What We Learned From The Bowls

Another college football season has come to an end, another SEC team has been crowned the National Champion, another undefeated team didn't get a chance to play for the title.  So what did we learn from the 35-bowl game orgy over the past few weeks?

New Mexico Bowl, BYU vs UTEP - We learned that UTEP showed why 6-6 teams don't deserve a bowl berth over an 8-4 Temple team who would have made a better showing than the disinterested Miners.

Humanitarian, Northern Illinois vs Fresno St - We watched the Huskies make a statement for the MAC in routing the Bulldogs and Fresno Coach Pat Hill has to wonder why he can't beat non-automatic qualifiers in bowl games...

New Orleans, Troy vs Ohio - ...and then Ohio turned around and handed all that good feeling for the MAC that Northern Illinois got earlier in the day by getting blown out by a Sun Belt team.

Beef 'O' Brady, Louisville vs So Miss - We saw that Coach Charlie Strong might be able to do good things with Louisville...until a bigger program lures him away.  And for those on the west coast, we found out what a Beef 'O' Brady was (a family-friendly Irish Pub-themed restaurant that doesn't serve hard alcohol.  Not very Irish-authentic in my book if you don't have whiskey).

Las Vegas, Boise St vs Utah - We reaffirmed that Boise State was a pretty damn good team this year and got the shaft from the BCS by being relegated to the Las Vegas Bowl.

Poinsettia, San Diego St vs Navy - We learned that San Diego State was very good under Coach Brady Hoke.  So good, in fact, that Michigan decided he was the person to turn their program around.  Aztecs...say, "Hello" to obscurity again.

Hawaii, Hawaii vs Tulsa - We saw a team from Tulsa apparently avoid the $1 Mai-Tai's and come to play football, destroying a 10-win Hawaii team.

Little Caesars Pizza, Toledo vs Florida Int'l - We saw that two schools most people don't care about can still play one hell of an entertaining game.

Independence, Air Force vs Georgia Tech - We watched two option teams cause televisions across the country to turn off as they played a snoozer of a game.

Champs Sports, West Virginia vs NC State - We learned that Tom O'Brien still knows how to win bowl games, whether it's at Boston College or at North Carolina State.

Insight, Missouri vs Iowa - We learned Iowa wasn't as bad as they appeared this year and Missouri wasn't as good as they seemed this year. 

Military, Maryland vs East Carolina - We learned that Maryland thinks they can get a better coach than Ralph Friedgen (who won 9 games this year).  Ummm, Maryland?  You're not National Championship caliber and haven't been for a long, long time.  Enjoy the 8-to-9 win seasons and a coach who loves your school.

Texas, Baylor vs Illinois - We watched Ron Zook win a bowl game.  Let that sink in.

Alamo, Oklahoma St vs Arizona - We learned that Oklahoma State was pretty good and that the Pac-10 was extremely top heavy.

Armed Forces, SMU vs Army - We watched a bunch of players who won't ever play beyond the collegiate level beat an offensive guru.

New Era Pinstripe, Kansas St vs Syracuse - We learned that a crew of officials can take all the joy out of an incredible comeback and cost a team a chance for a miracle ending.

Music City, North Carolina vs Tennessee - We watched the Volunteers again lose a game at the end on a crazy play with far too many people on the field (was that a Stanford trombone player down at the 5-yard line?).  The second best bowl game of the year, in my opinion.

Holiday, Nebraska vs Washington - We learned that a team who wants to be there (Washington) can beat a team who doesn't care about being there (Nebraska).  The biggest embarrassment of the bowl season.

Meinke Car Care, Clemson vs South Florida - Too little, too late for Clemson as the late game scores only made it appear close.  The Bulls completely dominated the Tigers.

Sun, Miami vs Notre Dame - If this was the mid-80's, this would have been a great game.  In 2010, not so much.  And how far has Miami QB Jacory Harris regressed?

Liberty, Georgia vs UCF - The second biggest embarrassment of the bowl season.  Two field goals for an SEC team?  UCF deserved this game and Georgia was awful.

Chick-fil-A, South Carolina vs Florida St - Stephen Garcia went back to being Stephen Garcia and the Seminoles took advantage of all those turnovers.  Of course, losing Marcus Lattimore on the first series of the game didn't help things for the Gamecocks.

Ticket City, Texas Tech vs Northwestern - Ahhh, the high point of the Big Ten's New Year's Day.  Northwestern came storming back from a huge deficit to make it close.  And that's the highlight for the Big Ten on Black Saturday.

Outback, Florida vs Penn St - Five interceptions by your starting quarterback will make anyone older and Joe Paterno doesn't need that. Big Ten 0-2.

Capital One, Alabama vs Michigan St - You thought you deserved the Rose Bowl bid, Sparty?  How about Alabama pulling their starters with TEN MINUTES left in the third quarter?  Big Ten 0-3.

Gator, Mississippi St vs Michigan - Big Ten hits rock bottom as the second Michigan school of the day is absolutely trounced by a mediocre offense.  Coach Rich Rodriguez maybe had a chance for one more year with a win or a close loss.  This blowout assured him of getting fired.

Rose, TCU vs Wisconsin - The best bowl game of the year, in my opinion.  TCU rose up and completed the Big Ten's perfect day by knocking off the big, powerful Badgers from Wisconsin.  TCU and their fans were gracious and joyous at the Rose Bowl experience and were the class of the bowl season.  Also, the helmets with the Horned Frog holding a rose in his teeth was the best of the year.  And those TCU cheerleaders...definitely Top 5.  And Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee....who is it that plays the Little Sisters of the Poor?  After your conference's outstanding New Year's Day showing, you may want to keep your cake hole shut and maybe schedule some non-cupcakes out of conference so that when you play real teams, you might put up a fight.

Fiesta, Oklahoma vs Connecticut - Yay! The Sooners won a BCS Bowl game!  And no one cared.

Orange, Stanford vs Virginia Tech - We saw that a blowout can still be entertaining when a team is performing as well as Stanford did at the Orange Bowl.

Sugar, Ohio St vs Arkansas - We learned, as if we didn't already know, that the almighty dollar drives the NCAA, as the "Tattoo Five" are allowed to play in the bowl game but are suspended for the first five games of next season.  Coach Tressel lost a lot of respect in my book for not standing up to the Sugar Bowl, Ohio State and the Big Ten and suspending those players for the game.

GoDaddy.com, Miami (OH) vs Middle Tennessee State - Danica Patrick on the sidelines isn't a bad thing.

Cotton, LSU vs Texas A&M - An entertaining game absolutely ruined by the terrible Fox announcers.  These guys have no clue how to call a college football game and just need to go away.  And the Cotton Bowl needs to be back on New Year's Day and part of the BCS.

BBVA Compass, Pitt vs Kentucky - We learned that a team who loses it's coach, but still wants to play for him, can still get it done.  Here's hoping Pitt wises up and realizes the problem wasn't Coach Wanstache, but that it's AD Petersen (contact Nebraska for references).

Kraft Fight Hunger, Nevada vs Boston College - We learned that Kraft's most important food product for fighting hunger, at least in order of mention, is Oreos.  And then Macaroni and Cheese.

BCS Championship, Auburn vs Oregon - We reaffirmed that when tempo teams have almost 40 days off between games they play a sluggish, stop-and-start game that while close and exciting lacked the pop and sizzle these two teams displayed throughout the regular season.  And we'll learn in the coming years, if Auburn has to vacate this title and all their wins from this year, will they give the title to Oregon since they only lost on a last second field goal (not like Oklahoma's historic blowout loss to USC where you couldn't give the trophy to the Sooners without everyone laughing hysterically).