BCS Bowls Locked In

It has been a long season but once again college football delivered an exciting year full of big games, star players and surprising results. Thanks to the seemingly annual late November collapse of teams ranked too high, the match-up in the BCS title game features one team, Florida State, that played at championship level all season and another, Auburn, that while representing the SEC, still was not expected to compete for any kind of title as recently as October 1. But the Tigers are now on a roll, having won nine straight games including four SEC games away from home and one, against Alabama, in which they were big underdogs. Despite that run they will be big underdogs again, but the time for predictions will come at a later date. The Seminoles meanwhile have barely flinched all season, destroying one opponent after another. They do not have many weaknesses. As for the other BCS match-ups, of which more will be written at a later date, the committee did okay for themselves. Missouri and South Carolina are perhaps the biggest absences but they could not be considered as each conference can only have a maximum of two teams and Alabama was clearly number two for the SEC. In mid-season it seemed guaranteed that the Pac 12 would have two teams but the conference ended up with only one legitimate squad with Rose Bowl bound Stanford. As for that Rose Bowl, traditionalists should have their day as Michigan State and Stanford have both ridden the ability to hit hard to the top of their respective conferences. It should be a good game for the old black and white Magnavox that is taking up room in your parents' attic. The Fiesta Bowl will feature Baylor, one of the teams that squandered a late chance to reach the title game, against a Central Florida program that has had a chip on its shoulder all season. The Sugar Bowl will feature two history-swashed programs in Alabama and Oklahoma with the entire nation predicting that one of them will win. Folks have assumed OU would fade away all season and they are the one program that nobody discussed as a possible BCS team back in November despite their pedigree. We may see why in January. The Orange Bowl matches two similar teams in Ohio State and Clemson who both choked up their biggest game of the year (Clemson dropped their second biggest game for good measure). To be honest, I will be watching the Cotton Bowl being played that night between Missouri and Oklahoma State first, this game second. There will be more than enough football to watch this winter. There will also be more than enough time to discuss the match-ups--once the regular season actually ends this Saturday with the Army-Navy game.