Other than the BCS Championship game, this bowl season holds little intrigue. So we mixed up the matchups a little and came up with some games we’d really like to see.
5. Maryland vs. Missouri (Humanitarian Bowl) » Because neither school travels well, let’s send them to the blue field in Boise, Idaho, to see whether anyone shows up.
4. Notre Dame vs. BYU (Independents Bowl) » Does BYU really think it can attract a lucrative TV deal and create its own national following a la Notre Dame? Let’s match them up in a has-been holy war.
3. Wisconsin vs. Oregon (Rose Bowl) » Back in olden times, when it was the centerpiece of New Year’s Day, the Rose Bowl had the best halftime show and often the most compelling matchup — a big, slow, methodical Big Ten team vs. a quicker, progressive Pac-10 squad. Wisconsin and Oregon fit the stereotype.
2. Boise State vs. Ohio State (Gordon Gee Bowl) » Imagine Boise State fans dressed as Little Sisters of the Poor and hanging the bow-tied Ohio State president in effigy. (And in a perfect world, Boise State QB Kellen Moore throwing seven touchdown passes in a 56-6 Broncos victory before 100,000 shivering fans in the Horseshoe.)
1. Auburn vs. TCU (Sugar Bowl) » Picture a wonderland far, far away where sanity (and a plus-one scenario) reigned. We would have Auburn-TCU in the Sugar Bowl, Wisconsin-Oregon in a natural Big Ten-Pac-10 Rose Bowl and the winners meeting a week later in the national championship. Yeah, dream on.
