Ranking the Bowl Games

[knapplc]

There are 34 bowl games this year. Here are the rankings and thoughts about our game from some pundits across the land:

 

8. Holiday Bowl

Arizona (8-4) vs. Nebraska (9-4), Dec. 30: Arizona coach Mike Stoops didn't want to coach against his brother in a bowl game; he got his wish. Instead, he gets to coach against Bo Pelini, an old friend. If you watched Nebraska in the Big 12 title game, you saw a team with a great defense and a woeful offense. Arizona is solid on both sides of the ball, but can its offensive line handle Nebraska's defensive line?

 

11. Pacific Life Holiday Bowl

No. 20 Arizona vs. No. 22 Nebraska

8 p.m. ET, Dec. 30

 

The Wildcats are riding sky-high after defeating Southern California in their regular-season finale. But watching film of Cornhuskers defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh in the Big 12 championship game was probably pretty sobering. Suh alone is enough reason to watch the Holiday Bowl.

 

11) Holiday

(Dec. 30): Nebraska (9-4) vs. Arizona (8-4). It's a rematch of the memorable 1998 Holiday Bowl, when Chris McAllister intercepted Eric Crouch to seal the game. Will Ndamukong Suh leave a similar stamp on San Diego?

 

Looks like people are reasonably interested. Top third of the bowls isn't a bad place to be, interest-wise.

[Igetbored216]

Really surprising. I don't see a whole lot of interest in playing Arizona.

[Yellowjacketfan]

Suh makes it interesting even for person who is not a fan of either team.

[SealBeachHusker]

Really surprising. I don't see a whole lot of interest in playing Arizona.

 

Can't speak for the rest of the country, but on the West coast Arizona really did makes it's way onto the scene in the Pac 10. Prior to back to back losses at Cal and Oregon they were being touted as a Pac 10 championship contender. Also, just the fact that they upset USC so recently on a nationally televised game provided them with some street cred. They put up a lot of points, but don't think they have seen a D like ours all year. Should be a fun match up.

[JTrain]

On a related note, I personally think these are the most uninteresting bowl match-ups in years. From the national title game all the way down to the Insight Bowl, almost nothing sticks out at me. Things would've been more interesting with a Nebraska win (Boise-Nebraska, TCU or Cincy vs. Bama).

 

Of course, that doesn't mean there won't be exciting games. But just from a pregame hype perspective, the lineup looks pretty bland.

[skersfan]

The only one to me that sucks is Boise/TCU.

 

The BCS did that to save their bacon. If both had played BCS teams and won what would have happened to their precious BCS system.

 

That game is a load of crap as far as I am concerned.

[walksalone]

 

First of all, there are too many goddamn bowl games. They could knock off a dozen or more, and actually make things competitive. 6 wins minimum to get a bowl bid just waters things down. How many people actually give a rats ass about the Papa Johns or Emerald bowl?

 

All these bowl games is another glaring reason we need a playoff to determine the NC. I know the usual reply is, what about the money, kids missing school, etc. How many of these kids that are on teams that are going to bowl games, are actually in class anyways. I'm guessing the playoff games would make enough money equal to the amonut of bowl games played.

[Huskerdownunder]

 

First of all, there are too many goddamn bowl games. They could knock off a dozen or more, and actually make things competitive. 6 wins minimum to get a bowl bid just waters things down. How many people actually give a rats ass about the Papa Johns or Emerald bowl?

 

All these bowl games is another glaring reason we need a playoff to determine the NC. I know the usual reply is, what about the money, kids missing school, etc. How many of these kids that are on teams that are going to bowl games, are actually in class anyways. I'm guessing the playoff games would make enough money equal to the amonut of bowl games played.

