Wednesday, December 17, 2008

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…..

Wisconsin vs Florida State in Champs Bowl

Champs Sports Bowl

Wisconsin vs. Florida State

This is one of seven bowl games played in the state of Florida, and it seems obvious that a Florida team would be in it. I mean, a lot of these bowls were created with certain regional teams in mind, but at the same time, many bowls are held out of the “cold zones” to entice fans of northern states to come on down and “warm up” a bit.

No sin in that, especially when you have an entire conference like the Big 10 up there. Those guys deserve some of that warm sunshine or warmer temps too, right? Thus the game we have, Wisconsin vs. Florida State.

This is a good matchup, between BCS bowl teams, and is actually a very interesting story within itself if you look at the resumes of both teams. Let’s start with Wisconsin out of the Big 10.

There was a lot of talk that the Big 10 would have a team in the National Championship, and there was much talk that Wisconsin would be a top 10 team for sure. There were high expectations as the team started out 1-0 by beating Akron 38-17, then capturing their second win against Marshall 51-14. Everything was working smoothly for this team, and it seemed this might be the second best team out of the Big 10.

A trip to Fresno State, then ranked in the top 25, and a win there, gave a lot of weight to the Badgers team as they were now 3-0, looking for more wins as they entered the conference schedule. With lowly Michigan on the ropes, it should have been an easy win to start the conference season right.

Nope.

In a stunning game, Wisconsin lost to Michigan 27-25 and may have lost more in their spirits. An embarrassing loss lead the Badgers into two more top 25 matchups back to back, neither of which they could overcome. A loss to then #14 Ohio State 20-17 and then a loss to then #6 Penn State 48-7 broke their spirits. In three conference games back to back to back, they lost them all, dropping to 3-3. No BCS hopes, perhaps no BCS bowl either.

And it got worse as they lost to Iowa 38-16 as it seemed that Wisconsin hit rock bottom. Whatever goals this team had, they were gone. All that was left was to TRY to get to a bowl, to salvage a disappointing season.

This turnaround started with a win over Illinois, but was stopped again with a loss to top 25 foe Michigan State 25-24. At 4-5, Wisconsin needed at least two more wins to become bowl eligible, with only 3 games left. It seemed they started to get it together, with a win over Indiana 55-20 and then Minnesota 35-32 to finally qualify for a bowl. Their final game against Cal-Poly seemed to show the problems the Badgers still had, barely beating this team in OT 36-35.

Five teams were ranked throughout the course of the year, but Wisconsin beat only one, that being Minnesota. But there were several close games, proving that this team can compete. We shall see.

Florida State used to be the king of the ACC, dominating it every year and sweeping their conference foes away like dust. It was always the “big” game against Florida that was larger than the conference itself, even though Florida was from the SEC. But things have changed for this team, not many being good.

There was no great expectation for Florida State to win it all, but maybe to challenge for the ACC title. But the way the Seminoles went about it seemed… odd.

The first game of the young season pitted them against Western Carolina University…MY old stomping grounds, and they were pulverized 69-0...ouch. But here is something odd… most teams play ONE Division 1AA team… but Florida State scheduled two in a row. Playing UTC and beating them 46-7 made it look like FSU was scoring without measure. Some were even talking of their greatness.

But this came down to earth quickly on the first REAL game, against Wake Forest, where they lost 12-3. Amazing, they scored over 100 against lesser foes but could only manage 3 against a real Division I foe.

But it seemed to wake up the Seminoles as they began a four game winning streak. Rebounding against Colorado at home 39-21, then winning two away games against Miami 41-39 and against NC State 26-17 had them in the right direction. A big win over Virginia Tech brought the Seminoles to 6-1, and 3-1 in conference play. They were now being mentioned as one of the elite ACC teams to beat.

Florida State then fell into a checkered finish, wining one, losing the next to finish the season. A tough loss to Georgia Tech away 31-28 led to a win over troubled Clemson 41-27 before repeating the trend, losing to Boston College 27-17 in their home, and then winning against ranked Maryland 27-3. The final game of the season, against Florida, wasn’t much of a battle, losing 45-14, but the Seminoles did manage to qualify for a bowl, and have a pretty good season.

At least eight teams on FSU’s schedule will be in a bowl, and at least 6 were ranked this year, this was a very tough schedule, excluding the two Southern Conference teams at the beginning of the year. The Seminoles had a very tough season, playing through the very competitive ACC and playing a potential National Champion.. They are quite battle tested.

Of the two teams, one could argue that Wisconsin has underachieved, even though they did play a tough schedule, but Florida State’s schedule was, in my opinion, a bit harder. Coming out of the ACC with just a few losses is not bad, but one wonders if this team is as good as the record. We have not seen the Florida State of old, but then again, where has Wisconsin gone?

In a game in Florida State’s…well… state, I think the Seminoles are favored, but not by any large stretch of the imagination. We will see if Wisconsin can start to regain the respect they had at the beginning of the year. I think this will be a very nice game to watch, with Florida State slightly favored. We shall see.