<p>In case anyone is interested, key non-BCS matchups:</p>
<p>Sun: Oregon State (Pac-10, 8-4) vs. Pitt (Big East, 9-3)
Capital One: Michigan State (Big-10, 9-3) vs. Georgia (SEC, 9-3)
Holiday: Oregon (Pac-10, 9-3) vs. Oklahoma St. (Big-12, 9-3)
Emerald: California (Pac-10, 8-4) vs. Miami (ACC, 7-5)
Music City: Boston College (ACC, 9-4) vs. Vanderbilt (SEC, 6-6)
Chick-fil-A: Georgia Tech (ACC, 9-3) vs. LSU (SEC, 7-5)
Cotton: Ole Miss (SEC, 8-4) vs. Texas Tech (Big-12, 11-1)</p>
<p>These are going to be important for determining how the conferences stack up to each other. With all the talk about how strong the SEC and Big-12 are, I'll especially like to see what happens in the Capital One & Holiday bowls.</p>
<p>I think it's a bit unfair for BC to have to play an away game against Vanderbilt as our bowl game.</p>
<p>As for the BCS games, my picks are:
Florida over Oklahoma by 14
Alabama over Utah by 20
Ohio State upsets Texas by 3
Cincinnati ekes it out against Virginia Tech by 3</p>
<p>
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I think it's a bit unfair for BC to have to play an away game against Vanderbilt as our bowl game.
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<p>Don't worry.. BC isn't the only one like that...</p>
<p>-USC plays Penn State at the Rose Bowl in LA. Gee, home game USC??
-Florida plays Oklahoma in Miami. Home game Florida?
-Navy plays Wake Forest in Washington DC. Home game Navy?</p>
<p>It's no accident that most of these games pick a close-to-home team. Bowls want good turnout and they know people may be hesitant to travel this year. Remember also that LSU won their two BCS titles at the Sugar bowl.</p>
<p>And one more key matchup:</p>
<p>Hawaii: Notre Dame (6-6) vs. Hawaii (WAC, 7-6)</p>
<p>Remember that Notre Dame has NCAA-record 9 consecutive bowl losses. If Weis brings Notre Dame's first bowl win since January 1994, does that take the heat off of him (for now)?</p>
<p>We are going to the Texas Bowl tomorrow (Rice vrs W Michigan) because my son's best friend is a player for Rice - beyond that my oldest is going to the national championship in Miami. He is a senior at UF, so this will be his last.</p>
<p>He's been darn lucky in that there have been 3 national championships at UF since he's been there (hoping for #4!!).</p>
<p>I would say Virginia Tech beat Cincinnati. USC beats Penn St. Texas beats Ohio State for sure. And Oklahoma beats Florida because by now, they've already figured out how to keep Tebow out of the game :D</p>
<p>They've played Penn State (who you guys claimed all year come from the Big 10 who is downright awful!) and Oklahoma State who finished 5th or 6th in their conference. </p>
<p>Not saying much.....
the PAC ten is very under-appreciated conference and these wins prove it</p>
<p>and btw....Oklahoma state finished 4th in their conference behind Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech....arguable some of the best powerhouses in college football. </p>
<p>Penn State comes from the Big 10 which has not been bashed all year....Penn State was heralded most of the year just as the Big 10 always is for some off reason. I mean look what happened to Illinois last year and Michigan the year before that. Not to mention the utter destruction of Ohio State earlier this year. It is clear that the PAC ten is way better than they are given credit for.</p>
<p>Both Oregon and USC came out firing and won the games by clear margins and were clearly in control. While arguable Oregon had a tough first half they came back and dominated the second half of that game. USC OWNED that game. After the first half it was clear that they let up and weren't playing with the same fire as before and they still were able to dictate that game.</p>
<p>The Pac Ten is going to end up with 4 teams in the top 25
and by saying that these aren't very big wins....the PAC ten will have the most bowl wins this year. so they obviously are good enough to put that up on the other conferences. </p>
<p>Im curious to see the national title game....I think it is goiing to be one of the closer games this season.
Considering....Texas is going to slaughter Ohio State in the fiesta bowl</p>
<p>Lawl,
As if Big 10 is any better...
Every conference has a weak, mediocre, and good teams.
At least PAC 10 has a team that fans can boast about, but does Big 10 have any?</p>
<p>so the big-10 champ beat the #3 pac-10 team...? I think big-10 champ vs pac-10 champ is a more fair indicator. Unless you want to throw the pac-10 champ against the #3 big-10 team...anyone wanna guess how that would turn out? USC has also already creamed the big-10 #2, can't imagine mich state would make it any closer than 45-14 vs. usc.</p>
<p>it's not even the same as the pac-10 #2 beating big-12 #4. At the time, Penn State was ranked, Oregon State unranked (same to end the season). Oklahoma State was ranked at least 5 places above Oregon when they played, people expected OK State to win. </p>
<p>Same with ranked Pitt over unranked Oregon ST. It means people expected Pitt to win, they were wrong.</p>
<p>Face it, the Pac-10 was underrated. The Pac-10 scheduled real out of conference games against the MWC, Penn State, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Georgia. They lose some of those real games and all of a sudden everyone calls the pac-10 weak</p>
<p>One last thought, a hypothetical. Suppose Oregon State didn't schedule Penn State & Utah, instead, they schedule 2 div I-AA cupcakes (like texas tech did) & knock off USC. They finish 10-2. Oregon schedule a div I-AA cupcake (like oklahoma state did) instead of boise state, they finish 10-2. USC finishes 11-1, all 3 teams have in-conference losses</p>
<p>I would bet you USC finishes the regular season in the top 4 and oregon and oregon state both finish in the top 12. With the same bowl placements the pac-10 goes 5-0 and we would be talking about how strong the pac-10 is.</p>