Part 2
Sun Bowl
El Paso, TX
Sun Bowl
December 29, 2006, CBS
Big 12 or Big East vs. Pac 10 No. 3
Bowl Matchup: Missouri vs. Oregon State
The Stadiums: The great thing about some of the middle tier bowls is that they give us a chance to talk about good teams from power conferences who have to live in the shadows of the marquee teams. Teams like Missouri and Oregon State should honestly be proud of the seasons they’ve had, yet they haven’t had much time in the national spotlight. It only makes sense that each of these teams has an underrated and often underappreciated stadium to call home. The state of Missouri straddles that uncomfortable border between the south and the western frontier. The Missouri Tiger’s Faurot Field actually takes full advantage of this fact, by combining the grandeur of stadiums you find in the plains with the raucous style you find in the south. Oregon State combines a truly towering set of grandstands with a low-lying field that will often be filled with the kind of fog you can only get in the Pacific Northwest, making Reser Stadium and infamously difficult stadium to visit.
The Game: I predict a lot of up and down the field offensive drives. The teams will make the occasionally impressive defensive stop, but this game will be won by whichever team can keep up the pace. If there’s anything I know about the Pac-10 conference it’s that offense is never in short supply. So I’ll go with the Beavers from Corvallis.
The Prediction: Oregon State- 35 Missouri- 27
Insight Bowl
Phoenix, AZ
Sun Devil Stadium
December 29, 2006, ESPN
Big Ten No. 6 vs. Big 12 No. 6
Bowl Matchup: Minnesota vs. Texas Tech
The Stadiums: I have a tough time adjudicating this contest, because both stadiums have run afoul of my basic rules about college football stadiums. When I originally set out to analyze these games based on stadiums I set up a few simple rules. They include: 1) No contest should be decided simply because one stadium has more seats than the other; 2) Every stadium will be judged on its effect on visiting teams not on how comfortable it is for fans in the stands or reporters in the press box; 3) If a team leaches of a professional sports teams stadium they’re disqualified; 4) If a school has had to stoop to corporate sponsorship to fund its stadium they’re disqualified; 5) Stadiums with signature features and honored traditions are valued a great deal more than those with expensive upgrades and lots of modern amenities.
So how am I to deal with Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, which houses both the University of Minnesota’s Golden Gophers and the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, and MLB’s Minnesota Twins and Texas Tech’s Jones AT&T Stadium, which I’m pretty sure isn’t named for distinguished alumni Herbert Jones and George AT&T. I can’t very well disqualify both teams. I guess I’ll just have to determine which rule violation is the less grievous.
The Game: We can anticipate a sloppy mistake filled game for both teams, because both schools must have made mistakes to get to their current regrettable situation. Heck we may even have some mistakes by the officials in this one whether it’s like last year’s Alamo Bowl when the officials stopped the game before the last play was really over, or like this year’s Oregon-Oklahoma fiasco when everyone knew the wrong call was being made, but apparently no one could overturn it, or even something where the officials misinterpret one of the rules and an overturned call has to be overturned once more –a truly awful mistake which apparently no one but USC fan actually remember happening, As I said, this game is hard to judge because I don’t know which team I should judge more harshly for their rule violation. My sources in Minnesota assure me that the real reason that all the teams have to share the Metrodome is because the locals are so stiffly opposed to allowing the local government to spend any money to build any new stadiums. That seems like at least a decent excuse, and I don’t have any explanation at all for Texas Tech’s lapse in judgment. So, I will predict that Minnesota manages to make a few more big games and will win the game in the end, not that anyone will be bragging about it.
The Prediction: Minnesota- 20 Texas Tech- 17
Liberty Bowl
Memphis, TN
Liberty Bowl
December 29, 2006, ESPN
Conference USA No. 1 vs. SEC No. 6
Bowl Matchup: Houston vs. South Carolina
The Stadiums: Some see bowl games like this as the most important part of the college football post-season. We love seeing the top teams from the less-glamorous conferences play the less-glamorous teams from the top conferences. Unfortunately for the viewers this does not promise to be a very exciting contest. Not every stadium inspires the imagination, and two such disappointments are on display here.
In Houston, Texas they have an abundance of football stadiums, and the Cougars’ Robertson Stadium easily blends in. It’s got a certain mi-20th century sensibility that unfortunately indicates that the best days for the stadium and the team are long past.
