Thursday, January 22, 2009

Bowl system ludicrous, and ACC is proof

The ACC was 4-6 in bowl games. That’s 10 bowl bids, and the ACC only has 12 teams. What kind of reward is it if almost everyone gets invited? Reminds me of those Little League teams that give each kid a trophy. Except those make more sense.

Hey N.C. State, sure you finished strong and sure you clobbered your hated rivals in Chapel Hill, but you finished 6-6. You want a reward for winning as many as you lose?
And that bowl loss made the final record 6-7.

Hey Clemson and Miami. Yeah, you played in bowls. You lost. You each finished 7-6. That’ll look good on the resume.

Please, please, cut down on the bowls. Or, to be fair, add two or three more so everyone can get a bid. In the ACC, just add Virginia and Duke and we’re there.

—Stan Olson

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree, but it does give players at these schools a reward for their hard work. What's the big deal? Bowls generate local economic dollars that were especially needed this past year. I would like to correct a small mistake, NC State didn't beat their hated arch rival, they defeated your beloved alma mater!!

Carp said...

Carolina had an off day. State had an off year.

Observer Sports said...

Anon, no team that finishes 6-6, be it the Heels, Wolfies or Trojans (not that they will in the forseeable future) deserves to go a bowl. Every team works hard. Should Duke go? That's my point. You are right on the money generated, though...

Anonymous said...

It does not reward players for hard work. It rewards schools for having money and traveling fan bases. Lets not pretend its about the players when its ALL about the money.

The BCS was created to determine a single national champ and it has proven incapable of doing so. If you want an undisputed champ, you must have a playoff. If you want bowl games, lets go back to the old system and just enjoy the matchups. Either way I don't care. But pick one or the other cause this BCS meddling in the middle isn't working.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to get off subject with my 3:06 comment. But I do agree with original article. Reduce the number of games. Its getting like the NBA playoffs. Less bowl games would make regular and postseason more exciting too.

Observer Sports said...

Anon, we agree on almost everything on this one. Get that dadgum playoff going!

Anonymous said...

the ACC did fine in the bowls. Only GT was embarrassed (Ok typically losing to Vandy is embarrassing too, but they were actually tough this year). All of the losers were within a possession. Better than the Panthers did, so should we not have sent them to a post season?

Anonymous said...

Stan, are you having a bad day? This is a bit of a whiny blog. Maybe the sting of the beloved tarheels' loss to State hasn't worn off.

Anonymous said...

HEY Tarhell Stan...or should I call you UNC fan...we clobbered ya'll. Stop whining, it'll be the same in '09. Get used to it. Playoffs aren't coming anytime soon. College presidents are too busy lining their pockets to care about having a "true" national champion. Maybe you can talk Roy into sharing some of that "stipend" money to get that football team motivated next time.

James Reed said...

Stan,
Go have relations with yourself. If and when you can come up with something a little more insightful and profound you can post again. Why don't you do a piece on Butch Davis' malfeasance over on the Hill?

Unknown said...

Stan - stop ranting on the ACC - show some cohones and go after the real problem - the old white men running the NCAA and the BCS. With a playoff, this would all be moot - and the football would be better too.

Derwood said...

Every year, it sounds more like scholastic sports for kids - "everyone gets to play." As long as you field a team, come visit us in sunny (fill in the blank). If it's truly a reward for a good season, then reduce the number and award them accordingly. Give these 'kids' some incentive to perform.

Anonymous said...

Hey Stan....

Worthless article. Even more worthless is the fact you didn't mention the ACC Champs who went on and beat a highly ranked Cincinnati team.

Also... ask all of the vendors, restaurants, bars, hotels, etc... in the Charlotte area if they think that the Meineke Car Care Bowl was worthless for them?

Get a new job.....

Unknown said...

The only way to go to a playoff and away from the current bowl system is to stop going to the bowl games and feeding money to the current system. That is the only thing that will get the NCAA's attention.

Anonymous said...

Stan sounds like he is still bitter about the loss to the Wolfpack. Anyone who graduated high school could have written this stupid article.

Anonymous said...

