-2010, 10:23 AM

The Texas Bowl divides our household right down the middle.

I'm not sure how much fans in the stands will love the Pinstripe Bowl. The reason the last couple decades have seen the construction of so many sport-specific baseball and football stadiums is that the hybrid stadium wasn't much of a place to watch football. Baseball and football have very different sight lines, and getting people close to the diamond doesn't do anything to make a seat any good for watching a gridiron.

Back in the 80s, I went to the Peach Bowl in Fulton County Stadium, long considered the NFL's worst facility. My seats were on the 48 or so, but, because the stadium's football setup was so close to circular, they were about 100 yards from the playing field. It was less a case of watching football than watching the backs of players and coaches on the sidelines watching football.

Anyway, the BCS games look decent. But I see Boise State is in a slot that the PAC-10 was unable to fill. I think that's funny because I thought during the conference madness earlier this year that Boise State should consider a jump to the PAC-10.

**phillyaggie** · 12-07-2010, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by Illiniwek

The Texas Bowl divides our household right down the middle.
.

Really? You're married to a Baylor Bear? dang! I hope she lets you dance every now and again, if you feel like it, that is!

(yes, they banned dancing in Waco, didn't they? along with any other fun activity...it's a dry city and county also)

But at least now I know the mystery of you knowing your good salsa by Jardine's, from Buda, TX.

**ChiefSalsa** · 12-07-2010, 11:12 AM

Boise vs. Utah is a great game. Boise is going to the conference that the Utes are abandoning. Plenty of drama. I know quite a few Ute fans who are heading down for that game.

Also, if the rumors are true that my Aggies will be invited into the Mountain West with Hawaii and UTEP, that means the UTEP-BYU game will be a second bowl featuring a former MWC deserter and its replacement.

West coast football. Gotta love it.

**phillyaggie** · 12-07-2010, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by ChiefSalsa

I love this list.

Rivals.com College Football - Huguenin: Ranking the bowl matchups

I get off on BYU being dead last! Their brand is fading.

What games are you guys interested in? I, for one, find the Boise-Utah and ND-Miami games to be worth a view.

Boise-Utah, I give you. But ND-Miami? Come on. Two programs that are slip sliding away...

I'm of course very interested in this year's Cotton Bowl, since my Aggies are playing LSU kitties. The highest-ranked opponent for any Big 12 team in this year's bowls. No wonder the Cotton is rated so much higher than even the BCS Fiesta where OU is playing...likely to lose once again to a lesser opponent...that should be fun to watch. I'll be rooting for Connecticut!

**BluegrassCat** · 12-07-2010, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by PhillyCuse

Pretty boring season capped by lousy bowl games. I would've liked to have seen TCU and Andrew Luck vs. Ohio St or an SEC team respectively. Instead they get Wisconsin and Va Tech? zzzz

Not defending the bowl matchups, but being a Big Ten fan I thought this season was very exciting. Wisconsin, Ohio Sate, and Michigan State were all in the Big 10 title hunt until the very end of the season. Up and down, but exciting seasons for Iowa, Illinois and Northwestern, and I always watch the Nittany Lions.

And michigan has one of the most exciting players in the country.

I am so Big 10 centric though that my knowledge outside the conference is slim.

**phillyaggie** · 12-07-2010, 11:23 AM

Big Ten (or is it Big Ten+2 now?!) is going to be a great football conference with the addition of Nebraska.

My Big 12 (more like Big 10 now!) better grab someone like ND or someone else outside its current footprint soon, or it's going to be history in a year or two, with A&M and OU likely leaving for SEC (I would hate that outcome!), Texas become independent (they are working on their own tv network...it's all about big money now), and the likes of Baylor, Texas Tech, and Okie State bolting for someplace else, whoever will take them. A&M and OU have standing invites from SEC, apparently.

**phillyaggie** · 12-07-2010, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by BluegrassCat

Not defending the bowl matchups, but being a Big Ten fan I thought this season was very exciting. Wisconsin, Ohio Sate, and Michigan State were all in the Big 10 title hunt until the very end of the season. Up and down, but exciting seasons for Iowa, Illinois and Northwestern, and I always watch the Nittany Lions.

And michigan has one of the most exciting players in the country.

I am so Big 10 centric though that my knowledge outside the conference is slim.

The bowl system and the BCS are really poor counterparts to the NCAA brackets in mens and womens basketball.

