Arbitrary Bowl Predictions 2006- The BCS Bowls

BCS Bowls

Rose Bowl
Pasadena, CA
Rose Bowl
January 1, 2007, ABC
BCS vs. BCS (Big 10 vs. Pac 10 if available)
Bowl Matchup: Michigan vs. USC
The Stadiums: No one can seriously doubt that the Rose Bowl still deserves the title of “Granddaddy of Them All” when it brings us pairings like this. First the Tournament of Roses provides the best parade in the United States. (Yeah, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, you heard me!) Second, it seems to be the only bowl game that still cares about maintaining the traditional match-up that made it famous. On top of all that few bowls can regularly combine programs as great as the University of Michigan and the University of Southern California. The two teams represent two titanic stadiums. Everyone who truly loves college football has an image of these stadiums in their mind already, but I’ll go ahead and glob on some colorful descriptions.

Amongst the reasons why it’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine is that you get to call Michigan Stadium home. The stadium, popularly known as the Big House, has one of the simplest designs you could imagine. Brick scaffolding supports an ellipsis of metal bleachers that surround the playing flied. Yet the simple design belies the fat that the Big House is quite simply the largest football stadium in the world (Oh, shut up international readers you know perfectly well what I mean when I say football!). That rings of fans can impose its presence on the field like few other home crowds. The field itself rests just beneath the natural ground level to intensify the experience for the players. I imagine that for a visiting football team playing at Michigan must feel a little like drowning in a never ending sea of maize and blue. When over 100,000 people regularly cram into stands that were first built before Prohibition, that lack any real modern amenities, that are completely unsuited for a night game, and that provide no protection from the harsh elements of autumn in Michigan, you know there’s a lot of passion in that stadium. That kind of passion is what truly makes the Big House one of the best stadiums in all of sports.

With that in mind I can safely say that the home field for the USC Trojans is every bit as impressive. While the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum cannot seat quite as many as Michigan Stadium it still is one of the largest football stadiums in the country. The concrete façade decorated in a neoclassical style has an imposing effect on anyone who enters the stadium. One can easily imagine how it must have felt to have entered the ancient Coliseum in Rome to do battle. The open air seating here allows for fans to bask in the glory of the Southern Californian sun and make every football game a celebration of the sport. Both stadiums have hosted all time classic games, both have made the history of college football richer just for having existed and both will have to bring their very best to defeat the other.

The Game: There are some disparate elements at work here. The large seating capacity of both stadiums suggests a high scoring game. While the solid construction indicates some tough defensive stops are in order. The more festive atmosphere of the L.A. Coliseum hints at greater offensive explosiveness. The more straightforward style of Michigan Stadium demonstrates a better grasp of fundamentals. In the ultimate analysis I rely on the overwhelming scale of the Big House to break the back and forth game and give the Wolverines that final push.

The Prediction: Michigan-35 USC-28

Fiesta Bowl
Glendale, AZ
Glendale Stadium
January 1, 2007, Fox
BCS vs. BCS (Big 12 Champion to play here if available)
Bowl Matchup: Oklahoma vs. Boise State
The Stadiums: This is really a stadium pairing that forces us to contend with that old canard of quality versus quantity. We have a knee jerk reaction to say we prefer quality over quantity and yet every town has a little restaurant struggling to make ends meet and three or four McDonald’s raking in the dough. Really we all realize that our desired outcome dictates our approach.

Say you have a college football program that is meant to carry the hopes and dreams of a large state with a substantial population. Furthermore this state becomes a nationally recognized brand and its history of success leads to people all around the country becoming fans of the school’s football team if only at a distance. One of the most appealing facets of this program is the way they do everything plainly and simply, drawing fans in with their straightforward style, workmanlike attitude, and consistent success. One team of plain spoken young men who play anonymously (their names don’t even appear on their jerseys) and win as a team, is simply replaced by another team of plain spoken young men who play anonymously (their names still don’t appear on their jerseys) and win as a team. If providing a stadium for that fanbase is your goal, then you might craft something like Gaylord Family Stadium. Oklahoma provides their fans with a large stadium that is both impressive and intimidating, but with no real personality to alienate any of the people who might travel from hundreds of miles away to get a chance to cheer for the Sooners.

Alternatively, you might have a small school from a thinly populated state. They may only be able to recruit players by creating an offensive scheme that calls for lots of big plays and exciting scores just to get talented kids interested. You may also need to make this stadium stand out so it can be instantly recognizable anytime it appears on television. If these are your goals then you would probably design Boise State’s Broncos Stadium. The more intimate venue, may lack the physical structure to impose a dominant atmosphere over visiting teams, but by cleverly making the field the same color as the stands and the home team’s uniforms the same color as the field you ma just be able to create a psychological edge for the home team. Also using Astroturf would help your players run a fast and loose style gameplan. So really the ideal stadium may be whatever best suits the needs of the school that builds it.

