The BCS should play all bowl games up North in outdoor stadiums

[Lions_fan]

Every other year. Everyone can play in good weather and domed stadiums. Not everyone can play in 20 degrees and wind gusts up to 15 mph with snow. Do you think this would make a difference in BCS bowl game scores when Big 10/SEC/Pac 10 teams meet?

[JonLP24]

1. I'm not opposed

but IIRC the reason the main bowls are played in warmer climates in January was for tourism. Not only the event but leading up to it. Also the reason they were in January, weeks from the regular season, was to give fans plenty of time to travel there. There wasn't much use of airlines when these bowls were starting out so it was designed to give them time to drive or catch a train.

The second bit was slightly off topic but I think the idea was for fans to travel someplace warm, explore the city, whatever. They would have to get away from that.

However I would love watching games in the snow though they would probably use that Ford Field a lot if this were to happen.

[TZ]

2. The last SuperBowl the Skins won was in MINNEAPOLIS

So I think this meme about the host city needing to be warm isn't necessarily true. IIRC, there was plenty of fun winter themed events up there..I don't recall Skins fans being unhappy--of course clobbering the Bills in that game helps....

[JonLP24]

3. I was going based on the rationale at the time

Starting with the "Tournament of Roses" that evolved into the Rose Bowl and the selections of major bowls in places such as Florida, Texas, and Louisiana. I'm pretty sure it was to promote tourism. They may be completely full of shit but it wasn't me. Personally I would put bowl games all over the place and play the Super Bowl in Denver, Seattle, and Kansas City.

[TZ]

4. I'd like to see a SB in DC. If NY can host it why not us?

There is OODLES of things to do here, many of it indoors and FREE.

[taterguy]

19. DC's stupid "No buildings taller than the Washington Monument" rule disqualifies you

All the hotels are either too small or too spread out.

The last time I stayed in one it was a half-mile hike from the room to the ice machine.

Think football fans want to put up with that shit?

Hell no.

[TZ]

37. LOL. Thats why international folk always rave about their stays in DC

And many many conferences are held in downtown DC. Yep, clearly a city that has internationally known and loved festivals, professional conferences, peace talks and other events can't host a superbowl. BTW, you do know that Crystal City, right accross the river has a ton of sky scrapers right? But crossing a bridge from DC or taking a Metro in...too hard I know....

[Condem]

38. Best city on the east coast. And I lived in most.

My five years there were fabulous!!

[taterguy]

43. Host the damn World Cup if your city is so popular with 'international folk'

American football fans do not want to go on a Death March just to get some fucking ice.

And another thing: Do something about those infernal traffic circles.

[LisaM]

11. The Rose Bowl was designed as an add-on to the Tournament of Roses

It wasn't originally the main event (the game probably still takes 2nd place to the parade to a lot of people).

But back then it was just an exhibition. Now, people want the games to have ramifications for their stupid MNC. In that case, it's not fair to always give the advantage to southern teams.

[Lions_fan]

5. We've hosted 2 Superbowls here

The first was in Pontiac, Mi, about 30 miles north of Detroit and the other was at the new Ford Field in Downtown Detroit. I was only 5 years old during the first one but i remember the one in 2006 and i don't think the weather was a factor. People vacation in cold weather climates all the time

[El Supremo]

6. Hell, anything would help Detroit!

[lazarus]

7. so, if everyone can play in good weather

that means the only way the Big 10 can beat the SEC is to tilt the playing field. Nice.

[Lions_fan]

9. Last week everyone was in agreement

that the elements were a part of the game when we were discussing the NFL. Doesn't that apply to college football? Shouldn't BCS Bowl games be played in the elements and shouldn't the better team still win? I don't think it's tilting the playing field. Up until this bowl season i think the Big 10 had a winning record against the SEC in bowl game right?

