Photo Courtesy of Cleveland.com

The BCS disappointed yet again this year, giving more support for a playoff system than ever before. Five teams went undefeated in the regular season, three from “major” conferences (Cincinnati, Alabama, Texas) and two from “mid-major” conferences (Boise State, TCU). The latter two had to face each other in a bowl for the second straight year. Fearing another embarrassing loss (or two) by a BCS “major” conference team to a non-BCS “mid-major” team, the BCS selection committee isolated the two biggest threats for a share of the National Championship, robbing them both of a national stage with which to be giant killers.

In 2004-5, Utah went undefeated, crushing 21^st ranked Big East Champion Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl, becoming the first “mid-major” to win a BCS Bowl. In 2006-7, Boise State went undefeated, beating 10^th ranked Big Twelve champion Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl in one of the greatest college football games ever (I would put it second behind the previous year’s National Championship which saw Vince Young singlehandedly beat a USC team that had two Heisman Trophy winners).  The following year the BCS got smarter, playing undefeated Hawaii against 5^th ranked Georgia in the Sugar Bowl which yielded the result they wanted, a BCS Conference victory. Using the same game plan as the following year, in 2008-9 the BCS played Utah against 4^th ranked Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.  After initially underestimating the “mid-majors,” the BCS had thought they had found an answer to their “problem” by playing them against a top 5 team. The plan backfired miserably last year though, as Utah crushed Alabama.

While it is great that Boise State became the first team from a non-automatic qualifying conference (or Notre Dame) to receive an at-large BCS bid, it was most unfortunate they had to play TCU in their BCS bowl. “Mid-major” teams that go undefeated and beat legitimate teams from a BCS conference deserve more respect and a BCS conference team in a BCS bowl when they get a BCS bowl bid. While these aforementioned “mid-majors” have not gotten the respect of the BCS, they have gotten it in the video game world; gracing the front of the biggest college football video game two of the past three years, EA Sports’ NCAA College Football 2008 and 2010 respectively! As written about by our President and Editor in Chief Ben Faust, the real way to settle the National Champion should be a playoff system with rankings that included the conference champions and a couple of at-large bids. I also would like to see a minimum for each BCS conference team of two games against other “major” BCS conference teams in their out of conference schedule. Just like in college basketball, college football should have conference “challenges” where every team in one conference plays a team in another BCS conference.

Beyond the need for a playoff, the robbing of the two non-BCS conference BCS teams, and the need to have less “cupcake” out of conference schedules, this Bowl Season did bring an interesting set of disappointments and surprises. Starting with the BCS Conferences then going through the non-BCS Conferences, here are my breakdowns of each conference and whether they were a disappointment, a surprise, or somewhere in-between.

ACC: Disappointment

After staunchly defending the ACC and arguing they were not the worst conference in college football throughout this season, I was hoping the Bowl Season would emphatically back me up. I figured that the ACC would win four to five of their bowl games and that I could feel some pride in the fact that, while Virginia had a terrible season, at least the league was better than people initially gave them credit for. No such luck. Seven teams (Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, and Virginia Tech) made bowls from the ACC. Three won and four lost. Though this was not the worst record amongst “major” BCS conference teams, it was nowhere near the best.

In the Meineke Car Care Bowl, the well coached and highly talented (but very underachieving) North Carolina (7^th in the ACC) took on Pittsburgh (3^rd in the Big East), who earlier in the season lost to NC State and lost to the other two “legitimate” teams in the Big East. In a very close game, the Panthers won the game by hitting a field goal with 52 seconds left. In the Emerald Bowl, Boston College (tied for 4^th in the ACC), who benefited from a cupcake schedule both in and out of conference, took on the most talented team to ever lose four games USC (5^th place in the Pac-10) in California. I expected the biggest blowout of the Bowl Season; instead BC held their ground and helped to show that the Pac-10 really were the worst BCS conference this year (more on that later). In the Music City Bowl, Clemson (3^rd in the ACC) cruised to victory over Kentucky (7^th in SEC) as expected. In the Champs Sports Bowl, Miami (tied for 4^th in the ACC), filled with more underperforming talent than USC, were upset by Wisconsin (5^th in the Big 10) in their second worst offensive display all season (the worst being the 31-7 thumping at Virginia Tech).

