BCS Bowl Hype?

Tonight, is the third out of the four BCS bowl games that essentially serve no significance at all other than to make money for TV networks, the NCAA, and for the respective conferences. The Orange Bowl tonight pits #4 Stanford vs. #12 Virginia Tech on ESPN at 8:15 pm. See my handicapping page for a preview and prediction.

Because of greed, we are stuck this year and for at least a few more to come with bowl games that mean nothing. It is great that #3 TCU beat #5 Wisconsin, but it's more like a consolation game than a meaningful one. How about #7 Oklahoma beating a four-loss unranked Connecticut? Oklahoma won in a blowout, but it was expected and did nothing for the program except for finally giving Bob Stoops a win in a BCS game after losing his last five.

Then, you have the Orange Bowl tonight with Stanford who has just one-loss at Oregon, and Virginia Tech who has won eleven straight games after a slow start losing to Boise State and James Madison. This game should be a playoff game between two great teams in different conferences for a shot at playing in the national championship instead of a game in which the winner wins a trophy filled with oranges.

Stanford as one-loss, on the road at the team playing in the national championship. Had that game been in Palo Alto, CA, it is likely we would've seen Stanford hold their early lead and they would be the 2nd ranked team in the country.

Every year we get closer and closer to a playoff because of teams like Stanford and TCU who finish their respective seasons deserving of the opportunity to play for a national championship. In the off-season, more pressure will be put on the NCAA to consider a playoff system, and I feel we will get one after the current TV contracts expire in 2014.