Here's yet another, but very intriguing and well thought out, idea on having playoffs:

College football playoff plan - College Football - Rivals.com

**BluegrassCat** · 12-07-2010, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by phillyaggie

Big Ten (or is it Big Ten+2 now?!) is going to be a great football conference with the addition of Nebraska.

My Big 12 (more like Big 10 now!) better grab someone like ND or someone else outside its current footprint soon, or it's going to be history in a year or two, with A&M and OU likely leaving for SEC (I would hate that outcome!), Texas become independent (they are working on their own tv network...it's all about big money now), and the likes of Baylor, Texas Tech, and Okie State bolting for someplace else, whoever will take them. A&M and OU have standing invites from SEC, apparently.

being a huge big 10 football and wrestling fan I love the addition of nebraska. It is great for both sports. As you mentioned the flip side is that it is really hurting big 12 football and killing them as a wrestling conference in terms of the number of members.

The crazy part is that the big 10 is supposedly intertested in adding two more teams in the years to come. ND, Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt and Missouri are always the names that are kicked around. As long as ND has their tv contract I can't imagine them joining a conference for football. We'll see....

And on a local level you have Villanova evaluating the possibility of joing the Big East for football.

I didn't know that Texas was working on their own tv contract. insane.

**ChiefSalsa** · 12-07-2010, 11:44 AM

The Big 12 is gonna pick up two Texas teams. The only other rumors I heard was Memphis and Arkansas---with Clemson or Miami taking Arkansas's place in the SEC.

**BluegrassCat** · 12-07-2010, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by phillyaggie

The bowl system and the BCS are really poor counterparts to the NCAA brackets in mens and womens basketball.

Here's yet another, but very intriguing and well thought out, idea on having playoffs:

College football playoff plan - College Football - Rivals.com

Good article and I'd love to see it happen.

The only time I wager on FB is for the bowl games, and it's just a buddy of mine and I, head to head, playing $10 a game. You are never down or up by that much since you are playing just one other person, but it does give me some meaning to the unappealing matchups.

**BluegrassCat** · 12-07-2010, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by ChiefSalsa

The Big 12 is gonna pick up two Texas teams. The only other rumors I heard was Memphis and Arkansas---with Clemson or Miami taking Arkansas's place in the SEC.

SMU? they are definitely on the upswing and have a history in the old SWC. Who is the second team you are thinking of?

duh, had to edit my post, I bet you are thinking of TCU as the second team?

**ChiefSalsa** · 12-07-2010, 12:02 PM

Houston and SMU are the faves. Rice is on standby for both the Big 12 and the Moutain West.

**phillyaggie** · 12-07-2010, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by ChiefSalsa

The Big 12 is gonna pick up two Texas teams. The only other rumors I heard was Memphis and Arkansas---with Clemson or Miami taking Arkansas's place in the SEC.

Big 12 adding two more Texas teams is simply not going to happen...the commish has said it in as many words. Why? They already have the media market covered in their footprint. Moreoever, adding someone like SMU or Houston would basically make it a rehash of the old Southwest Conference, without the benefit of having Arkansas.

And I don't think Arkansas leaves SEC to come back to Big 12. They left the old SWC to the SEC so why come back now? They did make a mistake, in that they didn't leave for a new conference with an old foe, so they feel kinda left out in all the other rivalries that go on in the SEC. But at the end of the day, their paycheck from the SEC is much larger because SEC has a much better tv contract than Big 12.

Big 12 could have invited TCU into the league, to add another private college to balance out Baylor. But they didn't. Actually, they would rather not have had Baylor in either, but the then-governor of Texas (Anne Richards) was a Baylor alumna and made sure UT and A&M played ball and got her little school into the big league.

Anywho, TCU is now bolted off to Big East... EAST Coast conference having a Texas school. wow!

At least now Big (L)east will be a bit better in football...

Not sure Villanova still has the option to bolt to Div I-A and come to Big East, since they already got TCU. They should have jumped at their chance.

On the flip side, what I've read is that Big 12 (Big 12 minus 2, really) is happy just to have 10 teams-- fewer teams to split the money with so the 10 teams get more money to keep for themselves. It also eliminates the conference championship game which many univ presidents don't like because other conferences like Pac-10 and Big 10 don't have championship games...I know, its a sucky argument to make, but that's the way it is. Add to that the fact that Texas is negotiating its own tv contract, and you've got the makings of a conference ready to fall apart.

