Running college bowls thread

According to AP story: The Poinsettia Bowl, sponsored by the San Diego County Credit Union, drew only 29,709 to 70,000-seat Qualcomm Stadium on a cold night.

On TV, it didn't look like there was 10,000 people there.

 

That's probably because the 29,709 were what the industry likes to call "paid attendance." There probably were only 10,000 there.

Don't get me started.

 

There are too many bowl games, and the Poinsettia Bowl is Exhibit A as to why. TCU is ranked 25th in the country and deserved an opponent at least in the same neighborhood in terms of stature -- that would have been a good matchup. Because of the proliferation of bowls and the stupid tie-ins that go with them, the Frogs were stuck with a scrimmage against NIU because that was basically the only team available.

Texas against Iowa in the Alamo is another case of a team that deserved a better opponent. Yeah, the Horns bit it late in the season, but why should they be facing a 6-6 team?

That's something the "Too many bowls? Just don't watch them" crowd doesn't understand. The detriment to too many bowls isn't that there's too much football. It's that the matchups are too watered down, and the result is more and more bad games, even in the more "traditional" non-BCS bowls that I typically enjoy watching every year.

There are 32 bowls. At least 20 (a conservative estimate) of them, were they to take place during the regular season, wouldn't even merit the early ESPN2 Saturday time slot with Pam Ward and Chris Speilman.

 

Just filled out my bowl pool (starts Friday).

My 30-point game: Western Michigan +8 against Cincinnati. I just cannot see Cincy doing much in this with a stranger on the sidelines.

29: LSU -10.5 over Notre Dame.
28: Michigan pick over USC.
27: Clemson -10.5 over Kentucky.

 

Ga Tech QB Reggie Ball ruled academically ineligible for Gator Bowl.

 

Is that a bad thing?

 

Yes.
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For West Virginia.

 

Fixed.

 

I just read the AP story on that. Quite a finish to ball's career:

Vs. Georgia -- 6-for-22 for 42 yards and 2 INTs.

Vs. Wake Forest -- 9-for-29 for 129 yards and 2 INTs.

And grades keep him out of his last game.

Schaedenfraude? Indeed.

 

Probably a bigger blow for Tech is losing CB Kenny Scott, who was also ruled ineligible.

 

Actually, I'm hoping every game is an extreme blowout like last night or a 6-3 shitfest. This will offset the bullshit that is the title game.

 

I'll tell you why Joe. It's call a bowl tie-in for a reason. As a Hawkeye fanboy, most of us up here seriously felt that we didn't deserve to go bowling, but the Alamo took us anyway because of our fans and $$$ we pumped into San Antonio the last three times Iowa played down there. This is essentially Texas' home game. With as many Texas players playing for Iowa and the large fan bases for both schools, the Alamo is rubbing their grease palms and licking their lips on this matchup. BTW, the line for the game changed since Monday. Today, the 'Horns are 8-pt faves, down from 10-pts on Monday.

I enjoy watching bowl games like the other guy, but the WWL and it's penchant for creating "Made-for-TV" or "Gambling Degenerate" bowls is why I think several bowls like the Poinsettia, Texas, and the Emerald Bowl have no business being created. Until the Big 10, 12, East, SEC, ACC, and the Pac-10 is stopped from packing their teams into these "new" bowls to pick up a check for their conference, we just have to sit back and deal with it. It sure as hell is better than watching "Identity," Nancy Grace, and the other junk that drives me to be typing here online, responding to your post.