[NU Sports] Can this day get any better???

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> Sorry, couldn't let this go by.  There is no way a
> bowl would voluntarily pick Boise State or TCU over Miami
> FL.  There may be plenty of mediocre teams in the ACC that
> don't draw well, but if Miami, VT, or Florida State are

Ah, but that's the point - they may not have a choice.

FSU or VaTech they could justify on fans in the stands -- Miami is not in that crowd (they barely fill half the stadium and don't travel well).

In the past we've seen the B(C)S pick teams ranked 8-14 like Illinois or ND over others in the 8-14 range ... but picking a 2-loss #13 Miami over a 12-0 and #5 TCU when neither is a big fan draw would finally blow the lid off this thing and get more than just few people in the mountain states mad.

> Despite Boise State's success they don't really
> have a national following and likely wouldn't be able to

I think Boise is unique in that people remember their Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma and would tune in again to see if they could take down SC in Phoenix. TCU doesn't have that national cinderella cache yet, but they appear to be higher ranked in the B(C)S and may get into that spot where they have to be chosen. So Boise State vs. Miami isn't a slam dunk for the big-league school.

> I, too, would prefer a playoff (I support a Plus One system
> with the current bowls intact), but no amount of BCS
> apocalypses will adversely affect the current system; in

We'll see -- we tried a few messes at the top and like a cockroach, the B(C)S survived to give us a "champ" with 2 losses or several title games that left out the best team.

But this is a different animal -- the mid-majors have been making noise for years (and done well with a 3-1 BCS record, including wins over Bama and Oklahoma) ... you can understand how they'd be ignored if similar record teams from big leagues with big fans and big ratings can be chosen ahead of them ... but if Boise and TCU both finish 12-0 and in the top five, it's going to be darn near impossible to ignore them.

I would LOVE to see it because it would bring more shame on this joke of a system, but they don't have the guts to do it after finally quieting the outrage over their title game SNAFUs in recent years.

So we know that the BCS folk will be cheering for the Utes next week.:)

> Just look at issues earlier this decade which seemingly
> should have brought the system to its knees, but it's
> going on even stronger (and is renewed with the biggest

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that -- look at attendance and ratings and you'll see huge drops in New Orleans and Miami, a small decline in Pasadena when they defy tradition, and a small gain in Phoenix. But this year with the economy could be a breaking point - an SC-Miami Fiesta Bowl would be a big name game, but neither of those schools travel exceptionally well ... Bama fans could be sick of New Orleans as a consolation prize again ... Cincy and GaTech aren't necessarily megadraws ... TCU and Boise are Cinderellas without huge followings ... Pasadena and ABC are sitting pretty, but Fox is ... well, foxed.

As for NU, we need this Illinois win -- get that and we control our own bowl fate for the first time in many years with people unable to leap us.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT