Earlier this week, the NCAA announced the 70 participants in the 35 college football betting bowl games scheduled to take place later this month. The games will take place from December 17 to January 9, concluding with a rematch of an SEC regular season game, featuring the LSU Tigers taking on the Alabama Crimson Tide. This will be the first time since the NCAA created the BCS format in the late 1990s, that two teams from the same conference face off twice in the same season. Thus many price per head fans of the NCAA are wondering if the BCS Title game should just be called the SEC Title game?
On paper, the 2011 – 12 football season bowl games will be met with criticism for years to come. Essentially, the NCAA has always prided itself on making a national title game featuring two teams from different conferences. However, as we noted earlier, that isn’t the case this season. What else is not the case, is the fact that several teams other major Bowl games will not be featuring teams with excellent records. For instance, despite finishing the season with a better record then any other school in the league, bookie software Conference USA team the Houston Cougars were snubbed all together from a BCS Bowl Game invite. Instead of having Houston v LSU for the National Title, or Houston v Michigan in the Sugar Bowl, fans are now stuck with Alabama v LSU and West Virginia v Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Thus making us wonder, is the NCAA more concerned with making revenue, as opposed to featuring the best teams in the league?
Looking ahead to the National Title Game on January 9, 2012, there are a couple of different views that fans and analysts alike can take with the game. Firstly, if you felt ripped off by the NFL defensive chess match that was LSU v Alabama during the regular season, perhaps a rematch was the best thing the NCAA could do, to determine which team truly is the best in the country this season. As you may recall, neither offense could really muster anything, as LSU and Alabama’s defenses came to play that day. LSU would win the first game on a field goal in overtime, after Alabama missed their opportunity moments earlier.
On the contrary if you are a believer in the NCAA’s AP 25 system, then you may feel distraught watching this National Title game. As we mentioned earlier, the NCAA has prided itself on giving the fans a matchup between two teams from separate conferences to determine the National Champion. For this reason, the game should have featured SEC Champion LSU and Big 12 Champion Oklahoma State. Instead, it appears as though because Alabama is a richer football program then Oklahoma State, they should play LSU. In other words, as long as you have the money and the history, you can be rewarded for losing.
