It's the time of year we all get together with family, eat way too much, talk about leaving the house for that $200 50 inch flat screen TV, and watch a lot of football.
So what a better time of year then to debate where some of the Big Ten finest will be spending the Christmas holiday. First lets discuss where Illinois and Michigan will be playing this year. Both teams on 1/1/2008 played in the Rose and Capital One bowls respectively. Oops, sorry both teams will be home this year thinking about what could have been, as Iowa and Northwestern take their bowl spots. What a year!
Now on to the bowl projections on this Turkey Holiday:
Motor City Bowl: (Big Ten #7 pick against MAC #1) Minnesota vs Ball State: Doesn't Ball State deserve better? They will be 13-0 if they beat Buffalo in the MAC championship game and their reward? Playing a Golden Gophers team that is 0-4 in it's last 4 games and just got housed by Iowa 55-0. Wow, thanks for the undefeated season, Welcome to snowy Detroit!
Insight Bowl: (Big Ten #6 pick against Big 12 #6 pick) Wisconsin vs Kansas: Wisconsin gets this spot over Minnesota because they travel so well and they get lucky on getting Tempe, AZ instead of Detroit. Both teams in this match up didn't live up the hype this year and Kansas has a little better excuse since they played in the very difficult Big 12.
Champs Sports Bowl: (Big Ten #4/5 pick against ACC #4 pick) Iowa vs Wake Forest: This will be an interesting match up with two football programs on the rise. Iowa saved the BCS from having to put another Big Ten team in the National Championship game and Wake Forest has played pretty good football at times during the last 3 seasons. Look for this to be a pretty entertaining match-up.
Alamo Bowl: (Big Ten #4/5 pick against Big 12 #4 pick): Northwestern vs Nebraska: The Wildcats get this slot over Iowa due to their better overall record. Nebraska loves the Alamo Bowl and has fond memories of playing Michigan a few years ago with terrible officials and a wild last second option play. This will be Bo Pelini and Pat Fitzgerald's first bowl berth as head coaches. This is also Northwestern's first bowl since 2005.
Outback Bowl: (Big Ten #3 pick against SEC #3/4 pick) Michigan State vs Georgia: This match up couldn't be any worse for the over rated Spartans. They want nothing to do with the SEC after they got housed by Penn State last week. But they did reach their goal of beating a 3-9 Michigan team and got to play on New Years Day. So there is always that! On a side note, this will be a good match up of two of the top running backs in the country: Javon Ringer and Knowshon Moreno. Look for Sparty to get embarrassed in this one.
Capital One Bowl: (Big Ten #2 pick against SEC #2 pick) Ohio State vs LSU: Does anyone remember this game? I know OSU is holding it's breath for a BSC bid, but the Big 12 and/or Alabama will get it over the Buckeyes if they lose to Florida. Buckeye fans, pray that Alabama doesn't upset Florida in the SEC Championship game! OSU will have a good shot at ending their long losing streak against the SEC with an LSU QB that loves throwing picks for touchdowns. This should be a fun game and not a bad match up for The Vest and the boys from CBus.
Happy Thanksgiving!
5 comments:
Come on, Big House Blog. Buckeye fans have already conceded BCS slots to both Alabama and Florida. In addition, USC, Oklahoma, Texas, Cincinnati, ACC Champ, Utah and Penn State will get slots. The last slot is up in the air between Boise State, Ohio State and Oregon State. If Oregon State wins this weekend they get the slot in the Rose Bowl at USC's expense. USC would get moved to another BCS game and Boise State and the Buckeyes don't make it. If Oregon State loses, I think the BCS committee takes Ohio State over Boise State and Oregon State for the last slot. Do you agree?
If we miss the BCS and have to go to Orlando I agree that a game against LSU or Georgia would give us a good chance to break the streak....but I'm not holding my breath.
PS - Maybe the BCS gods will put us against Cincinnati....starting the dream rivalry you've mentioned several times.
Happy Thankgiving BJ! No I sort of think the BCS would take a undeafeated Boise State team over a 2 loss Ohio State team. What about Texas Tech?
If Oregon State and Florida, win out I think the bids are as following:
Rose: PSU vs Oregon State (terrible rematch)
Sugar: Bama vs Texas Tech
Orange: Cincy vs GA Tech (ACC winner)
Fiesta: Texas vs USC
NC: Florida vs OK
IF Oregon wins this weekend: I think BSU, and maybe even Utah get the bids ahead of tOSU.
BHB -
If we agree that Texas and Oklahoma will get bids from the Big XII then Texas Tech can't get a bid. There's a rule that limits the number of schools a conference can send.
Utah already has a bid in my mind so that leaves Boise State, Ohio State and potentially Oregon State. If Oregon State loses to Oregon the bid comes down to Ohio State or Boise State. Boise State has their recod and the epic game against Oklahoma a few years ago to tout as a reason they should get the bid. Working against them is the fact that outside of Idaho, nobody cares about them. Ohio State can tout the fact that their fans travel well to games, spend lots of money in the host city and given the fact that they won't be playing for a championship (avoiding the phrase "Not Ohio State...again") will produce a bigger TV audience. (Notice I conveniently forget to mention Ohio State's performance in the last two BCS games.)
Of course, this all depends on the Civil War this weekend in Oregon. We'll see.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Good call on the three teams, didn't know that rule. You may have a point, but I still think they take Boise State at 12-0. Ball State? :-)
BHB -
You can have the BSUs. I'll take the Buckeyes. We'll see what happens. Think of it this way....if OSU gets the bid...UM gets a share of a much larger pot of money. I'm sure the school could figure out a good way to spend the extra $$$$
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