Start camping out in Miami for the BCS title game, for there is not much college football left to pass the time between now and the Jan. 7 Notre Dame-Alabama showdown for the crystal ball.
With the bowl selection show airing Sunday night, and each team being handed its postseason destination, it quickly became clear that this was one of the most unattractive bowl seasons in recent memory. College football fans knew it would be awful enough when five-loss Wisconsin won the (embarrassingly terrible) Big Ten by virtue of Ohio State’s and Penn State’s ineligibility and Florida State barely squeaking past a team that previously applied for a bowl waiver to earn the ACC title.
Toss in a two-loss Big East champion, and it was already gearing up to be holiday season to spend relatively disengaged with college football.
But with the BCS standings being released Sunday, Northern Illinois — a one-loss MAC champion that lost to Iowa this season — finished in the top-16 over Louisville and Wisconsin, which gave them an automatic bid into the BCS picture as well. The Huskies will go to the Orange Bowl. And just because this might be the worst BCS bowl lineup in the corrupt system’s 15-season run, here’s the rundown:
— Orange Bowl: Northern Illinois vs. Florida State
— Fiesta Bowl: Oregon vs. Kansas State
— Sugar Bowl: Louisville vs. Florida
— Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Stanford
— National Championship: Notre Dame vs. Alabama
Other than the title game, the Fiesta Bowl provides the only true matchup of elite teams, with former contenders Oregon and Kansas State locked in a clash of one-loss teams with Heisman hopeful-type talent. The rest? Florida, Stanford and Florida State should roll. Big. It’s not a sign of disrespect, it’s just a way of saying the BCS is already asinine and ridiculous enough, the least it could do would be to create more competitive matchups.
Is this the worst BCS field ever? Think about this: These BCS teams have a combined 16 losses, including those to N.C. State, Syracuse, Iowa, UConn and Baylor. And no, those are not quality losses. Not even Nick Saban thinks those teams are worth preparing for.
The biggest snubs out of the BCS party were some SEC squads, which does not lack respect by any means but certainly lacks seats at the big kids’ table. While Northern Illinois, Louisville and Wisconsin all enjoy automatic bid status, better teams in Georgia, Texas A&M and LSU are on the outside looking in.
At any rate, here’s to every college football program that eats its share of losses (in millions) this bowl season for travel, hotels and failure to fulfill ticket allotments. Not only is the BCS and its bowl directors providing shoddy matchups and boring neutral site atmospheres, its robbing college football blind in the process. Happy holidays.
IT’S TOUGH TO BE RGIII
Collin Klein is not Robert Griffin III, and Saturday night helped prove it.
One season ago, with Andrew Luck and Trent Richardson sitting at home watching TV, Griffin played Texas on the final week of the season and eviscerated the Longhorns in a Heisman-solidifying performance in Austin. He accounted for more than 350 yards and four touchdowns.
Klein could not mimic that clinic. Though fellow Heisman contenders Johnny Manziel and Manti Te’o (among others) sat at home Saturday, Klein could not muster up the same WOW-factor Griffin could against the Longhorns. He walked away with a 42-24 win and three touchdowns against Mack Brown’s Texas team, but do not expect it to be the difference.
He’s too far behind.
