As much as I love the Big Ten and believe it and the SEC has the best bowl ties, I look at what the lineups could be and think maybe something else should be done with the bowls. Ohio State (the Big Ten’s best team) and Penn State are both home this year, meaning teams are moving up 2 notches to play stiffer competition. With 3 of those games vs SEC on New Year’s day, some teams maybe overmatched.
We also have the issue with a ton of bowls, spreading out the good teams, due to conference ties playing crappy games and giving the fan crappy matchups. I already think that the number of bowls need cut by 10 and also the required record should be 7-5 to make a bowl. I’m tired of 6-6 vs 6-6, and judging by attendance records so is everyone else. The only ones who aren’t are ADs and coaches who get raises and another line on their resume`. After next year there is also the addition of the “Champions Bowl” for the Big XII and SEC. Hey, another NEW bowl to fill.
To make these bowls a little more exciting I thought of the following and how it could work out. The top 4 teams are going to the playoff. Whatever games those are. Big Ten, Pac-12, Big XII, SEC and ACC Champs all have a home with the Rose, Orange and Champions Bowl.
The BCS gave us a “fantasy” type draft of who they want to see in their bowls based on eligibility. So why can’t we do that with the rest of the bowls?
After top tier bowls for the playoffs and champions are set for the Big 5, add in the MWC, MAC, CUSA, Big East, Sun Belt Champs and also the next available 10 in whatever the BCS Rankings are going to look like and have the next top 5 Bowls snake draft the games? Obviously the smaller conference champs not named Boise State are going to drop and not be selected due to obvious reasons, but set up a tier of bowls they can’t drop past, like tier 4?
For example check this out (and I’m including OSU since they will be eligible in a few years and using current AP Ranking) – Here’s your Top Tier with Semi-finals:
Bowl
|
Match Up
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Nat'l Semifinal-Sugar
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Alabama vs K-State
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Nat'l Semifinal-Fiesta
|
Florida vs Oregon
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Rose
|
Ohio State vs Oregon State
|
Champions
|
LSU vs Oklahoma
|
Orange
|
Notre Dame vs Florida State
|
--Top 4 teams of Bama-Oregon-KState-Florida make it to the Final Four.
--Rose gets Big Ten Champ OSU and highest Pac12 left Oregon State (keeping conf ties there for champions only)
--Champions gets its two highest ranked ties in LSU and Oklahoma
--Orange gets the ACC Champ FSU & tie in Notre Dame.
Tier 2 then gets a snake draft of the next 10 teams, plus the Conf Champs that have yet to be selected, so that would leave these teams available.
South Carolina
|
Louisville
|
WAC-UTSA
|
USC
|
West Virginia
|
CUSA-Tulsa
|
Georgia
|
Texas Tech
|
MAC-Ohio
|
Clemson
|
Rutgers
|
MWC-Nevada
|
Mississippi State
|
Texas A&M
|
SB-WKU
|
| |
Big East -Rutgers
|
Bowls looking like this.
Cotton
|
USC vs Texas Tech
|
Capital One
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Georgia vs Texas A&M
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Outback
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South Carolina vs Rutgers
|
Gator
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Mississippi State vs West Virginia
|
Peach
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Clemson vs Louisville
|
And do this so forth. Now there isn’t a lot of Big Ten flavor in here, IMO that sucks, but the conference is what it is, and we are only half way through.
Do this the Sunday after the Championship games LIVE and give the bowls only 3 minutes to make the selection. Schools learn live on tv what’s going on and where they are going all at once. How’s that for a Selection Sunday?
25 bowls, 50 teams, and everyone on the edge of their seat. It’d be great.
I’m a big fan of this KState team. I think they can and will run the table and have overall had more impressive wins than Oregon and Notre Dame to date, BUT I think that the only team that will be able to hang with Bama (who is on cruise control) is Oregon. I don’t think KState or ND’s offense could do much vs the Tide where as Oregon I’d be curious to see. Oregon’s slate gets tougher coming up with Stanford, Cal, USC, Oregon State and a possible USC rematch. The Irish also have a date with USC so the Trojans get a chance to play spoiler in the next few weeks. I think the SEC is lurking with teams waiting to jump on Bama (LSU, UGA) but Bama should roll them and make it to Miami.
This week in the Garwin Rankings. Bama holds on to the top spot with a sizeable margin over #2 K-State. Oregon dropped from 2 to 4 after drubbing a BAD Colorado team, and are just barely behind the Fighting Irish. Florida drops 3 to 7 after the loss to Georgia and hello Texas A&M and Louisville to the top 10. Clemson also returns after improving to 7-1.
