
Wonder of wonders, Akron managed to squeak out a win against Buffalo, 22-14. Since that's the last game of their season, they managed to end on a high note- and thus are OUT of the Stupor Bowl.
Memphis, on the other hand, had no trouble losing their last game against UCF. They're definitely IN the Stupor Bowl.
And as I type this, in the 3rd quarter New Mexico is getting curb-stomped by TCU, 51-17.
So there's your two teams for the February 30, 2011 meeting in Walter Mondale Memorial Stadium- Memphis and New Mexico, and based on the fact that New Mexico managed to score at least seventeen points against the STARTERS for TCU- AND knocked out TCU's starting quarterback- in that alas hypothetical matchup I'd give New Mexico the decided edge.
And finally, a moment of silence for Boise State's BCS dreams, which went up in smoke in overtime when Nevada's field goal ended the Mustangs' winning streak.
I don't care what the big bowl mavens say about "playing the Sisters of Charity" or "every game is a playoff game." It's NOT. A team in the Southeast Conference, or maybe the Big 12, or Ohio State, Michigan, and USC- these teams can afford to lose one game- ONE- and still have a shot at the title. For every other team- over ninety teams- not only is any loss de facto the end of their season, but most of those teams will never even be given a chance at the championship. Instead the best they can hope for is to play some 6-6 schmucks like the University of Houston in the God Please Give Tourists a Reason to Come To Our City During the Holiday Season Bowl- a game that means, in terms of prestige and accomplishment, precisely dick.
Every single other sport in college athletics has a playoff system. Four-fifths of all colleges with football teams participate in playoffs. The big schools with the elite teams should not be given a cozy little system and seventy to eighty punching bag schools to guarantee permanent dominance of both the national title and the national advertising dollars.
The bowl system needs to die- except, of course, for the Stupor Bowl.