BYU Wins Holy War

BYU Wins Holy War
George, like Collie and Harline before him, is now still open!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

USC’s Gift for BYU & Poinsettia Bowl Turns to Lump of Coal After Cal Loss

How the Cal loss affected BYU and USC...

For BYU it seemed as if the best place for BYU this bowl season would be the Poinsettia Bowl. The Las Vegas Bowl hinted that they didn’t want the Cougars this season, and BYU always had a better shot at getting a better bowl matchup in the Poinsettia Bowl. Both sides seemed happy not to be affiliated this season.

USC’s losing to Arizona really helped out BYU. It meant barring a Washington upset over a ranked Cal team, the Trojans would be playing BYU in San Diego.

Well former BYU quarterback Steve Sarkisian played the role of Grinch for BYU fans. Sark’s unranked Huskies beat #19 California 42-10.

If there is one sure thing in the PAC-10 this season it is not to assume anything is a sure thing.

This means USC finished fifth in the PAC-10 officially, and they are headed to the Las Vegas Bowl. To make matters worse for BYU fans they will most likely face off against Utah.

The only hope for BYU fans is that Vegas will reconsider selecting the Cougars for the Vegas Bowl now that they have a chance to pair them with USC.

The Vegas Bowl has only hinted that they will take Utah. Their reasoning for taking a lower ranked Utah over BYU was economic. BYU fans are known for being frugal, and for their lack of gambling. Utah fans would travel just as well to Vegas as their BYU counterparts. The Vegas Bowl also has hinted it wants to become something more than simply the “BYU Bowl.”

The reasoning of the Vegas Bowl Committee didn’t take into account the chance of getting such a marquee team from the PAC-10 as USC. The chance of putting together a BYU vs. USC matchup might be too good for the Vegas Bowl to resist.

BYU will be ranked in the top 15 going into whatever bowl game they play. USC could still be ranked after losing to Arizona this week, but even if they aren’t the USC brand will attract a national television audience.

BYU won’t find out what bowl game they are going to until after the BCS bowl selection tomorrow. Why? The BCS still hasn’t released BYU from consideration—even though there is no possible way BYU will get a BCS bowl bid.

If the Vegas Bowl selects Utah as it is rumored to tomorrow it will be a very bitter moment for BYU fans. The Utes will get the chance to take on the talented, although underperforming Trojans.

USC’s loss to Arizona really appeared to be an early Christmas present for BYU fans, but it really did turn to a lump of coal when California was upset by Washington.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, as you know by now, BYU will play Oregon St. in Las Vegas, Utah gets Cal in San Diego and USC was afraid of both of those teams and chose to play in the cold Emerald Bowl. So you were wrong on all games. And the dumbest thing that you said was that BYU would opt for the Poinsettia Bowl (over the Las Vegas Bowl) without a fight is asinine. Bowl games are monetary rewards for winning. BYU would lose $500.000 (that's .5 million if you are a little dense) by playing in San Diego. To let the Utes (a 3rd place team) make more money than the Cougars (a 2nd place team) does not make sense. I know the rule that if the MWC winner goes to a BCS game then the Las Vegas bowl committee and choose who they want. But if they don't take the next best team (Ohio State & USC were never criticized for playing in the Rose Bowl year after year) then The "Committee" needs tp tell BYU ahead of time - so they can make sure and lose to Utah to get that extra $500,000.

All in all I was glad to see that you "the expert" had no idea what you were talking about. And even more important, the Las Vegas Bowl committee was the right thing to do, even though the city loses a little money because most BYU fans don't hit the casinos. But, on the other hand, most other teams don't put fannies in the seats a Sam Boyd Stadium.

Enough Said!

Anonymous said...

Well, as you know by now, BYU will play Oregon St. in Las Vegas, Utah gets Cal in San Diego and USC was afraid of both of those teams and chose to play in the cold Emerald Bowl. So you were wrong on all games. And the dumbest thing that you said was that BYU would opt for the Poinsettia Bowl (over the Las Vegas Bowl) without a fight, is asinine. Bowl games are monetary rewards for winning. BYU would lose $500.000 (that's .5 million if you are a little dense) by playing in San Diego. To let the Utes (a 3rd place team) make more money than the Cougars (a 2nd place team) does not make sense. I know the rule that if the MWC winner goes to a BCS game then the Las Vegas bowl committee can choose who they want. But if they don't take the next best team (Ohio State & USC were never criticized for playing in the Rose Bowl year after year) then The "Committee" needs to tell BYU ahead of time - so they can make sure and lose to Utah to get that extra $500,000.

All in all I was glad to see that you "the expert" had no idea what you were talking about. And even more important, the Las Vegas Bowl committee did the right thing. Even though the city may lose a little money because most BYU fans don't hit the casinos, but, on the other hand, most other teams don't put fannies in the seats at Sam Boyd Stadium like BYU.

Enough Said!

Mark said...

I was on the ground laughing after reading this comment. First, it took a back room deal to get USC out of the Vegas Bowl. Second, I never said BYU wanted to go to the Poinsettia Bowl. I was just writing about well founded and documented rumors that the Vegas Bowl would pass on BYU and take Utah. Third, the way the conference divides the bowl winnings (divide payout into ten shares and divide evenly among conference with the team who actually played in the game getting two shares) BYU and Utah will both get more money from TCU's BCS bowl than either of their bowl winnings. Plus in the grad scheme of things $100,000 dollars (give or take doing some calculations) isn't a huge number to shirk off if it means getting a better bowl opponent.

I did like to see the "Enough Said" slam back one the bolg, it is a classic. With that said, thanks for the comment!