[NU Sports] Sugar Bowl ...

[Jeff Beamsley]

You gotta figure that the two team conference limit was something that Notre
Dame promoted when the whole BCS bowl formula was put together.

I don't mind it though.  I like seeing Notre Dame get embarrassed on a
national stage.  It just reminds everyone of the definition of overrated.

On the other hand, this was the year of the little conferences that could.
Just another reminder of the wisdom of the NCAA Div I rules encouraging
parity.  

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of John Labbe
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 3:23 PM
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Sugar Bowl ...

Regardless of whether we're Notre Dame "fans" or not, those of us who can
understand why the Irish are favorites for the bowls aren't saying that
Notre Dame would ALWAYS be picked above ANY other team.  If you told a bowl
that it could choose one of Notre Dame, USC, and Penn State, I don't think
it's at all clear that the bowl would pick Notre Dame.  Any of these three
teams would ensure good ratings etc.

But if pretend you were the guy picking teams for the Sugar Bowl, and you
take a look at the BCS-eligible teams this year, which team would you have
picked instead of Notre Dame?  That's the question.  I think you would have
picked Notre Dame.

Now, having said that, I would suggest one change to the BCS eligibility
criteria.  I don't think there should be a two-team limit for each
conference.  I'm OK with a limit of two guaranteed slots (e.g., OSU in
championship game and Michigan ranked high enough that it got a guaranteed
BCS birth, but no more guaranteed slots for one conference).  But I don't
think there should be a total limit per conference to exclude possible
at-large teams.

If you do away with that 2-team limit, now the Sugar Bowl could have chosen
Wisconsin or Auburn instead of Notre Dame.  They probably wouldn't have
chosen Auburn vs. LSU, but Wisconsin would have been a very attractive
choice (yes, despite the fact that they played 1 good team and 11 hacks ;)
).


P.S. In case you thought I just called NU's football team a hack, it was
just a joke, and in any event, you would be mistaken because I was referring
to NU as the "1 good team" on Wisconsin's schedule.




On Thursday, January 04, 2007, at 12:34PM, <cherron604 at aol.com> wrote:
>We all seem to operate (fans and the press) on the assumption that 'Notre
Dame guarantees ratings and gate'.  We have certainly all heard it often
enough (they have their own network, after all).  But hard, fast numbers are
hard to find.  I did find this interesting story from the Wall Street
Journal (via the Austin American-Statesman):
> 
>http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/longhorns/01/4bo
>wlratings.html
> 
>It is intriguing that the South Bend school does no better than 7th,
helping a game's average ratings by only about 3%.  This is a nice number,
but I would guess almost certainly less than the school would have done 20
years ago.
> 
>And the gate argument might be losing a little steam also - the Sugar Bowl
would certainly have sold as many tickets (due to LSU's presence) even if a
different, quality opponent had been provided to the Tigers.
> 
>I have not seen research on which schools' 'travelling fans' spread around
the most dollars in the host cities, and I would tend to doubt the rosy
numbers most cities put out ('adding this will pump $500 million into the
local economy'), but that would be interesting also.
> 
>Chuck Herron   Tech '85 
> 
> 
>-----Original Message-----
>From: tbng at comcast.net
>To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
>Sent: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 6:56 AM
>Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Sugar Bowl ...
>
>
>Steve: 
>> Instead of Fox constantly hyping the Notre Dame "experience" and 
>> giving the Doh!mers a 30 minute commercial during the last half of 
>> the rout, it'd have been nice to see them raise the biggest question 
>> of the night. Isn't it time the BCS drops their preferential 
>> treatment of Notre Dame and makes the Irish earn their big to their 
>> (now-annual) bowl (loss) like every other team?
> 
>Harry: 
>> Money talks. 
> 
>Steve and Harry are both right. However, why must the press continue to
glut themselves at the Irish trough? The third estate is supposed to be
unbiased. (Yeah! Right!) 
> 
>New York City professional sports and Notre Dame football have much in
common. The Philadelphia Eagles have soared back from the dead to win their
division; meanwhile the Giants have been digging their own grave. Yet all
you heard hour after hour last week on ESPN and the NFL Network were stories
about the Giants. GO EAGLES! 
> 
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