MITCH BLATT

Terrelle Pryor and five other Ohio State Buckeyes players were suspended for the first five games of next season for selling their own property. They were suspended for selling championship rings, jerseys, awards and autographs. (Denver Post)

Okay, so its not exactly a classy move–certainly a greedy move–for a player like Pryor, who will be a top ten draft pick in a year or two, to sell such memorabilia–including a Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award. But what harm do these sales actually do to the competitiveness of college football, the integrity of the players and university, or anything else that hurts anyone? Its not as if Pryor’s parents were trying to get Mississippi State to pay him to play there… (Ahem, Cam Newton…)

The fact is, that memorabilia was Pryor’s own property. The exchange wasn’t for improper benefits. If he was selling a lawn mower on Craigslist, he’d still be playing. Professional players sell their own memorabilia all the time. I’m sure the exchanges could have been against the rules, but the NCAA rules are silly. Try keeping a sport “amateur” when the coaches are getting paid millions of dollars and agents are waiting for the players to get tens of millions of dollars in signing bonuses…

The one exchange in Pryor’s deals that has been labeled as an “improper benefit” was that he and the other players got free tattoos in exchange for their autograph. Again, this is simply an exchange of one valuable good for another. Autographs are worth money and so are tattoos, so the tattoo parlor’s owner could just as easily have exchanged money for the autographs instead of tattoos, or the players could have, and it would have been the same exchange.

Even getting paid for autographs is probably a violation of NCAA rules. My point is simple: What harm did Pryor and his teammates actually do? Did they take money from Ohio State or Ohio State boosters? Did they take money from an agent? No, they didn’t do anything to corrupt the game.

Photo: Reuters

The dream matchup of a perfect, epic final is slowly fading away for the NBA. What was once thought to be a lock is now slowly disappearing. If I were the gambling type I would have put some serious cash on LeBron James and his Cavs completely annihilating the Magic. I would have thought Kobe Bryant would have torn through the Nuggets. But then again sports and their athletes are fickle and anything can happen to change what had all but been assured.

Now don’t get me wrong, a Cavaliers-Lakers matchup could shake out to be the final, but all signs point to at least a few games of the championship being played in Orlando (not Cleveland). The Lakers are heading back to the finals after destroying Denver in game six, but people weren’t exactly thinking about a Kobe/Dwight Howard dream final—no offense to Howard, but this is the MVP’s team he could possibly oust.

So without a dream final what do fans have to look out for? Well, luckily just because sports are unpredictable does not mean that they are lifeless. Yes, a series minus LeBron would be a surprise to fans a few weeks ago (especially those in Cleveland who believed LeBron when he said his range was “unlimited”) but this does lead to the underdog storyline that audiences crave. Orlando fought their way through the playoffs with seven torrential games against Boston, eventually taking the series in the Celtics’ house. This is now the team that is likely to win against the Cavs—a team led by the league’s MVP who is putting up 30 plus points a game. This Orlando team is just the little engine that could. So why not root for the little guy, why not hope for a series that includes the underdog?

So Orlando wasn’t the dream we all thought about. No we didn’t play scenarios in our heads about Dwight battling Kobe and the Lakers. But sports are a world of unpredictability, where every team can have its night and turn their season around. While David Stern and networks may worry over this series not being as hyped as a Cavs-Lakers final, it’s still something to get excited about. Whether it’s the Cavs or Orlando, who take on L.A. this is still the NBA Playoffs and like the commercials say this is “where amazing happens.” So even if King James doesn’t end up facing KB24 we should just sit back, watch and enjoy it anyway because sports, like life, are unpredictable.

Photo: AP

SCOTT JACOBS

Well how about dem cottons?

Ole Miss dashed, slashed, and crashed any hopes Texas Tech had of finishing their dream season on Friday, as they obliterated the defenseless Red Raiders, in a stunning bowl victory, that one would argue is the most stunning this bowl season.

