Well, either you're closing your eyes
To a situation you do not wish to acknowledge
Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated
By the presence of a scandal in your community.
Ya got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in Ticket City.
Trouble with a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for Paterno!
--adapted from THE MUSIC MAN
Fortunately for the Nittany Lions, Ticket City said
scandal be damned--we want Penn State! I applaud their testicular fortitude. For the other bowls . . . Gator on down . . . shame on you.
Here are the Big Ten Bowl tie-ins:
Rose Bowl (Wisconsin)
Cap One Bowl (Nebraska)
Outback Bowl (Michigan State)
Gator Bowl (Ohio State)
Insight Bowl (Iowa)
Meineke Car Care (Northwestern)
Ticket City (Penn State)
Litle Ceasars (Purdue)
OK. I don't think for one minute that the Bowl system or the BCS is FAIR. It never has been, and until a major overhaul occurs, it never will be.
Is it fair that Oklahoma State not have a chance at LSU? Boise State is one missed field goal away from a perfect season and they are relegated to a December 22nd snooze fest against a 6-6 barely bowl eligible Arizona State. Talk about injustice!
And our opponent, Houston, was one game away from a BCS spot, and now they are stuck playing us. Thank Heavens I ain't a Cougar fan.
Don't even get me started about West Virginia. The Big Least needs to lose that automatic bid and fast. Hell, you have to be in the top 14 I think just to be eligible for an at-large bid, and they couldn't even manage that. I hope Clemson clobbers them.
But we fans have no say in the bowl system--and probably shouldn't have any say. Otherwise, it becomes a popularity contest rather than a match-up of competitive teams.
And in the final analysis, the LSU-Bama match-up will be competitive. Unfortunately, we've already been there and done that. If I were overhauling the BCS system, one change I'd make is to eliminate rematches. If the teams have already played, then the team that previously lost is skipped and you match up the next best team. But that would make too much sense. And I digress.
The system also gives us some interesting matchups to look forward to: Oregon-Wisconsin, Georgia-Michigan State, and Stanford-Oklahoma State, to name a few.
The problem I have with the system is the Big Ten tie ins. Penn State tied for first in their division (so came in second at worst) and maybe fifth overall behind THEM, Nebraska, MSU and Wisconsin. We lost to three of those teams and I have no problem seeing them get good bowls. I hate THEM, but they have a better record. I personally think MSU should have gotten their bowl bid, but I'm not going to go there right now.
But for Ohio State to go to the Gator Bowl when we beat the Buckeyes and they are only 6-6 is simply unacceptable. Likewise for Iowa and Northwestern whom we beat. We have a better record on the field overall and won the head-to-head games against them, yet the bowls selected them ahead of Penn State.
Why? Well, we don't need to mention that here, but if you have been living under a rock, you can save 15% on your car insurance AND the reason is Sandusky.
But how do the players on this team and we ardent fans of the game have any blame in this? Why are the players and fans being penalized because of this?
Because life isn't fair. Thank you Mr. Obvious.
On the other hand, the match-up with the cougars is not a bad opportunity to challenge our defense. We are playing a team with only one loss, and a team ranked 19th in the BCS. Only Iowa is playing a higher ranked bowl opponent (Oklahoma at 14.) The Gator bowl would be a Florida rematch, which quite frankly doesn't excite me. Northwestern can have A&M. It would be nice to play a team like Oklahoma, but who wants to play a bowl game on December 30th?
It sucks that the game is on ESPNU. Who? The U? Give me a freaking break. Why???? (Because all the other "better" games are on the other channels.) It's also a noon start--but it is the day after the first, so maybe the hangover won't be so bad.
All in all, things could have been worse. I hope our guys give Houston a problem.
We're Bowling! Strike up the band and strike down the Cougars!
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