A few miles past I-39, just outside of Aurora, IL, our full bladders are greeted by a welcome sight: the Dekalb oasis. On our occasional weekend trips to Chicago, this tollway complex has everything a road traveler could need: clean bathrooms, convenient gas, a McDonalds, and the finest Land of Lincoln themed souvenirs this side of Peoria.
It also happens to be the most I've ever seen of Northern Illinois University.
NIU sits just north of the interstate near the Dekalb oasis and I hadn't thought much about the school. Until yesterday. Now I learn that this little west- Chicago commuter school will playing in the Orange Bowl against Florida State. (Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports came up with a great stat- NIU is obligated to buy 17,500 tickets for the Orange bowl. They average only 15,670 per home game!)
Naturally, NIU's crash of the BCS party is the big headline. But a quick look at the rest of the BCS matches tells us that the current system has outlived it's usefulness. The BCS is always quick to point out that their goal is to achieve a number 1 vs 2 final (and this year's game is looking epic, despite my misgivings about a certain despised team from South Bend) and it is not to ensure the 8 best teams in the country get to play in the premiere bowls. But maybe it should be.
NIU made the BCS because they are ranked in the top 16 and are ranked higher than a BCS qualifier. The current press continues to mention only Big East champ Louisville, yet in fact, they are ahead of two teams- Wisconsin, the Big 10 champ, is unranked.
Georgia, Oklahoma, and Texas A and M are top quality teams that will not appearing in the BCS. Instead, we get to watch NIU- Florida St and Florida- Louisville. Ugh. (Ok, the Fiesta bowl is going to be pretty cool with up-tempo offenses Kansas State and Oregon). The Rose looks good on paper with Stanford - Wisconsin, but that 5 losses and unranked status takes some serious shine off of the Badgers.
Down the ticket from the BCS, things get worse. USC horrendous season comes to a merciful end in El Paso- where they meet 6-7 Georgia Tech! No less than 13 6-6 teams are going bowling. Unbelievable.
What happened? ESPN encouraged the proliferation of bowls by bankrolling the TV broadcast of a game, ensuring a bowl's profitability even if it can't sell enough seats to fill a section much less a stadium (I'm looking at you, Beef O Brady's bowl). And conference realignment shifted the best teams to couple a conferences, limiting BCS participation due to the 2 team limit rule.
The playoff can't come soon enough.
Fight on and Beat the Yellowjackets,
Hans
