California vs Miami in the Emerald Bowl

Emerald Bowl

Miami (Fla) vs. California

Am I right, or is there only four bowls in the great state of California? Texas has I think 5 bowls, Florida seven and California has four, making almost half of all the bowls this year.

And this bowl involves two BCS conferences, both located on opposite ends of the nation. Miami from the ACC and California from the Pac-10...quite possibly the two furthest teams apart on post season if you don’t include Hawaii (but don’t quote me on that).

This is a strange matchup, because in years past when you think of Miami, you think of a National Powerhouse, a team that always factored in the National Championship, but in years of late, that has not been so much the truth. But in rebuilding, you see that there is some evidence that this team has promise.

And what of California? Granted much of the East Coast don’t get to see Cal much, and because of that there is a lot of “east coast bias” against Pac-10 teams, but this is a credible team. Let’s look at the resumes of both schools and see how each team got to this very spot.

Let’s start with California, out of the Pac-10. Most times when you talk of this conference, most people think only of USC and their dominance of the conference. It just seemed that California knew that they had to play a few teams outside the West Coast to gain some early respect, and did so by having Michigan State visit them, and defeating them 38-31. This was a strong win already, and was enhanced just a bit by crushing Washington State, a conference foe, 66-3.

But it was the cross-country trip to Maryland where they learned that they were not unstoppable, especially the record of football games (college and pro) of West Coast teams traveling to the East Coast. In a loss to Maryland 35-27, it seemed that Cal was going to have to rely on the strength of the Pac-10 to keep the credit it had earned.

A win vs. non-conference foe Colorado State seemed to prepare the Golden Bears for their second conference win against Arizona State at home. They were looking pretty good at 4-1 until they loss their second road trip to Arizona 42-27. But one conference loss isn’t bad at all, so there was still hope.

Their next game vs. UCLA was a good test, because at the time many didn’t know what UCLA team was going to show up, and it worked in Cal’s favor, stomping the Bruins 41-20. But NOW things were going to get tough. California had three straight games against three ranked conference foes…the entire season for the Golden Bears would be decided in this strip of time.

The first game vs. then #24 Oregon gave Cal great hope, beating the Ducks at home, 26-16. But the next two games were away, and Cal already had 2 losses on the road…they would get two more, losing to then #7 USC 17-3, and then to #23 Oregon State 34-21.

At 6-4, the slumping Golden Bears had already qualified for a bowl but needed to gain momentum before the post season. This came with the final two games against slumping Stanford and winless Washington, both of which California defeated with little problem.

Half of the teams California played are in a bowl, and nearly all of those were ranked some time this season. Cal defeated two of those six, but played well against teams like USC, Oregon and Oregon State.

On the other side, Miami comes from the competitive ACC, and started out a little rocky. An early win against Charleston Southern didn’t mean much, but the loss to state rival Florida, then ranked #5, was important. Losing 26-3 meant that there was much work for this Miami team to be recognized as a top 25 team.

This seemed to be what Miami was trying to do when they went to Texas A&M and captured a win 41-23, but was lost the next two games in conference play. In two embarrassing HOME games, Miami lost to UNC 28-24 and to state rival Florida State 41-39. At 2-3, there seemed to be a lot of concern for the Hurricanes.

But the season didn’t go completely south, as the team found courage in non-conference game, in Central Florida, winning 20-14. It was the spark the Hurricanes needed, as they went on to win four straight conference games. Beating Duke 49-31 was pretty much expected, but the win against Wake Forest 16-10 gave the team hope.

Miami would go on and play two close games vs. Virginia and Virginia Tech, but would beat them both. At 7-3, they were already qualified for a bowl…it’s just as well since they lost their two remaining games, one to Georgia Tech 41-23, and then to NC State 38-28, both being road games.

At least 7 teams on Miami’s schedule will be in a bowl, so there is no doubt that this team had a very difficult season. And further, it wasn’t like they were blown out too many times, this is a team that can hang in there.

So, who has the better chance to win? Strength of schedule always plays a part, but to me it seems that California is closer to making that next step, Miami can get there, but maybe not this year. Maybe close, who can tell, but I like this matchup. I say California by a field goal, but as I said before, who can tell…..