Sure, you can call Vandy’s win over Boston College a shocker, but this one featured a top 10 team getting beatdown, and putdown, and any argument Texas Tech ever thought they had of being national title worthy– is gone out the window with this pitiful performance.  What a job Houston Nutt has done with this Ole Miss team.  With their win in the Cotton Bowl the Rebels can lay claim to being the only team to beat Florida (in the regular season) and just the second team to knock off the Red Raiders.  Two top 10 wins in a season where the Rebels were supposedly rebuilding?  Now that’s something folks.

Texas Tech just played a bizarre game.

On a fourth and four in the second half on their own side of the field the Red Raiders opted not to punt, which was understandable, until they ran the play– a quarterback sneak!  What in the world were they thinking?  It was one of the most dumbfounding plays I’ve ever seen.  And I’ve watched a lot of football.

Ole Miss was preparing to finish off the Red Raiders deep inside Tech territory late in the game, but they fumbled the ball and Tech came up with it.  Fittingly, on the next play, Graham Harrell was sacked, the ball squirted loose, and Ole Miss was rewarded a safety putting them up 40-28.  Alas, on one last ditch onside kick attempt, Texas Tech kicked the ball perfectly, the ball was well within their grasp, and they couldn’t come up with it.  It’s as if they just expected to win. Because they sure as hell didn’t look prepared for this game.

M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i  SPELLS… Shocker!  47-34 who saw that one coming?  The highest scoring Cotton Bowl ever.  Ole Miss finished the year with six wins in a row.

Mike Leach looked disinterested in this game.  He had this stupid look on his face the whole game, that just screamed we should be in a BCS bowl game.  Well, they certainly didn’t come out and show it today.  And as if the SEC vs. Big 12 argument needed any steam, well this won’t help.  The lesser rated Rebels of the SEC took it to the mighty Red Raiders out of the Big 12, and already Florida looks better then they did yesterday.

But check this out…

Texas Tech beat Texas.
Texas beat Oklahoma.
Oklahoma plays Florida.
Which lost to Ole Miss.
Ole Miss beat Florida.

What does it all mean?  I don’t know… “But no one expected this,” said Pat Summeral.  Yeah, and that may have been the worst announced game I’ve ever seen.  And who could have expected that?  O right, it was on Fox.

Nevermind.

SCOTT JACOBS

If you can believe it, we’re now half way to the end of bowl season.  Half way folks!

With 34 bowl games, 68 bowl teams, and other random warm and cold weather cities lining up each and every year your guess is as good as mine when it will end.  If my interview with the EagleBank Bowl back in the fall was any indication, bowl games aren’t so much about wins and losses as they are with tourism, charities, and rewarding teams with another game (because everyone likes an extra game).

The bowl field, once a prestigious one, is now such a long list that it takes time and dedication just to slug through it.  Bowl games, once strictly played at warm weather sites, like the first Rose Bowl game played in 1916 and always played on New Years Day are becoming few and far between.  There is no consistency with the bowl schedule.  It’s become a free for all, and thus every year the date of bowl games seem to– and do change.

But how did this happen?  When did the sacred bowl system become a mediocrity plate shoved down our throat?  How I ask, how!

In 1930 the Rose Bowl was the only major college bowl game played.  With its success came other warm weather New Year’s day bowls like the Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Sun Bowl. By 1940 there were five major bowl games.  In 1950 three more were added.  A decade later there will 11 bowl games on the docket.  In 1980, 19.  In 1990, the number was 25.  And from there bowl games sprouted up seemingly overnight.

Now we have 34 games, 68 teams, and most traditions have been shot dead.  Sponsors have deals with just about every bowl, and games are played from sea to shining sea and even… Canada.  There’s the International Bowl, the Humanitarian Bowl, the Texas Bowl, the PapaJohns.com bowl, heck now there’s a St. Petersburg bowl.

