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Will BCS bowls be dreamy ... or a nightmare?
by Don Borst, Special to FOXSports.com
That starts Saturday with what amounts to a national quarterfinal in Norman, Okla. The Sooners play host to Texas Tech, with both teams using two weeks to prepare.
Bowl season roundup
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Bowl recaps and analysis:
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EagleBank: Wake 29, Navy 19 | CFN
New Mexico: Colo. St. 40, Fresno St. 35
St. Petersburg: S. Florida 41, Memphis 14
Las Vegas: Arizona 31, BYU 21 | CFN
New Orleans: SMU 30, Troy 27 (OT) | CFN
Poinsettia: TCU 17, Boise St. 16 | CFN
Hawaii: Notre Dame 49, Hawaii 21 | CFN
Motor City: FAU 24, Cen. Mich. 21 | CFN
Meineke: W. Virginia 31, UNC 30 | CFN
Champs Sports: Fla. St. 42, Wis. 13 | CFN
Emerald: Cal 24, Miami 17 | CFN
Independence: La. Tech 17, NIU 10 | CFN
Papajohns.com: Rutgers 29, N.C. St. 23
Alamo: Mizzou 30, N'west. 23 (OT) | CFN
Humanitarian: Maryland 42, Nevada 35
Texas: Rice 38, W. Michigan 14
Holiday: Oregon 42, Oklahoma St. 31 | CFN
Armed Forces: Houston 34, Air Force 28
Sun: Oregon St. 3, Pittsburgh 0 | CFN
Music City: Vandy 16, BC 14 | CFN
Insight: Kansas 42, Minnesota 21
Chick-fil-A: LSU 38, Georgia Tech 3
Outback: Iowa 31, South Carolina 10 | CFN
Capital One: Georgia 24, MSU 12 | CFN
Gator: Nebraska 26, Clemson 21
Rose: USC 38, Penn St. 24 | Analysis
Orange: Va. Tech 20, Cincinnati 7
Cotton: Ole Miss 47, Texas Tech 34
Liberty: Kentucky 25, East Carolina 19
Sugar: Utah 31, Alabama 17
International: UConn 38, Buffalo 20
Fiesta: Texas 24, Ohio St. 21 | Analysis
GMAC: Tulsa 45, Ball St. 13
BCS title: Florida 24, Oklahoma 14
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That's an advantage for the Sooners, who have had defensive problems at times, and giving them a chance to zero in and work on the Tech offense as well as tackling fundamentals means that they can expect a better defensive performance than if they hadn't had the extra week.
With Graham Harrell and Sam Bradford leading offenses that are combining for nearly 1,150 yards and 99 points a game, this is all good stuff.
But it's not the only monster game this week (see below), as we finish the season with a flourish.
So what did we learn this past weekend? Well, we learned that Missouri can officially start preparing for the Big 12 championship game.
And we learned that it's all about the Beavers in the Pac-10, that Cincinnati is rising to the top in the Big East, and that the ACC remains a muddled mess.
Do we see a pattern? While the BCS championship game is looking increasingly clear — by almost any scenario it's Big 12 vs. SEC, lots of possibilities are falling into place that could create Bowl Armageddon for the other BCS games.
We've spent so much time watching and talking about Alabama, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech that we've sort of forgotten just what might happen to the other bowls.
Hey, we'll watch no matter who's playing, right? But not everybody will go to the trouble of planning a platter of nachos with a bunch of friends to watch Missouri vs. Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl ... or Cincinnati vs. Maryland in the Orange Bowl ... or Oregon State vs. Penn State in the Rose Bowl.
That would be yuck-cubed. And several of those scenes might actually fall into place. The big bowls could still have either dream matchups or nightmare ticket-selling challenges.
Taking the Rose Bowl for example, it's like this: If Oregon State wins its last two games, the Beavers would go to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1965. If that happens, it'd be great for the Rose Bowl, with an orange-and-black parade of RVs all the way down I-5 for days leading up to Jan. 1.
But if it's Oregon State on one side of the field, it would sure be nice to see Ohio State on the other side of the field rather than Penn State, who already beat the Beavers by 31 points this season (45-14).
