Bowl Roundup

With some of the meaningful bowl games now played, I guess it's time to look at them and see what we can determine from the winners and losers.

First, the Big Ten. Michigan, which many argued should be #2 in the nation, got spanked in the Rose Bowl. I never thought they deserved a shot at the national championship and I was really happy to see them fall. The Big Ten is 2-4 in 6 bowls with only the NC game left. Penn State beat Tennessee and Wisconsin squeaked by Arkansas. I'm not saying the Big Ten is overrated but I am saying that they didn't have the Top 2 or 3 teams in the nation. Michigan was overrated, as USC proved, and I'm not completely sold on Wisconsin.

The ACC has been pretty mediocre as expected. They are currently 3-3 with a surprise loss by Clemson to lowly Kentucky. Miami squeaked out a disappointing win over Nevada and Boston College unforunately beat Navy by 1. The Orange Bowl remains for the ACC as Wake Forest will take on Louisville. Even if Wake pulls the upset, I still think the ACC is the worst BCS conference this year thanks to WVU's win over Georgia Tech.

The annoited king of college football, the SEC, is 4-3 with 2 bowl games remaining. The SEC was boistered by a surprise win by Kentucky over Clemson but the 2 of the 3 losses for the conference came in the biggest games outside of the BCS. Tennesse lost to Penn State and Arkansas lost to Wisconsin. So SEC #3 lost to Big Ten #3 and SEC #5 lost to Big Ten #4. What's that mean? Nothing...except I don't believe the SEC is heads and shoulders above every other conference.

I'm not completely sure what to think of the Big 12. They finished 3-5 that includes a devastating loss by their #1 Oklahoma to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Also their #2 team lost to the SEC #4 Auburn and their #3 Texas barely beat Iowa, which finished 2-6 in the Big Ten. They really have no quality wins but do have some blowout losses: California 45 - Texas A&M 10 and Rutgers 37 - Kansas State 10. Take it for what you will.

The Pac-10 finished the bowl season at 3-3 with the marquee win being the USC victory over Michigan. In addition to that, California destroyed Texas A&M, the Big 12 #3 team. On the flip side, UCLA made it look like Florida State had an offense and BYU stomped Oregon and Hawaii beat Arizona State. The Pac-10 is basically two teams...USC and California...everyone else is average at best.

And, lastly, the Big East. The Big East is 3-0 with two games left. It's very possible for the conference to go undefeated in this year's bowl season with only Louisville vs. Wake Forest and Cincinnati vs. Western Michigan remaining. Rutgers had a quality win over Kansas State and West Virginia defeated Georgia Tech sans Slaton. USF's win over a non-BCS foe doesn't necessarily give the conference a huge bump but 3-0 is something in which to be proud.

We'll see what the next week brings as bowl season finishes out and I will rank the 6 BCS conferences at that point. Right now, it looks like the SEC is #1 but I can't determine who is #2. If the Big East finishes 5-0, they could make a good argument for that honor.