Our Honor Defend

Last year’s attempt at this resulted in a bit of a disaster, as only Iowa won their bowl game in their pasting of the Gamecocks in the Outback Bowl.  But you know what?  This is still the time of the year when the Big Ten must tell the rest of the college football landscape to die in a fire, preferably even setting the fire as well.  Bowl matchups are out, and there are lots to discuss.

To review, here are the bowl matchups.

• Rose Bowl: Ohio State v. Oregon
• Orange Bowl: Iowa v. Georgia Tech
• Capital One Bowl: Penn State v. LSU
• Outback Bowl: Nerdwestern v. Auburn
• Champs Sports Bowl: Wisconsin v. Miami (FL)
• Alamo Bowl: Michigan State v. Texas Tech
• Insight Bowl: Minnesota v. Iowa State

There are some surprises here, but not too many. Initially, I didn’t think that the Big Ten was the type of conference that should send two teams to the BCS. However, once you review what the BCS bowls had available to them, and how the fortunes of conferences like the Pac 10 and Big 12 turned south in a hurry, the Big Ten became an attractive option. No one gives the conference much credit, but it joins only the mighty, greatest, bestest conference of all times forevers and evers — the SEC — in sending two teams to the BCS.  It’s the 9th time in 12 years the Big Ten has accomplished that.

The big surprise of the day came in the Fiesta Bowl.  Most everyone kinda knew that it would be Iowa, and not Penn State, that would be the second Big Ten team into the BCS.  Penn State fans petitioned mightily to remind anyone and everyone that they’re a bigger deal than Iowa in terms of ratings, but the second bid rightfully went to Iowa for winning the head-to-head battle in Happy Valley earlier this season.  So while Iowa getting the nod over Penn State was no surprise, Iowa not going to the Fiesta Bowl turned to be quite a shock.  It’s strange, too.  The Fiesta Bowl opted to take not one, but two of the undefeated midmajors (Boise State, TCU) and pit them against each other for a half-empty University of Phoenix Stadium to observe.  While Boise State and Texas Christian are clearly in the nation’s upper echelon this season, I’d be more interested in watching both square off against the “BCS Conference” also-rans, like an Iowa and a Florida.  I still think Boise State v. Iowa in Glendale, and Texas Christian v. Florida in New Orleans, would be infinitely greater matchups.  Instead, the BCS is guaranteeing that at least one non-championship team will finish undefeated, further adding fuel to the firestorm of criticism the enterprise receives.

Long story short, Iowa got passed over by the Fiesta Bowl committee, but was adopted by the Orange Bowl.  Iowa will return to the Orange Bowl, their first since the slashing they got against USC in the 2003 Orange Bowl, to face the ACC Champions, the Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech.  Most people I know are already panning the matchup as a ratings dud.  Maybe, but that doesn’t mean the matchup doesn’t fascinate me.  Georgia Tech is a curious team.  They really shouldn’t be as bad on defense as they are since they get lots of help from their offense (2nd nationally in 3rd down conversions, 11th in scoring offense, 1st nationally in time of possession).  The Ramblin’ Wreck are 58th nationally in scoring defense, 68th in rush defense, 47th in pass defense, and 54th in total defense.  Did you watch Georgia Tech play Georgia a few weeks ago?  Then you probably saw Tech’s defensive front get manhandled by a very meek Bulldog team.  Further, their secondary is liable to commit a few outrageous errors too.  If you watched the Ramblin’ Wreck’s Peach Bowl disaster last year, you probably saw how LSU’s front four dominated Tech in the trenches, rendering Paul Johnson’s second level blocking assignments moot.  I think Iowa matches up very well on both sides with Georgia Tech.

Moving down one level, the Nittany Lions drew the LSU Tigers in the Capital One Bowl.  The Lions and Tigers¹ have a bit of a history, having once faced each other in the 1974 Orange Bowl previously.  I think Penn State would’ve matched up very well with Georgia Tech because of Tech’s aforementioned weaknesses on defense.  The two quality defenses Penn State played this year — Ohio State’s and Iowa’s — held them to 7 points and 10 points respectively.  I think it was Ken Gordon who, in some tweets, was not wanting Penn State to get into the BCS for them being a “paper lion”.  Not helping Penn State is that their best victories on the season, at least in terms of opponent winning percentage, were Temple (9-3), Nerdwestern (8-4), and Michigan State (6-6).  True as that may be, I think LSU is a good opponent for Penn State and one that the Nitts can certainly play with.  LSU’s defensive line does not impress, and their offensive line has not been able to create some running lanes.  So, perhaps its the paper tiger of the SEC v. the paper lion of the Big Ten? Maybe.  Penn State will need to worry about a very good LSU secondary for their offense predicated, in large part, on Daryll Clark and will need their kick coverage to be a lot better than what it was against us.  Not helping Penn State: Les Miles hasn’t lost a bowl game while at LSU.  In fact, their 14 point victory over us in New Orleans is the closest anyone has come to beating him in Baton Rouge².  This might be the best non-BCS game, and a possible showstealer on New Year’s Day.

The other surprise of the bowl selection was Nerdwestern.  The Nerds, probably by virtue of their victory over the Badgers, got rewarded with a trip to Tampa in lieu of said Badgers to play the Auburn Tigers.  They are our nerd school playing the SEC’s cow school.  Therefore, a victory for the Nerds over Auburn would be so delicious that it would probably be fattening, and require me to hit the treadmill.  It’d be worth it, totally worth it, but I think the Badgers would be a better matchup for a physical, if sometimes absent-minded (84th nationally in penalties) and defensively challenged (73rd nationally in scoring defense), Auburn team.  It’s the Nerds’ first game on January since the 1996 season, a Citrus Bowl loss to the Tennessee Volunteers.  The Champs Sports Bowl between Wisconsin and Miami strikes me as one in which the Badgers may perform admirably.  I do not, however, have Miami well-scouted.

To be honest, I’m writing off the Alamo Bowl and Insight Bowl as disasters waiting to happen.  There was some discussion on whether or not a 6-6 Michigan State, which just suspended a host of players for some kind of ambush, would be awarded a bowl bid.  Well, they were.  Their prize: Texas Tech, all 380.7 passing ypg of them.  Did you watch Michigan State play against Notre Dame’s pass-heavy offense? Yeah, I’m kind of expecting that to happen.  Likewise, I’ll take Tim Brewster seriously when he isn’t almost getting cockpunched by the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State in the Varmint Bowl.  When Iowa State wins, they shut down their opponents to no more than 17 points a game³.  They’ll probably look at Minnesota’s anemic offense and like their chances.

But, when all things are considered, there’s only one thing left to do: win the whole fucking thing.  So, again, it’s time to foster antisocial thoughts because the only way the rest of the country will know of the peace and tranquility of Midwest football is by force…  violent force, and preferably a few fires as well.  Hopefully this rampage in the bowl season that I so desire will actually result in something other than us twiddling our thumbs while Iowa fans look around and ask “what gives?”.

1. …and Bears, oh my. [↩]
2. But we have the 2004 Alamo Bowl, Miles’ last loss, as  a consolation prize.  So take that, Leslie. [↩]
3. That coming against North Dakota State in the season opener. [↩]