This pretty much sums up my feelings about the BCS. And it’s always a fun day when I get to draw a skunk or two. I’m not looking forward to the Bowl season really. The system is just so archaic and so drab really. And it’s spread out all over the months of December and January. I used to love Bowl games on New Year’s day when I was a kid. That was before the sponsors took over and gave us things like the Tostitos bowl and the Fed Ex Bowl. Half the companies go out of business every other year so you never know which bowl is which anymore. I hate it. So I think I’ll just hang around and watch Friday Night Lights on DVD. It’s much more entertaining. If you need your fix for 3 hour commercials masquerading as football games I’ve included the line up here. Check out some of the names:
Gildan New Mexico Bowl, Dec. 17th, 2 p.m. EST, ESPN
Temple vs. Wyoming
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Dec. 17th, 5:30 p.m. EST, ESPN
Ohio vs. Utah State
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, Dec. 17th, 9 p.m. EST, ESPN
San Diego State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl, Dec. 20th, 8 p.m. EST, ESPN
Florida International vs. Marshall
S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, Dec. 21st, 8 p.m. EST, ESPN
(18) TCU vs. Louisiana Tech
MAACO Las Vegas Bowl, Dec. 22nd, 8 p.m. EST, ESPN
Arizona State vs. (7) Boise State
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, Dec. 24th, 8 p.m. EST, ESPN
Nevada vs. (21) Southern Miss
AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl, Dec. 26th, 5 p.m. EST, ESPN2
Missouri vs. North Carolina
Little Caesars Bowl, Dec. 27th, 4:30 p.m. EST, ESPN
Western Michigan vs. Purdue
Belk Bowl, Dec. 27th, 8 p.m. EST, ESPN
Louisville vs. NC State
Military Bowl Presented By Northrop Grumman, Dec. 28th, 4:30 p.m. EST, ESPN
Toledo vs. Air Force
Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl, Dec. 28th, 8 p.m. EST, ESPN
California vs. (24) Texas
Champs Sports Bowl, Dec. 29th, 5:30 p.m. EST, ESPN
Florida State vs. Notre Dame
Valero Alamo Bowl, Dec. 29th, 9 p.m. EST, ESPN
Washington vs. (12) Baylor
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, Dec. 30th, Noon EST, ESPN
BYU vs. Tulsa
New Era Pinstripe Bowl, Dec. 30th, 3:20 p.m. EST, ESPN
Rutgers vs. Iowa State
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl, Dec. 30th, 6:40 p.m. EST, ESPN
Mississippi State vs. Wake Forest
Insight Bowl, Dec. 30th, 10 p.m. EST, ESPN
Iowa vs. (14) Oklahoma
Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl, Dec. 31st, Noon EST, ESPN
Texas A&M vs. Northwestern
Hyundai Sun Bowl, Dec. 31st, 2 p.m. EST, CBS
Georgia Tech vs. Utah
AutoZone Liberty Bowl, Dec. 31st, 3:30 p.m. EST, ABC
Cincinnati vs. Vanderbilt
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, Dec. 31st, 3:30 p.m. EST, ESPN
Illinois vs. UCLA
Chick-fil-A Bowl, Dec. 31st, 7:30 p.m. EST, ESPN
Virginia vs. (25) Auburn
TicketCity Bowl, Jan. 2nd, Noon EST, ESPNU
(19) Houston vs. (22) Penn State
Outback Bowl, Jan. 2nd, 1 p.m. EST, ABC
(17) Michigan State vs. (16) Georgia
Capital One Bowl, Jan. 2nd, 1 p.m. EST, ESPN
(20) Nebraska vs. (9) South Carolina
Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl, Jan. 2nd, 1 p.m. EST, ESPN2
Ohio State vs. Florida
Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio, Jan. 2nd, 5 p.m. EST, ESPN
(10) Wisconsin vs. (5) Oregon
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Jan. 2nd, 8:30 p.m. EST, ESPN
(4) Stanford vs. (3) Oklahoma State
Allstate Sugar Bowl, Jan. 3rd, 8:30 p.m. EST, ESPN
(13) Michigan vs. (11) Virginia Tech
Discover Orange Bowl, Jan. 4th, 8:30 p.m. EST, ESPN
(23) West Virginia vs. (15) Clemson
AT&T Cotton Bowl, Jan. 6th, 8 p.m. EST, FOX
(8) Kansas State vs. (6) Arkansas
BBVA Compass Bowl, Jan. 7th, 1 p.m. EST, ESPN
SMU vs. Pittsburgh
GoDaddy.com Bowl, Jan. 8th, 9 p.m. EST, ESPN
Arkansas State vs. Northern Illinois
Allstate BCS National Championship Game (Yeah, right), Jan. 9th, 8:30 p.m. EST, ESPN
(1) LSU vs. (2) Alabama
Good Morning from Omaha,
I did not realize there were that many bowl games. I guess that 6 wins and in isn’t such a joke. I’m like you drew remember bouncing back and forth between CBS, NBC and ABC on New years eve and day. That was enough football to drive any fan up a wall. I guess it just shows the dearth of entertainment on the tube these days. we can’t make a show anyone will watch so heck lets go with sports.
