my Bama boys and the rest of my family's Longhorns (my Mom and 2 of my cousins go there, Grandma worked there, and most of the family lives around Austin) square off in the Championship Game. i hope its a good game but Texas has really struggled against the only decent teams/defenses they've faced this year. and if Bama plays the way they did Saturday it wont even be close.

some other interesting bowl games:

Rutgers and UCF in the St. Petersburg Bowl Dec 19th. UCF hasnt been too bad this year, with a win over ranked Houston. they only lost by 5 by 5 to ECU who won C-USA.

Middle Tenn and Southern Miss in the New Orleans Bowl on Dec 20th. Two good defenses

BYU and Oregon State in Las Vegas Bowl Dec 22nd.

USC and Boston College in the Emerald Bowl Dec 26th. Even when USC loses, they still get a bowl game in their own state (san francisco)

Clemson and Kentucky in the Music City Bowl Dec 27th. Clemson should beat KY, but the way they ended their season against the SEC this could be a good game.

Independence Bowl: Georgia and Texas A&M Dec 28th. A&M got thrashed against Arkansas earlier this year.

Miami and Wisconsin in the Sports Bowl Dec 29th.

Idaho and Bowling Green in the Humanitarian Bowl Dec 30th. Idaho's first bowl game in forever and BG has one of the best WRs in the country.

ARizona vs Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl Dec 30th.

Stanford vs Oklahoma in the Sun Bowl Dec. 31st.

LSU vs Penn St. in the Capital One bowl Jan 1st. a couple of good but underachieving teams with good defenses.

Papajohns.com Bowl (never thought id say this would be a good game) but UCONN vs South Carolina on Jan 2nd.

OK state vs Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl Jan 2nd. as every year, big 10 offense vs SEC defense. i think the SEC has been dominant in this bowl the past several years (i base that on Bama winning one over OKST a few years ago and over TTech in 2005, so maybe not).

East Carolina and Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl Jan 2nd. ECU just beat Houston and has been rolling lately. lets see if they can hang with a decent team from the SEC.

Troy and Central Michigan in the GMAC bowl Jan 6th. Troy went 9-3 with 2 losses to Florida and Arkansas. Central Michigan is 11-2 with Dan LeFevour.

then of course the BCS games which aside from the championship might be kinda boring. GT and Iowa might be a better game than I think (if Iowa's QB is back it should be, i dont follow them so i dont know; TCU-Boise might be good but Boise hasnt seen a defense like TCU, and TCU has crushed every good team they've played. I think for one game on one day TCU could beat Texas/Florida/Bama for the NC. i doubt they'd win a playoff having to face 2 or more of the top teams, but for one game they could definately get up and win.


this is why I love the bowl season. sure, i think we should have a +1 playoff for the NC, but we get so many really good games with teams most of us dont get to watch a lot of. or matchups that would never happen otherwise but will be really fun to watch. maybe nobody cares about Middle Tenn and Southern Miss, but it should be a good game, and thats why I watch football (or any sport) is to see a good game.

Looking forward to all of them. Gonna be in the phoenix area during bowl time, but unfortunately not a lot of games down there I wanna pay to see. Sorry Minnesota/Iowa State.

I like all of the BCS bowl games this year, which is why I probably don't care about a playoff that much.

TCU is good enough to beat anybody, but it's doubtful that they could win twice?

Stanzi will be back. Expect Iowa to roll.

31-10.

I have to think the fact that Iowa gets a month to prepare for that offense is a huge deal.

It is.

Iowa's safeties are very physical and very athletic. The linebackers are quick and sure tacklers. The DE's hold contain pretty well(though Clayborn is much better than Binns). They might get burnt on a deep pass or two over playing the run but I don't expect GT to rush for 200. 125-150, maybe.

yeah. not twice in a row anyway. if they had to go beat Bama and then beat texas or florida the next week i dont think they could. for one game i think they can pull a Utah/Boise upset, but i dont think any of those teams could run through a playoff beating several top programs.

So, for example, you think they could beat Alabama, but not if they beat Texas the week before?

Basically, you're just trying to say that you think TCU is a significant underdog to any of those three teams, yes?

not necessarily that theyd win the first game and lose the next. basically that they're underdogs, but that they could win a game vs a UT/Bama/Fla (or for Utah last year OK, Fla, Bama, Texas...) maybe one time in 3 or 4. they have the talent and coaching staff to pull off a win, just not on a consistent basis.