In the most important bowls (those being on New Year’s Eve or later, involving at least one BCS conference team, and having a recognizable sponsor), the ACC went 2-1 as expected, but did it in an unexpected way. It has been well known for a while that Bobby Bowden would be coaching in his last game this season. Coupled with the fact that Florida State travels very well, the Seminoles were given a sympathy gift this Bowl Season by the selection committee for the Gator Bowl for Bowden’s last game. The Gator Bowl usually takes the 3^rd place ACC team against the second place team from either the Big East or Big Twelve. This year they took the 6^th placed Seminoles against West Virginia (2^nd place in the Big East). Much like Clemson, Miami and North Carolina, Florida State has an inordinate amount of talent that played far below its potential this year. In the month they had to prepare for the Gator Bowl, Bowden managed to work his magic one last time. In arguably the biggest upset of the Bowl Season, Bowden ensured a 33^rd straight winning season, ending his career with the best bowl winning percentage in NCAA history among coaches to coach in at least 20 bowl games.

In the Peach Bowl (I refuse to call it the Chik-Fil-A Bowl), Virginia Tech (2^nd place in the ACC) took care of business against Tennessee (5^th in the SEC) in Lane Kiffin’s first bowl game as a head coach. Give Kiffin a year or two more though, and a National Championship is not out of the question. In the ACC’s guaranteed BCS bowl (this year the Orange Bowl), Georgia Tech (1^st in the ACC) took on Iowa (2^nd in the Big 10) in the second most boring BCS bowl. The rambling wreck’s offense never got started and possessed the ball less. Though not a fully valid excuse for UNC, Miami or Georgia Tech, it must be noted that the cold weather hitting the South this winter is very advantageous to the Big Ten and Big East’s style of play (and not to mention players being used to playing in the cold). It was the coldest Orange Bowl in history. Four losses in seven games are still four losses in seven games though, as this Bowl Season ended as a disappointment for the ACC.

Big East: Surprise

For much of the season I thought of the Big East as weak and overrated. West Virginia lost to Auburn, UCONN lost to UNC, Pitt lost to NC state, and Cincinnati’s best out of conference win in their undefeated season was overrated Oregon State. Even Cincinnati’s head coach for all 12 wins wanted to get out of there, leaving for Notre Dame a month before he was scheduled to coach the undefeated Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl. To my surprise the Big East got six teams into bowls (Cincinnati, Pitt, West Virginia, Rutgers, UCONN, and South Florida), winning four of them.

As I mentioned earlier, I did not expect Pitt to beat UNC. I also did not expect UCONN to stand a chance against South Carolina, but they proved me wrong (and further prove a well known fact, South Carolina will never possess the football talent that Florida does, sorry Steve Spurrier), dominating the Gamecocks in the familiar SEC territory of Alabama. Though I was surprised that West Virginia did not beat Florida State, the two previously mentioned victories more than salvages conference respectability. Anyone who expected Cincinnati to stand a chance without their coach and up against arguably the best team in college football in the Florida Gators was crazy or trying to make a “Cinderella” pick to win an office bowl pick ‘em pool. Two wins against non-BCS conference light-weights aside, this Bowl Season was a surprise for the Big East, winning two of four bowls against BCS conference teams.

Big Ten: Surprise

On the night when all the bowls were announced, looking at the matchups I thought if any conference were to go “defeatable” (meaning not get a single win), it would be the Big Ten. Little did I know then that this would be the Big Ten’s first winning record during Bowl Season since 2002. Seven teams (Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin) made bowl games, four of them won (four more than expected).

The first bowl game played by a Big Ten team was the Champs Sports Bowl which as previously mentioned saw Wisconsin upset Miami in (freezing cold) Florida. So much for thinking the Big Ten would not win a single bowl game. Next was the Insight Bowl which pitted Minnesota (8^th in the Big 10) against Iowa State (9^th in the Big 12) in a game of two teams barely at .500. It was as boring as it sounds as Iowa State had their first winning season in five years, defeating the golden gophers 14-13.