The South Carolina Gamecocks keep it equally plain and play in their own Williams Brice Stadium. It’s a good stadium, not great, but it does have a little more flare in the design. Also, the Gamecocks’ fans have a tradition of dressing all in black to create a “blackout” effect for important home games.
The Game: Since the two stadiums lack that spark to make this match-up interesting, I have to lean heavily on those few minor differences (seat count, level of fan involvement) that really separate the two fields. All the little factors favor “the other USC”, so I predict South Carolina wins a hard fought game by a slender, but decisive margin.
The Prediction: South Carolina- 13 Houston- 6
Alamo Bowl
San Antonio, TX
Alamodome
December 30, 2006, ESPN
Big 12 No. 4 vs. Big Ten No. 4 or 5
Bowl Matchup: Texas vs. Iowa
The Stadiums: When we reach the more traditional bowls, one of the big thrills is seeing some of the historic programs pair up. Part of the fun of such classics is seeing two great fan bases and traditions match-up against each other. For my money though the two programs really have to boast great college football stadiums and top level gameday atmospheres to draw my attention. In this case the two teams, the Texas Longhorns and the Iowa Hawkeyes, deliver in spades.
Texas boasts the tremendous Darryl K. Royal -Memorial Stadium which not only holds tens of thousands of roaring Longhorn fans, but also looks terrific, especially with some recent modifications. The shape of the stadium is interesting too, with two sets of grand stands rising on either of side of the field with smaller seats resting behind both end zones. It makes me think that the whole construction is meant to resemble the famous “Hook ‘Em Horns” from the right distance and angle.
While it is a terrific stadium, Royal -Memorial may have met its match in Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium. Deep in the heart of Iowa, this incredible alter to college football is one of the must see landmarks for anyone who loves the college atmosphere. The stadium is named for a former Heisman trophy winner and honest-to-gosh war hero. The stands rise out of the plains like the most impressive high school stadium in the country. The recent improvements have only made it a more intimidating stadium to visit. I think the best evidence of how special both these stadiums are is that when they both played host to the number one ranked Ohio State Buckeyes many favored the home team over OSU.
The Game: Great design and solid construction are two features that unite these stadiums, so I expect good coaching and stiff defense to define most of the game. As much as I hate to split hairs about which stadium is more aesthetically pleasing I do have to give the nod to Royal –Memorial stadium which has a little more flash and pizzazz. The fact that Texas has more of a party atmosphere suggests they will demonstrate more offensive explosiveness.
The Prediction: Texas- 21 Iowa- 17
MPC Computers Bowl
Boise, ID
Bronco Stadium
December 30, 2006, ESPN
WAC vs. ACC No. 8
Bowl Matchup: Nevada vs. Miami
The Stadiums: Rarely do we see a team as storied and nationally recognized as the University of Miami Hurricanes make the trip out to these rarely visited bowls held in unpopular parts of the country. It has been a long and disappointing season that brought “Da U” out to Boise, Idaho. Nevada is in the same conference as Boise State and therefore no stranger to playing up there in potato country. I like the straightforward and unassuming goodness of Nevada’s Mackay Stadium. It gives the vibe of a very comfortable place for the Wolfpack to play, which isn’t necessarily the same thing as an uncomfortable place for visitors to play, but it is pretty close.
One might assume that a team with Miami’s history of greatness, and even dominance at times, would play in one of the best stadiums in the country. However the Orange Bowl has gone from a storied stadium that served as an important landmark on the college football landscape to a rickety, past-its-prime, ring of bleachers which only appeals to the most loyal or tradition bound fans. As far as the scene during gametime, well I’ll just leave that to Da U’s former TV commentator and notable alum, Lamar Thomas, who said this during the brawl between Miami and Florida International earlier this year “Now that’s what I’m talking about … That’s how we do it in the O.B. …Why don’t they just meet outside in the tunnel after the ball game and get it on some more?”
The Game: Just as their stadium is a crumbling wreck that barely carrier any hint of its former greatness (as well as a notoriously unexciting place to play), so to will the Hurricanes play unfocused, uninspired, and pretty much unbecoming a true national football power. Meanwhile the Nevada Wolfpack will continue to do all the little things right, just like Mackay Stadium.
