Papa Willie wrote:Hyundai Sun
Notre Dame vs. Miami El Paso, Texas
Sun Bowl Dec. 31
2 p.m. CBS
Once again, Notre Dame ends up where they shouldn't. Same can be said about Miami in this one. They both should be playing earlier. I think ND will win, as Miami will lay down because they fired Shannon - which was entirely racial.
Hmmm, where to start? How about with the conference that actually had the tie-in to the bid ND claimed -- the Pac-10. Had the Pac-10 not left not one, not two, but three bowl bids on the table due to an insufficient number of bowl-eligible teams, we're not having this discussion.
Of course, Oregon is playing in the NC game, and Stanford's #4 ranking made it a BCS AQ. Arizona got the Alamo Bowl bid and Washington got the Holiday Bowl bid. USC had enough wins to be bowl-eligible, but of course, there's the probation issue. Arizona State had 6 wins, but two against 1-AA programs, so it's not surprising that they lost their appeal to the NCAA, even though the Pac-10 supported it.
Once the bowl bid went at-large, the only realistic choices were ND or a MAC team (Ohio or Temple). Were those teams really any more deserving of a December 31 bowl bid than ND, given the difference in strength of schedule? For that matter, if the Pac-10 had had enough bowl-eligible teams, would Washington or Arizona State really have been any more deserving of a December 31 bowl bid, given that both had 6-6 records?
And let's not forget, TV is a factor as well. In case you didn't really notice the TV portion of that list, ESPN has pretty close to a f'n monopoly on bowl telecasts. The Sun Bowl (on CBS) is one of the few exceptions. And since the Sun Bowl is the only bowl game televised by CBS, it only makes sense that CBS will promote the game rather heavily. That's a lot easier to do when they have ND than it is when they have Ohio or Temple to promote. For that matter, it's easier to promote with ND than it is with Arizona State or Washington. And with the non-BCS bowls, it's more about which teams will give the game the best financial return than it is about getting the "best" matchup they can get. Along those lines, it's also worth noting that ND's ticket allotment for this game was sold out within about 12 hours of the announcement of the matchup.
As for ND and Miami "not deserving" a December 31 bowl, your proposition could be expressed the opposite way as well. Perhaps a December 31 bowl which happens to be the 4th-oldest bowl game in the country deserves a better matchup than the 4th selection from the ACC vs. the 4th selection from the Pac-10. But they don't have it.