The dates have been rendered meaningless. 6-6 Kentucky plays East Carolina on January 2nd at 5pm.  Three hours later two top 10 teams play in the old tried and true Sugar Bowl.  On January 3rd the International Bowl in Toronto serves as a prelude to the Fiesta Bowl two days later.  On January 6th the all important GMAC Bowl gets its time in the spotlight, before they play the BCS National title game the two days later.

Really?

There are almost as many bowls that have been discontinued, 32 as are played.

Listen to some of these names: Cherry Bowl, Gotham Bowl, Galleryfurniture.com Bowl, and my favorite, the Oil Bowl.

And the beat goes on.

It seems like college football’s grandest time has become dictated by a globe.  Remember when Eddie Murphy in Coming to America spins a globe and it lands on New York.  Is that what bowl games do today?

Spin.
Hey what’d we land on?
Um, Tampa.
Okay, let’s give ‘em a game!
How about one more?
Yeah, couldn’t hurt.
What’d we land on this time?
Let’s see, Washington, D.C.
Cool!

Maybe next year it will land on Green Bay.  Then we can play the Frosted Flakes FrostBite Bowl.  I’m sure fans will flock to that one!

O joy.  O joy.

SCOTT JACOBS

I’ve bashed Notre Dame mercilessly this year.  I’m not afraid to say it.  They get star treatment for things they accomplished 20 years and even further back ago.  They are the only team in the country with an exclusive TV contract with a major channel, NBC.  They are always treated as the star child, even if all the other kids are running laps around them, and they get into bowl games most of the time they don’t deserve to be in.

But this year is different.  Notre Dame is 6-6, they’re coming off a bad loss to USC, and an even worse loss to Syracuse.  Charlie Weis’ seat is so hot, he might self combust if Notre Dame does anything but win this game.  Seriously, if the struggling Irish can’t beat a mediocre Warriors team from the WAC than they have bigger problems that go beyond their coach.  If Notre Dame can’t beat Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl, then maybe, just maybe, they’re no longer a top tier program.  Maybe, just maybe, they’re not even a second-tier program. I don’t know, I’m not a doctor.

But I do know this:

It’s put up or forever shut up (at least for this decade) for Notre Dame if they don’t win this game.  No pressure, none.  They should probably just go home for a little while, and maybe take a few years off of vacation.  Then when they regain any semblence of pride, they can try starting over.  Losing this game would be rock bottom.  Last year was awful for the Irish, but this year, with a team that had a little experience under their belt, failing to beat one team with a winning record would be a real drag.  In fact, I’d argue that it’d be quite pathetic.

You’re Notre Dame, and you can attract top recruits from all across the country.  You have Touchdown Jesus, you have history, you have all the greats on your side, and you have way, way, way too much attention paid to you.

Do something Notre Dame!  Prove to me that you’re no longer a joke.  Prove to the nation that you have it in you to put together a good team on the field, one that won’t wilt amongst the absurd expectations put upon it.

Look!  I’m not saying Notre Dame has to blow out Hawaii.  They just have to win.  They have to end this nine game losing streak that they have in bowl games.  Because one day, if they continue on this anemic path, they won’t be the draw they once were.  Bowl games will pass on them.  Big names will look elsewhere.  NBC will move on.

I’m not saying that will happen overnight,  but over time things change.  People move on.

So consider this a warning Notre Dame: win the game, cause you’re not going to like what happens if you don’t.

SCOTT JACOBS

Would you look at that!  It’s December 20th and the bowl season starts today!  Now I hate to be a kill-joy, but bowl games just aren’t what they once were.  Let’s see, what are there, 119 major college football teams?  And what, 68 of those go to bowl games?  More teams make a bowl game nowadays, then miss the post-season party. At what point do you cut new bowls off?  40?  50?  Maybe we can get everyone a bowl game!  Because nothing says school spirit like celebrating Washington’s winless season!  That’s what people want to see right?

Let’s take this Saturday’s slate of games for example.

