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SURVEYING THE LANDSCAPE
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College Notebook No. 16
Friday, January 6, 2006
By Denny O'Brien |
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Awkward tie-ins the major
flaw with bowls
©2006 Bonesville.net
You won’t find many complaints in my
critique of the college football bowl system. In the evolving mindset that a
playoff should be the postseason showcase, I’ve often debated in favor of
tradition.
That the current setup doesn’t crown a true
national champion isn’t a source of personal heartburn. Nor is the large sum
of bowls that seemingly is growing faster than the population in North
Carolina.
So what if Boise and Mobile can financially
support bowls and the annual festivities which accompany them? More power to
those obscure destinations for offering a refuge for teams that otherwise
might spend the holidays at home.
Think Navy and Colorado State are
complaining that San Diego now hosts two postseason games?
Nope. Neither are the 36,842 who paid to
see it.
Sure, seven out of ten fans boycotted
ESPN2’s coverage of the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl in
protest of a Division I-A system that they’ve charged with watering down the
postseason. And yes, the other three tuned in only periodically during CSI’s
commercial breaks.
My reaction to that is simple: Good for
them. Way to exercise that right to choose.
(For the record, I can’t account for my own
whereabouts when the Midshipmen and Rams took center stage.)
Now if only the bowls would get a better
grasp of that democratic mindset.
If there is an area of the bowl system that
needs liberating, it’s the process that is used for matching teams and
games. The tie-ins between bowls and conferences generate a setup that, in
many cases, produces undesirable match-ups lacking widespread interest.
The end result for the less prestigious
games has been declining ticket sales due to teams that either have poor
traveling fan bases or lack of regional appeal. Or both.
Take the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
Up until this season, the Queen City game
was an overwhelming success at the box office. Ties with the ACC and
old-school Big East made it one of the most successful middle tier bowls,
with each game a near sell-out.
Enter South Florida, which the Muffler Bowl
had little choice but to take. The buzz that once surrounded the game
sputtered from there.
A more ideal scenario with limited tie-ins
perhaps would place South Carolina opposite of N.C. State. But that is
looking even less likely in the future.
As leagues have grown, so have the
guaranteed ties, with many of the super conferences locking into new deals
with games to which fans either can’t or won’t travel. Add in the growing
power that league commissioners possess in placing teams and some of the
more poorly positioned bowls are now playing financial roulette.
Not to mention the potential layer of
animosity that is introduced when a league boss can play dictator with
league members and bowls.
Much of this could be eliminated if bowls
limited their tie-ins to one.
Dynamo in the Alamo
While most of the postseason press was
rightfully aimed at Pasadena, arguably the best game otherwise occurred
nearly a week before in San Antonio.
The showdown between traditional titans
Michigan and Nebraska in the Mastercard Alamo Bowl exceeded the expectations
of most. The Wolverines were a solid favorite, but surrendered two fourth
quarter touchdowns and squandered what appeared to be an impermeable lead.
This one gets bonus points for the near
remake of the memorable Cal-Stanford finish in ’82.
Honorable mention goes to the Sheraton
Hawaii Bowl, the best game that nobody watched. Had it not been won on a
missed extra point, perhaps it takes the top spot.
Ditto for the Orange Bowl. Any game that
provides three periods of free football deserves some attention — and in
this case poor kicking again stole the spotlight.
No-show Bulls
Country legend George “No-show” Jones
earned his most notorious moniker for failing to take the stage at several
of his sold-out concerts. Though the Meineke Car Care Bowl was far from a
sell-out, South Florida would have made the Possum proud.
In what easily takes the Rip Van Winkle
award this postseason, N.C. State blanked the Bulls 14-0 in USF’s first bowl
appearance since the program joined the I-A ranks. The Bulls managed only
295 total yards and surrendered six sacks and three turnovers.
(The shutout also marked the first in USF
history.)
Equally unimpressive was the turnout for
South Florida’s inaugural bowl. Many estimate that no more than 5,000 Bulls
fans made the trip to the Queen City.
That certainly doesn’t enhance the Big
East’s future postseason profile. Unlike Jones, that has to be sobering for
Mike Tranghese.
Vince Lite
Enough talk about Vince Young. At least for
a second.
The unsung hero of the postseason goes to
Missouri quarterback Brad Smith, who single-handedly dismantled South
Carolina in the Independence Bowl.
After the Tigers spotted the Gamecocks a
21-point cushion, the Brad Bowl began. By the final horn, Smith had shred
Tyrone Nix’s defense by accounting for 431 of Mizzou’s 504 total yards and
was responsible for four touchdowns (three rushing, one passing).
It may be too little, too late for the
Tigers’ QB and his topsy-turvy career — but this was one performance worthy
of striking the pose. Even though it’s now clear that Johnny Heisman belongs
in Austin.
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02/23/2007 02:02:45 AM |