[Lions_fan]

10. Also note i said scores not outcome

:thumbsdown: I hated those blowouts

[lazarus]

13. if it wouldn't matter

then why complain about it? :shrug:

[GaYellowDawg]

21. Wrong on the bowl record.

Prior to this year, the SEC was 36-24 against the Big 1? in bowl games.

[Lions_fan]

25. I asked about BCS bowl games

I'm not mistaken i think the Big 10 had a 1 game advantage

[hughee99]

27. I believe these number do not include this year.

I didn't do all the math, but the SEC has ONLY lost 5 games in the BCS, and only one of those was to an Big 10 Opponent (Alabama to Michigan in the 2000 Orange bowl). This was the first meeting of the two conferences in the BCS. The SEC won the next 3. Overall, not including this year I believe, the Big 10 is 10-12 in the BCS, while the SEC is 14-5. The only advantage the Big 10 has (that I can see) is that it has been in more BCS games.


1999–2000 season
* Saturday, January 1, 2000 - FedEx Orange Bowl: #8 Michigan (9-2, At-large) 35, #4 Alabama (10-2, SEC champion) 34 (OT)

2001–02 season

* Tuesday, January 1, 2002 - Nokia Sugar Bowl: #13 LSU (9-3, SEC champion) 47, #8 Illinois (10-1, Big Ten champion) 34

2006–07 season
* Monday, January 8, 2007 - Tostitos BCS National Championship: #2 Florida (11-1, BCS #2, SEC champion) 41, #1 Ohio State (12-0, BCS #1, Big Ten champion) 14

2007–08 season

* Monday, January 7, 2008 - Allstate BCS National Championship: #2 LSU (11-2, BCS #2, SEC champion), 38, #1 Ohio State (11-1, BCS #1, Big Ten champion) 24


The following BCS games will be played following the 2010 regular season:

* Tuesday, January 4, 2011 - Allstate Sugar Bowl (New Orleans): #8 Arkansas (10-2, At-Large) vs. #6 Ohio State (11-1, At-Large)


I would add (as I just noticed this) that the lower ranked team won all of these games. That's kind of weird.

[Iggo]

8. That's the point: Everybody can play in good weather.

The better team should win.

[LisaM]

12. The playing field is tilted at the moment

I don't think it was as big a deal prior to the BCS. Now, though, they want these games to mean more than just a nice win at the end of the season. If they want their stupid BCS system, then it's no longer about a warm-weather treat for fans at the end of the year. If they want these games to be so important then they can't continue to make them a de facto home game for SEC and SoCal teams.

[hughee99]

15. De facto home games?

I have recently been regaled with stories about how well the big 10 teams "travel". If a stadium is selling half it tickets to Wisconsin (or Ohio St., or Michigan St. fans) who are showing up to the game, how is it a "de-facto home game"? Are you going to argue that the SEC only beat the Big 10 three times on Saturday because of the crowd, even though the crowd at all games seemed pretty balanced. I will admit that the big 10 fans do travel pretty well.

[LisaM]

16. No, that's a different issue. I meant conditions

Warmer weather, more playing at night, etc. Not to mention that the teams themselves (not the fans) have to travel farther, all those trips to Disneyland and stuff. I know that both teams get to visit the same places, but it's a lot more exotic for some kid from Flint or Detroit to go to Disneyland than someone in L.A.

[GaYellowDawg]

18. Yeah, that blistering 65 degree heat sure kills Big 1? teams.

And playing at night in the same time zone? GASP! I guess that's too much of a hardship for those delicate Big 1? teams! No wonder even 1-AA teams from the South can come up there and win.

[LisaM]

20. OK, you bring some of the southern kids up for a blizzard

I think the contention is that if your team plays outdoors a lot, you need to build a different type of player. Look at the problems the Vikings had playing outdoors - how much they griped about it - meanwhile, New England does just great.

It's not about playing in 65-degree weather, obviously. It's about playing in 25 degree weather with a bunch of snow piled up on the sidelines and the yard lines shovelled off.

