Time for my annual bowl rant
(Written by kencraw)
Well, it’s the day of the final bowl selections, which means it is time for my annual rant about how bad the Pac-10 bowl lineup is.
The Pac-10 deserves a 2nd team playing on New Years day. End. Of. Story. Here are some of the other teams that get a New Years Day game (in order of not-so-bad to serious injustice):
- Michigan State: At 9-3, one game better than the Bears, which I’m sure I don’t have to remind everyone handily beat them, but they don’t have to play in the supposedly weak Pac-10. Were the Bears playing in a “just short of New Years Day” bowl, that would be one thing, but we’re not. we’re playing in a “you can’t even sniff New Years Day yet” bowl. So while a more-or-less superior Cal is playing in the Nut Bowl, Michigan State is playing in the high paying Capital One bowl.
- Iowa: At 8-4, the next on the list, but a team two further down the Big-10 standings from Michigan State.
- Clemson: At 7-5, yes you read that right, they’re record is as bad as the WORST Pac-10 team who is in the bowl games. I also submit to you that Arizona would be a handful for Clemson to beat. Nevertheless they’re playing in the Gator bowl.
- South Carolina: Also 7-5, South Carolina’s biggest claim to fame is that they play in the tough SEC and have what used to be one of the best coaches in college football.
So, here’s the count of teams each conference has on or after New Years day:
- SEC: 5 (Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Old Miss.)
- Big-10: 4 (Penn St., Ohio St., Michigan St., Iowa)
- Big-12: 4 (Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech., Nebraska)
- ACC: 2 (Virginia Tech, Clemson)
- Big East: 1 (Cincinnati)
- Pac-10: 1 (USC)
(Note, I’m ignoring the oddly placed AutoZone Liberty, International and GMAC bowls that are oddly after New Years day)
Tell me that the Pac-10 doesn’t deserve AT LEAST 2 teams on New Years day with the option of as many as 4 with two BCS berths and one other “at-large” option in addition to a 2nd guaranteed New Years day or later bowl.
It’s time for the Pac-10 commishioner to start getting on the ball here.
December 8th, 2008 at 7:27 am
I agree!!! I realize that Tom Hansen is retiring, however, I think he should be fired before he is allowed to retire. The reason I say this is that he should have been fired a long time ago.
December 8th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Also worth pointing out – Clemson has a record of 7-5, which they earned by beating not one, but two FCS (Division I-AA) teams.
December 8th, 2008 at 11:40 am
So what do we do? The bowl game alliances are already set. Most of the big bowl games that are not tied into the BCS are East of the Mississippi River. How many CAL fans are going to fly to Florida or Georgia to watch them play in a sub BCS bowl game. Until there is an 8 or 16 team playoff, I think we are stuck playing in what we have. They should have included a SEC team in one of the PAC-10 alliance bowls even it was a team way down the list.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Yeah, bar20, it’s not an easy problem to be sure. There are two different ways around this block though:
#1 Get an existing New Years Day bowl to take Pac-10 #2. This has the benefit of keeping one of the best non-New Years bowl as #3 (Holiday) as well as Sun with #4. I think Outback and Gator might be willing to entertain the idea (Outback 2009 is South Carolina vs. Iowa for crying out loud).
#2 Get either Holiday or Sun to move to New Years day. I’d opt for it to be the Sun, personally, with all of their history and that I think they’d be more interested in the move, particularly if they get a “bump up” to get #2 in Pac-10. With so many other of the big bowls leaving New Years day for a post-New Years date (Cotton and 3 of 4 BCS), there’s now room for another on New Years day and a good TV contract.
But to answer your other questions, I think teams like Cal, Oregon, UCLA and Washington, with big fan bases across the entire country with their Alums, would love a Florida vacation over New Years. It’s one thing to travel to El Paso for a low-tier bowl. It’s another to travel to Florida for a New Years day bowl.
December 9th, 2008 at 11:10 am
I think the problem here is geography. The perception is that West Coast people resist travel to the South. This is a valid point.
The Big 10 midwesterners will travel anywhere. You would too if you lived in Iowa. But California people have no desire to go to Atlanta, Orlando, etc. in December or January.
The Pac 10 bowls have the best geography. Las Vegas, San Diego, Pasadena, and even San Francisco are great places to go in December. And then there is Hawaii…
The solution is to get the West Coast bowls to move to January dates, not to get the Pac 10 into bowls in the South.