College Football: It's a Wonderful Bowl Season and UConn Deserves a BCS Berth

For much of the latter half of the year and particularly after the BCS bids were announced, there has been much hand-wringing over the Big East’s automatic berth in the BCS and UConn’s placement in particular. And if we are honest about it, a lot of the scorn directed at the Big East is somewhat deserved. It has not been a terribly impressive league during the regular season.

That being said, the Big East absolutely deserves its automatic berth this year and for the remainder of this BCS contract. What people fail to remember is that the automatic bid was what got the Big East to join the BCS in the first place, and without the Big East (and then member Miami), the BCS would have failed.

I’m certain that a lot of people who read this are pro-playoff and would be happy with that result. I have written an article on the problems with a playoff, and I hope that playoff proponents will keep any arguments regarding playoffs to the comments on that article, as my goal in this article is to compare the pre-BCS system to the one we have now. You can access that article here...feel free to leave your scorn.

Since it’s the holiday season I would like to think of this article as sort of an It’s a Wonderful Life for college football. What if the BCS had never been born? Would the world be a better place, like George Bailey believed? Or would the national championship chase look more like Potter’s Field…a desolate town where dreams go to die? After each of the matchups there is a quote from the movie that best sums it up.

It should also be mentioned that my matchups are based on my memory of bowl matchups and tiebreakers that have been gone for more than a decade. If I am in error, please feel free to correct me.

Rose Bowl: Oregon vs. Michigan State

In the pre-BCS era, there would be no matchup of No. 1 vs. No. 2 this year. In fact, of the last six BCS title games, only three could plausibly have matched up No. 1 vs. No. 2…and even then it would be somewhat unlikely.

The Rose Bowl pitted the Pac-10 champ vs. the Big Ten champ, and my recollection of the tiebreakers is that it would be the team with the longest Rose Bowl drought that got the nod. In this case, it would be Michigan State getting the nod and giving the Rose Bowl committee their perfect game: a claimant to the national title vs. a team that hasn’t been to Pasadena in a while.

Wonderful Life quote: "Remember the night we broke the windows in this old house? This is what I wished for."

Orange Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Virginia Tech

The Big 12 was created after the BCS (or, if you want to get technical, the Bowl Alliance, which was the BCS without the Pac-10 or Big Ten). In the old bowl system, however, the Big 8 champ went to the Orange Bowl and it is reasonable to assume that the Fiesta Bowl tie-in would never have happened without the BCS.

The ACC never had a major bowl tie in, and their champions were frequent guests of both the Orange Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl. My guess is that with OU not being in the title hunt the organizers would go for an ACC team for attendance reasons, especially since OU would be making their third appearance in four years.

Wonderful Life quote: "I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow, and the next day, and the next year, and the year after that."

Sugar Bowl: Auburn vs. TCU

The SEC champion appeared in the Sugar Bowl, and TCU would seem to be a natural fit, as it would be the highest-ranking possible opponent.

There is an enormous caveat with this though. No mid-major team would have ever been able to make the case that they belong without the BCS. Boise State would never have played OU and Utah would almost certainly never have gotten a shot at Alabama. Would TCU be so highly ranked had the BCS not given mid-majors a shot at the elite? My gut says no, but since we have no way of knowing, I will grant them the Sugar Bowl berth. Reluctantly.

As for Auburn, I can’t imagine that this would really be the matchup they would want. While both Auburn and Oregon would probably wish they could play each other, at least Oregon gets the Rose Bowl. While the Sugar Bowl isn’t bad, it’s not the Rose Bowl. And while TCU may be good, they aren’t exactly a sexy choice for an SEC champ.

Wonderful Life quote: "Well, you look about the kind of angel I'd get. Sort of a fallen angel, aren't you? What happened to your wings?"

Fiesta Bowl: Stanford vs. Alabama

The Fiesta Bowl is a bit of a wild card, since they had no conference affiliations but generally put together a good matchup. They had a history of selecting the No. 2 from the Pac-10 and in the early '90s would often select a team from the upper portion of the SEC as well. It could very easily be Ohio State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Boise State, LSU or Arkansas in place of either team though. Your guess is as good as mine.

But since the Pac-10 and SEC rarely play each other, this is the matchup I’d most like to see. A nice, tough, physical game with future high draft picks on both sides.

Wonderful Life quote: "I wish I had a million dollars... Hot dog!"

All in all, it’s not a bad series of matchups. But there is no national title game, and there is a decent chance of a split title…just like there would have been in most of the previous decade with USC being locked into the Rose Bowl or the SEC champ being locked into the Sugar Bowl.

This brings us to UConn. Like it or not, UConn’s berth is what makes the Auburn/Oregon game possible. Does the Big East deserve a place at the table based on their play this year? Probably not. But that matchup is the price that has to be paid in order to watch the top two teams actually play each other.