Bowl games more exciting with current system of matchups

With the BCS Championship game still two days away, an analysis of this season’s bowl games would seem a bit premature.

But anyone who watched the winter break bowl games, showcasing college football talents from all corners of the NCAA’s jurisdiction, would have had his or her fair share of excitement. With all the thrill of bowl games, however silly the hoopla may seem, those three weeks of daily college football are the best conclusion to an already thrilling season.

Did anyone see Northwestern scare Auburn in the Outback Bowl?

Or the Penn State field goal unit best LSU in the Capital One Bowl?

Or UCLA’s defense show up to dominate the second half of the EagleBank Bowl against Temple?

Would you rather have that, or a second round matchup in a tournament format between Florida and Bowling Green in Idaho with a sparsely filled lower level?

The unique nature of the Football Bowl Subdivision ““ 120 teams but only 13 games ““ makes a playoff system unwieldy at best and utterly boring at worst. The circus of 34 bowl games yields an AYSO-like culture of everyone winning a trophy, but what’s wrong with that?

Aside from the silly computers that very mathematically determine who plays in the most prominent bowls, the current system works for what college football aims to achieve.

More than half of college football teams have a chance to end their seasons on a positive note, visit a stadium they will probably never visit again and face a team they will probably never face again.

The competition next season becomes more heated with some teams vying for a big name bowl while other teams are scrapping just for an opportunity to take their Christmas on the road.

No. 17 Pitt would never have had a chance to redeem its third loss of the season at the hands of Cincinnati without its 19-17 win over UNC in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

And its freshman running back Dion Lewis would never have a chance to tell the country that Pitt Football is back.

Nobody would have seen the impossible happen in the Outback Bowl as Northwestern showed Auburn it should be known for something other than a stellar journalism school.

The Wildcats did something I’ve only seen on EA Sports’ NCAA 2008, scoring a pair of touchdowns and a two-point conversion in the final four minutes along with a fumble recovery to take the game into overtime.

Though Northwestern went on to lose in overtime on a failed fumblerooskie attempt, it was quite the finish, something that would not have happened in a regular season game or an early round playoff game, were Northwestern to make it.

As its coach, Pat Fitzgerald, said of the trick play, “I’ve had it in my back pocket for four years, and people tell me I’m too conservative. So I said, `What the heck. We’re here to win, so let’s go.'”

His risk didn’t pay off in terms of a win, but that didn’t matter, at least not to me, a neutral observer looking for some fun football to watch over break.

And how about our Bruins playing on the slip ‘n slide at RFK Stadium capped off by an Akeem Ayers pick six? Would the seventh-best team in the Pac-10 ever face the second best team in the East Division of the MAC without the postseason hoopla of the bowl system?

Doubt it.

How about USC and Boston College? The Trojans were missing some key players, but still managed to hold the Eagles scoreless in three quarters in an Emerald Bowl that proved to be more competitive than expected.

The scheduling gods of ABC would have nothing of it. The LA-Boston rivalry wouldn’t really hold up with that matchup as it would if Cal Tech faced MIT in the TI-89 Bowl.

And how about Tim Tebow’s career finale in No. 5 Florida’s Sugar Bowl domination of No. 3 Cincinnati? What a stunning end to an even more stunning collegiate career.

A BCS record 533 total yards? Four touchdowns?

Ridiculous.

It may not have been a win for the Championship but Tebow, with his consistently dominant performances, still stands as one of the greatest college football players ever.

And with these few evidences of the excitement of bowl season, it is obvious that college football’s postseason is in good hands.

If you think the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl was more fun than the Rose Bowl, e-mail Mashhood at

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