Bowled Over

The NCAA and all of its sponsors released the list of 35 bowl games that feature 70 out of the 116 teams, and because no one has time to watch all 35 games here is a cheat sheet on the 5 games you must watch this bowl season...

5. Sheraton Hawaii Bowl - No. 24 Hawaii vs. Tulsa
8 p.m. ET, Dec. 24

Because there is never anything else on Christmas eve anyway so why not pretend you are in Hawaii and you get to watch football! The Warriors always play an exciting brand of football and this year is no different. They lead the country in passing yards with 387.8 yards per game. With coaches wearing lei's look for this game to be wild.


4. New Era Pinstripe Bowl - Kansas State vs. Syracuse
3:20 p.m. ET, Dec. 30

This bowl gets the nod because of the great turnaround of the Syracuse football team. Just a few years ago the Orange were the laughing stock of the division one football. Now they are back and bowl eligible. Kansas State has also gone under a huge turnaround in the last few years, playing exciting football and turning themselves into a power. Also, this bowl will probably have the best swag of any for the players and sideline staff, thanks New Era.


3. Chick-fil-A Bowl - No. 20 South Carolina vs. No. 23 Florida State
7:30 p.m. ET, Dec. 31

This bowl game makes my list for a couple of reasons. One, some friends are alums of the USC and therefore I cheer on the Gamecocks every chance I get. Also, because of their good season, I've seen alot of freshman running back sensation Marcus Lattimore and he should be fun to watch in a bowl game. My other friend is an FSU fan so it is a grudge match with the added bonus that he and probably most of the Seminoles fans despise Steve Spurrier so it should be great on a bunch of different levels. Also, I might learn how to pronounce Chick-fil-a properly.


2. Hyundai Sun Bowl - Notre Dame vs. Miami
2 p.m. ET, Dec. 31

This isn't the heated rivalry it was in the mid-90's when both teams were always top 10 in the country, but it should still be a good game featuring two big programs. Notre Dame finished the year on quite a run beating Utah, Army and Southern California. The 'Canes on the other hand, lost two straight to close out the year and got their coach fired. Everyone from Luke to Donald Trump has weighed in on who should be the next coach.


1. Tostitos BCS National Championship Game - No. 2 Oregon vs. No. 1 Auburn
8:30 p.m. ET, Jan. 10

The grand daddy of them all? Not quite but it does feature two teams that have been the most consistent throughout the college season. Not only that, but it features probably the two best players in the nation - Heisman and tabloid favourite, Auburn's Cam Newton and likely Heisman runner up LaMichael James. The other thing to look for in this game will be the uniforms. The battle between Under Armour and Nike could get out of control. The Ducks are the guinea pigs for Nike and this is the biggest stage for Auburn and UA, so what is created for the field could be funky. Also, with the game on January 10, you don't have to be worried about being hung over for the New Year's bowl bonanza.


So enjoy as many games as you can over the holiday season.

The Most Unimpressive Record Ever

Yesterday in the National Football League wasn't a good one for the gambling set. Many underdogs won, there is parity all around and with so many injuries you can't tell which team is going to be good from week to week.

For the first time in 40 years the NFL doesn't have a team that is 4-0. What does this mean - well, for starters, the 1972 Dolphins get to celebrate again. As the only undefeated team in NFL history, the players from the 1972 Dolphins celebrate annually with a bottle of champagne when the last undefeated team falls and there is no longer a threat to their record.

There have been many close calls for the Dolphins alum recently, most notably the Patriots from 2007 who went 18-0, but lost in the Super Bowl to the NY Giants. Another close call, was the 2009 Indianapolis Colts who were 14-0, had clinched a playoff berth, and decided to rest starters, so they ended up losing their last two games. In fact, the 2009 season marked the first time in history where two teams started 13-0 (Colts and Saints).

For all the close calls, especially recently, does it matter if a team really goes undefeated for a season as long as they win the championship? Apparently not for both the Colts or Saints, who put winning the Super Bowl ahead of the perfect season. If this is true, then does this record of being the only undefeated team in NFL history really matter anymore? Should the 1972 Dolphins be indulged year after year with news stories when the last of the undefeated teams lose, like the KC Chiefs did on Sunday?

