[NU Sports] BCS / Bowl shakeup Saturday ...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Well, it certainly was a wild day. More on the game in
Evanston as I sift throught the messages and write the
Wildcat Wrap now that I'm back from Evanston. But
first to the bowl picture ...

The BCS was really shaken up today -- not at the top
of course, but with VaTech and UCLA going down, a lot
of scenarios need reworking. And in the end, this may
help the Big Ten.

First a look at the BCS contenders by conference ...

* Big Least: Winner gets in (undeservedly). No one
else.
* ACC: Right now, looks like the winner of Miami-FSU
#2 in the title game gets in and no one else has
enough to get in as an at-large bid with FSU's loss
today hurting.
* Big XII: Unless there's a monumental upset in the
title game, Texas is in and no one else is close.
* Pac 10: UCLA's loss hurt the case for a second bid.
Oregon may go 10-1, but won't get the extra BCS bid.
The league's only hope now is for UCLA to beat USC for
the automatic berth and SC to get in secondary.
* SEC: Georgia's loss last week hurt and with the SEC
east taking a hit this year, unless the Dawgs pull a
title game upset, it's the winner of the LSU/Bama game
getting the bid and the loser is in the running but
hurt by a late season loss.
* Big Ten: Penn State and Ohio State are coming alive
as strong candidates with fan support and finishing
the year strong. If PSU wins at MSU after the bye
week, they're in ... and if OSU beats NU and Michigan,
they're 9-2 and only lost to two top-5 teams in Texas
and PSU. Tough to ignore.
* Notre Dame: They're in now, though aside from
Michigan they haven't beaten anyone near the top 25.
The thinking was they could be headed to Tempe to face
PSU ... but if Miami were to win the ACC, it'll be
tough to resist matching these two.

Hence some new projections ...

* ROSE BOWL: USC vs. Texas - No question about it now.
Though if Bama beats LSU, Auburn and Georgia to end
the season, they'll have a strong argument (but so did
Auburn last year).

* FIESTA BOWL: Ohio State vs. West Virginia - The
Fiesta gets stuck with the Big Least again, but they
get their home-away-from-home Buckeyes back in town
with lots of scarlet and grey.

* SUGAR BOWL: Alabama vs. Penn State - A classic
rivalry renewed and what TV network could resist the
story of these two storied programs bouncing back. If
LSU wins the SEC (or Auburn), the pull isn't as
strong.

* ORANGE BOWL: Notre Dame vs. Miami - Another rivalry
renewed with lots of emotion on both sides.

And the Big Ten picture ...

* CITRUS: Wisconsin vs. Georgia - A rematch of last
year's Outback but with a bigger stage in Orlando.

* OUTBACK: Michigan vs. Florida - Should be a big draw
and a solid start to bowl day.

* ALAMO: Iowa vs. Texas A&M - I still like my "Texas
Tech vs. Northwestern - first one to 100 wins" idea
(NU vs. Colorado would be a hoot as well - for obvious
reasons), but Tech probably heads to the Cotton now
and NU still doesn't have the name and fans to get the
bowl they deserve.

* SUN: Minnesota vs. Oregon - UCLA's loss knocks the
Pac 10 down a notch and sends the Quacks here. I think
it's good we're ditching this and picking up Phoenix.

* MUSIC CITY: Northwestern vs. South Carolina - Cats
slip here (and Vandy came sooooo close vs. Florida to
winning and having a chance to make it NU-Vandy in the
Brains Bowl!) but it's probably better than facing the
Pac 10's #3 in the Sun Bowl or a Texas team in the
Alamo Bowl in terms of chances for a win. Spurrier vs.
Walker should at least produce some offensive sparks.

Purdue's upset of MSU really killed Sparty's bowl
hopes -- they need to win out at Minnesota and vs. a
rested PSU to hope for the Motor City (who would jump
for joy to get Sparty). And Indiana's loss to Minny at
home all but killed IU's bowl hopes. They can still
beat Purdoo at home to get to 5 wins, but a win at
Michigan is a loooong shot.

But the good news is that WE are bowl eligible and
with the league's 7 bowl ties, all but certain of
heading to the postseason for just the sixth time in
school history. Hopefully this time we can WIN!!!

GO CATS!!! BEAT THE BUCKEYES!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


		
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