EagleBank Bowl

Nothing against Navy and Wake Forest, but I think watching someone try to pick a glued penny off the ground is more exciting than watching these two play.  There was a game late in the year when the Deacs played Boston College where I almost fell asleep because the game was so boring.  How low is Wake Forest on the totem pole?  Well, they were the last team left out of ACC bowl eligible teams, so the EagleBank Bowl had no choice but to take them.  And Navy was locked into this game after they won their sixth game.  Seriously, what kind of crap is that?  Navy won eight games this year. Eight!  Yet they’re playing in the first bowl game of the year in D.C.  Aren’t bowl games about getting a chance to go somewhere nice after a good year?  Well, the bowl arrangements are so tightly wound that Navy probably would have had to end up going undefeated to get into a different bowl.

St. Petersburg Bowl

And I guess I’m just bothered by the idea of having bowl games for the sake of bowl games.  Thanks to the new St. Petersburg Bowl (I don’t even choose to acknowledge their sponsor), the Memphis Tigers, who finished 6-6 in Conference U.S.A. get to go bowling.  I’m sorry but Memphis didn’t even finish with a winning record in it’s division!  They beat one team that is going to a bowl (Southern Miss).  But hey, this is the system that we have, so we might as well enjoy their number 22 ranking for total offense.  And we’d give them credit for that, but that leaves them fifth in their own conference.  Talk about a defenseless conference!  Lest us forget: SI.com has the Tigers ranked as the 80th best team in the country. 64 teams make bowls!  Yeesh.

USF gets to play the Tigers in their own stadium.  The Bulls must be thrilled about the way their season has gone.  After  starting out the season 5-0 the Bulls finished 2-5.  Ironically, their conference record in the Big East was also 2-5. The Bulls were the sixth best team in an eight team conference.  Again, I reiterate, where do you draw the line?  Hilariously, they’re big favorites to beat Memphis, so what does that say about the Tigers?

New Mexico Bowl

The Colorado State Rams are ranked 77th in SI.com’s power rankings.  They too went 6-6.  They too finished with a .500 conference record.  Give them credit though: they did beat Houston. And that’s about it.  Take a look for yourself at some of their bigger games, and you tell me if they belong in a post-season game (And let it be known, I don’t care if they went 3-9 last year, they still shouldn’t be in a bowl)!

@  Cal 42-7 L
vs. TCU 13-7 L (Not a bad loss though, we won’t hold that against them)
@ Utah 49-16 L
vs. BYU 45-42 L (Another close loss to a quality team)

So where am I going with this?  Well, I guess I’m simply asking if ‘close’ is good enough to get you an extra game.  That’s all. No harm in that right?

How about Fresno State?  Each year they come into the season with BCS expectations, and each year they end up disappointed. It’s kind of hard to defend a team’s bowl worthiness when they get obliterated 61-10 in their last game of the year.  Cause nothing says we’re worthy of a bowl like ending the season with a 51 point loss!  Once again, the Bulldogs played five teams that wound up in a bowl.  Okay, fair enough tough schedule.  They won one: their first game of the season against a then struggling Rutgers team.

Las Vegas Bowl

Okay, so maybe Arizona isn’t the greatest team in the land, or close for that matter, but they had a 5-4 record in the Pac 10, and they won seven games.  That should be good enough, right?  Wrong!  The Wildcats played four bowl teams, and beat just one (Cal).  Sure, they offered tough challenges for USC and Oregon State, but they also lost to New Mexico for Pete sakes.  Three of Zona’s wins came against Washington State, Washington, and Stanford, three teams that finished a combined 6-31.  But hey, don’t hate the team, hate the system that rewards the team for simply winning the games its supposed to win.

Once upon a time, in order to make a bowl game you truly had to have a good season, most of the time a great year.  You had to beat good teams, you had to win your conference, and you sure as heck didn’t get by with six or seven wins.  But times have changed, and the lower-tier bowls now get the big boys’ leftovers.

