Tis the season to be yawning, as today is the big day for finding out who plays in our beloved bowl games

SCOTT JACOBS

My confidence in the bowl system was never super strong, though when I was younger and less knowledgable I think I appreciated bowls more, because it was just a lot of football games with cool logos at mid field all across the U.S. of A.  But now that I understand the system, now that I see the many and disturbing flaws behind it, I am quickly losing much of my interests in bowl games.  Now I understand that most bowls like the new Congressional Bowl are simply out there to give teams a happy little extra game. It goes back to an interview I did earlier in the year, when a bowl founder told me, “the university, their team, their fans appreciate the opportunity to play in these post-season games.”  That was what Marie Rudolph, one of the founders of the Congressional, I mean EagleBank bowl told me a few months back. “As long as teams are bowl eligible there will hopefully be a bowl to host them.”

That’s it?

So the bowl system is basically like little league, where everyone gets a trophy just for playing?  Of course, some trophies are prettier, but the idea is that everyone feels ’special.’  Well the hell with that.  This is college football, not second grade.  If you’re 6-6 or 7-5 you don’t deserve to be in a bowl game.  Simply put!  Notre Dame, that means you.  USF that means you.  I’m fed up with these hometown team bowls.  The idea seems to be that if you put a bowl in St. Pete, USF will always have a place to play if they make the mediocre cut.  I cry foul!  I cry foul that teams like Boise State can go 12-0 and end up playing in one of the earliest bowls., against a team that they’re superior to.

I hate these stupid conference affiliations.  Half the bowls look empty to me anyways.  Why not say, hey Boise State went undefeated this year, although we don’t have a BCS spot for you, here’s a ticket to the Gator Bowl, or the Cotton Bowl, or the something of relevence bowl.  Nah, instead the system goes as following: play your cards right, affiliate yourself with a power conference, and watch a ludicrously undeserving team like you Clemson and you Nebraska get a New Year’s day bowl game.

Are ya freaking kidding me?

But that’s where we stand.  Iowa and South Carolina are looking at the Outback Bowl?  How?  That how especially goes to South Carolina, who finished 7-5 and finished the season getting thumped by Clemson.  Body of work for South Carolina: a win at Ole Miss and a 4-4 conference record.  You can’t possibly look me with a straight face and tell me they’re a New Year’s day bowl team.

But then again, what is a New Year’s day bowl team?

When I was younger my dad would tell me how there were six bowl games, that ranged from one on New Year’s eve to five on New Year’s day.  Six!  It was one whole day of dynamite action.  That was it.  There was no BCS.  When January 1st ended, the season was over.

Now, when January 1st ends, well games on January 2nd and so forth start…

This year, there are FOUR games, not including the BCS Championship game or the Sugar or the  Fiesta.  In fact, the BCS isn’t even the same.  When it first started, there were two BCS games on New Year’s day, one the next day, and the championship either a day or two later.  Now we’ve got games on January 2nd, January 5th, January 8th.  It’s getting pretty ridiculous!

I’ll leave you with this: the Independence Bowl played on December 28th in Shreveport, LA is supposed to feature the Big 12’s No 7 versus the SEC.  Guess what?  Neither conference has enough bowl eligible teams to fill those spots, because they’re both getting two teams in the BCS.  So what does that leave us with?

La.-Lafayette* (Big 12 No. 7) vs. Louisiana Tech* (SEC)

Game over man.  Game over.

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