The Prediction: Nevada- 21 Miami- 16
Meineke Car Care Bowl
Charlotte, NC
Bank of America Stadium
December 30, 2006, ESPN2
ACC No. 6 vs. Big East or Navy
Bowl Matchup: Boston College vs. Navy
The Stadiums: Both stadiums under consideration here have the kind of open metal bleachers built on concrete structures that project the classic image of what a college football stadium should look like. In fact if you should the casual football fan pictures of both stadiums few could properly determine which one belonged in Boston and which one belongs in Annapolis. The trick is to know that Boston College’s Alumni Stadium seats more people and has the more colorful décor, while Navy’s Navy-Marine Corps Stadium is more open on one end and has some accessories to indicate its military origin.
The Game: B.C.’s stadium is good looking, but fairly non-descript. So I can’t get very excited about their chances in this game. Navy’s home field suggests the same discipline and competitive spirit that you find in every aspect of their football program. This makes me feel they will come at it with a better game plan and play execution.
The Prediction: Navy- 28 Boston College- 20
Chick-fil-A Bowl
Atlanta, GA
Georgia Dome
December 30, 2006, ESPN
ACC No. 2 vs. SEC
Bowl Matchup: Virginia Tech vs. Georgia
The Stadiums: Power house match-ups are easy to come by this bowl season if you ignore the quality of the football teams and only pay attention to peripheral attributes of the football programs. Case in point, Virginia Tech has, by most accounts, underachieved this season. Yet Lane Stadium still looms over Blacksburg, Virginia an imposing example of what happens when an otherwise ignored university decides to take football very seriously. The seats of Lane Stadium don’t just surround the field, they engulf it. Every aspect of this stadium is designed to say one thing “Hokie Pride!” and they all say it very loudly.
Of course the Georgia Bulldogs didn’t become the Georgia Bulldogs of national repute by playing their games in behind the YMCA. This year’s football team was a huge disappointment and they should consider themselves lucky to have even gotten into a bowl. Sanford Stadium is a classic college stadium, another must see for any true college football fan. Marked by both beautiful grandstands and unmistakable Southern elegance, Sanford remains the model of a big time college football stadium. Colloquially known as “Between the Hedges” the field is an intimidating place for any team to play.
The Game: No doubt this will be a slugfest as two teams of equal capability match-up. The sturdy architecture of both stadiums indicates that both teams will play with sound fundamentals and superior execution. The combination of two large scale stadiums leads me to believe that this will be a fairly high scoring affair. In the end I have to say that Lane Stadium’s total focus on supporting the Hokies lifts them over Sanford Stadium which seems to be more about having a nice time on a Saturday afternoon than rooting the Bulldogs onto victory. I predict that Va. Tech will play with a more complete game and maybe get some scores on special teams or defense to put the game away.
The Prediction: Virginia Tech- 38 Georgia- 30
Gator Bowl
Jacksonville, FL
Gator Bowl
January 1, 2007, CBS
ACC No. 3 vs. Big 12 or Big East
Bowl Matchup: Georgia Tech vs. West Virginia
The Stadiums: Here’s a bowl game that gives us a chance to compare one stadium that makes a lot of a little and one that makes a little of a lot. It’s not exactly a story of haves and have-nots, but it does provide some insight into which schools really care about football and which ones only make a show of it. In some ways it helps to explore one of the key issues of what keeps college football for rigidly hierarchical when every other sport is undergoing an era of parity.
In the state of West Virginia, there isn’t much going on, as anyone who has traveled through the state can readily attest. One of the few things West Virginia has gained fame for is the passionate support the state gives its college football teams. The passion of Marshall’s fans in Huntington, West Virginia has recently been immortalized in the film We Are Marshall. Unfortunately, Marshall didn’t make a bowl game this season, so I have to bring it up here. The fans of WVU in Morganton, West Virginia celebrate their football team’s success by setting fire to things in the streets surrounding Mountaineer Stadium. While that particular rite of autumn may lack respectability, Mountaineer Stadium itself is a class act all the way. Since they had to pretty much carve the field out of a mountainside, it can’t hold many seats. The facilities aren’t anything to write home about, because, well, dang it, Senator Byrd can only find them so much money, you know what I mean. Just the same Morgantown has become an infamously difficult road game. The combination of an isolated location, a passionate fanbase, brutal mountain weather, and flaming debris around campus makes Mountaineer Stadium one dangerous place for visiting teams.