With the longer season, more injuries and obviously more parity, the undefeated season is a thing of the past in the NFL. As a fan we can no longer expect that this will happen again and although, this was once an impressive record to hold, it is no longer something to hold up as a be all and all of football superiority.

In other sports, an undefeated season is still something to be proud of. Whether it is men's or women's college basketball a approx record of 40-0 is needed to win the championship. In NCAA men's college football a record of 13-0 would get you the BCS National title and with all of the rivalries and expectations placed on teams of "boys", small errors happen regularly that can cost teams a game each Saturday.

Obviously, the baseball, hockey and basketball seasons are too long for an undefeated season. One record that might be approached this year in though, is the best record ever for a basketball team. The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls had 72 wins and only 10 losses. The new "big three" in Miami of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh will do their best to get 73 wins. If they don't though, it won't be considered a big deal, unless they don't win the championship.

Winning the last game matters, not winning them all.

Bowled Over

The NCAA football season is almost over.

After almost four months of games to decide the best team in the country we are down to the final two, or is it final four? In the official BCS championship game, Alabama will take on Texas. We also have two undefeated teams in the Fiesta Bowl TCU and Boise State. So who gets the number one spot at the end of Bowl week - no doubt the winner of the Alabama vs. Texas. Deservedly so. They played the toughest schedules and proved over the course of the season that they are the two best teams and will get to play a game to decide the champion.

This is what everyone wants, this is what they got this year (and for the past number of years), but that doesn't stop people from complaining that the BCS is broken and why is football the only sport in the NCAA that doesn't have a tournament to decide a champion. The proponents of this say that it makes the regular season the most important in sports and they are right. Every game is do or die. One loss can make your season meaningless (ask Oregon when they lost to Boise St in the season opener).

Since football is one game that on any given Sunday (or Saturday in this case) where one team can beat another this does seem very odd, so to fix this problem, here is what the Sandwich Shoppe proposes;

All the conferences stay as they are with the exception of the Big 10 or Big East who accept Notre Dame, Navy and Army into the division. It would be weird for Notre Dame to join the Big 10 since they are already in the Big East for basketball and other sports, but it would be fun if they joined the Big 10 because there are some great rivalries (ND vs. Michigan, ND vs. Penn St.) and it would be great to see what the Big 10 logo would become.

So here we go. Each division plays an 8 game schedule. All games would be within there own division. This would unfortunately eliminate some great inter-conference rivalries, but so be it. After those 8 weeks, we will have champions of each conference. The conferences that have east and west or north and south would still crown champs on both sides. Those champions would make it into the Bowl Championship Series. 16 teams in total. The breakdown would be;

ACC - 2
SEC - 2
Big East
Big 10
Big 12 - 2
Conf USA - 2
Mid America - 2
Mountain West
PAC 10
Sun Belt
WAC

Now the polls only matter to rank the teams 1-16 for the tournament. Just because a team like TCU isn't ranked at the start of the season, doesn't mean they can't make the BCS and there ranking would still be high enough at the end of 8 weeks to get a good seeding in the tourney.

From here it is single elimination and we get to name all the playoff games so the sponsors are happy.

The first round games (8 in total) are played over two weekends, 4 each weekend. Imagine football at 11am, 2pm, 5pm and 8pm for two Saturdays in a row!

Then you have 8 teams remaining (4 games) can again play over two weekends, followed by the final four played on the same Saturday and then the finals being whenever the BCS wanted.

These would be huge ratings generators and alot of fun to watch. Plus it would spread out over 6 weeks, making the season - 14 weeks about what it is now.

Over at Deadspintoday they linked to this playoff predictor for 2009.

Here is how my system would have played out;
#1 Alabama
#16 Temple

#8 Ohio State
#9 Georgia Tech

#5 Florida
#12 Central Michigan

#4 TCU
#13 Troy

#6 Boise State
#11 Houston

#3 Cincinnati
#14 Clemson

#10 Nebraska
#7 Oregon

#15 East Carolina
#2 Texas


In the end, for me, I think Florida plays Texas in the finals. Tebow doesn't lose twice to Alabama and then beats Texas in the finals to cap his unbelievable college career.