Gone Bowling

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Posted by DCS

Fresh off three solid bowls from yesterday, I thought it might be a nice idea to go over the bowl conference records thus far:

Big East 2-0
Pac 10 2-0
ACC 2-2
MWC 2-1
CUSA 1-1
Sun Belt 1-1
Big 10 0-1
WAC 0-3
Indies 0-2

First, kudos to the Big East for obvious reasons. USF engineered a blowout in what was essentially a home game for them, against a CUSA team (Memphis) that was ill-equipped to be playing post-season college football in the first place. West Virginia was impressive on the offensive side of the ball in their narrow victory over UNC yesterday; a victory they should get tons of credit for being that they pulled it out in a hostile environment.

The PAC 10 has been impressive so far, especially considering that most college football refuse to give the conference any respect beyond USC. I think most experts felt that BYU would dispatch of Arizona in the Las Vegas Bowl, but it was quite the opposite as Mike Stoops probably single-handedly earned a contract extension in that game. Cal beating Miami is less of a surprise, as that was probably a push, and the Bears were able to play this game about 30 minutes from their home field.

I would like to trash the ACC, but I'm afraid I can't (yet). Wake Forest beating a solid Navy team is a good achievement and Florida State wreaking havoc upon a woefully under-equipped Wisconsin team is impressive despite the Seminoles playing in their home state. As I mention above, one can give Miami credit for keeping the Emerald Bowl a close affair against a team that played a de-facto home game. UNC is the one black eye on the ACC bowl resume at this point, given that they played their game in Charlotte, against a team that had not been playing well offensively. Then again, who's going to stop Pat White in his final game as a West Virginia Mountaineer?

Finally, let's skip down to the 0-3 WAC. Are you kidding me? This is a conference that many considered to be just as formidable as some BCS conferences; one that some even felt should have two at-large BCS bids (Utah AND Boise State). Granted, Boise State fell by a close margin to a solid TCU team, but it says something that they did not rise to the occasion in the Poinsettia Bowl when they felt they were unceremoniously left out of the BCS picture. Hawaii had no business being pushed around by Notre Dame on their home turf. I understand that the Irish have a massive amount of talent on their side, but their quality of play over the course of the year has been suspect, and the travel schedule should have taken its toll. The Fresno State / Colorado State could have gone either way, but it's surprising that the Pat Hill led club couldn't pull out at least one win for the conference it represents.

Stay tuned for more analysis on the bowl season. The best is yet to come with the SEC having not played any bowl games yet, and of course, the BCS bowls. For now, get your fill of more Big East related links:

Scout.com:

If you're a Rutgers fan:
And:
I leave you with this video of Rutgers players getting a tour of Birmingham's Civil Rights Museum (in case you thought that bowl teams don't spend their "non football" time productively):
Scarlet Knights tour civil rights museum





at 9:39 AM  

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