*i would like to see a +1 format and atleast give them a chance to prove me wrong, though.

I think he is saying they are just a underdog, not a significant underdog.

I have seen Texas play 4 times and I have seen TCU play twice. I think TCU is better.

I have no clue who wins this game but i think GT runs for 200+

one thing Iowa has going for them is having a month to prepare for Techs rush attack. If they had a standard week then no way they hold to under 200. Have you watched a GT game this year or just highlights?

But, like I said, the month off helps.......as proven by LSU blasting Tech in last years bowl game

I've seen Texas play 12 times and TCU 4 times.... TCU is not a better team.
TCU would not match up well against Texas.

Nebraska is the only team that figured out the game plan to stop the Texas offense. Their only problem is that they couldn't counter-punch with any offense.
A&M tried to go toe-to-toe and put up a good fight and that's how TCU would attack a game against the Horns.
Texas played 4 ranked teams and their opps had a winning record overall... TCU played 3 ranked teams and their opps had a losing record overall.
Virginia 3-9, UNLV 5-7, Texas State 7-4,Clemson 8-5, Air Force 7-5, SD State 4-8, Wyoming 5-6 and New Mexico 1-11 for a combined WL record of 40-55.
They barely beat Clemson who lost 5 games this season.....barely beat Air Force who lost 5 games this year.

TCU had a GREAT season.... I LOVE TCU.... hell...the University is 15 miles from my house.... but they would not beat Texas or Alabama.

I've watched 4, maybe 5 (still have a couple on the DVR, actually) of their games this year and have been fairly impressed with them. I watched as much of Paul Johnson's Navy teams as I could(both parents were Navy) and I've always liked the way his teams play smart, disciplined football.

I also have no problem admitting my bias in being an Iowa fan, but I really don't think people give them much credit for how fast and physical their defense is. Sash and Greenwood play the run as well as they play the pass and they had like 13 INTs this season.

Oklahoma held that Texas offense down pretty well, also. Texas played two legit defenses all year and looked awful against both.

Here's my point. Imagine that Texas scheduled Florida and Alabama back to back as part of their out of conference schedule. How many people would be predicting they go 2-0?

You would have to be over 70% likely to win each game to be a favorite to win them both (I think that's right), so it's not really saying much to say that you don't think TCU would do so.

I personally think that all six undefeated teams are very close to each other.

Nothing to see here.

INSIGHT BOWL BABY! The real National Championship.

yuck, my family decided to pass on going to the Insight Bowl this year and I'm glad we did. I don't want to see Minnesota stink it up for the third time.

from cbssports:

Their (Texas) best victory is over an Oklahoma State team that couldn't beat Houston. Please, hold your applause. Their closing statements were anything but convincing, giving up 39 points to Texas A&M, then having Anderson clear up any misunderstanding about how they mismanaged the clock. Texas was one silly second from making Chris Webber's timeout in the Final Four look like a mere oversight.

At least TCU went on the road twice in the ACC to win. The Frogs beat two other ranked teams. Cincinnati beat three teams ranked in the top 20. But Texas is in and when Saturday blows over we'll spend most of the next month flogging its honorable place in that brand-name final.

These are going to be the best bowl games IMO
I HOPE Oregon State beats the Mormons.... both of those teams are exciting to watch...should be a slug-fest.

Nebraska is going to be fun to watch... they may actually try some trick plays like ANYTHING BUT RUNNING UP THE MIDDLE.

LSU and Penn State will be a great game.

Ok State beats Ole Miss badly here.

If you think this is true, how can it be one of the 'best games'?

Although I think Boise State vs TCU will be a fun game, I wish that they each got to play a BCS school. It would certainly help the mid-major's cause if they could both beat up on a BCS school. Of course, on the flip side, if they both got blown out it would set them back several years in trying to get into the championship game.

Also, the only way a plus-one system works this year is if Cincy loses. If they win, you're still left with three undefeateds.

Selfishly for me.... I hate Ole Miss

Nope.

My dad asked me if I wanted him to get tickets since we will be down there. HELL NO <-- text response

ahhhh we've gone almost every year for the past 10 years and this year we decided not to. I'm definitely glad that we aren't now but I still might get a shirt to add to my collection

I think it blows that TCU with Boise are matched up. For all I know the other BCS games are fixed "like 1 vs. 2, pac 10-1 vs. big ten-1, etc.)

