Lower bowls are unappealing
Wednesday night I was watching the Poinsettia Bowl between Texas Christian and Louisiana Tech.
That game — especially towards the middle — was downright unentertaining.
TCU clearly did not want to even be in such a lousy bowl, and they played like it throughout most of the game.
La Tech very clearly DID want to be in that game, and the Bulldogs played their hearts out.
La Tech seemed like it would pull the upset until the Horned Frogs threw the final touchdown pass of the evening.
Football is a great game, but watching the lower bowl games against opponents from weak conferences is almost like pulling teeth.
I have been spoiled by watching SEC matches in my life, and sometimes I forget how big a difference there is between say the WAC and the SEC.
La Tech won the WAC championship this year.
That’s a WAC without Boise State, so the only halfway decent conference opponent the Bulldogs have left is Hawaii, a team that’s very streaky.
TCU plays in the Mountain West, which is definitely a better conference, but they still only have the win against Boise State to hang their hat — err helmet on.
Mississippi State is the first SEC team to play a bowl game this season.
Who did they have to play?
No. 3 LSU, No. 15 South Carolina, No. 3 Alabama, No. 6 Arkansas and an unranked Auburn team that was in the top 25 most of the season.
Those were the rankings at the time of each respective game.
Who did TCU play?
An unranked Baylor and No. 5 Boise State. That’s it.
What about La Tech?
Not a single ranked opponent, though they did play Mississippi State, Houston and Southern Miss.
I cannot wait for the big bowls to start so the SEC can start demolishing opponents yet again.
Even the weaker SEC teams.
And let’s not forget the BCS Championship game, which guarantees an SEC team will win, be it LSU or Alabama.
Long story short, if football was a country, the SEC would be the king.
The rest of the country can deal with it.
J.R. Tidwell is sports editor for The Franklin County Times. He can be reached at (256) 332-1881, ext. 31.
