Muller: Bowl Outcomes Don't Determine Conference Superiority
By Shawn Muller-
(CBS) It's bowl season!
Every college football fan loves them some bowl games, am I right?
I mean, who can't get excited about watching the Beef O'Brady's Bowl, The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, and the BBVA Compass Bowl?
Ok, so we know that college bowl season has gotten a little out of hand (35 freaking bowl games), but that doesn't mean there aren't SOME intriguing matchups. The Rose Bowl pits two very contrasting styles in Oregon and Wisconsin. The Fiesta Bowl between Oklahoma State and Stanford should be a high scoring affair. Then, of course, you have the rematch between the LSU Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide in the BCS National Championship game, where the first team to score six points is likely to win.
I am definitely excited to get my college football fix one last time before next fall, regardless of which game is on, but I have noticed a new trend. You see, I always all that how the particular team you root for (or are betting on) performs in their games was all that mattered.
But I guess I was wrong.
Instead, the overall performance of the conference as a whole seems to be the main focus. I'm sorry, but this just seems really stupid to me.
"Conference braggin' rights, baby!" "My conference can beat up your conference!"
Gotta love that, right?!
Actually, no you don't.
I am not a conference fan. I am a fan of a certain team that happens to play in a certain conference. I will never be one of those insane chest thumpers that feel it is necessary to puff out my chest based on how my "conference" plays in bowl games, but apparently, I am one of the few who actually feels this way.
This "conference superiority" idea is a big deal to a lot of fans and from what I have seen and read, it is imperative that the Big Ten Conference does well.
Fair or not, the Big Ten has been ridiculed over the past couple of years due to a "weak" showing come bowl time, but if you are a fan of Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn State, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State, or Wisconsin, I say, why care?
Why care how your Big Ten brethren fare in their bowl game?
Honestly, if I am a fan of a certain team, I could care less how the other teams do in their games. If your favorite team wins, and the rest of the conference teams lose, well, I guess they all lose.
It shouldn't affect your day whatsoever.
Now is about the time when all of the "if the conference does good, we all look good" crowd makes their way onto the stage, but let me just stop you now before you ripping my stance on the subject.
If you are a fan of Michigan, why on Earth would you want Ohio State or Michigan State to win their bowl games? Isn't it a mortal sin for Wolverine fans to cheer for the Buckeyes and the Spartans? If you are a fan of Illinois, why would you want to see Northwestern or Wisconsin win theirs? If you are a Wisconsin fan, why would you want to see Penn State or Iowa win theirs?
I can't cheer for any other team but my own. I don't want Big Ten teams to lose, but I certainly won't be cheering for every team to win either.
The others do bad, my team wins, so-be-it!
But Shawn, if all the teams perform poorly, then public perception will continue to look down on the Big Ten.
So what?
The outcome of a bowl game is not going to make my opinion of a conferences' "strength" change. These games do not—and cannot—determine just how strong a conference was during the entire season, especially when you take into account that not every bowl matchup is created equal. They are a bunch of exhibition games played a month after the regular season ends. Anyone that paid attention to the Big Ten this season (I mean actually watched the Big Ten, and not what you saw in highlights or what some talking-head had to say) knows that the conference wasn't "weak":
It was awfully balanced.
Were any teams "national championship-caliber"? No, they weren't. But does that mean the conference wasn't "strong"? From top to bottom, no other conference in the country was as strong as the Big Ten and that isn't going to change because of the bowl games.
Ten teams from the Big Ten are playing in a bowl game this year, the most of any conference.
That alone speaks volumes for the "strength" of the Big Ten this season, does it not?
Happy bowl season everybody!
Shawn Muller has lived in the great city of Chicago for 7 years. He is a 2002 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and, in October of 2010, Shawn received his certificate in radio broadcasting. In his free time, Shawn enjoys spending time with his wife Melissa and 3 year old daughter Ava, catching any live sporting event, and traveling. Check out his radio show, Grab Some Bench with Muller and Bangser" every Thursday night at 8:30 P.M., at www.blogtalkradio.com/spmuller24. Read more of his blogs here.
