Game on!
Crimson Tide, Longhorns rumble into Pasadena for BCS championship game following Oregon and Ohio State Rose Bowl showdown New Year’s Day
By Jake Armstrong 12/23/2009
The Oregon Ducks and the Ohio State Buckeyes rumble into Pasadena on New Year’s Day for the 96th Rose Bowl Game.
The Ducks ride into the Granddaddy of all holiday bowl games with a remarkable 10-2 season behind them, making them the favorite in their first post-season trip to the Rose Bowl in 16 years. The 10-2 Buckeyes, who claim the fourth-highest number of wins in the annual Pac-10-Big 10 showdown, haven’t been in the game since beating Arizona at the end of the 1996 season.
The college football cavalcade continues Jan. 7 as the No.1 Alabama Crimson Tide and the No. 2 Texas Longhorns rumble into the stadium for the BCS National Championship Game.
After a season of uncertainty caused by multiple undefeated teams, Alabama and Texas, both 13-0, will meet in a bowl game for the fifth time in 50 seasons.
The Longhorns, which won three of those showdowns and tied in another, will no doubt rely on the arm of quarterback Colt McCoy, whose 3,512 passing yards and 27 touchdowns this season helped the Big 12 champions outscore opponents by nearly three-to-one this season.
But the Southeastern Conference (SEC) champion Crimson Tide will turn to running back Mark Ingram, whose 1,542-yard, 15-touchdown season earned him the Heisman Trophy, as it looks to defend its anointment as the best team in the nation.
Acting Tournament of Roses President Jeff Throop said having the BCS championship and Rose Bowl games in Pasadena marked a historic moment for the tournament, which is hosting both.
“Texas and Alabama are among the most storied programs in the history of college football, with the most bowl appearances at 49 and 57, respectively. The success of these two universities and their rich traditions will be sure to lead to a tremendous game on Jan. 7,” he said in a written statement.
Established in 1998, the BCS uses a three-part ranking system to determine the top two teams that will compete for the national title. It relies on the USA Today Coaches Poll and the Harris Interactive College Football Poll, each factor making up a third of a team’s BCS score.
For all the criticism heaped on the often baffling selections the BCS ranking system produces for the national title game, most in college football agree the Longhorns and Crimson Tide earned the right to duke it out this year. But that’s not to say faith in the BCS system abounds.
This month, a US House subcommittee passed a bill by Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton that would prohibit anyone from promoting a college national championship game unless the champ is crowned through a single-elimination, post-season playoff system.
The College Football Playoff Act, as the bill is known, has drawn arrows from across the political and sports spectrum from those who say the nation would be better served if Congress focused instead on mounting unemployment, sluggish commerce and increasingly expensive foreign wars. Few believe the bill has a chance of becoming law. But the BCS system won’t fix itself, says Barton.
“They keep trying to tinker with the current system and to me it’s like — and I don’t mean this directly — it’s like communism. You can’t fix it,” Barton said in May, shortly after introducing the bill. “I think they should change the name to the BES — Bowl Exhibition Series — or just drop the C and call it the BS system because it isn’t about determining a champion on the field.”
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT