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After the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs beat the Wisconsin Badgers in the 2010 – 2011 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, the biggest question that should be left in most people’s eyes is how? This wasn’t a shootout even though it needs to be pointed out that many thought that Wisconsin would not only blow the horned frogs out of the water, they would also drop 60 to 80 points on TCU. However, that was not the case on New Year’s Day as many saw firsthand. For whatever reason, the individuals and audiences who watch NCAA FBS Division 1 college football have come to know that there is a fine line between the BCS conferences and the non major conferences. What it basically means is that you can have a bad year or a less than stellar season and still be rewarded to go to a bowl game. It’s basically like a get out of jail free card in case your team loses a few games as it will still let you go to a major bowl game as long as you win your conference. The point is, too many people seem to think that because you are or are not a team in a major conference, that it should determine if you are or are not good enough to beat any other team. As if we still don’t have situations like Appalachian State upsetting the Michigan Wolverines in the Big House or James Madison beating the Virginia Tech Hokies (who were STILL good enough to win the ACC by the way)… The point is that people take the conference prestige for too much today without taking a look at the team. One small point to argue against the whole situation is that the University of Connecticut, a team that has only compete at the division 1 level in football for a decade now, won the Big East conference in football and therefore earned an automatic berth to a BCS Bowl Game; great. Now the fans have to watch UConn get beat up by Oklahoma even if the Sooners show up as “Choklahoma.” The reason? Because (to put it bluntly) some of the teams in the NCAA today are just way too talented to lose to a team that doesn’t have enough talent to compete. Yes, there are teams out there that can upset someone, and it happens multiple times every week. You need to prepare in order to win the game. However, for every upset that occurs there are also about 5 to 10 games (if not more) that go exactly the way that they are supposed to go. So the point is, people seem to think that just because a school from the Big East loses to a school from the Big 12, that the whole Big East isn’t as good as the Big 12. They also will believe that a team in the Big East is part of a BCS automatic qualifying conference, that they would easily beat one of the non conference schools. This type of thinking is childish and naïve. Overall, teams in the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10, ACC, and Big East are pretty solid. That’s why they earned the BCS automatic qualifying status for their conferences. They showed for a period of time that they met the criteria and that they were good enough to earn that “get out of jail free card” status. In some sense, it actually helps to prevent a conference from being too tough. Imagine if a conference theoretically could produce the top 4 or 5 teams in a single season. Wouldn’t it be logical to assume that none of those teams would be able to go undefeated? So how would it be fair to hold out the most talented teams for having to play other talented teams? In that sense, it completely makes sense for the BCS system to allow them a major bowl game if they win their conference, be it the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, or BCS National Championship. However, after watching the teams like Boise State and TCU prove their shot as the so called “BCS Busters” over the past few season, I don’t think it’s fair to claim that any of them are anything more than they are; great football teams. Everyone talked all year long that Boise or TCU wouldn’t make it through the SEC’s schedule undefeated … right ... neither can a Tim Tebow-less Florida or a Cam Newton-less Auburn. In fact, LSU won the national title with what 2 losses a few seasons ago. Don’t make the argument something that it’s not. No one is saying TCU or Boise is the best team in the history of college football, or that they could play with the toughest teams week in and week out and dominate the scoreboard by blowing each team out by 25+ points per week. The argument is whether by 100 points of by 1, at the end of the day who got the victory? This year… Boise State definitely helped the argument, but TCU showed up big and proved to the world that they are at LEAST the second best team in the nation this year if not better. Let them play anyone, they could (and would) win most of them. Got something you disagree about? Let us know at footballtailgate.weebly.com .
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