It just blows that the powerhouse mid-majors won't get their chance at the top of the chain. It's like "we let two of 'em into the party", but we'll just make 'em play with each other. It does nothing for long term betterment. I get that it's probably the safest matchup to make the best bowl series, it just sucks still....which is why I can't watch CFB.

Boise has sent an open invite to all the powerhouses in the SEC/PACT/BIGT/etc. etc. stating that they will travel to THEM, without any sort of obligation to come play at Boise, etc. but no one responds to take such an offer. Gee, I wonder why. Because the whole system is flawwed. Why would Florida schedule to play Boise in late November when they schedule FIU, retain their BCS rating, etc. etc. etc. I can't fault Florida or Alabama for declining, as it makes no sense in this BCS world. But it's still a bunch of crap.

Boise St. should get BCS credit points just for putting that open address out there.

Thing is a fkkin joke.

I'm amazed that people still get all uptight over this. It's like this every year. Every school thinks they deserve a better bowl than the one they get.
I'm not sure there is an answer.... just try to win every game and take what you get.

TCU had their chance to be in the Big XII and didn't lobby as hard as the baptists did at Baylor.

Ya, my verbiage probably makes me appear way more uptight/caring about it than I actually am. It's just a continued disappointment I guess.

Like anything in life....it's just sad when you can actively point out a better solution to something, and equally as actively point out that those against the solution are only against it because of their private wealth/agenda, but then watch as NOTHING changes. It's just ugly.

The one thing I will say is that "yeah, it is like this every year." That doesn't mean that, oh, it's been 5 years relevant now, time to call it water under the bridge. The NCAA should be grilled every single year until one day it finally admits the sole reason a playoff was never instituted was the bottom dollar and that it is clearly the best format for college football.

For TCU and Boise, though, it's not about getting a better bowl. It's about getting a match up where the results are infinitely more interesting than one of them beating the other. These two teams played a close bowl game last year and outside of those two schools, I doubt many people cared. Is that going to change that much this time around because they're both undefeated and ranked higher?

Last year, Utah got a chance against Alabama. A few years ago, Boise got a chance against Oklahoma. As a fan of the Mountain West, I was happy that the Utes got a chance to play an SEC power. And Boise/Oklahoma was one of the most entertaining bowls ever. Oh, and both non-BCS teams won those games.

TCU/Boise could be a great, close game. But when it's all said and done, I just don't find it too compelling to learn which of these teams can beat the other one. I'd rather see what either of them do against Florida or Cincy.

If the BCS is the system we're rolling with, I'd at least like to see as many interesting match ups as possible.

I think it is borderline indefensible to have TCU and Boise playing each other. What does everyone want to know? How TCU and Boise would matchup with say Florida and Iowa.

The cynic in me says the BCS would rather not have those results come out because if TCU beat UF or something they might start facing even more pressure to give these teams a true shot.

Agreed 100%.

Iowa/Boise State, TCU/Florida and Cinci/GT are all better matchups that could've and should've happened.

Have to admit...that lineup would be more interesting and prove more than the current bowls

This is my exact point.

It's not like a bunch of hack programs are lobbying for a chance at the national title (like conferences wanting the conference champ from every 1-A school to vie for the title in the "playoffs"). It's a clear benefit to open competition. But the NCAA/BCS is so frightened by the possibility of losing their cash cow bowls that every hack excuse has been used and every powers that be decision has been made over the years to quash the obvious thought that top tier mid-majors are good.

I mean I just look back to the recent past of my alma mater (NIU), over the past decade vs. BCS programs:

2009
Wisconsin 20-28 L
Purdue 28-21 W

2008
Minnesota 27-31 L
Tennessee 9-13 L
Navy 0-16 L

2007
Iowa 3-16 L
Wisconsin 3-44 L
Navy 24-35 L

2006
Ohio St. 12-35 L
Iowa 14-24 L

2005
Michigan 17-33 L
Northwestern 37-38 L

2004
Maryland 20-23 L
Iowa St. 41-48 L

2003
Maryland 20-13 W
Alabama 19-16 W
Iowa St. 24-16 W

This is just one upper-mid level mid-major program. Probably 75% of these games were played on the road, if not more.
Obviously I'm not touting a 4-13 record as something great to write home about (with 3 of those wins coming in a single season). But the point is that these games are majorily competitive, and this is only a middle tier team. To think that a Central Michigan, or more relevantly a Boise or TCU (essentially the top few mid-major teams lets call it) in any given year couldn't play with the "top 5" teams in the nation is laughable at this point. Obviously, I mean in 2003 NIU was one of the "cream of the mid-majors", until they played conference opponent Bowling Green, who was also stacked that season and also ranked nationally at the time. It was basically "understood" that even though NIU was ranked 18th and BG was like 22nd, the loser of the game would be KO'd from the top 25 and never considered again, because of their mid-major status.

