College Football Bowl Game Reconstruction
By Michael Schneid
Some fans love the glitz and the glamor of a December bowl game. It's a celebration of a successful season and fans and players get to travel and play a different opponent.
However, there are many issues that need to be addressed moving forward.
For starters, 35 bowl games is way too much. Teams are rewarded for mediocrity. 6-6 record gets you into a bowl. But ironically, ADs are holding coaches to a high standard and 6-6 is not good enough. Take Purdue for example. They finished 6-6. They fired head coach Danny Hope. By NCAA standards, Purdue had a successful season because they got to play on New Year's Day in the Heart of Texas Bowl. But by Purdue standards, 6-6 is unacceptable because he got fired.
Here are some more examples of bowl game flaws.
I have developed 5 steps to rebuilding the bowl process.
1. Makes geographical sense
2. No repeat opponents - regular season
3. Dont play games at 3:00 on a weekday
4. Teams cannot go to same game consecutive years
5. Finish all games before BCS. (GoDaddy and Compass are played right before national title)
To jump into the resolution issue even further, I mapped out the potential bowl games for each conference. With the elimination of the WAC and the reduction of the Big East/American Conference, we did our best to develop bowls that make sense geographically and for the opponents playing and based on prestige.
*Note - American (formerly Big East) will only have one more year with BCS bid before the BCS goes away. The five major conferences each have a bid to an "Access Bowl" and the American will not. Whichever team amongst the other five conferences that finishes with the highest rank, will automatically receive Access Bowl bid.
Share your thoughts below on this new system. Which bowls you like. Which ones you don't. Or your general thoughts on the bowl system.
Some fans love the glitz and the glamor of a December bowl game. It's a celebration of a successful season and fans and players get to travel and play a different opponent.
However, there are many issues that need to be addressed moving forward.
For starters, 35 bowl games is way too much. Teams are rewarded for mediocrity. 6-6 record gets you into a bowl. But ironically, ADs are holding coaches to a high standard and 6-6 is not good enough. Take Purdue for example. They finished 6-6. They fired head coach Danny Hope. By NCAA standards, Purdue had a successful season because they got to play on New Year's Day in the Heart of Texas Bowl. But by Purdue standards, 6-6 is unacceptable because he got fired.
Here are some more examples of bowl game flaws.
- Boise St vs Washington in Vegas Bowl. These two teams play Week 1 2013.
- San Jose St traveling to Washington DC? And playing at 2 pm?
- Pitt playing in Birmingham for the THIRD straight season
- Liberty Bowl - Tulsa vs Iowa St is regular season rematch
I have developed 5 steps to rebuilding the bowl process.
1. Makes geographical sense
2. No repeat opponents - regular season
3. Dont play games at 3:00 on a weekday
4. Teams cannot go to same game consecutive years
5. Finish all games before BCS. (GoDaddy and Compass are played right before national title)
To jump into the resolution issue even further, I mapped out the potential bowl games for each conference. With the elimination of the WAC and the reduction of the Big East/American Conference, we did our best to develop bowls that make sense geographically and for the opponents playing and based on prestige.
| ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten | PAC 12 | SEC |
| 1. Orange | 1. Fiesta | 1. Rose | 1. Rose | 1. Sugar |
| 2. Chick Fil A | 2. Cotton | 2. Capital One | 2. Alamo | 2. Capital One |
| 3. Russel Athletic | 3. Alamo | 3. Outback | 3. Holiday | 3. Cotton |
| 4. Belk | 4. Sun | 4. Gator | 4. Sun | 4. Outback |
| 5. Music City | 5. Holiday | 5. Buffalo Wild Wings | 5. Vegas | 5. Chick Fil A |
| 6. Military | 6. Buffalo Wild Wings | 6. Heart of Texas | 6. Independence | 6. Gator |
| 7. Beef O Bradys | 7. Meineke Car Care | 7. Pinstripe | 7. Hawaii | 7. Music City |
| 8. Independence | 8. Heart of Texas | 8. Little Caesars | 8. Poinsettia | 8. Liberty |
| American | MAC | CUSA | Mt West | Sun Belt |
| 1. BCS* | 1. Little Caesers | 1. Beef O Brdys | 1. Vegas | 1. New Orleans |
| 2. Russel Athletic | 2. GoDaddy | 2. New Orleans | 2. Poinsettia | 2. GoDaddy |
| 3. Liberty | 3. Compass | 3. Armed Forces | 3. New Mexico | 3. Compass |
| 4. Pinstripe | 4. Beef O Bradys | 4. Potato Bowl | 4. Meineke | 4. New Mexico |
| 5. Military | 5. Armed Forces | 5. Kraft Fight Hunger | 5.Potato | |
| 6.Belk | 6. Kraft Fight | |||
| 7. Hunger | ||||
| 8. Hawaii |
*Note - American (formerly Big East) will only have one more year with BCS bid before the BCS goes away. The five major conferences each have a bid to an "Access Bowl" and the American will not. Whichever team amongst the other five conferences that finishes with the highest rank, will automatically receive Access Bowl bid.
Share your thoughts below on this new system. Which bowls you like. Which ones you don't. Or your general thoughts on the bowl system.
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