[GaYellowDawg]

22. What y'all never consider is this.

Big 1? teams do play in the conditions that are present in Florida in January. You get 65-70 degree weather for about 6 weeks of the Big 1? season, so there's no excuse for Big 1? teams to not be able to play at their peak under those conditions. What y'all want to do is to set up conditions that SEC teams never encounter in order to tilt the playing field your way. It's pathetic.

And on edit, just thought of something: I don't recall everyone in your conference whining about Minnesota's massive climactic home advantage for 26 years in the Metrodome. You know why? Because Minnesota, unlike the SEC, sucks, and they didn't drill the Big 1?'s ass like the SEC does.

Perhaps the Big 1?'s two divisions should be named "Wimps" and "Whiners."

[hughee99]

23. So under ideal conditions, the big 10 doesn't match up,

only when conditions come into play do their chance improve, and dammit, those conditions never come up during the big bowl games? Do I understand that right? It sounds A LOT like you're saying the big 10 needs the weather to have an advantage, that it doesn't build it's teams to compete when conditions are "neutral". This is, despite the fact that they play most of their games by Thanksgiving and conditions are as you described in MAYBE one or two games a year. Probably about the same number of 90+ degree days you'll get some of the SEC stadiums in September, which are also tough conditions to play in.

[GaYellowDawg]

24. Yep, that's what she's saying.

She's saying that the SEC has to be placed at some sort of handicap for the Big 1? to compete with us. I can't say I disagree with that notion, although I'd never put that out there if I was a Big 1? fan. Very good post, though, and very good point about the weather not being that extreme before Thanksgiving up there.

Honestly, I think the longer layoff probably hurts the Big 1?'s best teams to a much greater degree (;-) :evilgrin:) than the weather. Perhaps with a conference championship game, their best teams actually will play better in the January bowls.

[hughee99]

26. I think the conf. championship will both help them be more

competitive and help them get into better games, since the champion will have another tough win at the end of the season. You'll probably also see an end to the Big 10 schools routinely scheduling tough out-of-conference opponents, though. With the conf. championship, they may not need to do it anymore, and some won't want to take the chance.

[LisaM]

39. You can continue to deliberately misunderstand me

But I don't see any SEC schools champing at the bit to have bowl games in snowy conditions. The Big Ten would welcome it.

The point, which you refuse to see, is that in order to win in conferences like the Big Ten, you need a heavier, bigger team that can play consistently in bad conditions.

Besides, I think any true football fan can agree that watching a game in the snow is a hell of a lot of fun!

[hughee99]

40. The big 10 played 132 regulars season games this season,

How many of them were in snowy conditions, maybe 1 game each? I don't recall these conditions in any of the September or October (or almost any of the November games) they played.

[LisaM]

41. Not enough!

I love snow bowls!

[hughee99]

42. I enjoy snow games as well,

but it's not like the Big 10 is playing many of it's games in these conditions (maybe 1 or 2 a season at most). The Big 10 plays almost all of it's games in conditions similar to the other conferences.

[Iggo]

31. oops

[enuegii]

14. Wow, that's a B1G bottle!

[GaYellowDawg]

17. Once again, here come the annual weather excuses.

Boo-hoo, bowl games are played in the South in the heat. It wasn't the weather; your Big 1? teams simply got the shit kicked out of them by a far superior conference in the SEC. If you think that playing in the cold would have offset the 138-45 beatdown that the SEC has laid on you in 3 games, then you are delusional. Our best teams are never finesse teams that fall apart in cold weather. Our best teams are always physical, fierce, and swift, and that doesn't change with the weather. They would kick the crap out of the Big 1? any time and anywhere. But you go ahead and whine about how that intense 65 degree heat just wilts the Big 1? teams.

What was it I heard about a month ago? That the divisions should be named "Great" Plains and "Great" Lakes after the "great" defense that the SEC didn't know how to play? Giving up 46 points per game against the SEC isn't exactly "great", is it?