The Game: This game is a contest between a stadium that is grand but generic and a stadium that is tiny but unique. As we all should know by this point I favor the stadium that better conveys the spirit of the program. I predict that Boise State’s spectacular style translates into offensive dynamite and manages to overcome the massive imposition that Oklahoma poses.

The Prediction: Boise State- 28 Oklahoma- 24

Orange Bowl
Miami, FL
Dolphins Stadium
January 2, 2007, Fox
BCS vs. BCS (ACC Champion to play here if available)
Bowl Matchup: Wake Forest vs. Louisville
The Stadiums: When one looks at Wake Forest’s Groves Stadium, on is not filled with either fear or wonder. Grove Stadium stirs up no images of passionate fans or brutal playing conditions. Rather if one were familiar with the history of Wake Forest University one might ask if when the university moved from the town of Wake Forest, North Carolina to the city of Winston-Salem, NC they left the really impressive college football stadium back in Wake Forest. The stadium does not loom above all other nearby structures. The seats do not engulf the field like a horrible cage. The whole atmosphere just screams “Only five more weeks until ACC basketball season starts up again”. In short this is not the stadium of a conference champion. It’s the stadium of a conference bottom dweller, or maybe a conference also ran. Yet at the end of one of the most improbable seasons in the history of Demon Deacon football, here comes Wake Forest into the coveted Orange Bowl their raggedy stadium trailing behind.

Somewhere amongst all the horse racing tracks, one can find a very good football stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. Papa John’s Stadium looks great and has quickly gained a reputation as a very imposing field to visit. Unfortunately it is disqualified as it is named for a corporation. All the Cardinal fans will surely cry out at the injustice, but if you have to stoop to corporate branding rights to help fund your college football stadium, then even a school like Wake Forest has a better stadium than you.

The Game: I cannot truly justify this, but let’s remember I was right about West Virginia beating Georgia in the Sugar Bowl last year. Don’t doubt the power of the Arbitrary Bowl Prediction Method.

The Prediction: Wake Forest- 20 Louisville- 14

Sugar Bowl
New Orleans, LA
Louisiana Superdome
January 3, 2007, Fox
BCS vs. BCS (SEC Champion to play here if available)
Bowl Matchup: Notre Dame vs. LSU

The Stadiums: Two stadiums both alike in dignity, in fair New Orleans where we lay our scene. From ancient traditions breaks a new grudge, where a civil game will make uncivil fans nearly turn really mean. No other pairing this bowl season seems as just and as well matched as Notre Dame Stadium and Tiger Stadium. (If you have to ask which school has which stadium, go slam your head against a wall a few times before finishing this preview.) Both have great designs. Both are rife with tradition come gameday. Both are regularly packed to bursting with fans who take college football just a little too seriously. One has become emblematic of the wild atmosphere southern style football breeds. The other is pretty much the basis for everyone’s mental image of football stadiums in the Midwest. Notre Dame has a giant mural of Jesus Christ visible from the playing field. Fans from LSU have been known to register on nearby Richter scales with all their raucous cheering. This is one doozy of a match-up.

The Game: All the history and tradition indicators lean heavily in favor of Notre Dame. All the flair and style predictors point to LSU. No one gets more fed-up with Norte Dame and its fans more than I do, yet when push comes to shove (and isn’t that pretty much standard fare in a football game) you can’t deny the superiority of Notre Dame’s stadium. It may be one of the few stadiums essential to the history of college football.

The Prediction: Notre Dame- 35 LSU- 33

BCS Championship Game
Glendale, AZ
Glendale Stadium
January 8, 2007, Fox
BCS No. 1 vs. BCS No. 2
Bowl Matchup: Ohio State vs. Florida

The Stadiums: Each of these stadiums is worthy of a national championship team. The Ohio State Buckeyes make their home in an inspiring structure called Ohio Stadium, also known as The Shoe. The Florida Gators ply their home games in an oddly shaped boxy structure titled Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, almost exclusively referred to as The Swamp. Both stadiums can really pack a crowd, with Ohio Stadium having the advantage in overall capacity. Both stadiums boast seriously fierce fans, with Florida having the better reputation for gameday atmosphere. The Shoe definitely has the more imposing architecture suggesting a dominating physical team. The Swamp has far more color and pizzazz indicating an exciting and explosive offense. This contest is neck and neck as I write my final prediction.

The Game: The imposing bulk of Ohio Stadium indicates Ohio State’s defense will keep Florida under wraps for most of the game. However the color and vitality of Florida’s stadium point to the Gators eventually breaking through making an exciting offensive play and securing a classic victory to win the national championship.

The Prediction: Florida- 31 Ohio State- 30