From: dames@cs.uiuc.edu (Raymond Dames)
Subject: Big Ten Bowls
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 21:35:48 GMT

	First of all, the gods have smiled upon college football bowls by
preventing 6-5 (or 6-6) Big10 teams from getting into bowls.  Plaudits to
Northwestern, Purdue, and Minnesota for jobs well done yesterday.  Only
Michigan (Rose, 8-0-3), Ohio St (Citrus, 8-2-1), and Illinois (Holiday, 6-4-1)
will represent the Big10 in bowl games (I'll deal with PSU in a moment).
Therefore, it's relieving to know that we won't have to continue hearing
"...and I'd put <teamX> in <bowlX> before some 6-5 Big10 team..."-like
comments for the next two months.
	Now, there may be some complaints about Illinois' bowl-boundedness,
especially from Big10 bashers, but, as an Illini fan, I will defend them
here:  of their 4 losses, one was by 1 pt. to Minnesota in the dome, where
Colorado nipped the Wolves 21-20 early in the season.  Another was by an
amazing 3TD 4th quarter comeback to the surprising NU Wildcats, 27-26.
A third was at the Astrodome to the Houston Cougars early in the season; the
same team and place at which the #3 Aggies were challenged (38-30 win) two
weeks back.  The 4th was a pitiful 24-14 loss to Iowa at home, for which I
am somewhat embarrassed.  However, Illinois defeated OSU in Columbus 18-16,
and tied Michigan in Ann Arbor 22-22.  Illinois was not blown out by any team
this year...the 31-13 loss at Houston was not nearly as lopsided as the score
indicates...both teams played relatively poorly, with Illinois turning the
ball over on drives deep in Houston territory.  Furthermore, 7 (or 6) of
Houston's points came with :01 second remaining in the game on a classless
80 yd. bomb that only Jenkins, Klingler(?), and whomever received the ball
expected.  So, for all reasonable purposes, the final score was 24-13; I'm
not demeaning Houston's win, I'm just pointing out that it's not fair to
penalize the Illinois secondary with a touchdown that only an ass like
Jenkins would call (no one even covered the receiver who caught the pass).
The point that I am asserting is that Illinois plays to the level of its
competition; consequently, the Illini often upset teams and are also often
upset themselves.  However, they are always IN the game...in fact, there
have only been 4 convincing victories over the Illini since 1989:
Colorado 38-7, 1989; Iowa 54-28, 1990; Clemson 30-0, 1990 HOF Bowl;
Michigan 20-0, 1991.  One of these games was a bowl game, and the other
three games were against an Orange Bowl and almost MNC team (CU 89) and
two eventual Rose Bowl teams.  Furthermore, few teams have the comeback power
(and karma) of Illinois.  I expect the Illini to be competitive against
nearly any team in the nation and don't feel that the Holiday Bowl is an
unjust reward; greater bowl travesties will occur this year.
	Now for Penn State:  I'm not a Lions fan by any means and don't want
anything to do with any of the ND/PSU bashing that has occurred between the
schools' fans over the last few years.  However, although everyone is upset
about PSU's deal with the Blockbuster Bowl, I think Penn State's record and
AP ranking severly underestimate the Lions.  The Lions outplayed Miami and
lost a heartbreaker to the Canes...I feel that this game took the spirit out
of the team, which was reflected in their loss 35-32 to BC the next week.
The Lions also lost another heartbreaker to the Irish last week on the last
second 2 point conversion.  Now, perhaps the Lions don't deserve the BB Bowl.
And, for that matter, perhaps Michigan is not a MNC caliber team...but let
me ask all the Big10 and PSU bashers out there a question:  do you truly
believe that the Michigan Wolverines or Penn St Nittany Lions (or OSU Buckeyes
for that matter) would be overmatched against any team in the country?  I'm
not asking whether or not you think these teams have a better chance of
winning against every team in the country...I'm asking the Big10 bashers that
don't think Michigan is a top 15 team and the PSU bashers that don't think
that PSU deserves a decent bowl game whether or not you think there is a team
(or teams) that would be able to outplay these two on any given day.
	Now, I'm not trying to single out Michigan, OSU, and PSU as elite
teams; I think there are many teams that can keep up with any other team in
the country, which is why I think that polls are, for the most part, 
irrelevant (except for the fact that they are responsible for about 75% of
all college football trash talk on and off the field).  My main point is that
I've been hearing alot of Big10 and PSU bashing for a long time and I don't
understand why.  I think that if it weren't for the polls and Michigan's
and PSU's traditionally high rankings people who don't follow the Big10 very
much wouldn't care enough to flame them on the newsgroup--but if these teams
are in the way of someone's favorite team in the polls and this person
doesn't like it, then this person might find a reason to post some inane
flame article titled, "Why Michigan sucks".  And this problem applies to
other conferences and teams as well.  The only reason to get hyped over polls
is because you like being told what to think; there's no reason to be
bashing teams on the newsgroup, and it's really annoying to read flame posts.
Let your emotions go at the games, let your intelligence go on the newsgroup.

							Ray Dames
							dames@cs.uiuc.edu

Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.college