Big 12, a marriage of old SWC and Big Eight, was a good thing while it lasted, but someone at UT had to mess with it. Mizzou has a big contingent of fans for several years now that want to bolt to Big Ten, not only for better money but the perceived better image of Big Ten schools. And of course they have an old rival in Illinois there. Though they would lose out on Kansas rivalry. I think Big Ten is sitting pretty and if they want to expand to a super conference of 16 teams, they could easily have their pick of Mizzou, Pitt, Syracuse, and Rutgers and ND. ND might be finally ready to climb down from their high horse after having so many bad seasons...being in a conference where you share the riches of bowl games and tv contracts with everyone allows you to ride out bad years, financially. being alone, not so much. And the prestige factor is also a lot less now, since ND hasn't mattered much on the national stage for the better part of 20 years.

And adding Rutgers and/or Syracuse could bring added media markets to Big Ten.

**ChiefSalsa** · 12-07-2010, 12:15 PM

All I know is that SMU and Houston are looking for a new home and that they met with the Big 12. Have a shot at an OU-Tx Big 12 championship game is a good thing. Two Texas schools push OU into the north division.

Arkansas is unhappy in the SEC. And Memphis wants to go to a BCS conference.

If all goes right, Utah State will be in the Mountain West by New Year's. Which is where my focus is.

As for the Bowl games, I think that while most of us agree that more than half of them are throw-aways, I am impressed with some of the match-ups in the "lesser" games. I usually catch one or two games--none on Jan. 1st for obvious reasons. This year, I might catch 3 or 4.

**BluegrassCat** · 12-07-2010, 12:40 PM

funny how the big 12 is saying the same things about market penetration as the big 10 is. Just proves it's not about sports anymore.

The Big 10 has said that they are reluctant to add Pitt since western PA is already Big 10 country as it is. I'd love to see Missouri added for selfish reasons (decent fb and wrestling), but I think the Big 10 really wants Rutgers or Syracuse in that order. They are dying to penetrate the NYC metropolitan marketplace.

**Illiniwek** · 12-07-2010, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by phillyaggie

Really? You're married to a Baylor Bear? dang! I hope she lets you dance every now and again, if you feel like it, that is!

(yes, they banned dancing in Waco, didn't they? along with any other fun activity...it's a dry city and county also)

But at least now I know the mystery of you knowing your good salsa by Jardine's, from Buda, TX.

She's not a Baptist.* And I dance when and where I want!

She visited the campus over a Christmas break and decided she liked the place. When she moved in at the beginning of the fall semester, the temperature was a little bit higher, as you know better than anyone else on PS. It's like an anvil.

When we visited Waco, she took me to Health Camp, which is probably the greatest name ever for burger-fries-and-shake drive-in anywhere in the world.

*She also never went to a Bears game as a student. On the other hand, she and I have had Illini football season tickets for years. "I can't lose," she says.

**Illiniwek** · 12-07-2010, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by phillyaggie

Big Ten (or is it Big Ten+2 now?!) is going to be a great football conference with the addition of Nebraska.

My Big 12 (more like Big 10 now!) better grab someone like ND or someone else outside its current footprint soon, or it's going to be history in a year or two, with A&M and OU likely leaving for SEC (I would hate that outcome!), Texas become independent (they are working on their own tv network...it's all about big money now), and the likes of Baylor, Texas Tech, and Okie State bolting for someplace else, whoever will take them. A&M and OU have standing invites from SEC, apparently.

The Big Ten is run like the NFL: everyone gets an equal share of TV and bowl revenues. The conference also has highly collegial relations among its members. The Big Ten's members rarely vote on policy, instead acting only when there is consensus.

The Big 12, on the other hand, consisted of Texas treating the other members of the conference like dirt. Rather than working to boost the conference (the way, say, the Big Ten Network lifts all the schools), Texas works to take care of Texas. The point of the Texas network isn't to let the Longhorns operate as an independent; it's for Texas to collect all the revenue for abusing Iowa State and send the 'Clones home with nothing but bruised pride.

As for which system produces a better football season, I think it's pretty obvious. In the press conference announcing their jump to the Big Ten, Nebraska officials made it clear there wasn't much about the Big 12 that they would miss. I'm surprised A&M didn't give more thought to jumping ship.