ALRIGHT, ENOUGH BCS BITCHING

by Thermocaster, The Meaningful Collateral

The level of outrage and irritation following the BCS announcement last night has been pretty substantial, with mainstream journalists and bloggers both pointing out the severe flaws in both this year's selections and the system in general. Most everybody from this camp is on point --- we know the BCS is a piece of sport detritus, a shameless money-grab by a bunch of small-time pimps posing as athletic directors and conference commissioners, working in sad tandem with a bunch of Jurassic-era major bowls whose time has long since passed. We know the system is fatally flawed, especially when the #1 team in the BCS ratings going into the final week doesn't even make a BCS game.

And we also know that the BCS has a ridiculous amount of apologists and enablers - from hand puppets like Corso and Herbstreit to more intelligent apologists like some folks in the blogging world, there is no shortage of people willing to say that the BCS is "getting the job done". Ultimately, this acceptance on the part of mainstream and online media is the reason why the system will never change, despite the vast majority of college football fans seeing this farce for what it is, year after year.

But hey, this entry isn't intended to bitch about the BCS. We're here to look at the other bowl games, and talk about the highlights and lowlights that we've got in store.

BEST NON-BCS GAME: Cotton Bowl (Missouri vs Arkansas). One side features a dynamic offense... or at least, dynamic against everyone but Oklahoma. The other side features the guy who should be the Heisman Trophy winner, but won't be. Arkansas played well in Houston Nutt's last game on the sidelines --- will they play even better now that the weight of that situation is off their shoulders? Plus, Missouri's got to be feeling pretty goddamn unappreciated right now after being snubbed by the BCS for a team that they beat just two weeks ago. I like the possibilities of this one - it will end up being a better game than either the Rose or Orange Bowls.

MOST OVERHYPED GAME: Capital One Bowl (Michigan vs Florida). We got jobbed on this game. If Illinois hadn't been taken by the BCS, we'd have had a whole month of "Zook vs Florida!" stories. And then Florida would've killed Illinois. Now, instead, we'll get a month of erroneous Michigan coaching search stories, a ton of hype about the history and tradition of these two schools...and then Florida will kill Michigan. By 30.

BEST BCS/NON-BCS CONFERENCE MATCH-UP: Liberty Bowl (UCF vs Mississippi State). The pickings are kinda slim for this category, so we'll go with this one. On one side, you've got Central Florida, resurrected by George O'Leary (who is a story all by himself), and featuring running back Kevin Smith, who's rushed for nearly 2,500 yards this year and is poised to break Barry Sanders' single season rushing record. On the other side, you've got Sylvester Croom, the first black coach in SEC history, and all the accompanying media attention that has received. The Bulldogs are back in a bowl for the first time in years, and have beaten Alabama, Auburn, and Kentucky this year.

WORST BOWL INVOLVING BCS CONFERENCE TEAMS: Meineke Car Care Bowl (Wake Forest vs Connecticut). If you're not an alum of either school and you're actually excited for this game, you may have problems in your personal life. Seriously, why possible reason does any non-affiliated person have for watching this game? To watch the coaching genius of Jim Grobe? (Good luck, Michigan!) To marvel at Jim Edsall's desire to stay in Storrs? I will probably watch the game, but only because I'll be trying to avoid my girlfriend's family. As a bonus, this game is taking place in the bowl with the worst name, narrowly edging out the Chick-Fil-A Bowl.

BEST 'SEPTEMBER' GAME: Sun Bowl (Oregon vs South Florida). This is a match-up I would've loved to have seen in late September or early October --- the Ducks, riding high behind Dennis Dixon, taking on a white-hot South Florida team. Instead, we get this game now, with Dixon on the sidelines, the Ducks on a three-game slide, and South Florida's momentum just now starting to build up again after their own three-game slide in late October.

LIKELIEST UPSET: Las Vegas Bowl (UCLA vs BYU). This, of course, assumes that UCLA is even going to be favored in the first place. If I were Karl Dorrell's replacement, I'd wait until AFTER the game to accept the job.

Finally, just for the heck of it, I'm gonna make my BCS predictions now, since all of the games appear pretty academic.

SUGAR BOWL (Hawaii vs Georgia): I really enjoy watching Hawaii, and think they'd beat Illinois or Kansas. Georgia? Not so much. Georgia 45, Hawaii 24

ROSE BOWL (USC vs Illinois): USC is not the all-dominant team that Lee Corso would have us believe. Still, they're better than Illinois, who is still at least a year away from being able to legitimately compete in bowls like these. USC 38, Illinois 14

FIESTA BOWL (Oklahoma vs West Virginia): Lots of people will be predicting a similar outcome to what happened between West Virginia and Georgia a couple years back. Those people will be wrong --- the major difference being that this West Virginia team apparently doesn't have anything to prove. If they did, they sure as hell wouldn't be playing in the Fiesta Bowl this year. Oklahoma 28, West Virginia 10

ORANGE BOWL (Virginia Tech vs Kansas): Despite not having played anyone, it's not out of the question for Kansas to win this game. Virginia Tech played in the weakest of the BCS conferences this season, and Kansas as a program is hungrier at this point than VT (and no, not just because of Mangino. Come on, people). Still, VT prevails, due mostly to their athletes. Virginia Tech 24, Kansas 20

BCS TITLE GAME (Ohio State vs LSU): Ignore the hype, ignore the "see tests", ignore all of it. Ohio State is not the best team in the country, LSU isn't the #2 team in the country. The Buckeyes are the product of an absurdly weak schedule. LSU is a product of an absurd amount of SEC fondling. That said, LSU will obliterate Ohio State, with a couple of late OSU touchdowns making it look closer than it actually was. Louisiana State 45, Ohio State 31.