Football Bowl Games

        I am not a big sports fan, but I do like college football.  I’m a fan of the Iowa Hawkeyes and Big Ten football.  I get frustrated with the polls, rankings, sportscasters, and the media all saying the best football teams are in the south.  The Southeast conference (SEC) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) seem to get all the respect. 

        The Big Ten was in ten bowl games this year.  They were not favored to win a single one of those games.  What happened?  The Big Ten won five of those ten bowl games, including Ohio State winning one of the first playoff games against #1 ranked Alabama from the Mighty SEC.         

        Oregon from the Pac-12 also beat Florida State from the Mighty ACC in the Rose Bowl.  Oregon didn’t just beat Florida State.  It was a blow-out with a score of 59 to 20.  That happens in football, but it should never happen in a playoff game with teams ranked #2 and #3.  The most disgusting thing in my opinion was how Florida State just quit. 

        My Hawkeyes suffered a bad loss too, but they did not quit.  They were down 28 in the first quarter.  They continued to fight and actually got to within two scores in the second half, but it was too little too late.  At least they did not quit like Florida State.

        The results of the bowl games are as follows:

Pac-12;   6–2  Fantastic & in Championship game

SEC;       6–5  Good

Big Ten;  5–5  Good & in Championship game

ACC;      4–7  Not so good

Big 12     2–5  Bad

        The National Championship game will be Oregon vs. Ohio State.  I had mixed emotions about a college football playoff, but I think it is good because the ratings and rakings would never have allowed these two teams from the Pac-12 and the Big Ten to play for the championship, and they both obviously deserve to be there.

In spite of bowl results and the playoff, I expect the hype next year to be about the SEC, ACC, Oregon, and maybe Ohio State if they win the National Championship.  It seems like the media has it’s agenda and don’t like to let the facts get in the way.  Kind of sounds like politics doesn’t it.

I don’t normally write about football.  What difference does it make anyway?  It’s just a game that we watch for entertainment.  It does not affect our lives, unless we are addicted to gambling on sports. 

The unfortunate thing is that we let the polls, commentators, and the media control our lives by controlling the news, and who is elected as our political representatives.  This actually affects our quality of life and the future of our children and grandchildren.  The really sad thing is many people do not get as upset about this as they do about a football game.