BCS bowl selections stir up annual controversy

December is here and college bowl game season is officially upon us.  Yesterday, the BCS selected its bowl games participants and like every year the controversy began.  The two big debates are over the rematch that will happen between LSU Tigers (#1) and Alabama Crimson Tide (#2) in the Allstate BCS National Championship Game and the Michigan Wolverines trip to the AllState Sugar Bowl to play Virginia Tech Hokies.  

The championship game will feature schools from the same conference for the first time.  Everyone outside of the Southeastern Conference wanted to see any one-loss team in the championship game except Alabama.  While, I understand the frustration I get the selection.  Alabama only lost one game.  That lost was to LSU and the game was really close.  Neither team scored a touchdown showing how tough their defenses are.  Their defenses got them in the national championship and it will be a good rematch.

I am a B1G TEN girl and this reminds me of 2006 when Ohio State and Michigan were #1 and  #2 respectively.  It was dubbed, the Game of the Century.  Michigan lost by one field goal and did not play Ohio State in the national championship.  Naturally, I wanted that rematch.  I am glad that Alabama will have a chance to see their rival again. 

As for the Sugar Bowl, the major dissension is Michigan representing the B1G TEN in a BCS bowl and not the Michigan State Spartans.  Both schools had two losses during the regular season, but Michigan lost to Michigan State.  The Spartans played for the conference title but lost to the Wisconsin Badgers.  In the minds of some, the Spartans should have been the obvious choice to a BCS game.  The problem is that they lost the B1G TEN title to a team that they previously beat.  Last year, I said that Michigan State got robbed because they shared the title with Ohio State and Wisconsin, but after beating Wisconsin they were not selected to play in the Rose Bowl.  This year they had a chance to be the outright B1G TEN champ and did not deliver.  It does not look favorable to the committee to lose at the end of the year.

I will not pretend that this is only football.  The BCS is not the NCAA.  They are not reserved about their desire to have good games, schools with passionate fans and great experiences for the cities.  The reality is schools like LSU, Alabama, Michigan and Virginia Tech will help the BCS achieve all of their objectives over Boise State. 

I am not in love with the BCS.  I am not even a fan of the arrangement.  I think that it is complex and at times arbitrary.  I would love to see a playoff system that allows us to truly get a college football champion by action on the gridiron.

Check out all of the BCS and non-BCS bowl games.

Ciao!

Heels & Helmets®

NFL lockout threatens New Year’s Day football

Last week the 2011-2012 College Football Bowl Schedule was released. One thing was glaring to me – the absence of a bowl game on New Year’s Day. College football fans and alumni look forward to seeing their schools play in a “good” bowl game. This was defined by its proximity to New Year’s Day. At Michigan it was the Rose Bowl. Yes, prior to the BCS, the Big Ten champ always represented the conference in Pasadena, CA. But, it was also a New Year ’s Day game. Not a pre-Christmas game. The entire nation watches New Year’s Day games.



This season there will not be any college football on New Year’s Day. The Gator, Outback, Capital One, Ticket City and Rose bowl games were moved to January 2. This is not because of classes or finals. January 1 is a Sunday and the planned finale of the NFL regular season. A full schedule of NFL games are slotted for New Year’s Day, so that means no college football. If the NFL does not have a season, it means no football at all.


Check out the bowl schedule, but don’t make plans for the BCS Championship Game. It is scheduled for January 9, but will move to January 7 or 10 if the NFL pushes its regular season schedule back a week because of labor negotiations.

Ciao!
Heels & Helmets®