Either this source was wrong, or the BCS committe got to the Fiesta committe. We have a Boise/TCU Fiesta Bowl. Which bugs me to no end.
David K.
Well I will definitely be rooting for Cincinatti over Florida and Ohio State over Oregon (although I think the Ducks will win). I don’t really care about Iowa vs Georgia Tech, I think thats going to be true of a lot of people. Texas vs ‘Bama though is tough I usually root AGAINST Texas, and AGAINST the SEC. Now I should probably decide to root FOR someone. But Boise/TCU is the toughest. Both are great schools, and I have no affiliation with either, but i’d gladly pick either had they split them up to play other teams.
Jazz
Building upon the earlier argument about Boise State/TCU overcoming the negative perception of mid-major v. mid-major, I could see the BCS playing out such that Boise State/TCU ends up drawing the second best “Q” rating (and maybe second-best TV ratings), of the 5 BCS games.
For starters, Boise/TCU has a great time slot. They’re all by themselves in the MNF slot the day after the NFL regular-season ends. For sheer logistics, they should outdo Iowa/Ga. Tech easily, which game is in the awkward Tuesday slot where all else is basically done except the championship game. I also expect that most fans legitimately believe that Boise/TCU are both inherently better than Iowa/Ga. Tech.
The jury is out on whether Boise/TCU does better than the Rose and Sugar Bowls. If those games are good, particularly if Cincinnati proves itself worthy of its undefeated season, they could outdo Boise/TCU. On the other hand, there’s often a bit of bowl fatigue by the end of the New Year’s Day bowls, I see Cincinnati getting blown out, and I see that OSU/Oregon Rose Bowl being a bit of a dull affair.
If Boise/TCU is remembered as the second-most interesting bowl game, that could have a real big impact – positive – on the future of mid-major D1 football.
David K.
I disagree, I think Florida has looked lackluster (for a 10+ win team) all season, and the Alabama game showed that faced with serious competition they can be beaten. I think Cincinnatti is going to be up for this game and they have played well enough to be considered competitive.
Brendan Loy
I know you hate Oregon, but the Pac-10 really, really needs them to beat Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. In my mind, the conference’s best interests need to come first in this case, because the game has ramifications for all Pac-10 teams. (Do you think Big Ten fans who hate Ohio State, and thus rooted against them in the 2006 and 2007 title games, don’t wish now that the Buckeyes hadn’t laid such huge eggs in those games, doing severe damage to the whole conference’s reputation in the process?)
I’d say the same thing if it were UCLA in there, although my “rooting” for the Bruins in such a circumstance would certainly be grudging. But the public perception has long been that the Pac-10 is really the “Pac-1,” and if Oregon, having finally broken USC’s string of conference dominance, proceeds to hand Ohio State its first BCS bowl win in forever, it’ll cement that perception further. By contrast, if Oregon can win (ideally in a romp), it’ll demonstrate that the Pac-10 really does have more teams than just USC.
(Stanford also needs to beat Oklahoma, and Arizona needs to beat Nebraska. The other games don’t matter as much in terms of national perception, although another 6-0 bowl record would certainly be nice.)
Jazz
Further to this point, the reason why Boise State v. TCU may be more well-received than the Rose Bowl is:
a) even here in the Midwest people are tired of the Ohio State BCS conceit, and
b) Oregon is not USC. Around these parts, we’re not exactly sure what happened in the Pac-10, some sort of row with Pete Carroll and his grad-student girlfriend where she hit his car with a 5-iron, or something, but for some reason USC is not there, so who cares.
In fact, if we think of the Ducks at all, we think of comical uniforms, and a larger-than-life billboard of some dude who couldn’t even make it for our woeful Detroit Lions.
All to second the notion that a beatdown by the Ducks would be most helpful to the Pac-10’s stature. In fact, if you’re not going to root for said beatdown, you may have less grounds to complain about the ridiculous “SEC is WAR!” meme in the future….
David K.
