The Flaws of the Bowl System

The Flaws of the Bowl System
Kerry R. Thompson, Sr.

There have been heated debates all over the country on just how much Oklahoma State deserved to play LSU for the title and not Alabama. But there are other teams that were snubbed out of a BCS bowl game. It’s really a travesty that these schools were not picked based on their football ability, but on how their fan base travels and how much money they can make. The Big East should NOT have an automatic bowl tie in. There were teams that were just far better than the teams in the Big East. No one controlled their own destiny in that conference. The BCS is a joke. It is designed to pick 1 & 2. It wasn’t designed to pick the REST of the games. There were some misses on these bowl games.

AllState Sugar Bowl #13 Michigan (10-2) vs. #11 Virginia Tech (11-2)

Who should play; #8 Kansas State (10-2) vs. #6 Arkansas (10-2), #8 Kansas State (10-2) vs. #7 Boise State (11-1), #7 Boise State (11-1)vs. #6 Arkansas(10-2)
How can you keep Arkansas and Kansas State out of this game? Arkansas’ only two loses of the season come at the hands of #2 Alabama and #1 LSU. Arkansas played an ok schedule including South Carolina, Alabama, Texas A&M, and LSU. Tyler Wilson is the best QB in the SEC and who knows where Arkansas would be if they would have had Knile Davis and a healthy Jake Bequette. While many of you may not know who Kansas State is, they were picked to finish 8th in the conference. They finished second; ahead of Texas, ahead of Oklahoma. They beat a hot Robert Griffin III, they beat Texas A&M, and lost to Oklahoma State on the last play of the game. Colin Klein, the QB, is the team’s leading rusher. He has 1099 yards and 26 TDs. He’s scored more rushing TDs than Trent Richardson. Coach Bill Snyder did a wonderful job with this team this year, making them believe that they could compete in the conference. They were snubbed for a Michigan team that has played a laughable schedule; 2 ranked teams all season long. Virginia Tech played Clemson and Georgia Tech; no one else. They got blown out by Clemson this season twice. Neither of the teams earned the right to play in this game other than the fact that their fan bases travel well with the team. Where is the logic in this?

Discover Orange Bowl #23 West Virginia (9-3) vs. #15 Clemson (10-3)

Who should play? #18 TCU (10-2)vs. #15 Clemson(10-3), #7 Boise State (11-1) vs. #15 Clemson(10-3), or #7 TCU(11-1) vs. #18 TCU(10-2)

TCU Lost 2 games this year. They lost one to Baylor, in which TCU fought back in and almost came back to win the game. They had a bad loss to SMU. TCU won the Mountain West Conference in which 5 teams were bowl eligible. This conference also contained #7 Boise State. TCU beat Boise State in a thriller in which Casey Pachall led the team down the field and scored on the game winning TD. Pachall became a better QB with each game. TCU is a better football team than West Virginia. Bar none. Dana Holgorsen did a great job coaching this West Virginia team, but they should have DOMINATED this conference. The only game they should have lost was the LSU game. If that happens, West Virginia would have had an argument for a national title. They didn’t control their own destiny and had playmakers all over the offense. It was really no excuse for the Big East to come down to the last week. Clemson was one of the hottest teams in the country. But they laid 3 eggs against Georgia Tech, NC State, and South Carolina. They feature a wonderful offense and ACC Freshman of the Year Sammy Watkins. I just don’t believe that they are better than Boise State or TCU. They are the ACC champs, but what other argument do they have? Boise State. What else do we need to say? Boise lost on a FG; so did Oklahoma State, Alabama, and Oregon. Kellen Moore and Boise went to Georgia and beat up on the SEC East Champion Georgia Bulldogs. They are a FG away from possibly playing for the BCS championship game. They finished second in the conference, yet are ranked higher than TCU. So why not rematch? This would be a fantastic game. The first game against Boise and TCU was a classic.

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl Illinois (6-6) vs. UCLA (6-7)

Who should play; Illinois (6-6) vs. Western Kentucky (7-5)

Western Kentucky over UCLA? Are you serious? YES!

Western Kentucky is a good football team that stuck with LSU for the first half of the game. They finished second in the Sun Belt conference behind Arkansas State. They were 7-1 in the conference. They have the best RB you’ve never heard of in Bobby Rainey. Rainey has 1695 yards this season, which is second in the country. He has 3344 yards rushing over the past 2 seasons. He will play on Sunday; trust me. The only reason UCLA went to the Pac-12 championship game because USC couldn’t go to the game. They didn’t win because they were the best, they won by default. UCLA was blasted all season long by multiple teams. They fired their coach. This is the team that gets a bowl game?

Too many teams are being put in games that they do not deserve based on their fan base and not on their play. This is the problem with the BCS as well. They didn’t get all the matchups wrong; but the ones they did get wrong, they were wrong for the wrong reason. These bowl sponsors are more concerned with making their money back for sponsoring the bowl, than getting the right teams in these bowl games. The way you fix this problem is to cut out all these bowl games. Especially if you are not going to let the right teams play. A fan base should not outweigh a team’s play.