BewilderedSociety.com

The BS Bowl is a couple steps closer to reality. No, Bewildered Society.com is not sponsoring a bowl game, but there is talk about putting an undefeated, 13-0 Ball State team against a 12-0 Boise State team in a bowl to settle once and for all who the better BSU is. It would be a defacto national championship, as it would bring the number of undefeated teams down by one.

So, let’s examine what would be best for Ball State. Before the talk started, there was a very good column in the Washington Post about how the BCS system is broke by John Feinstein. His best example of why the BCS was BS involved Ball State:

In fact, even if Ball State finishes 13-0, it will probably end up playing in the Motor City Bowl. Imagine that, going 13-0 and being rewarded with a trip to Detroit in December.

When this became closer to reality, rumors began to swirl among the so-called mid-majors that strings were being pulled, by ESPN and others, to set up an all BSU bowl between the blue-turfers of Boise and the chirpers of Ball State.

Now, it seems, it is closer to a reality.

USA Today’s Steve Wieberg, following a story in the IndyStar, filed this story today stating that the discussions are ongoing, though early, and there are a number of problems with the match up.

Before we go any further, let’s remember that the bowls are all about money. That’s why there is no playoff. That’s why non-BCS schools are systematically shut out of the BCS bowls. That’s why Ball State, TCU and Boise State, despite being three of the 12 best teams in the country are behind schools from the Big East.

The main problem with the game seems to be where it will be played. Boise, obviously, wants the game to be the Roady’s Truck Stops Humanitarian Bowl, which is problematic because it is played at Boise’s home field. It’s also sponsored by a Truck Stop company, which would be fine if the game was East Carolina vs. Nevada.

Ball State (and the Mid-American Conference) is suggesting the Motor City Bowl, which is played in Detriot. So, we would not be rewarding one but two undefeated teams with a trip to… Detroit. Ew. Also, the bowl is sponsored by GM and Ford, so who knows when you’re going to get paid for that trip.

There are other possibilities out there. One of the best seems to be the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana. Fiscally, it makes sense. It has a larger payout that both the Motor City or the Humanitarian, and is as much money as either school could make on a bowl. Plus it is on as neutral as you can get without having it played in England.

The matchup could be both good and bad, for a number of reasons. Both teams would have a lot to lose, and little to gain from the matchup. Even when a winner emerges, they’ve still only beaten a team from the WAC/MAC. It might be better for these schools to beat up on bottom feeders from the ACC and Big Ten.

There’s also a slim chance that Notre Dame could end up in the Motor City Bowl, and do we really want to beat up on a poor, defenseless school like Notre Dame?

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Tags: Ball State University, BCS, Boise State, Bowls, BS, Cardinals, football, Notre Dame