Oh I think Oregon WILL win, I just can’t root for them is all 🙂
RT @slmandel Very interesting. The people have spoken: NO TCU-Boise. Perhaps Fiesta committee monitors Twitter.
Either this source was wrong, or the BCS committe got to the Fiesta committe. We have a Boise/TCU Fiesta Bowl. Which bugs me to no end.
Well I will definitely be rooting for Cincinatti over Florida and Ohio State over Oregon (although I think the Ducks will win). I don’t really care about Iowa vs Georgia Tech, I think thats going to be true of a lot of people. Texas vs ‘Bama though is tough I usually root AGAINST Texas, and AGAINST the SEC. Now I should probably decide to root FOR someone. But Boise/TCU is the toughest. Both are great schools, and I have no affiliation with either, but i’d gladly pick either had they split them up to play other teams.
Building upon the earlier argument about Boise State/TCU overcoming the negative perception of mid-major v. mid-major, I could see the BCS playing out such that Boise State/TCU ends up drawing the second best “Q” rating (and maybe second-best TV ratings), of the 5 BCS games.
For starters, Boise/TCU has a great time slot. They’re all by themselves in the MNF slot the day after the NFL regular-season ends. For sheer logistics, they should outdo Iowa/Ga. Tech easily, which game is in the awkward Tuesday slot where all else is basically done except the championship game. I also expect that most fans legitimately believe that Boise/TCU are both inherently better than Iowa/Ga. Tech.
The jury is out on whether Boise/TCU does better than the Rose and Sugar Bowls. If those games are good, particularly if Cincinnati proves itself worthy of its undefeated season, they could outdo Boise/TCU. On the other hand, there’s often a bit of bowl fatigue by the end of the New Year’s Day bowls, I see Cincinnati getting blown out, and I see that OSU/Oregon Rose Bowl being a bit of a dull affair.
If Boise/TCU is remembered as the second-most interesting bowl game, that could have a real big impact – positive – on the future of mid-major D1 football.
I disagree, I think Florida has looked lackluster (for a 10+ win team) all season, and the Alabama game showed that faced with serious competition they can be beaten. I think Cincinnatti is going to be up for this game and they have played well enough to be considered competitive.
I know you hate Oregon, but the Pac-10 really, really needs them to beat Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. In my mind, the conference’s best interests need to come first in this case, because the game has ramifications for all Pac-10 teams. (Do you think Big Ten fans who hate Ohio State, and thus rooted against them in the 2006 and 2007 title games, don’t wish now that the Buckeyes hadn’t laid such huge eggs in those games, doing severe damage to the whole conference’s reputation in the process?)
I’d say the same thing if it were UCLA in there, although my “rooting” for the Bruins in such a circumstance would certainly be grudging. But the public perception has long been that the Pac-10 is really the “Pac-1,” and if Oregon, having finally broken USC’s string of conference dominance, proceeds to hand Ohio State its first BCS bowl win in forever, it’ll cement that perception further. By contrast, if Oregon can win (ideally in a romp), it’ll demonstrate that the Pac-10 really does have more teams than just USC.
(Stanford also needs to beat Oklahoma, and Arizona needs to beat Nebraska. The other games don’t matter as much in terms of national perception, although another 6-0 bowl record would certainly be nice.)
Further to this point, the reason why Boise State v. TCU may be more well-received than the Rose Bowl is:
a) even here in the Midwest people are tired of the Ohio State BCS conceit, and
b) Oregon is not USC. Around these parts, we’re not exactly sure what happened in the Pac-10, some sort of row with Pete Carroll and his grad-student girlfriend where she hit his car with a 5-iron, or something, but for some reason USC is not there, so who cares.
In fact, if we think of the Ducks at all, we think of comical uniforms, and a larger-than-life billboard of some dude who couldn’t even make it for our woeful Detroit Lions.
All to second the notion that a beatdown by the Ducks would be most helpful to the Pac-10’s stature. In fact, if you’re not going to root for said beatdown, you may have less grounds to complain about the ridiculous “SEC is WAR!” meme in the future….
Oh I think Oregon WILL win, I just can’t root for them is all 🙂