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The Bottom Ten/Bowl Game Edition
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
With 64 teams 'earning' bowl berths this season that means over half of the NCAA's I-A teams are getting happy faces on their playbooks this winter.
Not all teams going to bowl games deserve them, though. Seven bowl teams are 6-6 and no less than four teams will charge into their bowl game with losing streaks of at least three games. Not only that, four coaches were so moved by their teams' bowl bids they fled to coach other teams, and, UCLA and Georgia Tech administrators were so pleased by their bowl invitations they fired their coaches.
This year's fiascos:
1. Independence Bowl
Details: Dec. 30, Independence Stadium, Shreveport, Louisiana
Teams: Colorado (6-6) vs. Alabama (6-6)
Reason(s) To Watch: There is no reason to watch this game...Alabama has lost four straight and Colorado wasn't much better, losing four of their last six.
Reason(s) Not To Watch: Your tires need rotating...The driveway needs to be cleared...Dinner's ready.
Bottom Line: With teams now playing 12 games every season, is there a reason teams aren't required to win seven games to go to a bowl? Well, yes there is, because if seven wins had been required this year there would have only been enough teams for 29 and a half bowl games.
2. Insight Bowl
Details: Dec. 31, Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona
Teams: Indiana (7-5) vs. Oklahoma St. (6-6)
Reason(s) To Watch: Indiana has not won a bowl game since 1992.
Reason(s) Not To Watch: Indiana has not won a bowl game since 1992.
Bottom Line: Game so prestigious it used to be played in baseball stadium...OSU entering third straight bowl game with six losses.
3. Hawaii Bowl
Details: Dec. 23, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii
Teams: East Carolina (7-5) at Boise State (10-2)
Reason(s) To Watch: With Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl, it will be fun to watch and see how many empty seats there are.
Reason(s) Not To Watch: You don't really know when East Carolina was admitted to the Union.
Bottom Line: Boise St. math professors plotted last years Fiesta Bowl bid and this years Hawaii Bowl debacle on a graph and came up with a line going straight down.
4. Humanitarian Bowl
Details: Dec. 31, Bronco Stadium, Boise Idaho
Teams: Fresno State (8-4) vs. Georgia Tech (7-5)
Reason(s) To Watch: Fresno State, from not-too-prestigious WAC, happy to be going anywhere.
Reason(s) Not To Watch: Georgia Tech administration fired coach Chan Gailey for not qualifying for bowl in warmer part of country.
Bottom Line: Average daytime high for Boise in December is 37 degrees.
5. Emerald Bowl
Details: Dec. 28, AT&T Park, San Francisco, California
Teams: Oregon State (8-4) vs. Maryland (6-6)
Reason(s) To Watch: Game played on hallowed, sacred football grounds where XFL's San Francisco Demons did whatever they did in 2001.
Reason(s) Not To Watch: Maryland juggernaut blitzkrieg's their way into 2007 bowl season, having lost four out of six.
Bottom Line: Oregon State and Maryland have never met before. Do they have to start now?
6. Armed Forces Bowl
Details: Dec. 31, Amon Carter Stadium, Fort Worth, Texas
Teams: Cal (6-6) vs. Air Force (9-3)
Reason(s) To Watch: Air Force officer candidates actually not too bad, as three losses came to teams playing in 2007 bowl games, though with 64 teams playing in 2007 bowl games, that claim doesn't have the imprimatur it used to.
Reason(s) Not To Watch: Since being ranked #2 in October, Cal has lost six of seven, including three straight.
Bottom Line: We love our troops as much as you do, but even the vets here on the B-10 staff are having trouble coming up with reasons why this game should be played.
7. BCS National Championship Game
Details: Jan 7, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
Teams: LSU (10-2) vs. Ohio State (11-1)
Reason(s) To Watch: Thanks to the BCS we know for certain that Ohio State and LSU are the two very best teams in the country...Thanks BCS!
Reason(s) Not To Watch: Ohio State, LSU more or less entitled to be here, but so are a half-dozen other teams...Is played after New Year's Day, when nobody really cares about college football anymore.
Bottom Line: Don't get us started.
8. Las Vegas Bowl
Details: Dec. 22, Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada
Teams: UCLA (6-6) vs. BYU (10-2)
Reason(s) To Watch: BYU not half bad, having won nine straight.
Reason(s) Not To Watch: UCLA so thrilled with third Las Vegas Bowl bid this decade they fired coach Karl Dorrel...They also fired coach Bob Toledo before playing in 2002 Las Vegas Bowl.
Bottom Line: After years of half-filled stadiums because organizers made fans pay for tickets, game now routinely plays to capacity crowds as tickets given away as part of Wayne Newton/buffet package deals.
9. Rose Bowl
Details: Jan. 1, Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, California
Teams: USC (10-2) vs. Illinois (9-3)
Reason(s) To Watch: All the usual reasons...Traditional Big-10/Pac-10 match up...Great opportunity to root against evil USC...First ever Rose Bowl meeting between Trojans and Illini...Always fun to watch game start in daytime, end at night.
Reason(s) Not To Watch: Some bastard in Rose Bowl media relations office declined Writer's Shack's credential request!
Bottom Line: USC will be appearing in its 32nd Rose Bowl, Illinois its sixth.
10. Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl
Details: The NCAA Division III National Championship Game, Dec. 15, Salem Football Stadium, Salem, Virginia.
Teams: Mount Union (14-0) vs. Wisconsin-Whitewater (13-1)
Reason(s) To Watch: This is a real national championship game, following a grueling 32-team playoff...Writer's Shack fave Mount Union is looking for their third consecutive national championship.
Reason(s) Not To Watch: There are no reasons not to watch this game.
Bottom Line: Mount Union and Wisconsin-Whitewater are playing their fifth playoff game, despite having to go to class and study for finals and stuff like that.
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