That old game about 6 degrees of separation could apply to most of these games if I really tried hard to find a reason to watch them. Like the new coach at WYO used to be at Mizzou and my niece and nephew got to Missouri- same with the missouri game.
With all these bowl games is there any more proof needed that the NCAA could stand for “need cash, ask again”.
Strive for excellence, nothing but your best.
Gene
Good morning from Baton Rouge,
I guess it had to happen sometime that I disagree with you a little bit, Drew. While I would still love to see a playoff system, I also enjoy the bowl season. I am old enough to also remember switching channels on Jan 1 (driving my mom nuts by the way), but that often resulted in missing some parts of good games.
My support of the bowl season does not mean that I support all of the current bowl games we now have. I also find it goofy that a .500 club, or worse (seriously-UCLA?) makes it to a bowl game. What I do like about the various bowl games and match-ups is that I get to see a team that I may not have seen all year. More often than not the games are pretty good. I enjoy watching those games even when I have no team to pull for.
As for the sponsorship; yeah, that has gotten a bit goofy as well. I was lucky enough to live in Shreveport at the time and be on the field for the innaugural Independence Bowl. I think the origin of this bowl and the presentation of the Spirit of Independence was an awesome idea. It was also cool that as a kid I got to meet Omar Bradley accepting the award the first year and John Wayne the second year of the game. It has not been as much fun, well, maybe it has, to see who the sponsor is going to be every year. I don’t even recognize the name of the company sponsoring this year’s bowl. (sorry AdvoCare V100) Maybe next year it can be the Albert Pujols Independence Bowl. ( I do agree with your thoughts on that toon and subject)
All that being said I guess it time for me to get some chips and get ready for the Temple vs Wyoming game even if I have no idea who Gildan is. Sounds like a character from Lord of the Rings to me.
Dear Drew,
This whole thing with the BCS is a joke. It bothers me to think that a team who didn’t even win their conference could be the #1 team in the land.
I fully expect some of these bowls to take place in the future.
The “Nobody Gives a Damn including the players and their fans” Bowl from Cleveland.
The “Not even .500 bowl” (UCLA would qualify for this one this season)
The “Haven’t got a pray to play in a bowl without this game” Bowl from Notre Dame Collage
The “Rocky Mountain Oyster” Bowl from Denver CO (sponsered by The Buckhorn Exchange)
The “Bowling Bowl” from the nearest stadium near Fairlane OH home of the Firestone Tournament of Champions bowling tournament.
I could think of more normally but I’m feeling ill so I’ll stop here. Hope these bowls give you a smile
All the best
Louis
Even the bowl schedule – spread out over three weeks! – belies one of the BCS defenses: “A Playoff System would take too long.” when you start over a week before Christmas and end a week after New Year’s, It’s almost a matter of geologic time.
Why not just a simple four-team playoff? Bump LSU and Bama back to the Sugar Bowl and send Michigan and VTech (neither of whom won a conference title, mind you) to some random December game, and then play the winner of that against the winner of OSU/Stanford.
Actually, I don’t have a problem with sponsors names on bowls (although quite a few aren’t exactly corporate giants), since they’re putting up the money for the schools. But I’d like to see someone support one as a prank. If there is ever a “Colbert Report Bowl,” I’m first in line for tickets.
Drew–
Your list of bowl games was enough to make me mildly dizzy.
Louis knocked one out of the park with his suggestion for the “Rocky Mountain Oyster” Bowl. I laughed out loud at that one… it’s better than at least half the names on the list.
I have to say, my favorite part of bowl season is the names. I’ll watch the Rose Bowl as usual, the Fiesta Bowl because it looks like a good game, and the championship if I have time. More likely, I’ll turn the championship on in the fourth quarter if it’s close.
Just watch the bowls that matter – Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Orange, national championship game. Unless of course, your team is in one of the other bowls. And when referring to the bowl, don’t mention the commercial sponsor. I don’t use most of their products anyway.