Simulated Gameday Experience

With the postseason winding down, we’re down to just two teams standing. Er, um… wait… we arbitrarily picked two teams out of five contenders around this time last month, and said here you go, have fun. Indeed, the BCS has got to be breathing a sigh of relief, as unbeatens #3 and #4 fell in the last week. (Boise State, we’ll just conveniently ignore them, like in 2006 when they were the only team in the country to win all of their games.) But if you are planning on watching this game, don’t let that spoil your experience. This is a compelling matchup of two teams who came very close just a year ago, achieved perfection in 2009, and have earned the right to be in this game – even if another team should have earned that right too. (read more…)

We remember the first BCS Busters – Urban Meyer, Alex Smith, and the 2004 Utah Utes. We remember 2006 Boise State for the Hook ‘n Ladder and the Statue of Liberty in their epic Fiesta Bowl triumph. The 2009 TCU Horned Frogs, unlike any of the unbeaten midmajors before them and unlike their upcoming opponent in tonight’s Fiesta Bowl, received quite a bit of consideration for and discussion about inclusion in the BCS Championship Game. What separates these Frogs from the BCS Busters that came before them? (more…)

One of the last games of the year, the Sun Bowl has had its share of good games and good stories in recent history – Oregon rebounding from the devastating loss of Dennis Dixon to win big in 2007, Oregon State making a huge 4th quarter comeback against Missouri and memorably going for two rather than sending the game to overtime… in fact, no game in the last eleven years has been decided by more than 12 points, and only two had double digit margins. Of course, close isn’t always good, as last year’s 3-0 win by Oregon State over Pitt was a complete disaster of a game, all the way down to the 1/4 FG line, but hey that shouldn’t happen this year, right? I mean, it’s not like one team has a great defense but at the same time has been completely decimated by injuries on the offensive… oh wait. But nah, this’ll be a good game! We promise! (more…)

2007 was a noteworthy year for the Texas Bowl, as it was the only year a team from Texas has participated in this Houston classic with a deep history spanning four years. That year, TCU defeated Houston 20-13 in the only game (of the three so far) that wasn’t a complete blowout. So yeah, Texas Bowl. Good times. Let’s meet the 2009 participants. (more…)

The Holiday Bowl has had a lot of interesting matchups and shocking upsets during the BCS years. When neither conference gets a BCS invite, it matches up the #2 team in the Pac 10 against the #3 team in the Big 12. Often times this has been a team on the cusp of playing in a BCS game, perhaps a loss away from the championship game, and we’ve seen some teams like 03 Texas, 04 Cal, and 05 Oregon come into this game perhaps focused on that a little too much, only to leave San Diego with their tail between their legs. Since 1998, only twice has either conference claimed this game in back-to-back years, and just three games have been settled by 14 or more points. Many times this has ended up being arguably the best December bowl game of the season, perhaps most notably Major Applewhite’s classic comeback performance in 2001. (read more…)

Honestly, not a bowl I find particularly interesting. A very quick overview… (read more)

Interesting fact: no eventual BCS champion has ever allowed as many points or yards in regulation as Texas did this Thanksgiving against Texas A&M. Call up the engravers, tell them to go ahead and sketch Florida’s name onto the Sears Trophy, right? (read more)

Rivals.com caught up with Stoops to discuss what has been a turbulent season that has seen Oklahoma lose four starters to season-ending injuries. And we’ve got what he was really thinking. (read more)

A long time ago, back in 2005, I had a completely unknown sports “blog” that was mostly about changes in the BCS and computer ratings in general, with a little content about the ongoing college football season. It was a short-lived experiment, hosted via a livejournal account just to give you an idea of how truly newbie this was, that would see only three posts over all of 2006 before dying out. But if you wanted to know about how I got started writing about college football, there you go. (more…)