Traditionally, college football bowls that take place before the new calendar year are frowned upon.
In fact, recently even those that occur on the holiday for those nursing hangovers are seen as second rate-besides the Rose Bowl.
Well, it’s time to further delve into the match-ups instead of just drinking the kool-aid that the establishment would like to serve us. Yahoo Sports blogger Dan Wetzel has the definitive account on the topic in all its glory in his Death to the BCS.
By Patrick Herbert
ESPN and other national media outlets obviously give the lion’s share of their coverage to the BCS tilts due to the money and resources that they have invested in them.
However, the Maaco Las Vegas Bowl is actually a better game this year than the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl this season.
The contest is set to feature the UConn Huskies and the Oklahoma Sooners. Part of the reason that the game in Las Vegas is better is because there are three total bowl games in the Phoenix metropolitan area over the holidays. It is quite possible that this particular one will be lost in the shuffle, especially since it is not the grand finale.
It come sat the same stadium nine days later when the Auburn Tigers come to town to take on the Oregon Ducks in the BCS Championship Game.
It is true that the Insight.com Bowl is not likely to be thought of as a better game than the Fiesta Bowl, but it is important to remember that Iowa travels phenomenally well and the game does take place closer to town, which could be more enticing to locals. Would you rather be stuck in your car for half the day or sipping a cold one on the Arizona State campus getting ready for kickoff? Plus, Missouri loves company. (It’s time to groan now!)
The most important reasons that the Maaco Las Vegas Bowl is better than the Fiesta Bowl is because the teams are collectively better. Often, I decide which games to view by combining the rankings of the two teams in a game and viewing the one with a combined total lower number. Boise State is tenth in the AP poll while Utah is twentieth. This combined thirty is less than the thirty-four that you would come up with adding UConn’s twenty-five to Oklahoma’s nine. This also holds true in the USA Today’s Coaches’ Poll.
The twenty-nine from adding Boise State’s ten with Utah’s nineteen is less than the thirty-four that is the sum when Oklahoma’s eight is added to UConn’s twenty-six. They are the team getting the most votes after the twenty-fifth spot. How can a team be in a BCS bowl team when they are not even placed in the coaches’ top twenty-five?
The answer is through bowl alliances that are simply outdated in today’s game where TCU is currently better than USC and Notre Dame.