Sugar Bowl Team Selection Background/Reasoning
AA.com had an interesting article from their sister-site in New Orleans to some of the background that went into the decision making of picking Michigan and VT. Also some thoughts on how the BCS may evolve.
Some highlights of interest (to me at least):
- The double bowl game (this and championship) seems to be wearing on the committee.
- Oklahoma may have taken our spot if they had won. Or at least shifted us around.
- Saying that, the Sugar was locked in on Michigan as someone they wanted for a long time.
- It really came down to VT vs. KSU. Stanford, Boise, and West Virginia were elligble, but never really considered.
- KSU AD doesn't think he schmoozed enough, and that the ACC commish and Sugar Bowl guy being college teammates was a factor.
- They want to get ride of the Big East, but can't till 2014.
- Worried about only one at large team per conference (ie. "can't we just fill the BCS with ALL SEC teams?")
- And most intersting to me, they don't like the post Jan 1 BCS games, because of travel, work and school conflicts. Which I do miss the 1st being an orgy of football with the Fiesta in the later afternoon/early evening up against the Rose, and the Sugar and Orange at night that day. Getting excited for the one game at night, days later, (unless Michigan is in it) just isn't the same.
It gets into a little more detail than I did, but those were the points that stuck out to me.
December 19th, 2011 at 10:49 AM ^
Returning the big bowls to New Year's day would be amazing. I completely support this idea. I'd also be shocked if ESPN allows it to happen.
December 19th, 2011 at 11:02 AM ^
Of the Big East autobid. The Big East is so, so terrible...
December 19th, 2011 at 11:06 AM ^
Yay January 1 bowls. Travel costs and venue are not affecting my decision to not attend the Sugar Bowl; holding the game on a weeknight is and ruins the whole Goddamn thing.
December 19th, 2011 at 11:11 AM ^
I can't swing that much time off work at the start of the new year, a very common complaint.
December 19th, 2011 at 1:37 PM ^
I would totally be at this game if not for the J-O-B. Simply can't get time off mid-week. Obviously TV money trumps attendance money so I'm not hopeful that the situation will change any time soon.
December 19th, 2011 at 3:43 PM ^
I too will not be there due to the game being on a weekday.
December 19th, 2011 at 11:20 AM ^
My family moved to Florida when I was 8, and after that we almost always went to the Citrus or Orange bowls when Michigan was in them, but we could only do that because there was no school or work on New Years. There's no way my dad could have taken off work and taken us out of school to go to a football game. So I'm glad they didn't change the dates until after I moved. I'm not in a position to travel for bowls now (poor grad student) but if I were, the dates would definitely be a big issue.
December 19th, 2011 at 11:30 AM ^
Does anyone really like having post January 1st bowl games? I think it's ridiculous the national championship game is played sometimes as late as January 9th. I could deal with that game being as late as the 3rd but not the following week. Bowl games should be a part of the holiday season like it used to be.
As for Kansas State, it's an interesting situation with them. The BCS, for all it's faults, always seemed to get it right with them. I can think of 3 different times where KSU was 11-1 or 10-2 in recent memory and never once did they get invited to a BCS Bowl because they didn't beat anybody noteworthy. They scheduled like Wisconsin for non-conference games (opponents like Western Kentucky, Florida International, Missouri State, Montana State, etc) and they would lose big against their one relevant opponent.
This year, they had a better case with a 1 point win over Baylor but other than that, the best team they beat was 7-5 Missouri. 8 of their 10 wins were by 7 points or less and that included barely escaping Eastern Kentucky 10-7. Losing at home to Oklahoma 58-17 was bad. Maybe if they had at least shown up for that game. Still, the Baylor win is better than any win Virginia Tech has this year. I'm floored that an ACC team got an at large bid at all. Has that ever happened before?
December 19th, 2011 at 11:36 AM ^
I can't tell you who is obviously better, or more deserving (maybe Stanford). But the idea that KSU is leaps and bounds better than say, VT, I don't get. They're rankd about the same. Similar records. Haven't really beaten anyone. They certainly could have gotten bid. But the idea that they're so deserving over everyone else...I mean, man, anyone putting money on them over Arkansas?
December 19th, 2011 at 11:55 AM ^
The fury over the Va Tech pick has almost nothing to do with them being an inferior team to K-State (which I agree is debatable). It has everything to do with the principle of the ACC not being a conference worthy of an at-large bid and the Hokies getting blown out by Clemson (again) the night before the selection show.
