By Just A. Bartender
Dilworth, NC – It is the holidays, and who can forget whining to your mom about sitting at the big table for Thanksgiving or Christmas? Nothing worse than getting stuck at the “kids table” when you are 14 or 15 years-old. You truly weren’t one of the adults until you made the holiday jump to the big table. You felt proud, you accomplished and all grown up when your parents told you that you and your 13 year-old cousin were allowed at the adults table. Of course, you felt completely like a douche bag when you came to find out you got the same food as the big table, maybe even a little glass of wine. But you and your cousins seats were just a card table added to the main table and you had to share it with your 91 year-old chain smoking aunt that can’t cut her own meat.
That is exactly what has happened to TCU and Boise State in the BCS Bowl structure. Both teams had a great season, we understand that you played a tough schedule, welcome to a BCS Bowl game! A rematch of last year’s Poinsettia Bowl (TCU won 17-16), a pre-Christmas game, is now all set for the Fiesta Bowl. So what do we exactly think the other bowls are doing to compensate the Fiesta for eating this deal? My guess is future considerations.
Since 2004, four teams have broken the BCS ceiling, and three of the four beat the big boys in the their bowl games. In 2004, 6.Utah made it into the Fiesta Bowl (give them the Buckeyes every 2 or 3 years and they are more than happy to fall on the grenade). They played and defeated 21.Pittsburgh. The Panthers limped into the BCS at 8-3, and were thumped by the Utes 35-7. This being the first non-BCS team in a money game, it gave the big time conferences pause.
So in 2006 the Fiesta Bowl bit the bullet again taking 12-0 Boise State (ranked 8th), this time the BCS Conferences were taking no chances matching the Broncos up with 10th ranked Oklahoma, 11-2 and Big 12 champs. The BCS still didn’t make their point in one of the greatest games ever played that Boise won 43-42 in OT. Everyone wrote of Boise State for using trick plays, between the lines making the point they weren’t that good. Which, of course, is a load of shit.
In 2007, the BCS finally made their point sending 12-0 and 10th ranked Hawaii to the Sugar to get destroyed by 5.Georgia(10-2) 41 to 10. Which had the BCS schools crowing about how the others didn’t belong.
For the third straight year another non-BCS team qualified in 2008, 6th ranked Utah went 12-0. Again the Sugar Bowl and the SEC were going to prove that the Utes didn’t belong matching them up with 12-1 Alabama, coming off their close loss to Florida. Oops again for the power boys, Utah kicked their ass 31-17.
The pattern here – at first the power conferences thought they would whip anyone they let in. (That which was forced by Congress meddling in it. There is another House Bill ready for a floor vote, sponsored by Joe Barton R-Texas, not allowing any game to call itself a National Title game, unless it is the result of a playoff) The BCS Conferences tried to keep the ball to themselves, when forced they ended up getting beat by these other schools. Embarrassed by this, they went ahead and let two teams in and instead of letting TCU wallop somebody, they have them playing the other another non-BCS team. TCU would be a major threat to pound Florida or Cincinnati, let alone Georgia Tech and Iowa. TCU would probably be a threat to beat either Texas or Alabama. I believe TCU is the best team in the country, but if the BCS let us find this out then the AP voters could screw the BCS’s plans up and split the national title. In 2003, USC was the AP champ after LSU beat Oklahoma in Sugar Bowl for the BCS Championship and their half of the national title. How do you keep that from happening again, don’t let TCU beat one of the big boys. Boise State has terrible credentials this year, and this won’t be a big win for the Horned Frogs, unlike if they beat Big East champion and undefeated Cincinnati, or a one loss Florida team. The Cincinnati match-up would give us a number three vs. number four game, wouldn’t that be cool.
The Mountain West has proved they belong in Utah’s two appearances in the BCS they have won both games by an average of 21 points. TCU has wins over Clemson, Utah, and BYU, all teams ranked in the final BCS standings. The BCS is afraid of these teams coming in and proving they belong. If they prove they belong then Congress has more of a reason to mess with them, even though college football is none of anyone’s business in Washington.
I am disappointed in the BCS for not accepting the challenge and giving TCU and Boise State a real chance to prove themselves. Instead they keep them at the kids table, but give them a lot of money for it. Still a shame.