I am a realist.
I honestly can say that the traditional powers from the South and West are up.
I can honestly say that the traditional powers from the North and East are down.
I realize this changes every 5-10 years and in different combinations based on....1. Talent...2. Coaching....& 3. Shifting Powers (the emergence of Rutgers, UConn, etc.).
What I can not figure out is how college experts, announcers, and coaches are not mentioning a few things that really assist the Southern and Western teams throughout the course of the season and especially in the bowl games. I am interested in hearing a few other perspectives on these thoughts.
- Southern and Western teams seem not to travel as much as teams from the North and East. More importantly, Western and Southern teams will not play cold weather games. Maybe this is just with the SEC but can anyone remember when a team like Florida traveled North to play a team like Michigan for a non-conference game? How about in October or November when the weather is turning? The game is different and I can not believe experts are not mentioning this. Ask the Miami Dolphins about traveling North for playoff games. Or an indoor team like the Colts for that matter. Maybe it is scheduling and conference agreements but this has got to change. All I hear about right now is speed, speed, speed....trying running fast in snow and sleet. Each year I love watching to see if in the ACC, Miami has to travel to VT or BC for a cold weather game and I would love to see USC at Wisconsin in November in a blizzard.
- Due to the BCS system, the bowl pairings are rarely the way they were intended and actually hurt conferences that qualify two teams in the BCS. For example, compare the PAC 10 and the Big 10 this past season. The PAC 10 goes undefeated (5-0)and the Big 10 struggles to win 1 or two games out of 6. The common fan sees this and thinks the PAC 10 is superior. However, due to the BCS system, the Big 10 qualified 2 teams into the BCS where as the PAC 10 only qualified one. So what you say....play the rest of the bowl pairings out and you will see....now the number 2 team in the Big 10 is playing another great team in a BCS game when they normally would have been playing the 2nd ranked team in the SEC in the Capital One Bowl. That now goes to number 3 in the Big 10. Same thing for the number three bowl...that goes to number 4 in the conference....4 to 5....5 to 6...ect....To sum it up....the BCS system causes at least 2 and sometimes 3 conferences to play one up for it's entire bowl season. This year that happened to the Big 10, the Big 12, and the SEC. Due to travel...this will almost always happen to the Big 10 and has the past three years in a row for sure....maybe more.
- Home field advantage for bowl games....similar to the first complaint stating that Western and Southern teams do not travel, especially in October and November....just about all the glorious bowl games are played in the West or in the South...a huge advantage for those teams for a multitude of reasons....
a. Fan Base - more often than not the fans will be able to make it to a bowl game if the game is close.
b. These teams are more likely to have already played on that field in their conferences week in and week out action...familiarity breeds success.
c. Travel time and efforts are greatly reduced for the athletes and coaches. Think of USC sleeping in the beds the last three years in a row while Michigan, Illinois, and Penn State all flew across the country to just get there. I would love to see a bowl game in Chicago, Cleveland, or Denver (and the people of those towns would support it....guaranteed) .
d. Cold weather teams are playing warm weather games for the first time in months. Don't think this matters? Just like cold weather games are different for warm weather teams, warm weather games are different for cold weather teams. Breathing is different, hydration is different, your body is different (it has changed to adjust to the cold weather), and style of play is different. A major advantage or disadvantage depending on where you are coming from.
Well, there they are. My thoughts on some un-said issues with bowl games and what I see to be an improper Western and Southern bias.
What are your thoughts?