December 19th, 2011 at 12:08 PM ^
This was why people were angry. Had the Sugar selected Boise, I think people would have been more accepting simply because they beat somebody (Georgia) and their only loss was a close one to a pretty good TCU program.
But yeah, the fact that the ACC received two bids - the same number as the Big 10, SEC, and Pac-12 - is what drives people crazy.
December 19th, 2011 at 12:26 PM ^
Than the Big 12? Is that they actually have at least one good team? (In theory).
December 19th, 2011 at 11:40 AM ^
TV executives like post January 1st bowl games, and unfortunately, they're the only ones that matter. With ESPN having the rights to all 5 BCS games plus citrus, gator, etc., there's almost zero chance that the Bowls can get back to the 1st. ESPN pays too much not to give each game an unopposed timeslot.
December 19th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^
From the "no more FOX" standpoint, but for scheduling them, it really hampers the viewing. I'm still living in a world where the Orange and Fiesta were on one channel (NBC?), Rose on ABC, and Sugar someplace else....
December 19th, 2011 at 5:52 PM ^
I can get games streaming for free, at least for the moment.
December 19th, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^
I'm definitely in favor of moving bowls back into the holiday season. I mean the whole point of that week should be hanging out with family and watching college football between Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) and New Year's. May be you go to your bowl because you have time off during those holidays.
The thing I hate though is that they have all these less important bowls between the BCS bowls. I'm talking about the Compass Bowl, the GoDaddy dot com Bowl. Shouldn't bowls be getting more important as we go on?
The only real defense for the current spread out system is just that; it's more spread out. You get your college football fix over a longer period of time. The downside is that it hurts travel. I personally think the point of bowl games is to encourage tourism, not to get higher ratings. Money figures probably make schools and networks disagree though.
December 19th, 2011 at 12:18 PM ^
I dont mind post Jan 1 bowls. I hate when they try to pack every game on the same day. I like when there is a great game at 4 30 and then one at night. I get that playing on a weekday is not ideal for travel and work schedules, but I like being the only prime time game that is being played. All eyes will be on Michigan, and with a good showing, that could possibly lead to more recruits. I.
December 19th, 2011 at 11:37 AM ^
Remember the week when LSU-Bama played at prime-time, and ESPN rescheduled their two "best" games to be on ABC and ESPN also in primetime to draw viewers away from the CBS matchup? Yeah, those people also broadcast these bowls, and they are going to try to get the most money they can from it.
December 19th, 2011 at 11:50 AM ^
Death to the BCS
December 19th, 2011 at 11:59 AM ^
KSU AD doesn't think he schmoozed enough, and that the ACC commish and Sugar Bowl guy being college teammates was a factor.
It says Sugar Bowl guy vehemently denied this (of course) but it definitely fits in with the old boy motif that permeates the bowl culture in the picture painted by that Village Voice Media article.
December 19th, 2011 at 12:25 PM ^
This totally makes sense, though I will add that in KSU's case, it wasn't like they were a slam-dunk better choice than VT for the spot. They were blown out by Oklahoma and did lose close-ish to OkSt., but outside of the Baylor win it was a pretty weak resume. I think it was a weak crop of at-larges after Stanford and Michigan, so VT was at least a name people had heard of and, despite losing to Clemson twice, had a similar makeup as the other squads on the list.
December 19th, 2011 at 12:03 PM ^
If those guys being teammates played any part in Va Tech's selection, then this is just more proof as to why we should do away with the BCS
December 19th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^
It's not just the BCS. The entire bowl system is asinine.
December 19th, 2011 at 12:36 PM ^
I absolutely LOVED New Year's Day when it was Bowl-a-poluza. Random things I remember:
1. I couldn't wait for the stupid parades to end so the games could start
2. The Cotton Bowl was on early and seemed to always Texas in it against Notre Dame. I don't think that game ever actually happened but it seems like it did in my memory.
3. There were usually two or sometimes even THREE Florida Bowl games on between 1-3
4. NBC got one Florida game and sometimes even the Rose Bowl. This was pre-ND contract so it was usually the only college game they had all year. Again, in my memory Don Crique and Merlin Olsen were doing the games
5. Rose Bowl started at 4:30 and everything else was off except maybe the very end of the Fiesta Bowl. It had the stage all to itself
6. Big decision at night. Orange or Sugar Bowl? Orange seemed to always have Nebraska or Oklahoma in it. Sugar Bowl featured your serving of SEC schools and in MGrowold's memory this was a game that would usually feature Alabama.
