Thursday, December 9. 2010Red, Blue And Pigskin
So the Bowls have been announced, and contrary to popular belief, the BCS didn't get it right with their matchup. It's impossible to get it right when you are choosing only two teams. Especially when at least 3 teams are undefeated.
Meanwhile the BCS had a bad week, that started with a dominant 4 loss team earning an automatic qualifying while a 1 loss riff-raff was left out, and has continued with one of their computer rankings being shown to be incorrect, and shining a light on the fact that their is no transparency or contingency plans. Locally the Utes got bad news, and then got their bowl announcement. The Utes will put up their 9 game win streak against the toughest opponent of the stretch. The Cougars meanwhile kick off the post season with a battle of two teams trying to get winning records. The Big One
Honestly I can buy the argument that Oregon and Auburn should be playing in the National Championship game. Where I have a problem is the fact, that TCU also deserves to play in that game. I think Oregon is by far the best team. I think Auburn would get worked by TCU. Unfortunately the Big Crappy System cannot handle 3 or more undefeated teams. And of course, the non-aq never stood a chance to get in that game. TCU's Consolation Prize TCU didn't get into the Championship game, but they will get to play in "The Grandaddy of Them All". The Rose Bowl is arguably the most well known bowl out there. It's probably the only non championship bowl that is still relevant. It is a great honor for TCU to be able to play in that bowl. However, the people who say TCU should be happy about their consolation prize are morons. TCU should be playing for the whole enchilada. Your Powerful Automatic Qualifiers Boise State went 11-1 and gets a crappy bowl. Nevada went 12-1 and gets a crappy bowl. In automatic qualifying conferences Michigan State went 11-1 and gets to go to a crappy bowl. Heck Temple went 8-4 and doesn't get to go to a bowl game at all. All of the above are made even worse by the fact that the University of Connecticut won the Big East automatic qualifier, and gets to go to the Fiesta Bowl, despite the fact that they went 2-2 out of conference, and finished the season in a 3 way tie for the Big East, and had the most losses of those three teams. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present your 4 loss, Big East Co-Champion, Automatic Qualifier. More BCS Mess On Monday, the day after the Rankings were announced, and bowl matchups set, it was discovered that one of the computers used in the BCS were wrong. They had left out a FCS playoff game. This exclusion was enough to cause Boise State to move up to 10, and LSU to move down to 11. Some will say it didn't have an effect since neither team were in a BCS Bowl. The MWC however counters that they are trying for AQ status, and Boise counts for them. Give the Colley Matrix credit, they are the only one of the 6 BCS computers that makes their formula public. This brings up a few big questions. Since there is no checks and balances to make sure that the computers are correct, how do we know this hasn't happened before? Why are the formulas so secret? Are they secret so that they can be finagled with if necessary. The BCS doesn't have much credibility to begin with, what little it did have is now out the window. Their needs to be transparency, not just with the Computers, but with the Coaches poll as well, and not just in the final week. All votes should be made public. Start the Season After starting the season 2-4, the BYU Cougars ended the regular season on Brandon Burton's blocked field goal, and a 6-6 record. It was enough to earn them a bowl appearance. The Cougars will actually start the bowl season off on December 18th in the New Mexico Bowl. They will get to face former WAC Rival, UTEP Miners, a team going in the opposite direction as the Cougars by losing 5 of their last 6 games. Viva Las Vegas Thanks to Burton's Block, the Utes are going to the Vegas Bowl. With them they bring their 9 game winning streak. However they put that streak up against the most difficult opponent they have faced during that stretch, thanks to ESPN working a deal to get Boise State as the opponent. Due to a lack of Pac-10 bowl teams, this traditional Pac-10 vs. MWC matchup looked like it wouldn't be happening. Instead we get a future Pac-12 team versus a future MWC team. Will Cain Be Able? To make the game even more difficult for the Utes, it was announced that Jordan Wynn, who had been suffering with a shoulder injury since the Iowa State game, and had it re-injured against BYU, will miss the game, due to shoulder surgery. The surgery was necessary in order to get Wynn back for next season. This means that Terrance Cain, will get one last chance to redeem himself. Next Week Next week we will preview BYU's New Mexico Bowl matchup, and give a review of their season. Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
|
Handy LinksItems of InterestCategoriesBlog AdministrationSyndicate This BlogPowered byTheme dropdownBookmark |