My Annual Bowl/BCS Thoughts

This year’s bowl season has been somewhat lackluster for me. Really, the past few have as well. I think this is due in part to the fact that over half the D-I teams get bowl bids…over half. The requirements for a bowl bid are just to have 6 wins over D-I teams. That typically means that if any D-I team go 6-6 (since most teams now play 12 games), then they qualify for a bowl game. Back in the day, the bowl games actually meant something because there were less of them. Now, the powerhouse teams of Florida Atlantic and Central Michigan got to go to a bowl. And the schools that go to these “minor” bowls end up losing money in the process because a portion of the bowl payout goes to the conference and then whatever is left over goes to paying all the expenses of sending the team, cheerleaders, band, etc. to the bowl. I don’t know, maybe I’m just a little bitter because my alma mater (Mississippi State Univ.) didn’t get to go to a bowl but, to me, the bowl season would be better if half of these smaller bowls would just go away. But they will go away when D-I college football gets a playoff up and going...which means never.

Even the BCS bowls this year have been a little lackluster in my opinion. The Rose Bowl was a bit of a yawner because at no time, even before the game started, was it in doubt. I like Penn St. (they are one of the few northeastern teams I do like) but they just got drilled by the University of Spoiled Children. The Big 10 has an awful record this year in the bowls (1-6) and the Rose Bowl was no exception.

The Orange Bowl featured two teams in Virginia Tech and Cincinnati (still can’t believe Cincinnati made it to a BCS bowl) that don’t have huge fan bases so there probably wasn’t a ton of people that watched. I watched a little of it but, besides the fact I didn’t care about the teams, the game was boring anyway.

The Sugar Bowl was a bit of a surprise because Alabama, a team that held the #1 ranking for 5 weeks during the season, got smoked by Utah. Utah?!?! I mean no disrespect to Utah because they will be the ONLY D-I school with an undefeated record this year. But I didn’t see that coming. No fluke either…Utah just whipped the Tide in every facet of the game. I think it was pretty obvious that ‘Bama’s bubble burst when they got beat by Florida in the SEC Championship game so instead of playing OU for the national championship, they were playing Utah in the Sugar Bowl. That was not the same Alabama team I saw during the season and if they played Utah 10 times, I would bank on the Tide winning 8 of them. So, my SEC banner lowered just a bit with that one.

However, the Fiesta Bowl made for up for the other 3 BCS bowls as Texas got a late touchdown to beat Ohio St. 24-21. The first half of the game was a little tedious as both teams could only manage to score field goals…2 for the Buckeyes and 1 for the Longhorns. In the 3rd quarter, Texas turned up the heat, as well as speed, and scored 2 touchdowns while Ohio St. only managed another field goal. However, Ohio St. returned fire in the 4th quarter and scored 2 touchdowns themselves (and subsequently went for a 2 point conversion both times and failed both times) with the 2nd coming in the last 2 minutes of the game. So, the Longhorns marched right down the field and McCoy hit Cosby for a TD with just 16 seconds left. This was definitely the best of the 4 BCS bowls.

Tonight though is the last college football game of the season…the BCS national championship. The game will feature OU and Florida, the champs of the two best conferences, who will meet for the first time ever. Both the Sooners and Gators have powerful offenses (respectively ranked #3 and #17 nationally) but I think this game will hinge on which defense can better defend the other’s offense.

This is where I think Florida has an edge as Florida has the nations #8 ranked defense whereas OU’s defense is ranked #63 nationally. I know that OU went up against high powered offenses from the Big XII all season and as a result, their defensive ranking took a hit. With that being said, I think OU defense is adequate but not great. I mean, TX A&M put 28 points up on OU and their offense was only ranked #77 overall. Florida’s defense will present more speed than just about anyone OU has faced all year. However, if OU can run the ball effectively, that can neutralize some of Florida’s speed and aggressiveness. This may be easier said than done because OU’s starting RB, DeMarco Murray, has been ruled out of the game. Even without him though, OU is a potent crew. They have scored more than 60 points in five consecutive games, three against ranked teams, which had never happened before. But that was done against defenses of the Big XII and not a defense of the caliber of Florida’s.

The SEC has won 3 BCS national titles in the last 5 years, including the last 2. And when this game is done, I think the SEC will have won 4 titles in the last 6 years including the last 3. I think Florida’s defense will be able to handle OU offense better than OU’s defense will handle Florida’s offense. I do expect there to be quite a few points scored though.

My prediction: Florida 37, OU 30.