College football bowl thread: Pop-Tarts Muzik

first-ever

first fucking ever

Grrr, fuckers.

 

Saw a "very first-ever" yesterday. Only missing a misplaced apostrophe for the Golden Suck.

 

Semi-interesting wrinkle for next week's Gasparilla Bowl: it's a de facto home game for Florida, but it's being played in the Bucs' stadium, and the Glazer family are big-time Tulane boosters (with no connection to the Gators that I could find).

 

Still looking for a “very first-ever annual” though.

 

Well, the organizer's worked really, really hard. Make sure that's the money quote.

 

I'd agree with Jacksonville and Orlando but the Tampa Bay area is an odd duck. While there are a lot of Gator alums there, I think the majority of FSU students come from that area. Plus with the exponential growth of the USF campus, kids in that area have a lot of options. It's always been a better recruiting ground for the Seminoles, even though UF has traditionally played "neutral site" games in Tampa over the years.

Now, it's obviously an easy drive for UF boosters from anywhere in the state compared to Tulane. And Tulane has 167,000 alumni, or less than half of what Ben Hill Griffin Stadium holds. Yeah, I'd expect 90 percent of the stadium to be wearing orange and blue because the Gasparilla Bowl draws squat otherwise. (I think I could have gotten tickets last year for $16.)

 

I’d rather be in a tagalong bowl in New Orleans, Orlando or Tampa than somewhere allegedly more prestigious like the Gator or Liberty or Pinstripe.

 

Filled out three bowl pools for ESPN - my goodness there are some bad teams bowling this year.

 

I can hear you.

 

Nebraska 3-6 and tied for 12th in the Big Ten, happily going to the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. Oklahoma 2-6 and tied for 13th in the SEC, happily going to the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl.
Oh what Dr. Tom Osborne and Barry Switzer must be thinking.

 

"Smart OOC scheduling, guys! Never play anyone any good!"

Those guys knew even a shitty bowl is better than no bowl. Coaches get bonuses. Coaches get 15 more practices. Coaches get control of their kids for at least half of their holiday vacation so they don't get in trouble at home.

I think those guys would also realize that the Big Ten/SEC are a lot tougher than the powderpuff Big 8 was back in their day. So they're also thanking their lucky stars they coached in the era they did, because there is no way they'd be as successful now as they were then.

Obviously some bowls are better than others. But if you are a coach, all are better than no bowl at all.

 

Of course they would accept a bowl and the extra practices and bonuses. I'm just saying 2-6 and 6-6 is not something to shoot for.

Those Nebraska teams always played at least one or two very good OOC teams, especially in the 1980s - Alabama, Penn State, Florida State - and not every Big 8 team was a powder puff. Oklahoma played Ohio State and USC a few times, the Hurricanes plus Texas every year.
The 1973 Sooners, Switzer's first season, played at No. 1 USC, No. 17 Miami, No. 13 Texas and No. 16 Colorado, all in a row with no bye weeks. They also played No. 10 Missouri, No. 18 Kansas and No. 10 Nebraska, all in a row in November. They went 10-0-1, tying top-ranked USC. They were on probation and not eligible for a bowl.