TOUGH CONFERENCES AND BAD BOWL MATCHUPS

  First I just have to get this off of my chest.  During the first few bowl games I kept hearing the announcers say things like this:   "As everyone knows the SEC is a tough conference; those guys will really hit you."  Problem was the SEC was losing the bowl games in which these comments were being made.  Then I watched Tennessee and North Carolina and it looked like Tennessee might finally pull out the first SEC win.  A North Carolina player was taken off the field badly hurt.  The announcer said, "That's the kind of thing that happens when you play an SEC team."

  Later I watched UConn play Oklahoma.  An Oklahoma player was carried off the field on a stretcher.  I listened for the announcer to say something about how hard UConn players hit but only heard the sound of chirping crickets. UConn is not in the SEC so clearly their hits don't hurt as much.

   Finally an SEC team began to win a bowl.  As Alabama started running up the score the announcer made the very predictable comment, "As everyone knows, the SEC is the strongest conference in the nation."  This was said even though up to that point the SEC had lost all of its previous bowl games and was winless against the ACC. Regardless of that fact "everyone knows" which conference is really strongest.   

     By the day of the Arkansas vs. Ohio State game all TV announcers were in agreement that the SEC is the strongest conference in the land.  Sadly these conclusions are always drawn before the evidence is all in but that doesn't matter.  Even if Arkansas and Auburn both lose, the myth has once again been established.  Announcers, having pronounced the SEC the strongest conference, can not take back what has already been said.  It is established fact.

   Now for the BCS matchups.  Does anyone else think the matchups this year were poor?  TCU and Wisconsin both seemed to be strong teams and TCU could be the best team in the nation but we will never know without a playoff.  I wonder how the bowls would have looked if Michigan State had played Virginia Tech?  What would a Stanford versus Alabama game have looked like?  What if Wisconsin had played Mississippi State?  What if TCU had played Arkansas or Ohio State had played Florida State?  Almost every year I feel dissatisfied with the bowl match ups. 

      The only one that it is hard to argue with is Oregon versus Auburn.  Of course if that ends up being a blow out by either team we still will wonder if either of them could have handled TCU.  The best we can hope for is close hard fought game like the classic championship game a few years ago between Texas and Southern Cal.

    Only a playoff would prove once and for all in a given year which is the best team and whose conference is the strongest.