New Year’s Day brought the real eye opening day for the Big Ten though. It started early with the Outback Bowl which featured Northwestern (4^th place in the Big 10) and Auburn (9^th in the SEC). The two teams came in with very different stories; Northwestern over performed throughout the season while Auburn under performed. After a first half that was all Auburn, Northwestern really impressed me as they clawed back to send it to overtime. What really impressed me the most though, was instead of being conservative and kicking the field goal for the tie in the first overtime, Northwestern faked a field goal and went for the win. Though they came up short, such a ballsy maneuver instantly gets my full respect.

In the Capital One (Citrus) Bowl, Penn State won one that was both sloppy and wet against an LSU team that throughout the season played down (or up as was the case against Alabama and Florida) to their opponents level. Truthfully the game was much closer in score than reality as Penn State dominated the whole game until the end of the third quarter, with their main problem not being able to score touchdowns. They possessed the ball seventeen minutes more than LSU and did not turn the ball over compared to LSU’s three.

Ohio State completed the New Year’s Day Big Ten bonanza as they shot down the Oregon Ducks. Terrelle Pryor channeled Vince Young’s Pasadena performance from 2006 as he passed and rushed for more yards than Oregon. He was both the game’s leading passer and rusher. Ohio State possessed the ball for more than two- thirds of the game and had more than twice as many first downs as Oregon. The Big Ten solidified its supremacy over the Pac-10 in this game as they showed Oregon to be nothing more than a soft one dimensional team.

In an lopsided matchup, a barely bowl eligible Michigan State (6^th in the Big 10) took on a Mike Leach-less Texas Tech (4^th place in the Big 12) in the Alamo Bowl. Besides having a much better team, Texas Tech also enjoyed home-field advantage (anything having to do with the Alamo should remind you of Texas). Against all odds though, Michigan State more than held their own, and it took until the last two minutes of the game for defeat to seem imminent. As previously mentioned in the ACC section, Iowa beat Georgia Tech in the Big Ten’s other BCS Bowl, the Orange Bowl. It is worth mentioning again how impressive Iowa was at stifling of the triple option of Georgia Tech.

My apologies to the Big Ten for underestimating you all so much, your ability to play in the cold when the Bowl games were supposed to be warm surprised us all.

Big Twelve: As Expected

My biggest complaint about the Big Twelve is that it is divided into North and South divisions that are year in and year out unfair. Since the split to make a Big Twelve Championship in 1996, the Big Twelve South has won 10 of 14. Take away the dominance of Nebraska in the 1990s and the South has won 8 of 10 including a current streak of 6 in a row, with the worst defeat being Texas over Colorado 70-3 in 2005. This year was not very different. Although Nebraska did give Texas a serious run for its money (and arguably won 12-10), five of the six teams in the South division made bowls compared to three of six in the North division.

Somehow the ACC and SEC seem to have perfectly split up their teams, but this is not to say that the Big Twelve are the only conference needing to remedy this situation. There should be no divisions within any conference. Every team would be given an 8 game conference schedule that changes every year (except for one rivalry game) so every 10 years you play every team in your conference 7 times (except for the rival who you have played 10 times). After such a conference schedule, the top 2 teams would play for the championship. This would allow for Oklahoma-Texas, Vanderbilt-Tennessee, and Virginia-Virginia Tech (amongst other scenarios) to all be Conference Championships, which is currently not possible.

This Bowl Season the Big Twelve was all over the place. It started with a Texas A&M (8^th place in the Big 12) loss to Georgia (tied for 5^th in the SEC) in the Independence Bowl. The loss should surprise no one given A&M was .500 solely because of their cupcake out of conference schedule where they played football juggernauts New Mexico, Utah State and UAB. Next was the first shutout ever at the Holiday Bowl as Nebraska (tied for 2^nd in the Big 12) crushed Arizona (2^nd place Pac-10) 33-0. In the second Big Twelve – Pac-10 matchup, Oklahoma (5^th in the Big 12) passed for over 400 yards as they beat Stanford (4^th in the Pac-10) in the Sun Bowl. Though Oklahoma’s full potential was nowhere near reached because they lost the then reigning Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Sam Bradford in the first game of the season, their passing game was more than adequate in this New Years Eve bowl.