[Condem]

28. It comes down to Bowl preparation. It is an artform.

I advocate playing the Bowls in NEUTRAL warm weather sites. The only game I had a problem with in the Big Ten-SECheat showdown was the Florida-PSU game. That was a HOME fucking game for the Gators. Otherwise, MSU-Alabama and Michigan-Miss State were fine. Those two schools are a combined 2-10 in Bowls the last two years. Hence my point on preparation. It explains how an Army can beat an SMU or Syracuse can Beat K State.
The talent isn't equal. So it comes down to a coach who "prepares" his team just a little better. Take Coach Ferentz of Iowa. Owns the SECheat.
With half the talent. The Big Ten needs a couple more coaches with some brains like Coach and the pendulum will swing against the SECheat. Because, for the most part, the athletes who reside there couldn't spell fucking CAT, even if you spotted them the C-A.

[GaYellowDawg]

29. LOL...

"Your players are dumb" is the last refuge of a fan whose conference has been OWNED - and with Rich Rod and Ohio State in your conference, I'd back off of the "Cheat" talk, too.

Kudos to Ferentz - he is 3-1 against SEC teams in the Outback Bowl and Citrus Bowl, but he's never faced a top-of-the-line SEC team. In fact, he's always played an 8-win SEC team, where the talent level isn't necessarily an advantage to the SEC team. If Ferentz did actually coach well enough through the season to face an elite SEC team in a BCS bowl, he'd be blasted in just the same fashion that the Ohio State team that's 6-1 against Ferentz has been.

[Condem]

30. The 2005 Capital One Bowl against the defending National Champions LSU.

Nothing elite there. I have to laugh, Ga. Now you fucks have divided up the SEC to your own conveinence. "Well, the SECheat West is the best division in football". Meanwhile your piece of shit East comes in at 1-3. Next.

[GaYellowDawg]

33. No, LSU wasn't elite that year.

Georgia tore them up in the SEC Championship game. I was there.

This year, the West is the best division in football. Top to bottom, that division would go 4-2 at worst against any other conference's top 6 programs, with the exception of the PAC-10. Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi State, and LSU are as strong a 5 team group as any other conference can put together - and considering how the state of Michigan got beaten 101-21 by the SEC West, I think it's a pretty good guess that the SEC West would go 5-1 against the Big 1?'s top 6 teams.

There have been years when the SEC East was the best division. Things are cyclical - but one thing that you can count on, year in, year out, is that the SEC is going to lay waste to second-tier conferences like the Big 1?. The SEC has the best division. The Big 1? can't even find names for their groups of doormats. Next.

[Iggo]

32. PLAYOFFS!!!

Gawd, I hate the fucking bowl system.

[GaYellowDawg]

34. Playoffs wouldn't affect the Big 1?...

... their teams would still have one postseason game each. The Big 1? desperately wants to stay away from a playoff, because it would expose them as being on par with the ACC and the Big East. I invite a playoff. Most years, you'd see 2-3 SEC teams in the final 4.

[Iggo]

35. Don't care.

Whoever it exposes, well they damn well need exposing, don't they.

[Condem]

36. LOL!! Pure speculation. 2 to 3 SEC teams. I just reinjured my rib laughing.

I invite a playoff too. Then the trick would be the continuation of momentum. I'll speculate a little bit, Ga. Since that's what were good at. Wisconsin rolls TCU in a playoff system if it contested a week or two after the regular schedule. No question.

[hughee99]

44. You'd have to fix it so that everyone finishes at the same time then,

Wisconsin, TCU and Stanford, for example, were done 11/27. Auburn and Oregon had a game a week later. As for Wisconsin rolling, yes they were, but their last 4 games were against the dregs of the Big 10 (4 of the bottom 5 teams). TCU was also rolling against the dregs (except for Utah), over their last 4 games as well. I'm not sure Wisconsin would have "rolled" TCU in a mid-December game.

[Condem]

45. Oh, yeah, hughee.

Eliminate the conference championships and put the 16 best teams in. Simple as that. Starting the week after the final game.