And lest us forget BYU.  BYU is one of the few teams in these early bowls that actually got shafted.  The Cougars went 10-2, including 6-2 in a tough MWC, and their reward is a middle tier Pac 10 team?  I know, I know, that’s the way these bowl affiliations are set up, but… wait a minute, looking at BYU’s schedule, who exactly did they beat?  O, I found one: Colorado State, by a field goal.  Actually, against the only two good teams they played (TCU and Utah) the Cougars lost by a combined 49 points.  So you know what?  I take it back.  They didn’t really accomplish much either.  But don’t tell the pollsters who have them ranked 16th that.  They might start yelling at you.

So there you have it.  I’m not bitter.  Just dumbfounded on how some of these teams earn their bowl berths.  I just went through all four Saturday games, looking for something, and I came up with nothing.  Just a few nice wins was all I wanted.  Instead I found mediocre conference records in mediocre conferences, and losses to teams like New Mexico.  Nothing personal, there never is, but these teams shouldn’t be playing in bowls.  There, I said it.  Now send me your hate mail.  I’m waiting for it.

SCOTT JACOBS

It was a crazy year in college football.  Georgia started the year number one, and they were number two the next week– after winning their first game.  I believe five teams were number one at some point in the year in the AP Poll (Georgia, USC, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama) before Florida beat the Crimson Tide in the SEC title game to make it six.  Once again, no major school went undefeated (But uh, don’t tell that to Utah or Boise State). We had another BCS title game controversy, and another reminder that the system isn’t going away (with ESPN buying the rights to the BCS and all).  ABC’s Saturday Night Football reminded us that just three big schools played a big game every week (Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech), or I guess it just felt that way.  Joe Pa had the Nittany Lions (not a real lion by the way) on the verge of the National title game, and then was handsomely rewarded with a three year extension.  We’re all for 80 year old head coaches, but 83?  C’mon.

We saw Notre Dame lose to Syracuse!  LSU almost lost to Troy,  and Michigan lost to just about everyone this year.  We saw the most points in college football history scored by one team.  But out of this crazy college football season, what will we most remember here at Juiced Sports? Read on, we don’t tease.  We cut right to the chase.

Note: JSB is not liable for any hurt feelings this article may provoke.

And away we go…

Best game of the year: TEXAS-TEXAS TECH
There were so many great games this year, but this one topped em all.  Texas Tech’s coming out party ultimately cost Texas a Big 12 South title and a chance at the BCS Championship game, but it was the way this wild game played out that made it so special.  Tech rolled to an early 19-0 lead and appeared to have a stunning upset in hand, when the Horns came storming back. Early in the fourth, down 10, Colt McCoy found Malcolm Williams down the sidelines and hit him with a perfect strike for a 91 yard touchdown cutting the Red Raiders’ lead to 29-26.  With just a minute and a half left, and down by six, Longhorns running back Vondrell McGee marched into the endzone on a four yard run to give the Horns their first lead of the game, seemingly deflating the Red Raiders and stunning a hostile Lubbock crowd. But it wasn’t to be on this night, as Graham Harrell connected with Michael Crabtree for an unbelievable 28 yard touchdown with just one second on the clock putting the Red Raiders ahead for good.  Crabtree appeared to be wrapped up, but got away from his defender, and willed the ball into the endzone sending Lubbock into a frenzy.  The ending was so good that fans rushed the field before the game was over, delaying the end of a historic win.  The fans had to be pushed back on the sideline until the kickoff, when they were more than happy to re-storm the field, as Tech claimed the biggest victory in school history.

Wildest Game: FLORIDA STATE-MIAMI
Fundamentals?  Not in this game.  Good special teams?  Not in this game.  Turnover free football? Ha! FSU’s soggy, muddy, ugly 41-39 blooper fest over Miami back in early October wasn’t exactly a clinic on how to play football, but there’s no denying it was one of the wildest games of the 2008 season.  There were seven turnovers, 22 penalties, and 80 combined points, not to mention two horribly botched snaps on punts by FSU.  FSU also nearly blew a 24-3 halftime lead, as well as a 31-10 lead in the third quarter and was teetering on the fence of disaster all second half, before they finally finished the Canes off on a 20 yard touchdown by Antoine Smith (who had four for the game). These two programs certainly aren’t what they once were, but this game was as entertaining as it gets.