Missouri (6^th in the Big 12) was literally run over by Navy in the Texas Bowl. The triple option yielded 385 yards on the ground for the Midshipmen. The Tigers are an example of both why the Big Twelve needs to not have divisions and why there should be a requirement of no more than two cupcake games. After starting the season 4-0, Missouri got lucky as they did not have to play Oklahoma or Texas Tech, finishing out the season 8-5. In the third New Years Eve Bowl, as previously mentioned in the Big Ten section, Iowa State slipped by Minnesota in the Toilet Bowl, I mean Insight Bowl.

The New Year, which seemed full of promise, ended up not so great for the Big Twelve. It started with Oklahoma State (3^rd in the Big 12) letting up 14 in the fourth quarter as Ole Miss (4^th in the SEC) won its second straight Cotton Bowl 21-7. In a game of sloppy offense and stellar defense, it was not a quarterback’s day to say the least, as 8 interceptions were thrown. Texas Tech (as previously mentioned in the Big 10 section) won as expected, even without their regular season coach.

In the National Championship undefeated Texas (1^st in the Big 12) did not get a fair chance. Between losing Colt McCoy (the winningest quarterback in NCAA College Football History) early in the first quarter and having to rely on untested true freshman quarterback Garrett Gilbert in the second biggest football game in existence (Super Bowl being first), it was over. Even with McCoy it was no sure thing that the game would be won by Texas, but after watching Florida’s former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow get shut down by Alabama’s world-class defense in the SEC Championship game, there seemed to be no way a freshmen could weather that storm. I think McCoy’s injury killed the spirits of the team as well, which led to the largely insurmountable halftime score of 24-6. Though to Texas’ credit they came out in the second half and put up a admirable fight, bringing it to within three with 6 minutes left in the game, Gilbert’s four interceptions and Alabama’s run game proved to be too much as Alabama (1^st place in the SEC) won 37-21.

Because of the 4-4 record in Bowls this Bowl Season, it was not a surprise or a disappointment for the Big Twelve.

Pacific Ten: Disappointment

When the top four teams in the conference lose their bowl games and none of them came against an SEC team, your conference is a joke. For those of you west-coasters who believe me to have some sort of bias, I will admit only to an SEC bias for football (and an ACC bias for basketball). I implore anyone and everyone to voice their opinion at the end of this article about where they think the “major” conferences rank up against each other and what the Bowl Season has shown, but numbers do not lie. No other conference had as many bowl losses and only one conference (Mid-American) had a worse winning percentage. Though not fully telling, it must also be noted that of the seven teams that played in bowls from the Pac-10, only one played in a bowl game in 2010.

The fiasco that was the Pac-10′s Bowl Season began December 22 (4 days before the four best conferences started playing bowls) with Oregon State (3^rd place in the Pac-10) being romped in the Las Vegas Bowl by BYU (2^nd place in the Mountain West). Not that I believe in the transitive property as applied to college football, but for all you ACC haters it is worth noting that Florida State (6^th in the ACC) destroyed BYU in Utah. The next day another Mountain West team Utah (3^rd place in the Mountain West) again dominated a Pac-10 opponent, this time California (6^th place in the Pac-10) in the Poinsettia Bowl. The game was played in California.

As mentioned in the ACC section, a weak Boston College was beaten in California in the Emerald Bowl to the one team that usually keeps the legitimacy of the Pac-10, USC. What will be interesting to see in the coming years is what happens to the Trojans as they deal without the man who rebuilt the program, Pete Carroll. In the EagleBank Bowl, UCLA beat Temple (who hadn’t played in a bowl in 30 years). It took Army losing to Navy for UCLA to even be invited (that is sad), but they made the most of the invite. It should be noted that Temple’s head coach Al Golden was the man who brought the 3-4 defensive scheme to UVA from 2001-2004 and has completely turned around Temple’s program, leading to his consideration for the UVA job before Mike London was hired.

