Fired Up Friday

The Rose Bowl

I could not be more fired up about tomorrow's Rose Bowl.    (Obviously, this has something to do with my Wisconsin allegiances, but still.)  This year's Rose Bowl is a classic matchup of speed vs. power.  It's David vs. Goliath.  Big vs. Small.  North vs. South.  Ask around and most people say it has the looks of a classic.  I see it much differently.  I believe that the Badgers will win the Rose Bowl handily by a margin of two touchdowns or more. 

I feel like there is no reason that the Badgers should not be able to run all over TCU.  Believe me I've heard that TCU is currently the number one ranked defense and they've been the "best" defense in the nation for the last three years, but that means nothing to me because of their schedule.  I don't care if a team can pad their stats and hold teams like Wyoming, Colorado State, BYU, UNLV, and Tennessee Tech under 10 points in a game.  That means nothing.  TCU has NEVER seen anything like the Badgers offensive line before and the Badgers should dominate the line of scrimmage and thus dominate the game.

I'm not saying that this will be a blowout from the start to finish, but I do believe that in the end the Badgers will demoralize the Horned Frogs and end up winning by a couple touchdowns.  With the fifth highest scoring team in the nation, there is no denying that TCU has a very good offense, but its nothing that the Badgers haven't seen before.  The Badgers have already beat the 11th (Ohio State 31-18) and 21st (Michigan 48-28) highest scoring offenses in the nation, while the Horned Frogs struggled against the 19th highest scoring offense in the nation (San Diego State 40-35).  I'm not saying this is completely indicative of what will happen on Saturday, but the one legitimate offense TCU played against they struggled to slow down.

I don't want people to think that I don't think TCU is a great team because they certainly are.  As I write this, I cannot emphasize enough how fearful I am that my predictions will be wrong because of how well smaller schools like TCU and Boise State prepare themselves for their bowl games.  They understand that bowls are their time to shine and they know that they need to perform well to prove themselves to the rest of the nation.

Earlier this week I was discussing bowls with my co-host on Saints Talk Alex Kollack and he was arguing that the only bowl game that truly matters is the National Championship game.  In his opinion, the only people who care about the other bowls are the fans of the two teams playing in each respective bowl.  In most cases, I agree with this opinion, but when it comes to this particular Rose Bowl I could not disagree more. 

This Rose Bowl may be the most important bowl game in the last five years.  I know that a claim of that nature may seem very exaggerated, but I think it could not be more true.  The BCS rankings have finally pitted a non-AQ against a team that pounds the ball on the ground and has a legitimate defense.  The most memorable victory of a non-AQ in a BCS Bowl came in Boise St.'s victory over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, but that Oklahoma team was more of a finesse team with a high scoring offense.  Finesse is not a word often used to describe the Wisconsin Badgers.  If the Badgers would end up dominating the Rose Bowl and physically dominating TCU, it may very well be the end of Non-AQs like Boise State and TCU being ranked in the Top 10 nationally.  The one major concern with these smaller teams has been how they would far in a power conference like the Big 10 and SEC and this game could finally provide an answer.

Big 12 Football

Big 12 Football could also appear on the list of biggest jokes in college football as well.  All kidding aside, this bowl season has proven my previous claims regarding the weakness of the Big 12 as a football conference completely correct.  As a part-time St. Louis resident, I have had to deal with MIZZOU fans tell me over and over again how good the Big 12 is.  I have listened to how difficult they are to stop, how many points they score, how exciting they are to watch, and how good they are as a whole.  I constantly refuted these claims as I attempted to explain that there are two sides of the ball and you need to play both offense and defense.

Then Iowa (#4 Big Ten) beat Missouri (#2 Big 12) without their leading rusher and receiver.  Then Washington (6-6, #4 Pac 10) beat Nebraska (#3 Big 12).  The smile that came from these results has yet to be wiped off of my face.  This bowl season has once again proven to me why I should continue to advocate for "boring" Big 10 Football instead of "exciting" Big 12 football.  "Exciting" Big 12 Football is a product of gimmicky spread offenses and a complete lack of defense, while "boring" Big 10 Football is a product of balanced offensive teams playing against consistently talented defenses.  Open your eyes, Big 12 fans!!!

New Year's Eve

I don't think New Year's Eve is that big of a deal.  It's really not that exciting to me.  New Year's Eve is simply a holiday that celebrates the start of a new day that happens to start a new year and gives everyone an excuse to party.  Meh.