Unless you're a fan of
Notre Dame or the
SEC, this hasn't been exactly a great year for college football fans. There have been way too many bad teams, bad games, and over-hyped games that featured poor performances on the field. This year more than any, the conferences can strategically build an excellent bowl lineup, something that is much needed after a rough regular season.
Pinstripe Bowl - Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia. This
traditional rivalry ended after West Virginia moved to the Big XII and Pittsburgh set up a move to the ACC. Both teams struggled this year and in a bowl game that features a Big XII team against a Big East team, it is a perfect opportunity to put a cherry on top of the season. This is also the only match-up that will result in a sellout for the bowl game. Both conferences will benefit from a sold out game in New York City, something the game hasn't been close to achieving in its two-year existence. Make it happen.
Cotton Bowl - Texas vs. Texas A&M. Once again,
another heated rivalry that has ended due to conference realignment can be resurrected in a bowl game this season. This will be the fourth season the Cotton Bowl has been held in the new Cowboys Stadium and, unless this is the match-up, it will be the fourth year the stadium will be filled to, at most, 80% of capacity. The committee of this bowl game paid a lot more money to have the game moved to the 105,000 seat stadium anticipating sellouts every year, but the crowds for the games in the new stadium so far wouldn't even have filled the old Cotton Bowl stadium. People want to see a game between these two programs. Texas A&M is riding a good season behind the
Heisman Trophy favorite and Texas fans want to have a crack at the rival Aggies to finish a disappointing season with a glimmer of hope. Come on Big XII and SEC, you can sell 105,000 tickets and resurrect a great rivalry. Again, make it happen.
Independence Bowl - Louisiana Tech vs. Louisiana-Monroe. Of the five games proposed in this blog, this is the most likely to actually happen. These two teams were two of the more entertaining mid-majors in college football this year. It's incredible how much talent these two programs (along with Louisiana-Lafayette, who also had a good year) have been able to siphon off LSU. Just like in the other two bowl games previewed in this blog, this game would be a sellout if this was the match-up. These neighboring schools feature high-flying offenses that will translate well on TV. It would be a shame if they did not play each other this year and it would be a shame if the bowl committee did not bank on the potential rivalry factor of this game.
Peach Bowl - Clemson vs. Georgia. These two traditional Southern powers each had two-loss seasons and would provide the best match-up in the Peach Bowl. With ACC and SEC tie-ins, the Peach Bowl never has to worry about selling out the game, but this year, because of how the BCS standings are set-up, the bowl has the opportunity to have the second best teams in each conference. For college football fans everywhere, please make this happen so fans aren't subjected to an ugly Peach Bowl between lower ranked teams in each conference or Georgia beating up on a four-loss Big Ten team on New Year's Day.
Little Caesars Bowl - Toledo vs. Bowling Green. Of all the bowl games proposed in this post, this is the least likely to happen, but if the game wants any revenue, it should happen. The best revenue year for this game (formerly the Motor City Bowl) was 2007, when Purdue defeated Central Michigan on a last-second field goal. This season, none of the directional Michigan schools will be going to a bowl game and the Big Ten will not be able to fill its bowl commitments. The powers at be will likely have Northern Illinois or Kent State face the fourth or fifth best Sun Belt team. Instead, the MAC and the bowl game should have
rivals play in this game and actually put butts in the seats. Plus, a rematch between the Rockets and Falcons would be a great game; at the very least it would be a much better game than a match-up between a team on the cusp of the BCS versus the fifth best team in the Sun Belt. Since Toledo and Bowling Green played on Sept. 15th, the Rockets have hit some rough patches while the Falcons have played much better. The game would be much closer than the two-touchdown differential earlier in the season. It won't happen, but this is the best match-up for this bowl game.
Plugging traditional rivalries into bowl games benefits everybody. The schools, conferences, bowl games, fans, travel-related companies, and TV ratings would benefit from having rivals face off in the postseason. With shake-ups in the conferences over the last couple years, rivals no longer play annually and bowl games are the perfect opportunities for the conferences and bowl committees to bank on these games.
These five match-ups should happen this year. Four of the proposed games would result in sellouts and all five would be more entertaining than the alternative match-ups. Come on conference commissioners and bowl committees, take advantage of the rivalries that have been given to you on a silver platter and give fans a few entertaining games to watch until the National Championship on Jan. 7th.
