Those Ingrates; the Scarlet Knights

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Tom Luicci of The Star Ledger feels that Rutgers got stiffed when they were selected for the Papajohns.com Bowl. Hey, see for yourself:

"No point in mincing any words here. Rutgers is heading to what is arguably the
worst bowl on college football's 34-game post-season lineup."

He goes on to describe how Rutgers deserves to instead play in the Magicjack St. Petersburg Bowl in Florida; the bowl that USF was selected to play in against Memphis. I agree in principal that Rutgers is a better team than USF, that they are more entertaining to watch (at least this season), and that Birmingham, AL is a less desirable destination travel to for a bowl. Despite that, Rutgers should take an overall view of how this affects the Big East Conference.

If USF were to instead play in Alabama against a God-awful team, nobody would show up. Because the Bulls are playing what is a de-facto home game, they'll get fans in the seats and create some local interest in the St. Petersburg Bowl. Rutgers on the other hand, has to deal with going to a substandard bowl, albeit against a worthy opponent, making for an intriguing match-up. There's no question that incoming Big East Commissioner John Marinatto will need to improve the conference's bowl tie-ins, but for now, I say Rutgers should take one for the team and represent the conference well against the ACC.