College Football Bowls Overview

Some interesting things happened during THE GOLD SHEET’s first publishing season in 1957-58. Within a month of TGS’s debut, the Russians launched the world’s first satellite, Sputnik I. During the same week as Sputnik’s launch, baseball fans of age (including our own Wisconsin-bred Senior Editor, Chuck Sippl) recall the Milwaukee Braves beating the Yankees in 7 games to win a memorable World Series, with Lew Burdette winning 3 games, the last on two days rest (as Mickey Lolich would do for the Tigers 11 years later in the 1968 Series). In mid-November, college football fans with long memories will remember that Notre Dame ended Oklahoma’s record 47-game win streak. In December, the Detroit Lions won their last NFL title, rallying for a wild 31-27 Western Conference playoff win vs. the 49ers at Kezar Stadium, then blasting the Browns at Briggs Stadium, 59-14, to win the NFL championship. That spring, Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky would win the NCAA basketball crown, beating Elgin Baylor-led Seattle University in the finale, 84-72. In other sports news that season, the Montreal Canadiens (surprise!) won the Stanley Cup, while Bob Pettit’s St. Louis Hawks beat the Celtics in 6 games to win the NBA title.

Elsewhere in the news during that inaugural TGS season, a campy sci-fi flick entitled “The Blob” made its debut at theaters across the country. To this day, the movie remains noteworthy because it was Steve McQueen’s first feature-length leading role. But we suggest “The Blob” might be ready take on a new reference, at least to college football fans. That’s because the bowl season continues to grow in "Blob-like" fashion. Indeed, there will be a record 32 (32!) bowl games played this year, meaning well over half of the Division I-A teams will be participating in postseason action! But unlike “The Blob,“ nobody is about to freeze the bowl games and ship them to South Pole, where they can grow no more. With .500 teams, plus multiple MAC and Sun Belt entries, now acceptable by-products of such expansion, we won’t be surprised if the bowl season continues to grow...and grow...and grow some more.

For us, after railing for years about the virtues of a college football playoff, and zinging the powers-that-be in the sport for their BCS charade, we’ve decided to just accept the bowls as they are. We think we’ve made our position clear on the playoff vs. BCS debate in past years, and there’s no reason to beat that war drum any longer. But because we’ve been publishing since the 1957-58 campaign, forgive us for pausing a moment to reflect upon the forever-changed bowl landscape.

There were only a handful of bowl games in 1957, including the traditional "big four" (Rose—that's Ohio State facing Oregon in the 1958 renewal pictured at left—Orange, Sugar, and Cotton), plus the Gator. The Tangerine and Sun were of the minor, regional variety in those days. Back then, both the Big Ten and PCC (predecessor of the AAWU, Pac-8, and Pac-10) didn’t allow their champs to return to the Rose Bowl in back-to-back years, a policy the AAWU soon dropped but one the Big Ten maintained until 1972. And, until 1975, the Big Ten and AAWU/Pac-8/Pac-10 allowed only its champion to play in a bowl (the Rose). Elsewhere, Notre Dame had a “no bowl” policy for 44 years until 1969, and even that year the Fighting Irish didn’t decide to accept a bid to the Cotton Bowl until after the regular-season concluded. (Imagine its board of trustees suggesting a no-bowl policy today?) Four of the top ten teams in 1957 didn’t even play in a bowl game, including co-national champ Auburn, which was on probation. It’s also interesting to note that the likes of Navy, Duke, and Rice were among the handful of major bowl participants that year!

So, please understand if we’re not terribly impressed by a slew of 6-6 teams that are going “bowling” this year. The litany of truly great squads from our early days of publishing that never played in the postseason—including a slew of Notre Dame powerhouses, numerous Big Ten heavyweights such as 1961 Ohio State (whose faculty council voted 28-25 to not accept the Rose Bowl bid!), the great Michigan State team of 1966, Purdue of 1967, various outstanding Michigan and Ohio State sides from the late 60s and early 70s, some superb AAWU/Pac-8 teams such as USC in ‘64 & ‘65, UCLA in ‘66, ‘67. ‘69, ‘72, and ‘73, Stanford in ‘69, plus a great SEC entry such as LSU’s 9-1 team in 1969—make it a bit harder for us to relate to the modern “bowl-a-rama” and the many mediocre sides getting postseason bids these days. Participating in a bowl in the old days was a true honor and privilege; nowadays, coaches can get fired if they can’t do better than qualify for a “minor” one. And it’s still hard for us to imagine 2006 Middle Tennessee qualifying for a bowl, and 1969 LSU not!

Nonetheless, from a handicapping standpoint, we’re genuinely excited about the upcoming bowl-fest. There are some truly intriguing matchups on deck, and we’re looking forward to them all, from the Papajohns.com and San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia to the Sugar, Rose, and BCS title game at Glendale, Arizona January 8. Stay tuned!

TGS BOWL COVERAGE BEGINS NEXT WEEK!

With the expanded postseason slate, we’ll be covering the bowls in our next four issues. Here’s a quick look ahead to our upcoming TGS bowl schedule.

Next week’s issue No. 16 will include analysis of the first nine bowls from December 19-27 (Poinsettia, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Armed Forces, New Mexico, Papajohns.com, Hawaii, Motor City, and Emerald). In the mail, and available online at www.goldsheet.com, December 11.

Issue No. 17 will include previews of eleven December 28-30 bowls (Independence, Holiday, Texas, Music City, Sun, Liberty, Insight, Champs Sports, Meineke Car Care, Alamo, and Chick-fil-A). In the mail, and available online, December 18.

Issue No. 18 will include coverage of the nine December 31-January 3 bowls (MPC Computers, Capital One, Outback, Gator, Cotton, Rose, Fiesta Orange, and Sugar). In the mail, and available online, December 26.

Issue No. 19 will include previews of the remaining three January 6-8 bowls (International, GMAC, and BCS Title Game). In the mail, and available online, January 2.

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