How much fun would that rematch be for Joe Paterno and his guys?
Ah, but if Oregon State does not pull it off against Arizona and Oregon, then USC would make it to the Rose Bowl ... and while a USC-Ohio State rematch would be no fun; a USC-Penn State contest of 11-1 teams ranked in the top six or so would be sensational.
Some programs travel better than others to bowl games, and some bring tons of television viewers along for the ride. And then some teams do neither. Here's how the BCS bowls can still be great or grim:
Rose Bowl
Dream matchup: USC vs. Penn State or Oregon State vs. Ohio State. Either one of these matchups would be intriguing. The OSU vs. OSU game would have the nation's top freshman QB (Terrelle Pryor) and the nation's top freshman running back (Jacquizz Rodgers).
Nightmare matchup: Oregon State vs. Penn State, or USC vs. Ohio State. But neither of these rematches would work at all.
Fiesta Bowl
Dream matchup: USC vs. Texas or Penn State. We're all assuming it'll be Utah or another non-BCS conference team in Phoenix, but if Utah and Boise both lose, it'd be worth it to the cagey Fiesta guys to pick USC to replace the Big 12 champion, and hope to get Texas with their follow-up choice. Wow! Still, an undefeated Utah would be fine against the Longhorns or a one-loss Texas Tech, too.
Nightmare matchup: Missouri vs. BYU. If you're going to have a team from a non-BCS conference, you want it to be undefeated and ranked in the top 10. (This would presume an upset in the Big 12 championship game and Texas advancing to the BCS title game).
Sugar Bowl
Dream matchup: Alabama vs. USC. Even with a loss to Florida in the SEC title game, Tide fans would be sufficiently geeked for a big Sugar date with USC. This would be a great game.
Nightmare matchup: Florida vs. Cincinnati. The Gators would be sorely disappointed and probably wouldn't travel as well as hoped, especially to face Cincy. And hey, this could happen (see Orange).
Orange Bowl
Dream matchup: Miami vs. Pittsburgh. Two teams finishing the season strong and on the rise, ready to return to their days of yore ... with a great opportunity to prove it.
Nightmare matchup: Any 8-4 ACC team vs. Cincinnati or (even worse) Ball State. Yes, it'd be fun to have an undefeated team, and David Letterman would surely watch, but how many Ball State fans are out there? If Utah and Boise get bumped off, the rankings would probably guarantee Ball State a BCS spot ... and somebody would have to take them.
What else did we learn
This week's big games
Texas Tech at Oklahoma — Sort of a national quarterfinal. The winner still has another regular-season game (OU at Oklahoma State, Tech at home against Baylor) before likely facing Missouri in the Big 12 championship game.
Brigham Young at Utah — One of the games we have been waiting for all year: The MWC showdown will determine if Utah gets to the Fiesta Bowl. Boise State, BYU, and even Ball State remain in contention for a BCS spot, but it will belong to the Utes if they can continue their perfect season. After all, win this one and they'd be undefeated champions of arguably the third-best conference in the country this season (behind only the Big 12 and SEC).
Michigan State at Penn State — The Nittany Lions can clinch their first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1994. Spartans, meantime, would go to Pasadena with a victory and a Michigan win over Ohio State.
Michigan at Ohio State — Buckeyes can earn at least a share of the Big Ten title (and would go to the Rose Bowl if Michigan State beats Penn State), and the Wolverines can salvage something from the season by winning this one.
Oregon State at Arizona — If they beat the up-and-down Wildcats and then return home and defeat arch-rival Oregon, they're Pasadena-bound.
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati — Dave Wannstedt's resurgent Panthers have a huge three-game parlay remaining, with a trip to high-flying Cincy, back home for the Backyard Brawl vs. West Virginia, and then visiting UConn. Win all three, and they'd rise as high as the top 12 in the national rankings. If the Bearcats win, they would need only to finish off by beating woeful Syracuse to win the Big East title.
Some great rivalry games — Indiana at Purdue, Stanford at California, Washington at Washington State (a combined 0-19 against major-college competition this year, but it's still a rivalry game).
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