The Missouri Tigers accepted an invitation to play in the 2008 Cotton Bowl against the Arkansas Razorbacks. Why did they accepts the invitation so early when BCS bowl selection has not even finished and who knows how far the team will drop. I thought they might still have a chance at one of the BCS bowl games but maybe they know something I don’t.
Dec
2
The last week of college football ended the same way as it started with teams falling, teams coming up with big wins, big upsets, and of course, major focus on which two teams will play in that final BCS title game. The last week featured championship games that would help determine if any team could grab the #1 and #2 spots on the polls and actually remain there. This year, the competition between teams has gotten more competitive as there has not been a team who has been dominate through out the whole season and shown that they are hands down deserving of a title shot. This also means that the BCS system is becoming more obsolete and a playoff system would be a considerable upgrade. Teams that get hot during the end like Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, and USC should be allowed a shot at the national championship.
The first big upset during conference championships this weekend came as #2 West Virginia let down itself and it’s fans again by being upset by a team with a losing record in the Pittsburgh Panthers. Pittsburgh has actually played tough against the Big East’s best teams including Rutgers, Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, and now West Virginia. The team just showed how overrated West Virginia was in it’s throwing game as it scored less points here than versus South Florida. With Pat White injured, there was no point of having the team advance to a BCS system national championship. Sorry Mountaineer fans.
The other big game was between #1 Missouri against #9 Oklahoma with everyone waiting for the Tigers to lose the Big 12 Championship game and the team did just that. Missouri looked lost in the second half of the game and the Sooners showed a dominate performance. Chase Daniels just didn’t look comfortable most of the game and Missouri just couldn’t score on it’s red zone appearances. It is now sure how far the Tigers will drop but they should be in the line for one of the BCS bowls as is Oklahoma who might come close to the national championship but will probably be beaten by LSU, USC, or Virginia Tech for the #2 position.
The Big East Championship featured a rematch of The Virginia Tech Hokies versus Matt Ryan and the Boston College Eagles who stole a win the last time the two teams met by scoring two touchdowns in like the last 6 minutes. Virginia Tech started off extremely slow on offense but still with that vaunted defense that seems to keep them in games and has been a hot team winning the next four games since it’s loss to Boston College. Boston College on the other hand showed a let down after beating Virginia Tech and lost two consecutive games to teams it should have beat which lost the team the chance of a national title shot and probably the Heisman chances of Matt Ryan. Virginia Tech who came in ranked #6 will go to a BCS game but as for #11 Boston College, the chances of attending one are pretty much gone.
USC has shown a resurgence in the last couple of games and beat UCLA to obtain it’s sixth consecutive conference championship and a position in the Rose Bowl as it most likely will not jump past LSU or Virginia Tech. USC is one of hotter teams in the NCAA right now and seems to be running on all cylinders which makes a playoff system very interesting to seem them against other hot teams like Oklahoma or Virginia Tech.
The Hawaii Warriors won their conference with a win against Boise State last week and this week was like the teams conference championship because if the team won, the chances of a BCS bowl birth were almost guaranteed. The team responded and beat a mediocre Washington team that has played teams tough but there is no way the team will have a shot at the national championship and many teams are unsure that Hawaii even deserves a BCS bowl bid with its very weak schedule and performance in such a week schedule. However the team is ranked less than #12 and should take up one of the BCS bowls spots. The interesting spot is who the Warriors will be playing against. A match against Virginia Tech or Oklahoma could be possible if there was enough draw and a WAC rematch against Oklahoma would be interesting but the way the Sooners are playing the game might be out of reach early.
Two other games to note in the final week are the California Bears who loss to Stanford and has continued to show off their anemic offense after starting the season with 5 wins in a row including big ones against Tennessee and Oregon. It is hard to imagine a team starting off so hot just break down and fall apart the remaining games. The other notable game was the Florida Intl. Golden Panthers versus the North Texas Mean Green. Florida Intl. went into the game 0-11 and took a win in it’s final game of the season to go from no win season to a one win season.
Now college football fans look forward to the bowl selections and bowl games.