Chalk up another Rose Bowl for the Buckeyes.

but 8 team playoff leaves teams out, so does a 16 team playoff. hell college basketball uses 65 team playoff and theres teams upset they didnt get in. unless you just put every team in, someone somewhere is going to be mad their team didn't get in.

and i dont buy the "nobody will play us" argument anymore. USC played Ohio State, and OSU played Texas the years before that. Bama played Clemson/Virginia Tech and is slated to play Penn St. the next couple years. Georgia has been playing Arizona State and Oklahoma State. Miami played Oklahome, Nebraska played VTech... Out of conference schedules are much better now than i remember them being in years past.

Mostly yes and some no, IMO.

I agree that matchups like the ones you mentioned are more common but so are fluff games. Didn't a team take a forfeit to go play Michigan this year? Delaware State, maybe?

Seems to me like there's a lot fewer middle of the road OOC games(Think Iowa/Arizona or WVU/Marshall). Teams either want to schedule a real bruiser or an absolute joke. Guarantee a win, or guarantee respect.

I think in order to qualify for the BCS you should have to play two BCS teams OOC. I'm really tired of Iowa/Northern Iowa, Iowa State/North Dakota State, Michigan/E. Michigan, Florida/Florida Int'l..and so on.

I'd rather see Iowa win a 17-10 game over Mississippi State(or some equivalent) than roll up a I-AA or Sun Belt school by 35 as they've done in years past.

So essentially saying that a TCU or Boise State gets ZERO chance at proper respect or a chance vs. the perceived "best" in the nation by coaches, writers and a ****ed up computer system. They have enough problems getting these pussy "top tier" programs to schedule them, even at their homes, if you say every team must play two "BCS teams" OOC, that's essentially 'death to the mid major'. That's crap.

I agree Rise that there's always going to be teams that feel "left out". But it's a magnification process. If there's a 2 team title, that #3 team's gripe is far larger than if there's 8 teams and #9 has a gripe, or 16, or 65, etc. etc. etc.

Someone's gonna be unhappy, but you do the best you can to give the best teams a chance to prove themselves. A two team title game and a BCS ruling system does not do this.

You could have an exception every four years, like the NCAA allows for 1-AA programs to count as wins. But, I really, really don't see why TCU couldn't schedule Baylor and Arkansas or Boise State to schedule Oregon and Washington State or something like that. Syracuse played 3 Big Ten teams this year OOC, I think.

Now, maybe there'd be an argument that because there's a limited number of BCS programs that mathematically not everyone could play two OOC BCS games and I understand that. Maybe weighting a win versus an OOC BCS team slightly heavier than an OOC win against non-BCS games. But there has to be a way to force teams to schedule better games.

If I thought that Boise could easily get two BCS teams on its OOC schedule I would go for this. The fact is Boise would play anyone and almost no one has any interest in playing them. And after what they did to Oregon this year....can you blame BCS schools? There are only 10 major programs or so that are not cowards when it comes to OOC schedules (I am looking directly at you SEC).

Using your example above....yeah it is easy for Syracuse to get three BCS teams on their OOC schedule. Everyone is willing to play Syracuse because they suck balls. For Boise to get three BCS teams to play them.....it would take an act of God at this point.

What we need is a system in place that decides schedules for the teams instead of letting ADs figure it out.

Also, I would like it if Miami would stop being so brave in their OOC scheduling. Last year Oklahoma (luckily a down year) and this year we play our 2nd game AT Ohio State. Ugh.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news...o&type=lgns

It's the whole BCS system. You'd think it should be as easy as "I really don't see why TCU or Boise St couldn't schedule x, y and z in their schedule any given year".

Dude, Boise is begging the best teams in the nation to play them, at their venues, with no contractual obligation to come play at Boise. No one is biting. It's because the BCS system clearly makes it a lose/lose proposition for any team to accept such a challenge. I can't fault the majors for "following the system"....but it's just yet another example of the system being clearly flawed.