Reasoning behind the BCS? A playoff would hurt the player's academic performance. So are we to assume that someone at Stanford, Duke, Cal Berkeley, or Notre Dame can't handle the same season that a kid at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater can? Either the NCAA truly disregards the level of play at all levels of football other than 6 specific large school conferences, or they are only worried about preserving the bowl systems at all costs (and the money that goes along).

Whatever the case it does a disservice to the consumer, the student, and the schools. Not exactly the mission statement the NCAA wants to follow.

Anonymous said...

By the way, Is it a complement to NC state or an insult to the state of North Carolina that they proclaim them selves "State Champions"? Give me a break. They didn't even play the best team NC has to offer. At least the wolfpack has enough smarts to steer clear of Armanti Edwards and the Mountaineers

Observer Sports said...

Two things. A blog IS an opinion, and my opinion is that the Bowl System Stinks.
The other is that all this has nothing to do with NCSU or UNC and everything to do with the fact that TEN ACC schools out of 12 went to bowls. Give everyone a trophy, and avoid the real issue of no playoff.

Anonymous said...

ESPN is supposidely the culprit here, with all these meaningless
bowl games filled with .500 teams and slightly above .500 teams.
They created these bowl games to fillup their nightly tv schedule
in December. When Clemson and S.
Carolina at 7-5 are playing on New Year's Day there's something definately WRONG!

Anonymous said...

Remind me again who mighty App and Edwards lost to last year? You really want to call ou the Pack. Bet it was a long ride back to Boone the last time you got your game.

I thought UNC and the 2 million dollar coach went to the Orange Bowl.

Anonymous said...

Apps only regular season loses were to the eventual Peach Bowl Champ (LSU) and a 4th quarter comeback loss to the #1 seed in the FCS playoffs.

While obtaining the second seed (or in BCS speak: the second seat in the national champ game), we lost in the second round to the eventual champion. Proving once again, a playoff format is the best way to crown a champ.

NCSU faced Edwards for only the 4th quarter when they played 3 years ago (his first college game as a 17 year old). Ask Michigan if he has grown up any. The wolfpack has dodged him ever since.

Jeffrey said...

Not sure when Mr. Olson dissed NC State in favor of UNC but, I honestly don't care. Both teams have been bad that past several years. They should be competing for conference championships and be perenial top25 teams. Instead, they argue about their annual game that is meaningless to the entire country outside of the Triangle area.

Even church softball leagues have tournaments. To make any argument that the bowl system is a good idea is, like the blog title points out, ludicrous.


Go App State '09 "One for the Pinky"

And yes, ACC teams dodge the Armanti led Mountaineers.

Anonymous said...

First off, this article is ridiculous. NCSU didn't get one of the ACC Bowl games so why does it matter? They received an "At Large" bid because they played better the last quarter of the season than teams in other conferences.

2nd,
Here's a little math formula for you...

2006 - NCSU > ASU
2007 - NCSU > Wofford > ASU

Armanti was a good QB, don't get me wrong. We State fans have waited years to get some consistent performance (note I wouldn't call our past 4 QB's "performing" even though it was "consistent") out of our QB position since Rivers left. You have to realize the competition on a week to week basis is tougher in 1A than it is in 1AA.

Look at how bad ASU was beat up physically after the game in Michigan. I'm not taking anything away from that victory, it was an awesome game to watch and ASU won because they played with heart. Just saying the size and speed is grater at 1A vs. 1AA

Anonymous said...

Please, just off the top of my head:

2007 - App>Michigan>Florida>FSU>NCSU

Anonymous said...

Carolina>Rutgers>State>Carolina???

Anonymous said...

I agree with everything Stan wrote. Why can 't we have a playoff, why, why why? We can still have the bowl games, it's just that some of the bowl games would now be playoff games. In that case, MORE money would be generated because more people would be interested in more games. Think of it this way...how many bowl games is the average fan interested in now? One, two maybe? With a "bowl playoff system," most fans would be interested in all the playoff bowls, and thus all tickets would be sold, TV revenue would go up, etc. Anyone have a problem with this system?

stanolson said...

Frankie, you are all over it. Seems pretty cut and dried to me...