BCS Bowl Round-up

Rose. While the game itself wasn't terribly compelling, the impact it may have on future Rose Bowls is. The Granddaddy has taken heat for selecting a three loss Illinois team to play USC with the goal of maintaining the Big Ten versus Pac 10 tradition. Many wish that the game pitted Georgia against USC. Contrary to public opinion, the Rose didn't have the opportunity to select Georgia due to an obscure rule which allowed the Sugar Bowl to protect the Bulldogs since the SEC champ was lost to the National Championship game. The reality is the only other option for the Rose was to stage a Missouri versus USC game, but that match up wasn't compelling enough to buck tradition and to upset Jim Delaney. But public perception - that the Rose passed on Georgia in favor of tradition - will carry some weight. In the future it will be difficult for the Rose Bowl to select a Big Ten or Pac 10 school who didn't win the conference title unless they are in the top 10 team.

Sugar. It will be interesting to see how Hawaii's blowout loss to Georgia will impact how future mid major BCS party crashers are treated in the polls. The lesson I learned is that Hawaii's poor margin of victory should have caused greater pause. The irony is that Hawaii was likely given a pass for close wins on the mainland against Louisiana Tech and San Jose State due to the challenging travel situation. I think the impact the Hawaii blowout will have, however, is that it will be difficult for a non-BCS conference team to get a BCS bid without a win over a .500+ BCS conference school.

Fiesta. Bill Stewart won the Fiesta bowl and won the head coaching job at West Virginia. His hire has been widely criticised. I'm not as quick to be critical of the hire because I suspect that West Virginia intends to have Stewart lead the Mountaineers for only one or two seasons. Stewart showed that he is likely capable to hold things together for next season, which could very likely result in another BCS birth with the team's core returning. West Virgina would then be able to hire a new coach when the timing is better and the fan base isn't as divided. One thing learned from the West Virginia coach search, WVU is probably the only school in the country where the state's governor gets involved in hiring the state university's football coach. See below for a classic interview.


Orange. What we saw in Miami was the Kansas team that we saw during their first 11 games. They played classic Mangino Ball - made very few mistakes and controlled the game throughout. The Missouri game was the exception, this Kansas team is good. With much of the starters returning for next season, Kansas is a legit national title contender for '08.

Fox. One negative on the Fox coverage of the BCS games is that the analysis is clearly more geared towards their NFL fans who may be watching one of their first college games of the season. Much of the analysis is very basic and insulting to those who have followed the competing teams all season. A positive of the Fox coverage is the time they give to the marching bands before the game and at half time. It shows off one of the things college football has over the NFL and allows for viewers to get a better feel for the atmosphere. Another interesting thing related to Fox's BCS coverage is how ESPN has almost completely ignored the games aired on Fox. During the Sugar Bowl, ESPN was airing a wrap up show on all the bowls played January 1st. If you flipped over to ESPN after the Fiesta or Orange Bowl expecting to get Corso's or Holtz's take on the game, you were greeted with NBA or NHL highlights.

National Title Preview. Expect to see a game similar to the Orange Bowl where neither team really gets things going on offense. Expect a defensive struggle where turnovers and special teams will be paramount. Advantage Sweater Vest.