Sadly Georgia Tech can’t boast of a similarly impressive stadium. Make no mistake Bobby Dodd Stadium (at Grant Field) is a nice enough place. Yet you really have to judge what a stadium achieves based on what resources it had to work with. Georgia is known for its rich football heritage. Georgia Tech has an incredibly strong history of football success. Heisman himself spent some time as a ramblin’ wreck for crying out loud. The city of Atlanta is a hotbed for activity right now, but Georgia Tech is not drawing in huge crowds. This school should have a tremendous stadium by all rights, but I never hear any coach talk about how tough it is to play on the road at Georgia Tech. I admire a lot about the program the Golden Jackets have built; they did just play for their conference’s championship after all. I just can’t bring myself to endorse a stadium that does less with more.
The Game: The Mountaineers come out with something to prove and play the kind of scrappy game you would expect from a team that just scraped themselves off a mountain. Georgia Tech will look impressive at times, but ultimately their superior talent will under-perform, and they’ll be left with a disappointing loss in a game they easily should have won.
The Prediction: West Virginia- 31 Georgia Tech- 24
Cotton Bowl
Dallas, TX
Cotton Bowl
January 1, 2007, Fox
Big 12 No. 2 vs. SEC
Bowl Matchup: Nebraska vs. Auburn
The Stadiums: College stadiums always seem the most impressive in the more out of the way places around the country. Unlike pro-sports which have to find homes in major media markets to remain satisfactorily profitable to their owners, academic institutions around the country can participate in the glory of intercollegiate football. In fact it may because the states of Alabama and Nebraska have no other major sports that their college football teams have become so prominent. When the whole state focuses on autumn Saturdays as the heart and soul of their sports calendar, the stadiums have to hold not just thousands of fans but the hopes and dreams of hundreds of thousands of fans. It’s sort of an “if they come, you will build it scenario”. The states of Alabama and Nebraska do themselves proud with their stadiums, and set up yet another exciting contest. Memorial Stadium has all the traditional features of a historically great college football stadium, plus the reputation of becoming the third largest city in Nebraska every Cornhuskers home game. It must surely rattle unprepared opponents to have to enter such a colossal structure then face a sea of fans clad in red wearing novelty hats that resemble cobs of corn, on top of all that playing one of the most storied programs in college football history may seem like the easy part of your day. Jordan -Hare Stadium has a more modern look and an equally impressive atmosphere. While it may not boast as many seats or quite the same architectural intimidation, it has its own accoutrements to terrify opponents, namely an eagle and a propensity of the Auburn Tigers’ fans to dress in garish combinations of orange and blue that can make your eyes cross if you stare at them too long.
The Game: I imagine a total slugfest. Lots of rushing yards and plenty of hard hitting defense will define this game. The breaking point will come when Auburn’s superior talent, demonstrated by Jordan -Hare’s modern design, will topple the stout Nebraska team.
The Prediction: Auburn- 24 Nebraska- 20
Outback Bowl
Tampa, FL
Raymond James Stadium
January 1, 2007, ESPN
Big Ten No. 3 vs. SEC
Bowl Matchup: Penn State vs. Tennessee
The Stadiums: Wow. Just wow. Stop for a moment and consider that we have two stadiums that can seat over 100,000 people going head to head. No other sport has one stadium that brings together entire communities on that scale. Imagine 100k fans all wearing the same colors, singing the same songs, cursing the idiocy of the same head coach, and pushing the same team onto victory. Not only does college football have such a stadium, it has several such stadiums. Having seen Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee with my own eyes I can assure you that the fortress-like walls of seats that surround the field are one of the most frightening sights any visiting team can face. Also, those checkered endzones make me dizzy whenever I look at them, so I can Similarly the monolithic Beaver Stadium looms over College Station, Pennsylvania. The concrete ellipse has slowly grown under the tenure of Penn State head coach/living legend Joe Paterno. With all the additions and upgrades what must have once been a merely impressive stadium has now become some sort of science-fiction like super-structure, possibly fit for the Borg collective. That is, if the Borg were blue and white and not black and green. No game could realistically hope to match the grandeur and tradition represented by these amazing stadiums.