We thought this one should have meant more: TEXAS-OKLAHOMA
No. five Texas’s 45-35 win over No. one Oklahoma on a neutral field in Dallas, TX was supposed to answer the debate about who the better team was (Texas).  But because of crappy luck, a stunning loss at the end to Texas Tech, and a whacky tie-breaker instituted by the Big 12 in case of three team ties for the division, the Horns head to head win over the Sooners in the end meant a whole lot of nothing. Sure, one could argue that it’s when you win that matters in college football, not who you beat, or how convincingly you beat them, but Texas truly got ripped off.  Because Oklahoma was the highest ranked team in the BCS, Texas not only didn’t win their conference, they didn’t win their division.  No doubt the Big 12 will be looking at that rule in the offseason.

Best Story- UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
Widely regarded as one of the worst college football programs in the country, the Buffalo Bulls completed a 180 in 2008 that was so dramatic it was almost hard to believe.  The Bulls who had failed to win more than two games in a season from 2002-2006, won a school record eight games, including an impressive 42-24 win over previously unbeaten Ball State in the MAC Championship.  It was an unbelievable turnaround for coach Turner Gill, who took the job in 2006 as the Bulls were coming off of a 1-10 record.  In 2006 Gill doubled that win total.  In 2007 the Bulls won five games, and finished with a winning record in the conference (5-3).  And in 2008 Gill led the Bulls to their first ever bowl game and conference championship.  This week Gill was rewarded with a nice extension that will keep him a Bull for at least one more year.  And now, believe it or, there are expectations at the University of Buffalo.  Yeah, who woulda ever thunk it?

Worst Story- UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Michigan’s been playing football for a long time, so to lose the most games in school history following a nice farewell Capital One Bowl win for Lloyd Carr the year before, was in a word, stunning.  The Wolverines didn’t fall from grace in 2008, they free falled, going 3-9, and failed to make a bowl game for the first time in 34 years.  In addition to the worst record in school history, the Maze and Blue had a losing season for the first time in 41 years!  It was all done in a year’s work for new coach Rich Rodriguez, whose system didn’t match the players Michigan had.  Following an ugly divorce from West Virginia, Rodgriguez’s 2008 nightmare in Ann Arbor probably didn’t help. Making matter worse was a 42-7 pummeling to hated rival Ohio State, making it five straight losses for UM to OSU.

The Slipper Didn’t Quite Fit: OREGON STATE
With their stunning 27-21 win over heavily favored USC early in the season, the Beavers ultimately knocked out the Trojans from a chance at another national title. They also gave themselves an improbable opportunity to get into the Rose Bowl.  And boy did they come close.  After eeking out a win over Arizona in Tuscon, all the Beavers needed to do was beat Oregon at home to secure the school’s first Rose Bowl berth since 1964.  But they never really came close.  Oregon put up 65 and pummeled Oregon’s Rose Bowl dreams into the ground, beating the Beavers by 27.  It was the highest scoring game in the history of the storied Civil War, but not a game Oregon State fans will want to remember. Instead, the Beavers fell to 8-4, and out of the BCS, landing in the Sun Bowl, where they will playanother late season disappointment: Pitt.

Where did they come from?: RUTGERS
After starting the season 1-5 many fans around the country were wondering if Greg Schiano really had the resources to continue to make Rutgers a relevent football school year after year.  Well, it’s never easy to say what the future holds, but in 2008 the Scarlett Knights went from nightmare to lights out, winning their final six games to claim a winning record, and an impressive 5-2 mark in a tight Big East. After squeaking by UConn 12-10, Rutgers got things rolling, scoring no less than 30 points the rest of the season uncluding a 63-14 slaughtering over Louisville to end the year.  To say the Knights are peaking at the right time– well, that’s an understatement if there ever was one.