 

Agreed. Having 34 seems to drop off the competition level for me, even though an excuse i have read somewhere says that bowl games are great way to give senior students a last opportunity beyond the regular season. The only thing that seems to trump this for me is that the bowl games appear to be loosely ranked and the money attributed to the bowl game seems to be ranked respectively as well. No. 11 not too bad. So at no. 11, puts 22 teams with in the first 11, mostly ranked? (haven't checked all of them) Cut it off around 15! still gives about 5 teams to play even if they are not ranked.

 

On the money side of things, I doubt you could cram 34 headlining companies (Tositos, Capital One, ....) to get the same spread of advertisement. BUT, by having playoffs i'm sure this would tunnel into more expensive advertising spots, ie. as NFL playoffs progress to the superbowl, the cost of a 30 second tv spot grows exponentially, not to mention they seem to be getting more and more expensive each progressive season. I won't bitch about a playoff system being simply and competitively better, but having the nation + fixed on eight games one week, four the next, two, and then one big one, it seems to be a big enough deal to even out the greedy companies lobbying against the system.

[Huskerdownunder]

 

First of all, there are too many goddamn bowl games. They could knock off a dozen or more, and actually make things competitive. 6 wins minimum to get a bowl bid just waters things down. How many people actually give a rats ass about the Papa Johns or Emerald bowl?

 

All these bowl games is another glaring reason we need a playoff to determine the NC. I know the usual reply is, what about the money, kids missing school, etc. How many of these kids that are on teams that are going to bowl games, are actually in class anyways. I'm guessing the playoff games would make enough money equal to the amonut of bowl games played.

 

Agreed. Having 34 seems to drop off the competition level for me, even though an excuse i have read somewhere says that bowl games are great way to give senior students a last opportunity beyond the regular season. The only thing that seems to trump this for me is that the bowl games appear to be loosely ranked and the money attributed to the bowl game seems to be ranked respectively as well. No. 11 not too bad. So at no. 11, puts 22 teams with in the first 11, mostly ranked? (haven't checked all of them) Cut it off around 15! still gives about 5 teams to play even if they are not ranked.

 

On the money side of things, I doubt you could cram 34 headlining companies (Tositos, Capital One, ....) to get the same spread of advertisement. BUT, by having playoffs i'm sure this would tunnel into more expensive advertising spots, ie. as NFL playoffs progress to the superbowl, the cost of a 30 second tv spot grows exponentially, not to mention they seem to be getting more and more expensive each progressive season. I won't bitch about a playoff system being simply and competitively better, but having the nation + fixed on eight games one week, four the next, two, and then one big one, it seems to be a big enough deal to even out the greedy companies lobbying against the system.

[huskered17]

Really surprising. I don't see a whole lot of interest in playing Arizona.

 

Can't speak for the rest of the country, but on the West coast Arizona really did makes it's way onto the scene in the Pac 10. Prior to back to back losses at Cal and Oregon they were being touted as a Pac 10 championship contender. Also, just the fact that they upset USC so recently on a nationally televised game provided them with some street cred. They put up a lot of points, but don't think they have seen a D like ours all year. Should be a fun match up.

 

 

If the Huskers don't take the Wildcats serious, they can put up a lot of points. Very quick team.

With Bo, I don't have to worry about Nebraska over looking UofA.

 

GBR!!!

[Huskerballz]

Really surprising. I don't see a whole lot of interest in playing Arizona.

 

Can't speak for the rest of the country, but on the West coast Arizona really did makes it's way onto the scene in the Pac 10. Prior to back to back losses at Cal and Oregon they were being touted as a Pac 10 championship contender. Also, just the fact that they upset USC so recently on a nationally televised game provided them with some street cred. They put up a lot of points, but don't think they have seen a D like ours all year. Should be a fun match up.

 

 

If the Huskers don't take the Wildcats serious, they can put up a lot of points. Very quick team.

With Bo, I don't have to worry about Nebraska over looking UofA.

 

GBR!!!

 

 

Of course they aren't going to overlook Arizona. I mean, it's the last game of the season...what exactly would they be looking forward to besides the game??