College Football: Show Me the Money! Why the Bowl System Is All About Cash

With all the controversy churning about the validity of the BCS system, it is easy to forget that the current non-BCS bowl scheme has its own set of concerns regarding equity and fairness.

The current bowl arrangement prescribes certain prearranged deals between the individual bowls, conferences and in certain cases, specific schools

Case in point, the Hawaii Bowl is meant to pit the No. 2 Conference USA team against the No. 3 WAC team or Hawaii.  For 2010 the Hawaii bowl extended bids to Tulsa and Hawaii.  This meets the standards perfectly as Tulsa finished second in C-USA and Hawaii was the WAC’s No. 3 team.

However, we all know that in reality the bowl games extend bids using parameters that come short of meeting their prescribed arrangements in order to facilitate interest, attendance and viewership.

Who cares who finished No. 1 in a conference vs. No. 5 as long as the stands are full, people are watching on TV and the advertisers are making some money?

Who cares which teams are rewarded (and which are not) for excellent play with higher profile games, bigger payouts and better titles? 

Yes friend, let the big get bigger and screw who really deserved what.

Following are four prime examples of bowl games extending bids that directly breach the matchups they advertise.

Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl

Who Should be Playing: LSU vs. Missouri/Oklahoma State/Nebraska (SEC No. 3 or 4 vs. Big 12 No. 2)

Really, you could make an argument for both of these teams not being the correct team to represent their conferences in the 75th Cotton Bowl Classic.

That said, the Big 12 bid recipient, Texas A&M, makes the least logical sense of the two.

Simply put, the second-best team in the Big 12 is supposed to be rewarded with a bid to the Cotton Bowl, and Texas A&M at 9-3 overall and 6-2 in conference finished behind Oklahoma (in the BCS mix), Missouri, Oklahoma State and Nebraska (who respectively received bowl bids meant for the No. 4, No. 3 and No. 5 Big 12 finishers).

The Cotton Bowl wanted Texas A&M and their loyal legion of fans in Dallas to face regional foe LSU.  In fact, the College Station paper began reporting that the Aggies were off to the Cotton Bowl before the season had even officially come to a close.

Clemson in the Meineke Car Care Bowl

Who Should be Playing:   USF vs. Boston College/North Carolina (Big East No. 3 vs. ACC No. 5)

Clemson finished the season a disappointing 6-6 overall and 4-4 in ACC play.  Hardly the stuff postseason dreams are made of.

Despite these less than savory results Clemson, who finished tied for eighth in ACC with Georgia Tech, captured a bid to the Meineke Car Care Bowl, which was supposed to go to the ACC’s No. 5 finisher.

Meanwhile Maryland, who finished tied with North Carolina State for third in the ACC, was downgraded to playing in the Military Bowl in Washington DC (meant for the ACC No. 8 finisher) vs. 6-6 East Carolina.

Much has been made about a Maryland fanbase that won’t travel and has not shown up in the droves the Terrapins hoped for even with a relatively great finish in 2010.

All this results in Maryland staying in the DC area (regardless of their record) and Clemson (with a rabid orange clad fanbase) scoring a better bowl that just so happens to be played in the Carolinas.

Florida in the Outback Bowl

Who Should be Playing: Penn State vs. South Carolina/Mississippi State (Big Ten No. 3 or 4 vs. SEC No. 3 or 4)

The Florida Gators (7-5 overall and 4-4 in SEC play) actually were awarded a bowl bid with a hefty financial payout ($3,100,000) based on past performance.

No other explanation of why Florida is in the Outback Bowl really makes any sense.

Florida will be playing in Tampa against Penn State while South Carolina will face Florida State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl (awarded to the SEC’s No. 5 finisher) and Mississippi State  (who beat Florida straight up and finished a game ahead overall) will play Michigan in the Gator Bowl (meant for the SEC’s No. 6 team).

Who cares that Florida was “less than Florida” this year.  We all know they’ll rebound, and it just seems more like a big game with them than without them.

Pitt in the BBVA Compass Bowl

Who Should be Playing:   Kentucky vs. Syracuse (SEC No. 8 vs. Big East No. 5)

Syracuse finished 2010 with at a better than expected 7-5 mark overall and went 4-3 in Big East play.  Regardless of how good this was it still puts the Orange a step below Pitt who finished (disappointingly) 7-5 overall and 5-2 in conference.

Regardless, Pitt has been shuffled southwards to the BBVA Compass Bowl (meant for the No. 5 Big East team) while the Orange will participate in the first-ever Pinstripe Bowl (hey, that’s played in New York isn’t it?) that is supposed to be awarded to the Big East’s No. 4 finisher.

Well, in the end that’s just splitting hairs, isn’t it?  Who cares about the Pinstripe vs. the BBVA Compass Bowl?

Seems like a bunch of needless whining until you realize that the Compass pays out $600,000 while the Pinstripe generously shells out a cool $2,000,000 smackaroos. $1.4 million is a massive difference.

Not unlike the BCS scheme, the non-BCS bowl system does nothing to ensure all FBS teams have a fair shake at reaching the promised land of both the money and exposure necessary to keep programs growing towards bigger and better things.

No wonder an elite class rules college football.