What happened?: MISSOURI
Coming off a dream season in which they were number one going into the Big 12 title game, the Tigers looked primed for another special year.  Instead, they saw their delusional national title dreams fade after a red hot start.  The Tigers opened 5-0 and scored more than 40 points in each of their first five wins, but a surprising loss to Oklahoma State at home, and a blowout loss to Texas knocked the Tigers from No. three to No. fifteen in just two weeks. By then Missouri’s title dreams were dead (BCS that is).  But they still had a chance to finish the season strong after winning the North, as well as an opportunity to avenge their 2007 loss to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game.  But that storyline became moot as Oklahoma mutilated Mizzou 62-21 in Kansas City, dropping the once high flying Tigers entirely out of the top 25, and into the Alamo Bowl, a far cry from where they had hoped to be.

It sucks to be in a non-BCS Conference: BOISE STATE
Boise State beat six schools that are going to bowl games this year, including Oregon, but running the table and winning the WAC convincingly didn’t truly get them a sniff of the BCS.  Close, kinda.  That is if you consider the top 10 close, which is where the No. nine Broncos find themselves.  Unfortunatley, Utah also ran the table, and was ranked higher in the BCS, so the Broncos, who went undefeated for the third time in five years, once again find themselves on the outside of the BCS picture looking in. It really has to suck when you don’t get picked by the Fiesta Bowl, because Ohio State brings in more fans. But that’s how the system works, and Boise State has to really hate this system.

Most Mind Blowingly Irrelevant BCS Conference: BIG EAST
Once West Virginia stumbled out of the gate the Big East was pretty much forgotten as a whole. It’s not often a team can go 11-2, and still remain completely annonymous to pretty much the whole country, but Cincinatti managed to pull that small feat off.  Look, the Bearcats are a nice story, and going to the Orange Bowl for them has to be a huge thrill, but can anyone look me in the eye and persuade me that the Big East truly deserves a team in the BCS?  And I’m not just picking on the Big East, because I don’t think the ACC has any right to have a team in there either.  Fittingly the Bearcats and Hokies face off in Miami in what may be the lowest rated BCS game in history.

Don’t ever take a Bowl Game for Granted: VANDERBILT
This is to all the Michigans’ and Florida States’ of the world: never take a bowl game for granted, no matter how crappy the bowl game is.  Why?  Because Vanderbilt is ecstatic to be going to the Music City Bowl, their first bowl appearance in 26 years!  How bad has Vandy been?  Consider: Vandy hasn’t had a winning season in 25 years and counting, and their 6-6 record this year doesn’t change that. Vanderbilt started the season out 5-0, and had some believing they might even be an SEC contender (ha!), but things quickly fell apart for the early season surprise, which had to scrap past Kentucky to secure bowl eligibility.  Vandy then proceeded to lose their final two, failing to record a winning record.  But hey, thanks to the current bowl system, they’re getting rewarded for mediocrity.  In an alternative universe, where only good teams get rewarded, they’d have to wait another 25 years.

JSB WIRE REPORTS

Thanks to the good folks at Gunaxin, all of us college football loving sports bloggers have collaborated on a cool collection of bowl game material with something for everyone, and every uh, game.  Juiced Sports has joined forces with Gunaxin and is proud to be a part of the Gunaxin Blog Bowl 2008.

You can see the entire list of all participating sites here.

We are excited about being one of the participating sites, and are also very excited that SI on Campus is participating as well.  So stay tuned this bowl season to Juiced Sports and Gunaxin as we bring you the best this 2008 bowl season has to offer.

Have a great holiday season everybody!

Editor’s Note: So our first article submitted to the Blog Bowl was an interview we did with the EagleBank Bowl.  If you’d like to read more about the EagleBank Bowl (cause, who doesn’t?) check out Gunaxin’s coverage here.

