Oh good, we didn't have nearly enough bowl games

You're full of fucking shit. As usual.

 

No. Their clinging onto that notion is an incontrovertible fact.

 

An NCAA person told me once that damn near any city that decides it wants a bowl game is going to get it because the NCAA doesn't want to fight, and lose, the lawsuit that invariably would come if the town gets turned down.

 

Simon, I was mistaken; it was UCACM who contended the 1988 Army FB team was somehow unworthy of the Sun Bowl date with mighty Alabama because of its schedule. Obviously Army could play with the Tide. Mea culpa.


I actually agree with you that the "missed class time" excuse is crapola. Baseball, softball and basketball teams miss far, far more class time in one or two weeks of their regular seasons than everyone but the final two teams would in a 16-team IA football playoff.

But the conferences control the bowl system and most do not want to give up the gravy train to the NCAA, because with a playoff, the bowl system would disappear.

(And don't say the minor bowls would remain. They would be toast.)

 

Unless USF wins the Big East and earns a BCS bid, that's where they're likely to be headed. From the Tampa Tribune's blog on the Big East realignment:

With the way USF has travelled in years past, the St. Pete Bowl could become a regular destination for the Bulls, just as the Hawaii Bowl was/is a regular destination for Hawaii and the Humanitarian Bowl was a regular destination for Boise State. The fanbase for USF just doesn't really travel well.

 

Maybe not. But college football isnt about deserving football games. Its about corporate sponsorship and me drinking beer on my goddamn couch. I don't care if its 7-5 Navy vs. 6-6 Miami Fla. in the Congressional bowl that beats out mid-season NBA basketball, mid-season hockey, and early season college basketball.

But I'm a college football slappy, so whatever. I guess I'll be the only one enjoying it.

 

Yeah, I don't get the hate either. You don't want to watch the games, don't.

I've attended a couple of third-tier bowl games with my kid and we both enjoyed them a lot. If someone wants to put one on, where's the harm?

 

The last Meineke Car Care Bowl pre-empted Frazier reruns in my market. I like Frazier.

 

We could put it in Enterprise, Ala., and call it the Boll Weevil Bowl, eh?

 

Laugh all you want at the new bowls, but schools are dying to get in them. The extra practice matters for the upcoming season, plus it is a reward for the kids if the coaches treat them fairly (certainly not all do).

Had a 6-6 South Carolina gotten the chance to play in Birmingham last year, they would have probably traveled pretty well. The SEC had a ninth spot in Houston for a couple of years and didn't use it so they gave it up - won't make that mistake again.

 

The Hawaii Bowl isn't much of a trip for the Warriors since Aloha Stadium is, you know, their home field.

 

What's gonna happen the first season that there's a handful of really strong teams that go 11-1, 10-2, 9-3, and beat up on so many teams that there are not enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all the bowls? Or there's a handful more 3-9 teams that upset would-be 6-6 teams and send them to 5-7. That blog entry says last year, there were seven bowl-eligible teams that didn't go. Two more bowls would have cut that number to three. That's walking an awfully fine line.

And if the extra month of practice is THAT important, just let every team have an extra month of practice sometime.