BCS Bowl Games Top Five Ideal Pairings
The college football season has been a wild ride, as usual. We’ve seen dynamic performances from the likes of Cam Newton, Denard Robinson, LaMichael James and Justin Blackmon. Alabama fell early and Ohio St. didn’t take long to drop from the No. 1 seed either.
Since then, it was Auburn taking the top spot before losing it to Oregon, who have yet to relinquish their stranglehold on the top of the BCS Rankings and aren’t expected to do so.
Each team has its strengths but their weaknesses are evident to most. Ideally, these are the pairings I’d like to see for these top five BCS bowl games.
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma St. vs. Alabama
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Although I would really enjoy seeing Alabama against Ohio St., I think this would also make for an exciting matchup. Alabama, despite their two-loss season, is still an excellent team. They have a superstar team under Nick Saban’s excellent program, but stumbled along the way after winning the BCS Championship last season. Although this year could be considered a disappointment, they still had a nice year.
Oklahoma St. has been very good this season with just one loss on the year to ranked Nebraska. This team boasts the top receiver in the nation in Justin Blackmon, who has 94 receptions, 1560 yards and 17 touchdowns. His partner in crime, Brandon Weeden, has been very good this season, tossing 30 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. It would be interesting to see how the pair stacks up against the Crimson Tide defense.
Discover Orange Bowl: Stanford vs. Ohio St.
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A fine matchup between two teams led by former Heisman hopefuls.
Andrew Luck will be one of the top picks in the NFL draft. Terrelle Pryor is hoping he’ll be a top pick in the 2012 NFL draft. Regardless, these are two of the top quarterbacks in the nation. Both have greatly improved their play this season, but even more so in their leadership qualities.
Combined, Pryor and Luck have tossed 47 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. Both are dual threats, as they have combined for 1035 yards and seven touchdowns.
Both teams sit with just one loss and should finish this season that way. This would be a fun contest to see how well these two very good quarterbacks do against each other.
Allstate Sugar Bowl: LSU vs. Wisconsin
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LSU has crept up into the top five of the BCS Rankings and shouldn’t drop before the season ends. LSU has only lost to Auburn this season, which is by no means something LSU should hang their heads over. Their recent victory over Alabama to open November was the defining moment of their season as they defeated three of the four ranked teams they played.
Aside from the miscue against Michigan St., who was red hot at the time, Wisconsin has played excellent football this season. In consecutive weeks in the middle of the season they beat two ranked teams, Ohio St. and Iowa. Their recent smashing of Denard Robinson’s Michigan Wolverines all but sealed their fate.
This would be a fantastic battle of two tough-nosed teams.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Rose Bowl: TCU vs. Boise St.
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This would easily be one of the most exciting games of the season.
These are two of the highest powered offenses in the nation. Kellen Moore is one of the most efficient and effective quarterbacks in college football. He is currently completing 71.8 percent of his passes and has thrown 28 touchdown passes to just five interceptions.
The Horned Frogs’ Andy Dalton is no slouch himself. He has thrown 23 touchdowns to six interceptions with a completion rate of 66.3 percent.
While I’ve believed all season that these two defenses are underrated, neither would match up very well against the opposing offense. This is why this game would be so exciting. It would essentially be up to the defense to win the game by forcing a turnover or making a play on special teams because the offenses are too strong.
While this pairing most likely won’t take place, I believe we would be robbed of arguably the best game this season. Both teams have played extremely well trying to leap into the No. 2 position of the BCS Rankings and have battled each other for the No. 3 spot all season long. Seeing these two teams battle each other would be amazing.
BCS Championship: Auburn vs. Oregon
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Easily the most anticipated matchup of the year. Both of these teams remain undefeated and look to remain undefeated the rest of the way.
Cam Newton is a special player. We’ve seen him throw, run and even catch touchdowns. Despite his off-the-ield allegations, Newton is the current favorite to win the Heisman. The leader of the Tigers, Newton would be able to put on a show against a good Oregon Ducks defense.
It is the Oregon offense that is truly special. They can put up points on any defense although they have shown they can stumble at times. I wouldn’t expect the Tigers defense to contain LaMichael James and Darron Thomas. James leads the nation is yards per game at 158 and has 17 rushing touchdowns on the season. Cam Newton has rushed for 17 touchdowns as well while adding over 1200 yards on the ground. It would be extremely exciting to see these two rushers go head-to-head for the most coveted prize in college football.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
