NIU IN THE ORANGE BOWL!!!!

[Bucklion]

He's not against small schools not getting their shot, he's against teams that don't deserve it. This is the first team from a non-BCS league to get in without going undefeated. This is a NIU team that lost to a pathetic Iowa team, squeaked by the worst team in the Big XII(Kansas) by 7, beat Army by one and plays in a bad conference. Sorry, I don't know how voters vote a team with that resume #16 in the country. NIU did nothing wrong, but the system can't be allowing teams like this into BCS bowl games. You have to do something a little more impressive if you're from a non-BCS league if you're going to earn that bid.

Not buying it at all. When Reece tried to bring up other shitty undeserving teams that made the BCS, like Wisconsin and Louisville, he just completely ignored it. Had Georgia Tech made the BCS, he would have ignored that too, and they got jail-sexed by a Sun Belt team that lost 45-0 to Arkansas State just last weekend. It was another one of his sanctimonious bitchy rants, nothing more. I mean, yeah...Northern Illinois making the BCS once, that is what has college football in, in his words, a "sad state". Right.

 

[osucollegebuck]

You just have to laugh at the people who say "they might just give them a game". Its fine if you think they should be there but you'll want to turn this one off by the middle of the 2nd quarter. A financial disaster of epic proportions.

 

[Buckeye513]

I guess Rece's alma mater making the national championship game despite not winning their conference nor division didn't meet his "sad state" criteria.

 

[Bucklion]

You just have to laugh at the people who say "they might just give them a game". Its fine if you think they should be there but you'll want to turn this one off by the middle of the 2nd quarter. A financial disaster of epic proportions.

If they were playing Alabama or Georgia I would agree. But Florida State had a clunker against NC State...they are by no means invincible.

 

[Bucklion]

I guess Rece's alma mater making the national championship game despite not winning their conference nor division didn't meet his "sad state" criteria.

Or the jailsexing Nebraska got in 2001 in the exact same situation, or USC having to vacate their 2004 title, or...

 

[Mike80]

A financial disaster of epic proportions.

Who really gives a fuck about the financial disasters of the BCS?

 

[Wells4Heisman]

Florida State is going to receive a BCS win through NIU.... :!

 

[Buckeyevsworld]

Florida State is going to receive a BCS win through NIU.... :!

And Herbstreit will be so impressed he'll jump them ahead of an undefeated Ohio State.

 

[DaveyBoy]

Itis laughable to me tat Herbstreit and ESPN got so indignant over NIU's inclusion. Listening to Herbstreit's rant was quite telling if you ask me. Here's why.....

First, Herbie started by stating NIU sneaked up on the bid and therefore was able to avoid public and media scrutiny. You've got be friggin kidding me, Herbstreit. What you're [censored]ed about is this "story" wasnt one that you and ESPN were able to develop, package, and hype up through your various channels.

Second, he completely ignored the reasons in favor of NIU getting the bid....and there a few, such as NIU was the best non- BCS team out there except ND. Also - the MAC owns some pretty good wins over BCS teams this year and NIU is the king of the MAC.

Third, he completely ignored the reasons why there weren't any compelling reasons for inclusion from the list of BCS schools that missed out on the bid that NIU got. Oklahoma ? Nebraska ? UCLA ? There's nothing in those teams' resumes that screams they deserve it....especially NU and UCLA. And as for Oklahoma,they have a history of BCS clunkers plus they simply aren't that good this year.

In the end, Herbstreit and Fowler seemed shocked that they weren't the ones that got to gig the BCS system like they did last year with vaulting Bama over Oklahoma State? Instead, the polls actually held Oklahoma and the BCS conferences accountable for having a crappy year overall.

 

[Nutriaitch]

Lol @ butthurt SEC/Choklahoma fans.

i ain't gonna lie, I'm pissed that NIU got in.

by OU not getting into a BCS game, it cost LSU a better bowl than we got.

if OU goes to BCS, the Texas was going to Cotton.
due to political radioactivity, Cotton was not taking A&M and Texas.
so we would have gotten the bid to Cotton.

 

[darbypitcher22]

i ain't gonna lie, I'm [censored]ed that NIU got in.

by OU not getting into a BCS game, it cost LSU a better bowl than we got.

if OU goes to BCS, the Texas was going to Cotton.
due to political radioactivity, Cotton was not taking A&M and Texas.
so we would have gotten the bid to Cotton.

Would it have mattered which game? I mean, sure the payout is a bit better in the Cotton, but you're still going to play almost a de-facto home game in Atlanta

 

[Coqui]

I love the MAC - I really do.

But if you want to play in the big bowls you need to schedule somebody in the non-conference. Boise at least did that.

NIU's non-conf schedule included a loss to an Iowa team that had only two other Div I victories. It also included wins over three other teams who themselves combined for a total of two wins against Div I schools. One of those wins was by one point and the other by seven. That's simply pathetic.

Kent St beat Rutgers when they were 7-0. That gave them a bump in the polls that positioned them for a BCS rum. IMO when NIU beat Kent many voters simply swapped them without ever looking at the body of work. To put them in at #15 they had to rank them above UCLA, Louisville, Nebraska, Wisconsin. Northwestern, Texas and Michigan. Among other things that makes them the second best team in the B1G behind OSU. And they lost to the only B1G team they played - sub-500 Iowa. Are you [Mark May]ting me?

If I am an NIU alum I am over the moon. If I am being objective I am asking WTF?

