Citrus Bowl or Bust for Me

I feel like beating Houston (were that to happen) in the Sugar Bowl this year would be sneaking into a BCS bowl and sneaking away with a BCS win, but I'll take it after '08-'11.  Michigan just needs good publicity right now.  We can worry about the "real" worth of games after the Wolverines are solidly back on their feet. 

Houston or not, playing a top-10, undefeated team in a BCS bowl is a big game. No matter the opponent.

This was a fun thread, thanks for starting it Ziff.

Which as a fan would you rather go to? 
 

For me since I live in Texas, much easier and cheaper to get to Nola. Plus as mentioned before its New Orleans fergodsakes. 

New Orleans >>>>>>>> Disney Crap

The entire conference should be rooting for us to go. It's an extra million in their coffers if we do, and an extra million that they've become accustomed to after this current streak of at-large bids that the conference has.

Yes, they split it with the rest of the conference. But you get an extra share of the bowl you're at, so you modestly get more money if you go to a better bowl than a worse one.  And obviously a big payout bowl makes the payday bigger for everyone in the conference.

Now, you've got me picturing a llama saying tits and I can't stop laughing to myself.

Anyway, I want moar BCSz!

I'll bring the beads!

If you win the Sugar Bowl, you get the same trophy no matter who the opponent is. 

But I actually agree with you on that--I do hope our Sugar Bowl opponent is someone with more cachet than Houston.  It's just that I would not want to go a step down from the BCS-level in order to get a bigger-name opponent.

You get more prestige for winning the Sugar Bowl.  That's the way the system is set up.  The "best teams" in the country go to the BCS bowls.  So to be considered among those teams is good for our prestige, which has to be constantly rekindled in order for it to continue.  In a lesser bowl we get a few hours of media attention from Spielman and friends, and maybe a few minutes of Herbie.  In the Sugar Bowl we're the only game of the day and we get an entire day of Stuart Scott and Scott Van Pelt throwing it to that fox Sage Steele for a repeated story about Hoke bringing Michigan back to national prominence. Primetime bowl game is always preferable to a 1 o'clock bowl game.  More young high school players will see a Sugar Bowl than the Citrus Bowl.  It doesn't matter how prestigious you or I thinks Michigan has. It matters what the media says, because that's who everyone else listens to. Easy choice.

Alabama does look better. But they've also had fewer opportunities to look bad. Despite playing in the SEC, their schedule is really pretty bad. Their best wins are Penn State, Arkansas, and Auburn.  We all know that Penn State is not a good team. I don't buy Arkansas, they snuck out wins against Vandy, Ole Miss, aTm, and Troy, best win against South Carolina after Lattimore went out, got killed by both 'bama and LSU. Auburn's a bad team. Other than that,  Alabama's schedule is Kent State, North Texas, Florida, Vandy, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Mississippi State, and Georgia Southern.

Alabama may be better but Oklahoma State's resume is more impressive, despite their loss. With the better resume, they're more deserving of the shot, given bama's loss to LSU.

You can't mention that Bama lost in OT without mentioning that it was a home game and Oklahoma State lost in 2OT on the road.

I would, though, like to briefly discuss my theories about the last episode of Lost...

Playing in a BCS bowl isn't about this year's recruits. Its about the kids who are in middle school and freshmen in high school who will someday be studs for a college squad. They have grown up knowing Michigan as the team that struggle bussed their way through the last few years, not as the team that won the '97 championship when they were still fresh out the womb (if they had even been born yet). They don't know the tradition and past excellence like we do. So playing in a BCS bowl game gives them exposure to the Michigan of now. Even if its over a small school like Houston a BCS game still carries a lot more weight to the general public than a lesser bowl.

Then it has to be New Orleans.

1) I don't really, but that's why we would be a realistic candidate should we end up eligible.

2) Why not? It helps my alma mater in some small  way. 

3) That's exactly what the BCS is about, for better or worse. Mostly worse.

Personally, I would be intrigued more by a playoff system, but sell that idea to the bowl committees. The current BCS contract, I believe, runs out in 2014. Perhaps there is a playoff-oriented replacement worked out by then. I would imagine all the major conferences would want a say in how it would work though.