The BCS shot itself in the foot with stupid, stupid matchups. The Rose Bowl picking the Illini for the sake of tradition was just stupid. Illinois is a pretty good team, but they were ranked high while USC was ranked low. It’s not like absolutely everyone didn’t see that blowout coming. And same with Georgia and Hawaii now. Georgia and USC are probably the best two teams not in the championship game, and they got matched up against the 2 weakest teams selected to the BCS (barring perhaps Kansas, but then nobody really has any idea if Kansas is any good or not, nor why they were chosen ahead of Mizzou).
Anyways, all the major conferences are acquitting themselves quite respectably, so hopefully the “my conference is soooo much better than yours” pinheads will shut up and enjoy just enjoy watching some talented young men playing their hearts out.
I kindof feel sorry for Hawaii. At least you could figure that Illinois would have a chance against USC. I mean, they play against stiff competition and have faced good defenses and such. But Hawaii set up against a premier SEC team? A real defense and ground attack? I guess they “earned” the right to be led like lambs to the slaughter, but maybe Ball State or something would have been more their speed. (But at least they get to cash a good check. Like those boxers who last 1 round–the money still spends.)
I think it was stupid for the Rose Bowl people to have picked Illinois, but I don’t think that anything could have been done to keep Hawaii out of a BCS game. Even though their conference is weak, they were undefeated and ranked ~10. If they got shut out of one of the big bowls, it would have said to every school in a non-major conference: “The only chance you have of getting into one of the big money bowls is to get into one of the big money conferences.” And that ain’t right. (Besides, every once in a while one of these schools that has a nice run against a bunch of cupcakes needs to get slapped down, before they get too uppity.)
Could the Rose Bowl people have picked Georgia? Or would that not have been allowed because of the Sugar Bowl-SEC thing?
Do you have a cite for that? Becuase I believe you are mistaken, at least with respect to Georgia. The Rose Bowl, having lost the #1 rated team to the championship game (Ohio State) got first pick of a replacement team. They could have chosen Georgia (which did not win the SEC championship) but instead chose to go with “tradition” and take a Big 10 team. When Georgia was passed over by the Rose, the Sugar got next pick for a replacement, having lost LSU to the title game. They chose Georgia. Here are the bowl selection rules.
So as I understand the rules and the process (and maybe I don’t), the Rose Bowl foolishly passed up a USC-UGA matchup.
What the hell is with the OU band and their fight song? Every 4 minutes I hear them playing their damn fight song. 1st down, play the fight song, sack, play the fight song, long reception, play the fight song. Do they play the fight song when Bradford rips a good fart?
It’s a shit song from a shit school. Schadenfreude city! I love to see o.u. get beaten like red-headed stepchildren. WVA had every reason to lose this game and promptly came out and beat the Gooners into the dirt.
Hey, Fiesta Bowl selection committee… do yourself a favor and permanently ban o.u. from your bowl game. That’s two ass-kickings and embarrassing showings in a row!
Side note: this is probably the first game I’ve watched in HD on my new TV… and I think the problem was that Sam Bradford needed a couple of gallons of Oxy for his face. Dude looked like he wore a beard of bees and started swatting them. A new worry for college athletes: gotta wear heaps of makeup to cover those spots!
Yeah, we took a beating. But accounts from the area were that there was a sea of orange in the days leading up to the game = $$$ being spent there by Illini fans. Would Georgia fans have traveled as well? A non-insignificant factor to the committee.
About the game:
A break here or there, and it would have been 35 - 27 or so. No blowout.
And Rashard Mendenhall ripped USC for 155 yards rushing, while USC had been giving up 80 or so total per game. No embarrassment there. He will make some NFL team a winner.
To neutral observers: did USC seem a bit classless to you?
Finally, my hat is off to USC. The best team in the country right now (IMHO). They have only themselves to blame for not playing in the NC game.
I actually think they were kind of smart in a way. I think they pruposefully avoided a USC-UGA matchup because it woudl compete with the National title game, create more questions and put more doubt out about the national title game. I firmly believe that they make a concerted effort NOT to make any other bowl game nearly as compelling as the National Championship game if they can help it.
I had just been rooting for a good football game while flipping around the bowls, until I saw the halftime highlights, with the USC player doing the front flip into the endzone with defenders coming.