So since we're not playing for the National Championship next year according to your justification, will you be happy with a Rose Bowl game only (assuming we go undefeated)

 

[Mike80]

Itis laughable to me tat Herbstreit and ESPN got so indignant over NIU's inclusion. Listening to Herbstreit's rant was quite telling if you ask me. Here's why.....

First, Herbie started by stating NIU sneaked up on the bid and therefore was able to avoid public and media scrutiny. You've got be friggin kidding me, Herbstreit. What you're [censored]ed about is this "story" wasnt one that you and ESPN were able to develop, package, and hype up through your various channels.

Second, he completely ignored the reasons in favor of NIU getting the bid....and there a few, such as NIU was the best non- BCS team out there except ND. Also - the MAC owns some pretty good wins over BCS teams this year and NIU is the king of the MAC.

Third, he completely ignored the reasons why there weren't any compelling reasons for inclusion from the list of BCS schools that missed out on the bid that NIU got. Oklahoma ? Nebraska ? UCLA ? There's nothing in those teams' resumes that screams they deserve it....especially NU and UCLA. And as for Oklahoma,they have a history of BCS clunkers plus they simply aren't that good this year.

In the end, Herbstreit and Fowler seemed shocked that they weren't the ones that got to gig the BCS system like they did last year with vaulting Bama over Oklahoma State? Instead, the polls actually held Oklahoma and the BCS conferences accountable for having a crappy year overall.

And don't forget that Frosted Tips' favorite non-BCS squad was and will always be Boysee state. If Boysee was 16th you know all we would hear about is how they have a shot since they beat Oklahoma and blah blah blah.

Maybe it was me, but Tips' rant struck me as being very stressed-laden. Maybe the discovery phase of that idiot's lawsuit against him has caused Herbie to put a few bodies in the Cumberland or something

 

[Bucky32]

So let me understand this. The only way for a non-AQ team to qualify for a BCS bowl is to be perfect and play 12 top 10 teams because that's the only way we'll truly test if they're deserving? Or is there something else they need to do since they aren't part of the "elite" of college football, playing in AQ conferences that include great teams such as Kentucky, Illinois, or Kansas?

The system as a whole is a joke. You can't tell kids they can't play in a game that they're going to remember for the rest of their lives because the school they chose to go to isn't part of the media's favorites, who are broadcast in primetime every weekend while your school has to bend over and take worthless midweek slots to get SOME exposure. When's the last time you saw a meaningful game between 2 teams from non-AQ conferences on a weekend? Never. And you never will, because ESPN, ABC, FOX, and CBS decide what teams give a damn. Until that changes, nothing ever will. Kids will always pick a shitty AQ team over a potentially great non-AQ team because of the potential for a championship.

But hey, whine about Oklahoma not making a BCS bowl. They'll have their chance next year because they'll be ranked in the top 10 coming into the season and won't fall unless they lose 3 games. Meanwhile, the meaningless teams from the worthless conferences will scratch and claw their way to attempt to get recognized outside of their town, and pray that the pieces fall in place so they can potentially get to a "meaningful" bowl game. And if they do, they'll get scrutinized to the end for not being a part of the nation's elite and the system will be bashed for allowing such a travesty to happen and the media's darlings will cry about how they didn't get special treatment.

A 16 team playoff is the perfect solution for all of this, and it gets rid of the disgusting elitism that kills the excitement of college football. You know better recruits will go to the smaller schools because of the better chance for a championship. How many players do you think are backups when they could be starters for a school such as Western Michigan? Nope, instead only 20 teams are given a chance to compete for the national championship, maybe 25. You open that opportunity up to all 124 schools across the board and everybody wins. What's the harm in giving it a shot?

This sport has turned into a fucking joke. And the BCS is to blame.

 

[BB73]

The situation is interesting to watch.

First, the problem isn't with NIU, it's the BCS idiots who created the rule that qualifies a top-16 non-AQ school when an AQ conference champion is ranked below them. That just allows 2 weak teams into the BCS in those years, and I never saw the logic in that rule, but it was put in to quiet down the little guys a few years ago.

Secondly, ESPN is complaining because they'll take a ratings bath in the Orange Bowl, and they weren't able to engineer the matchup they wanted. They saw the chance that Kent State had to get in to the BCS, and they responded by having several talking heads mention the 33-point loss to Kentucky lately, trying to influence voters to drop Kent State out of the top-16 if they beat NIU.

But ESPN apparently didn't foresee the possibility of NIU jumping into the top-16 with a win over Kent St. So they didn't have the time to trash NIU's resume before the voters placed them into the top-16. And it was the human polls that got NIU into the BCS - the computer averages for Nebraska, UCLA and TSUN were all higher than NIU's.

ESPN tries to influence the voters to fit their agenda all of the time. Last week Rece Davis asked a couple of talking heads about the possibility of tOSU reaching AP #1, and he framed the question something like this: "Ohio State got a close win over a Michigan team that was thrashed by Alabama, do you think they have a chance to be AP #1?".

This week, does anybody think he'll ask this question: "Bama just squeaked by an UGA team that lost to South Carolina 35-7, do they deserve to stay ahead of undefeated Ohio State?"

To Hell with ESPN, their agenda, and their profitability. I'm glad NIU made it instead of Oklahoma. And it was foreseeable:

A potential BCS bid on the line in the MAC Championship game.

A top-16 MAC Champion team gets an automatic BCS bid as long as they're ahead of these teams:

Each of the WAC, Mtn West, Conf-USA, and Sun Belt Champions, AND
At least one of the Conference Champs from the B1G, Pac12, Big XII, SEC, or the Big East.

That boils down to the winner of this game being in the BCS Final-16 on Sunday (Kent St is now #17 and NIU is #21)