It's almost like the NCAA wants the same teams that have historically been good in the past to remain that way. By not having some sort of playoff system, TCU, Boise, Cincy, Utah last year will never have a chance to really prove that they are now a top tier program. Obviously the bigger name schools have better recruiting classes which often translates into better talent/better teams, but something just doesn't see right about it. I don't blame the schools for following the current system either, but at some point there needs to be a change. I don't think a playoff system solves everything, but it seems ridiculous with the current system.


I like the idea of a team maybe having a shot to win a national championship even if they don't have the best record out there. Maybe they had a letdown game earlier in the year but vastly improved as a team over the remaining course of the year. Should they be eliminated from contention because they have that 1 loss even though they are in the top 8 or top 4 at the end of the year?

NCAA doesn't care about the individual programs. They care about the ridiculous fat cash that comes in with these BCS bowls. They fear that a playoff system would result in 10's of millions of dollars of losses as they couldn't market these playoff games as a "rose bowl" or an "orange bowl", etc. etc. etc. These major programs obviously care too because they are aware how this system is biased in their favor, and they also have ridiculous amounts of money at stake by making these top tier bowl games on a yearly basis, etc. It's pretty much fact that the only reason the playoff format idea(s) are just ignored entirely is because of the money the powers that be stand to lose. This works in politics every day of our lives. Ironically though, in a sporting world, people aren't as afraid to question the answers and continually call out something that smells like shit, plus there's less layers involved to getting to the truth, which is why this continues to remain a hot button topic.

Ease up a little bit there, Turbo. I know the system is flawed.

I'm not asking Boise State to play USC, Texas, Ohio State and Florida in the OOC. I'm asking them to play someone with half a pulse. And I know that Boise State has apparently 'begged' everyone to schedule a game, even if it just a one off away game.. but I find it a bit odd that Fresno State had no problem drawing these big schools (Wisconsin, for example) into home and home series when they were a very good program but Boise State can't get a game at Washington, Washington State, Oregon State, Colorado or another BCS school that's in their region.

Next year, Boise State has Va Tech, Toledo, Wyoming and Oregon State. That's exactly what I'm asking for.

I'm also not just talking about Boise State and the 'midmajors'. I'm talking as much about the WAC and the MWC as I am the SEC.

The problem is that these deals are done year(s) in advance. I'm sure when this 2010 schedule was booked, these teams saw Boise as a very strong name value mid-major to add to the schedule, who would be competitive, but probably regress a bit after the Ian Johnson and Co. class moved on. Now they got stronger and these teams are booked to play them and probably hate that fact. The problem is now they can't get any future action because there's no signs that the program is slowing down. What it's doing is forcing the sytem into a shutdown mode because this BCS format was never meant to be able to factor in a true national powerhouse from the mid majors. The only way to correct it besides a playoff format is a relegation format like international soccer. Wherein a team could win their way into a major conference while a really bad team could lose their way into a mid-major status. This would be ridiculous though, from a historical/lineage standpoint. Even then, a ridiculous relegation type of thing would only alleviate the mid-major issue. You are still gonna have the top 5+ teams in the nation overall who deserve a shot at national champ status, to which only a playoff could resolve.

Like I said, I'm talking just as much about the SEC as I am the WAC, my friend.

im really tired of hearing how SEC's out of conference schedule sucked.
Bama played Va Tech, last year Clemson and next year Penn State.
Florida plays Florida State
Auburn played West Virginia
Tenn played UCLA
South Carolina played Clemson and NC State
Georgia played Ok State, Arizona State, and Georgia Tech
Miss State played a ranked Houston team (ok, that probably wasnt a big one when they scheduled it, but its also the only good OOC team Texas Tech played)
Arkansas played Texas A&M
Vandy played Army and Rice (hey for them those are big games)
Florida and Arkansas played Troy, who only had 3 losses (2 of the 3 to Fla and Ark)

yeah they schedule several cupcakes, but show me a team who doesn't. sure, Fla usually plays FSU and didn't have anyone else decent, Ole Miss and Kentucky played nobody, LSU's biggest OOC was at Washington. a lot of these teams we played were down this year, but thats not our fault. and we crushed both ACC division winners. SEC's OOC isn't the strongest ever, but its not insanely weak, either.

ok i agree with that, but where do you draw the line? if the BCS gave us a 4 team playoff, everybody would scream "not fair" until they gave us an 8 team, then same thing until they go to 16, and on down the line.

LOL @ BigEast


Florida is pwniing Cinn in the first half...not even a close game

LOL @ someone saying LOL @ "whatever conference" every time a team from that conference looks like shit