Ten Thoughts on the Bowl Games

1. The Title Game has the correct matchup
Florida and Oklahoma are the champions of the best conferences, no one in a major league has a better record, and nobody else has a better overall resume (Texas needs to do a better job of non-conference scheduling, Oklahoma and Florida both have two wins outside the league that are better than anything Texas has this season).

2. Boise St. got hosed
On merit, Boise St. should be headed to the Sugar Bowl or Orange Bowl instead of Utah and Utah should be headed to the Fiesta Bowl while Ohio St. goes down to the Capital One Bowl. Instead, tradition trumps achievement again and Ohio St. goes to Arizona. If Texas is motivated to play, Ohio St. is getting killed in another big game.

3. The Orange Bowl continues to get what it deserves
2002 - Iowa vs USC. The Orange stole Iowa from the Rose Bowl using a system glitch that has since been corrected. Since then, the Orange has gone to the dump. Don't mess with tradition. Matchups since the Iowa/USC blowout after the 2002 season. Miami-Florida St. (rematch), USC-Oklahoma (blowout title game with another major undefeated locked out of the game), Penn St.-Florida St. (FSU was ranked in the 20s after upsetting Virginia Tech in ACC Title Game, yawn), Louisville-Wake Forest (nobody cares), Kansas-Virginia Tech (nobody cares), Cincinnati-Virginia Tech (even less people care than the last two years).

4. The non-BCS New Year's Games stink this year
Georgia-Michigan St. is not up to the normal Citrus Bowl level (blame on BCS for taking Ohio St.), South Carolina-Iowa is nowhere near Outback Bowl level (blame on weak SEC), Texas Tech-Ole Miss looks like another Big 12 blowout win (SEC really needs to start sending better teams here, this game has been mostly bad for them unless the Big 12 is down), and Clemson-Nebraska is not worthy by quality of teams (though the names are nice and shiny for the marquee and the game will sell out).

5. Ball St. got what it deserved.
For those who missed it, Ball St. had an offer from the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise to match teh Cardinals with Boise St. on the blue turf. Ball St turned it down citing not wanting to play on the road and not wanting their fans to travel, denying us of a nice game. Then Ball St. lost to Buffalo in the MAC Title Game. With Ball St. no longer the top MAC team and Buffalo already locked to the International Bowl in Toronto, the Motor City took Central Michigan and sent Ball St.'s traveling fans down to Mobile for the GMAC Bowl on Jan. 6. Good luck getting any exposure there. And Ball St. will lose since they are playing Tulsa and that great offense.

6. Notre Dame actually has a chance to win a bowl game
The Irish have been sent to Hawaii to play Hawaii. Hawaii is only average at best. Meanwhile, Notre Dame won't be a double digit underdog in the bowl game. That is a big imporvement over much of the Irish's long streak without winning a bowl where they were playing well above where they should have been and usually got killed becuase of it.

7. There are some awful games this season.
The lack of eligible teams from the Pac-10, SEC, and Big 12 left lots of openings for mid-majors. Sadly, most of them are of the average variety instead of the 9 win variety that used to get left out meaning there are some awful games. Central Michigan-Florida Atlantic, Air Force-Houston, Troy-Southern Miss, Colorado St.-Fresno St., and Louisiana Tech-Northern Illinois are not exactly prime games.

8. Bowl season has become the season of the blowout
Look for these games to have 20+ point margins in favor of the winners: Texas Tech over Ole Miss (unless Leach leaves fro Auburn or some other job that bizarrely comes open), Tulsa over Ball St., South Florida over Memphis, Central Michigan over Florida Atlantic, Maryland over Nevada, Kansas over Minnesota, and Florida St. over Wisconsin

9. The West Coast Bowl Games did really well this season
The Emerald in San Francisco got tv friendly Miami and hometown Cal, the Holiday got its usual good matchup between Oklahoma St. and Oregon, the Las Vegas, got ticket buying BYU to face Arizona, the Hawaii was lucky enough to get Notre Dame, the Rose avoided a rematch, and the Poinsettia got the highest ranked matchup of any non-BCS game with Boise St. and TCU

10. The Big East and Pac-10 need better bowl tie-ins
The number two teams in these leagues don't get to play on New Year's unless there are two in the BCS from these leagues (that has happened twice, in 2000 and 2002 for the Pac-10). Meanwhile, the SEC gets to send five to play on New Year's most years and the Big 12 gets four this season.