Remember New Year's Day? It was the day when those of us 35 and under would start our day with the Cotton Bowl after lunch, have dinner with the Rose Bowl and settle for leftovers with the Orange and Sugar Bowls.
The Fiesta Bowl found its way onto the first of the year a bit later, and that in itself contributed to the New Year's Day's downward spiral we're witnessing today. We'll get to that later.
Let's get back to the Cotton, Rose, Orange and Sugar. Back in the day, those four heavy-hitting bowl matchups (most of the time, at least) rarely produced a Nos. 1 vs. 2 matchup for a mythical national championship, but routinely produced interesting cross-over games with pride on the line.
Don't kid yourself, pride is huge for college football fans. Ever wonder why college football fans are so rabid? They are passionate about their school and the league in which they play.
On New Year's Day, that passion is amped up to a different level.
Nowadays, it's becoming more and more a collection of ho-hum matchups.
Let's take a look at today's slate of bowl games:
TicketCity, Northwestern vs. Texas Tech: Why is this game on New Year's Day?Continued... 1 2 3 4 See Full Story
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Outback, Florida vs. Penn State: Usually a solid matchup, but neither team has more than seven victories this season.
Gator Bowl, Mississippi State vs. Michigan: Did you see the Wolverines play down the stretch? Quick, name one player from Mississippi State.
Capital One, Alabama vs. Michigan State: A worthy matchup for any New Year's Day.
Rose, Wisconsin vs. TCU: Not a traditional matchup by any means, but interesting nonetheless.
Fiesta, UConn vs. Oklahoma: Maybe there's a "Rocky" marathon on Versus tonight.Continued...
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The Orange Bowl won't be played until Monday, when Stanford takes on Virginia Tech, and the Sugar a day later when Ohio State plays Arkansas. The national championship game between Oregon and Auburn is six days after the Sugar on Jan. 10.
The Cotton Bowl (remember me?) is scheduled for Friday when LSU takes on Texas A&M. Isn't Friday night traditionally the worst night of the week to grab TV ratings?
Not sure how this tangled bowl mess begun, but it's never too late to go back. College football would be better served if New Year's Day was actually a day worth celebrating.
Put the national championship game the day after New Year's, if possible, but let's get back to how it used to be. Let's compare the bowl slate from 25 years ago:
n No. 1 Penn State played No. 3 Oklahoma in the Orange; No. 2 Miami (Fla.) played No. 8 Tennessee in the Sugar; No. 4 Iowa played No. 13 UCLA in the Rose; No. 5 Michigan played No. 7 Nebraska in the Fiesta; and No. 11 Texas A&M played No. 16 Auburn in the Cotton.
Then, one year later:
n No. 3 Oklahoma played No. 9 Arkansas in the Orange; No. 4 Michigan played No. 7 Arizona State in the Rose; No. 5 LSU played No. 6 Nebraska in the Sugar; No. 8 Texas A&M played No. 11 Ohio State in the Cotton; No. 10 Auburn played unranked USC in the Citrus. A day later, No. 1 Miami (Fla.) played No. 2 Penn State in the Fiesta for the national championship.
It's been written the Miami-Penn State game was moved a day later to Jan. 2 to attract better TV ratings. Did it ever. In doing so, it changed college football forever. The game, won by Penn State, 14-10, in a huge upset, had the highest TV rating of any college football game in history, with a 24.9 share. According toWikipedia.com, 25.1 percent of American households, or 70 million, watched the Fiesta Bowl.
It's no wonder bowl games are scattered throughout December until well into the second week of January.
There are six New Year's Day bowls today. Five of the 12 teams playing aren't ranked in The Associated Press top 25. Two others, Mississippi State (No. 21) and UConn (No. 25) are barely ranked.
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