35 - # of Bowls
7 - # of schools represented by only letters (LSU, USF, UCF, BYU, UTEP, SMU, TCU)
13 - # of schools with a 6-6 record
19 - # of teams with 10+ wins
2 - # of teams that were bowl eligible that were left out, forced to watch (Temple, Western Michigan)
There are too many games, and the need for a playoff system is necessary. I have never been an advocate one way or another towards this playoffs thing, but after looking at this field of bowl teams, a playoff would be in the best interest of college football.
Granted, there is a lot of money to be made by the sponsors and venues and cities. A 16-team playoff bracket would look as follows:
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| (rivals.com from Yahoo! Sports) |
Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl - Southern Miss vs. Louisville - who the hell is Beef O'Brady?
Military Bowl - East Carolina vs. Maryland - last time I checked, neither school was a branch of the military
GoDaddy.com Bowl - Middle Tennessee St vs. Miami (OH) - I guess GoDaddy.com sells domain names and has some pretty solid commercials
BBVA Compass Bowl - Pittsburgh vs. Kentucky - I've never even heard of this bank; maybe because it's a TX and AL thang,
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl - Nevada vs. Boston College - apparently, cheese is the solution to solving the hunger crisis. Who knew?
Sun Bowl - Miami (FL) vs. Notre Dame - so the sun is sponsoring a bowl? That guys got some deep pockets. It's actually a good game with two perennial powerhouses that are mediocre at best nowadays.
Going home. Finally.
