For those of us who find soccer* mind numbingly dull I offer you this football related post to entertain you.
Something I haven’t seen really addressed anywhere within all this talk of the coming conference mega storm is the shake up it will cause with the various bowl arrangements. Now I realize there are a fair number of people who read this blog and elsewhere who think we should move to a tournament structure in Div 1 A (I refuse to call it by its other stupider name), but even if that happens the bowls are bound to stick around, at least some of them. Plus, lets face it, a tournament ain’t happening any time soon (then again the conference-pocalypse wasn’t expected so quickly either so who knows!), so the bowl picture does matter.
The biggest conundrum will be for the various Bowls affiliated with the Big 12 (Fiesta, Cotton, Insight, Holiday, Alamo, Texas, Pinstripe (WTF?!) etc.) If the Big 12 vanishes or shifts, what the heck do these Bowls do? In some cases, especially for the smaller bowls it could be simply a matter of finding a good regional match. But for a few of the Bowls its going to be really tricky. Take for instance the Holiday and Alamo bowls, which are currently slated to pit the Big 12 vs. the Pac 10. With half the Big 12 expected to join the Pac-10 this could get really interesting. Does it become a league crossover pitting teams from the two Pac-16 sections against each other? Maybe they become Pac-16 – Mountain West or Pac-16 Conference USA matchups.
I’m guessing atleast some of the currently Big 12 affiliated bowls that aren’t allready affiliated with the Pac-10 will become so. The 16 team super conference will definitely pick up some affiliations, the Cotton Bowl and Insight Bowl make particular sense (the Insight Bowl was affiliated with the Pac-10 for a number of years in fact.
The most interesting from where I sit is what happens to the Fiesta Bowl. I can see one of two likely scenarios. First, if the Pac-16 is successful in lobbying for 2 BCS auto-bids (thus foregoing a championship game, and basically meaning its two 8 team conferences with a revenue and scheduling deal as far as football goes) then the Fiesta Bowl becomes the Pac-16 East destination of choice. Alternatively if that plan falls through I’d bet the Fiesta Bowl re-affiliates with the newly BCS level Mountain West conference. The geography certainly fits with most of the schools clustered around Arizona (although none currently IN Arizona, but then neither was the Big 12).
It will be curious to see what the fall out of all this is. One thing I’d like to see is a few of the smaller bowls go by the wayside. There is talk that teams with a losing record could be taken for Bowls this year because of the number and I’m sorry but its bad enough 6-6 teams are going but a 5-7 team? Really?
* Still, go USA!
If the Pac-16 is successful in lobbying for 2 BCS auto-bids (thus foregoing a championship game…
This doesn’t necessarily follow. You could easily have one auto bid per division, but still have a conference championship game. Often times, a bid to the national championship game would be at stake. For those times when it isn’t, you could say that the winner goes to the Rose Bowl, while the loser becomes an at-large. Of course that’s assuming the Pac-16 East teams would PREFER the Rose Bowl to, say, the Fiesta Bowl.
I hate the idea of not having a championship game. At that point, it’s not a freaking conference at all.
Anyway, your point about the Pac-10 vs. Big 12 bowls is interesting. Given that each Pac-16 East team will only be playing 2 of the 8 Pac-16 West teams per season, and vice versa, there isn’t the usual concern about boring rematches. The bowls themselves would undoubtedly try to avoid rematches in their selections, but that would leave plenty of potential intra-Pac-16 bowl matchups.
They COULD get two bids and a championship game, but thats not what I’ve heard they are hoping from based on internet rumbles. Speculation to be sure, but it would also make an easier path to the national championship game if they can forgo a matchup between conference titans, and if you get two BCS bids, why bother (tv revenue being one reason to bother i suppose).
I saw a tweet from an L.A. Times reporter saying that those Internet rumbles are incorrect. And I can’t see the logic of not having a title game — why leave that revenue on the table? If they get two auto bids, there’s no worry about an otherwise attractive BCS at-large team losing a bid because of a title game loss. And as for the argument that no title game “would also make an easier path to the national championship game,” that might be true in some years, but equally, in other years, say when you have one SEC, one Big Ten, and one (or two) Pac-16 team(s) battling for title game spots, the Pac-16 title game could be the “clincher,” and in some circumstances could be viewed as a virtual national semifinal, as the SEC title game has been the last couple of years. Moreover, I don’t see the conference commissioners caring so much about that. If they’ve got two teams in the BCS, whether they’re in the title game is a competitive issue but not really a revenue issue.
Bottom line, I’d be pretty surprised — and seriously annoyed — if there’s no Pac-16 title game.
How can you create a superconference and then NOT pit the top two teams against each other? Doesn’t that sort of miss the point?
Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist notes that someone has suggested the Pac-16 divisions In-N-Out and Whataburger (as opposed to Surf and Turf).
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/06/12/2259254/its-real-shame-watching-so-many.html
(And yes, Iowa State is still panicking all over the place, while Missouri is Wile E. Coyote after passing the edge of a cliff and beginning to look down.)
Except neither Oregon nor Washington contain In-N-Out burger so it only applies to the California (and Arizona schools). Not surprising someone from Fort Worth thinks were all the same out west 😛
I also agree that not having a conference championship game would be completely stupid and I’m glad those rumors are being shut down.
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