SCOTT JACOBS

The EagleBank Bowl starts it.  The BCS Championship Game finishes it.  And somewhere in between 32 other bowl games are played.  So many of these bowl games are absurd, and un-necessary, and the people that found these games are even at a loss for how to explain why the subpar teams they invite to play in their games are even worthy of a post-season game.

But hey, everyone wins.  Even if they lose.  Because with the bowl game system, comes a plethora of random gifts.  Most of the time these gifts say things like, “Thanks for flying half way across the country, here’s a Sony noise cancelling headphone.” Other times they may say, “Thanks for coming out to Arizona, it’s freaking hot outside here, so here’s a hat.”  And even though all bowl games are not created equal, they do have to play by one rule, when it comes to rewarding the mediocre/semi-decent/really good teams that they host. They can only give each school up to $500 worth of gifts to 125 participants per school.

We should let you know also that a lot of gifts given in numerous bowl games look familiar.  Why?  Because Davene Inc., a promotions company, has brokered deals for 14 out of the 34 bowl games.

The entire list and breakdown of gifts for each game is here.

SCOTT JACOBS

Last year, Tim Tebow won the Heisman, but his team was nowhere close to winning a title.  This year, Tim Tebow finished third in the Heisman ballot, but he’ll get a chance to win another trophy twice: the BCS National Championship trophy.

In an extremely close vote, that actually saw the third place finisher (Tebow) finish with the most first place votes, Sooners QB Sam Bradford came away with college football’s most prestigious award.  Bradford, who led Oklahoma to a 12-1 record, threw 48 touchdowns, just 6 picks, and directed a potent Sooners’ offense to the most points in college football history.  Oklahoma’s thrashing of the previously unbeaten Texas Tech Red Raiders on national TV when they put up 65, and Bradford threw for four TD’s and no picks probably propelled him to victory over his two other competitors, Florida’s Tebow, and Texas’ Colt McCoy.  But there’s no doubt that Longhorn fans will have something else to gripe about after their school lost to Oklahoma in something else.

And while Bradford had a fabulous year, would he have won the award if it was McCoy that had just led the Longhorns to a Big 12 title, and a berth in the BCS National Championship game?  That’s where the debate gets interesting.  Please know: I’m not saying Bradford wasn’t worthy of the award.  He totally was.  In his last four games Bradford was spot on brilliant.  He threw for 14 touchdowns, and not a single pick.  And in leading the Sooners to over 60 points in their last five games, and over 50 in nine games this year, Bradford helped the Sooners fly into the national title game.  Well, kind of.

Texas fans will point out that Bradford was outperformed by McCoy in Texas’ 45-35 win in Dallas on October 11th, but that point is moot, because it hasn’t gotten the Longhorns anywhere since the regular season ended. Texas felt they got snubbed when Oklahoma jumped them the last week of the season.  Their fans are sure to feel more angst after McCoy lost to Bradford by a measley 122 points in the Heisman vote.

Lost in the shuffle was Tebow, who who finished last but lost by just 151 votes.

Tebow got 309 first place votes.  The Heisman winner, Bradford collected 300, and McCoy got 266.  Close?  This race was as tight as it gets.  And it really could have gone either way.

Mitch voted for Tebow in the Sports Bloggers Heisman, and I went for McCoy, but ultimately it was Bradford who came away the victor.  He’ll get a chance to make it two for two when Oklahoma takes on Florida in the BCS National title game in Miami on January 8th. Though if recent history is any indication Bradford’s Heisman victory will send his team into the loser’s column. The last five Heisman winners (not from USC) including Sooners QB Jason White all all lost their ensuing bowl game

For Oklahoma they hope that trend doesn’t hold true. And because of Tim Tebow’s inability to claim his second Heisman, Archie Griffin (the former Ohio State great)  still remains the only college football player ever to win the award twice.