Arizona and Stanford were put to shame by Big Twelve opponents in the next two Pac-10 bowl games as mentioned in the Big Twelve section. The New Year represented one last bowl game hope for the Pac-10, the legendary Rose Bowl. Oregon had only barely lost to Boise State (first game of the season) and Stanford (after thinking they were invincible following a whopping victory over USC), and were generally seen as going to win the game. Little did they know that their atrocious secondary (not the only one in the Pac-10…) would be picked apart by Terrelle Pryor as Ohio State won their first bowl game in four years.

Biased or not, the 2-5 record of the Pac-10 was pitiful and an utter disappointment.

SEC: As Expected

The only reason I put “as expected” is because how can it ever be a disappointment when you won both BCS bowl games you participated in, including winning the National Championship. It should also not surprise anyone that the SEC did so well during the Bowl Season. As described in the Big Twelve section, I did think it was unfortunate for the neutral viewers (like myself) that Colt McCoy was injured, but it really should not take away from the fact that Alabama went undefeated in the best conference in college football and whipped the second best team in college football in the SEC Championship. Only two of their nine conference wins were won by less than 9 points. In addition to having the National Champions, the SEC also had impressive bowl victories through Florida who crushed Cincinnati (and their hopes of a perfect season) in the Sugar Bowl and Ole Miss who beat up on Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl. In the Liberty Bowl Arkansas (7^th place in the SEC) showed that East Carolina (1^st place in Conference USA) still has a while to go until they can compete with the “big boys.” Georgia was too much for a weak Texas A&M in the Independence Bowl and Auburn stopped Northwestern’s fake field goal in overtime for an Outback Bowl victory.

In terms of losses, Tennessee and Kentucky both were overwhelmed in games I did not expect them to win. LSU played down to their opponent per usual and ended up mismanaging the clock again, much like their embarrassing loss to Mississippi. I think if the game was played on a warm day in Orlando instead of a freezing cold rainy one, LSU would have beaten Penn State. The fourth and final loss of the SEC was the only real surprise. I thought that a coach of Steve Spurrier’s ability would be able to get his team ready for UCONN, but I was wrong. If Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier cannot turn your program around, something is wrong…

It cannot be a disappointment when you win two BCS bowls including the National Championship, but that was not a surprise as the SEC won the National Championship for the fourth year in a row.

The Rest

Conference USA was a disappointment. In their two bowls against weak teams from “major” conferences they could not pull out a win. Houston, who started out the season ranked after impressive wins over Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, fizzled this season and got pounded by Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl.

The Independent, also known as Navy played as expected. They ran a lot and played a Missouri Tigers team that hadn’t seen such a strong running attack since Adrian Peterson was at Oklahoma.

The Mid-American Conference was a disappointment even with such little expectations. A Temple win over UCLA would have made this conference a surprise though. A shout-out should be given to the one winning program, Central Michigan, who ended their great season right. Even more impressive, they did it without their regular season head coach as they lost their second coach in three years to Cincinnati.

The Mountain West Conference was quite the surprise. Though I personally was not THAT surprised, I do not think anyone would have predicted the MWC to go 4-1 in bowls. Had TCU actually come to play against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, the conference would have gone undefeated and supported my conclusion about the MWC’s rank amongst the “major” conferences even more. Respect still has to be shown to the horn frogs though as they beat Clemson at Death Valley, not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination.

The Sun Belt Conference performed as expected. No one expected too much from their two games and they ended up winning one of them.

The WAC has to be characterized as performing as expected because having a Fiesta Bowl winning team can never be disappointing. That said I think the losses by the second and third place teams, including a 45-10 loss to SMU by Nevada, really put a damper on Boise State’s impressive undefeated season. Throw in Idaho’s thoroughly unimpressive win against Bowling Green in the Humanitarian Bowl and it seems that Boise State is a two trick pony; beating Oregon (which has since become less impressive) and a no-show TCU in the most boring BCS bowl game.

In Conclusion:

After watching many regular season and bowl games, assessing the weather conditions, and matchup problems, my end of year rankings of the “major” conferences are as follows:

1. SEC

2. Big 12

3. Big 10

4. ACC

5. Big East

6. Mountain West

7. Pac-10