December 19th, 2011 at 12:45 PM ^
ND played Texas 3 times from 1970-1978 in the Cotton Bowl. All 3 times Texas was #1. (Also played Houston in 1979). Then from 1988to 1994 they played Texas A&M 3 times in the Cotton.
And anyone else remember when the Orange was almost as well known for their halftime show as the game? Light shows, big name acts, pagentry.
December 19th, 2011 at 1:05 PM ^
Well that explains why it seems like that in my memory. 6 times it was either Texas or Texas A & M.
Halftime shows? You mean UP WITH PEOPLE????
December 19th, 2011 at 1:19 PM ^
But yes, it hads it's ups and downs.
December 19th, 2011 at 1:09 PM ^
You're old, M-Wolverine?
Surely you jest.
December 19th, 2011 at 1:20 PM ^
You're immature, BRCE?
Yeah, never would have guessed that....
December 19th, 2011 at 1:16 PM ^
This year is obviously an exception with the nfl playing on Sunday. However, I think the bowls feel having games on the 3rd, 4th, etc. probably plays a role in reducing ticket sales. Most people are taking time off before xmas or between xmas and ny's to spend with their familys. To put the bowl games on the 3rd, 4th, etc. forces people to use more time off or to just pass on going to a bowl game.
The catch is with the large amount of money that is being shelled out to televise the BCS bowl games, there's no way TV is going to let 2 BCS bowls be played at the same time.
December 19th, 2011 at 4:11 PM ^
over say playing every single B1G bowl game at the same time ....
/s
December 19th, 2011 at 1:25 PM ^
Not a fan of the late dates with the bowl games, as usual it takes the normal fan almost completely out of the game unless your willing to sacrifice work/school.
Even more not a fan because this year I am in a position to actually drive to New Orleans and watch Michigan play of which the wife said "lets do it" but simply put I cannot take 2 days off that early in the new year and expect to have a job when I get back.
December 19th, 2011 at 3:32 PM ^
"They want to get ride of the Big East, but can't till 2014." - bullet point from the OP
The Big East more or less did this themselves by allowing teams from Idaho, California, Papua New Guinea, Neptune and Tau Ceti IV to join the conference.
In any event, it still burns me a bit that we are playing bowl games as late as the second week of January this year, as it serves as a testament to how inflated the bowl system has become, in my mind.
Here's the other thing that creates quandaries for CFB fans like me - there are 2 bowls each on the 28th and 29th, then 4 bowls on the 30th of December, 5 on the 31st, 6 on the 2nd of January, then 1 per day until the 9th, I think. There are three days where nearly half the games are played. Seems like terrible spacing to me, if we're going to have this many bowls.
December 19th, 2011 at 4:07 PM ^
I think that is due to TV. They want to make sure they minimize the amount of time multiple bowls are playing at once so they can maximize the ratings. Of course on NY's Day, there's like 3 or 4 big ten teams playing at the same time early in the day.
December 20th, 2011 at 11:37 AM ^
Double rainbows are sure to follow this:
Edit: ok, I obviously need some lessons here. I have attempted to put a link to a picture of denard here and it didn't work.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72184297@N02/6539803635/in/photostream/lightbox/
December 19th, 2011 at 4:40 PM ^
that kind of likes the extra spacing? I like being able to devote my full attention to each of the big bowl games, and knowing that it's what everybody else is watching too.
Plus, for me, a game on a weekday night > a game on a friday or saturday night, I guess mostly because I'm a high schooler that likes going out and has never had to consider getting off work to actually go to a game (and completely off topic, but just got my acceptance to Michigan!).
December 19th, 2011 at 7:32 PM ^
You and I are generations apart. I grew up in the era where January was a day of holy observance. in my household. I miss having New Year's Day dedicated to College football conference battles. The BCS has taken away from the general collge football excitement. That being said, I do like this time running up to the Bowls to watch teams I have not watched up to this point.
Enjoy your time at Michigan ... And take whatewver discount they give you upon graduation for a lifetime UM Alum membership. I wish I had done this.
December 19th, 2011 at 6:35 PM ^
Michigan Manders,
You probably are the only one, but congrats anyway. Enjoy your time in Ann Arbor, and Go Blue!
December 19th, 2011 at 7:56 PM ^
Time for Brian's playoff.
December 19th, 2011 at 11:51 PM ^
I'll try to squeeze every bowl game in this season as I can. Tuesday night is not so good, but it'll happen. I think we have a problem competing with the NFL for New Years Day. Money vs. tradition.