BCS Matchups

At the end of every college football season, another season begins: bowl season.   Every year teams from multiple conferences with at least six wins and a non-losing record meet together for what has turned out to be a few weeks of excitement to end and start the calendar year.  After 29 games in three weeks, closing out the bowl season will be the five BCS bowls: Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, and the BCS National Championship.  After a season of excitement in the NCAA, these games are set and they look to provide a lot of great football to start out 2010.

Multiple scenarios led to the BCS matchups that we will see in a few weeks.  This past weekend the BCS landscape was severely altered when then #1 Florida lost to #2 Alabama in the SEC Championship, and advanced to the BCS National Championship to face the Big 12 Champion and current #2 ranked team, Texas.  After getting beat at #1, Florida moved down to #5 and will play in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans versus Big East champion, and newfound powerhouse Cincinnati.  The Fiesta Bowl has turned out to be what many people always hope for: two teams from non-BCS conferences playing in BCS games.  Last year it was Utah dominating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl but this year it will be both Boise State and Texas Christian in the Fiesta Bowl in what will likely be one of the most exciting bowl games, and will show who is strongest of the smaller schools.  In the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, Pac-10 champion Oregon will face Big 10 champion Ohio State in a game that matches up two great teams who usually do not play each other.  Lastly is the Orange Bowl in Miami which will pit the Big 10 number two team Iowa against the ACC Champion and running game professors, Georgia Tech.

All of these games look to be very exciting matchups, as a lot of times teams from big conferences don’t get the opportunity to play other teams from big conferences.  But, this year there are a few other smaller bowl games which will do the trick as well.  In the Capital One Bowl, Penn State will face Louisiana State, in the Gator Bowl, West Virginia will face Florida State, and in the Sun Bowl, Oklahoma will face Stanford; all great games on paper between historically great programs which don’t always get the opportunity to play one another.  No matter what, bowl season starts late next week, and from then until the first week in January it is smash mouth football for bragging rights, and until they finally make everyone’s dreams come true and implement a playoff system in NCAA football, this is what we have to look forward to; and I sure am.