The Game: Unfortunately some people out there dissatisfied with simple treatises on the architectural splendor of college football stadiums, will expect a game at some point or another. To them I say piffle. To them I later add, look for Tennessee to play with more focus and motivation since their stadium better captures the spirit of football at their respective university. Penn State just seems to disorganized to pull this one out judging from their stadium’s piecemeal construction. This is probably an easy win for Tennessee, but you can’t get any closer in a bowl game than those two stadiums.
The Prediction: Tennessee-28 Penn State- 27
Capital One Bowl
Orlando, FL
Alltel Stadium
January 1, 2007, ABC
SEC No. 2 vs. Big Ten No. 2
Bowl Matchup: Arkansas vs. Wisconsin
The Stadiums: These two stadiums represent their respective regions of the country well. Arkansas’s Razorback Stadium has the focused energy and bright colors of a southern style stadium, where fans get together to care waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much about a college football game on a sunny autumn afternoon. Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium has the large seating and open air quality that most allows most Midwestern stadiums to foster a rowdy atmosphere complete with blustery weather, beer, and bratwursts. These two stadiums have little in common except that for their respective fans they define college football.
The Game: This match-up favors Wisconsin in a lopsided game. First Camp Randall has the advantage of being named one of the best places to watch a football game by Maxim magazine along with the Stardust Sports Book in Las Vegas and Tim Rusert’s house. Second I have a sinking suspicion that any stadium named for the team’s mascot can’t be that great of a stadium, since apparently no one ever wanted to let their name be put on it. Arkansas gets some points, but Wisconsin takes this one in a walk.
The Prediction: Wisconsin- 38 Arkansas- 24
International Bowl
Toronto, Canada
Rogers Centre
January 6, 2007, ESPN
MAC vs. Big East No. 4 or 5
Bowl Matchup: Western Michigan vs. Cincinnati
The Stadiums: I’ll be honest it’s hard for me two get excited about the minor bowls between minor schools/stadiums that occur between the marquee New Year’s Day Bowls and the championship game. Accordingly I’ll do these last few non-BCS previews fast and furious. (I would like to take a moment to point out that I approve of the northward migration of the bowls, and I hope this trend continues. Partly I say this because I only think it just that some warm weather team be forced to face a cold weather climate for a post season game, when for decades only the reverse had been true. Mostly though, I anticipate global warming will eventually make Toronto an ideal vacation spot and Dallas, Texas a smoldering furnace of solar-thermal radiation. Or at least it would if it weren’t all just a myth Al Gore and a bunch of crazy environmentalists invented just to impose burdensome pollution standards on multibillion dollar corporations. Anyways …) I am not impressed with Western Michigan’s Waldo Field –and before you even try and make the obvious joke it’s in Kalamazoo, Michigan you smart alecs –it just feel like the university never really got behind the idea of doing a serious football stadium. I do like Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium for its color and design, even if it does feel a little like someone left the roof off an Arena League football stadium.
The Game: I look for Cincinnati to play solid defense and execute sharply. I look for Western Michigan to try desperately to distinguish themselves from the Broncos of Boise State with a memorable performance, but to ultimately come up short.
The Prediction: Cincinnati-24 Western Michigan- 21
GMAC Bowl
Mobile, AL
Ladd Peebles Stadium
January 7, 2007, ESPN
Conference USA No. 2 vs. MAC
Bowl Matchup: Southern Miss vs. Ohio
The Stadiums: Southern Mississippi plays in Roberts Stadium, which looks just like you expect a southern mid-major school’s football stadium to look like. Ohio’s Peden Stadium looks like it’s trying to hard to look like a big time college football stadium. Probably the folks in Athens, Ohio want are sick of their home turf being an afterthought to Ohio State’s Ohio Stadium and the University of Akron’s Rubber Bowl, and the University of Toledo’s Glass Bowl, and Miami University’s Yeager Stadium, and the above mentioned Nippert Stadium, and Massillon High School’s Tiger Stadium, and, actually no let’s just leave it there.
The Game: I predict a rock solid performance by Southern Miss and a few costly mistakes by Ohio.
The Prediction: Southern Miss- 28 Ohio-14
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