Happy New Year and Whatnot

Welcome to 2008, the year that I've been waiting for since about the beginning of October. Bo Pelini will take over as the coach of the Huskers and will hopefully be able to turn around a defense that was abysmal and continue along with the offense that looked good by the end of the year.

As you may or may not have noticed, I was going to try and do a preview for each and every bowl game. When I figured out that it was a dumb idea, I decided to take some time off from writing about college football until the beginning of the year.

The bowl season has been fairly boring for the most part because I'm a playoff guy. Even though it will probably not happen until I'm very old, I still talk about it like the reality of having a college football postseason that makes sense is right around the corner.

Yesterday the BCS failed. If you watched either trainwreck of a game you'd know what I'm referring to. Pac-10 champ USC showed that, when healthy, they are probably the best team in the country. They gutted the second place in the Big 10 Illinois Fighting Illini 49-17 in a game that was not even close to pretty.

Illinois hung with the Trojans into the second half until SC blew the doors off of the younger, physically inferior and inexperienced Illini. How many times do I have to watch a Rose Bowl that showcases year after year where USC makes 'fill in the blank Big 10' team their personal punching bag? Hopefully the Big 10 and Pac-10 wake up soon.

Yikes, the Sugar Bowl. This game could have been 78-10 if Georgia wanted it that way. No Cinderella/Boise State-type victory this season. I think the Bulldogs are tied for the second best team in the country with Oklahoma. Colt Brennen looked positively awful last night and the Warriors looked overmatched and outclassed, similar to the way that Illinois looked against USC. The Sugar Bowl also featured my favorite name so far of the BCS games in Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno. Get used to saying it over the next two or three seasons.

The teams that lost the BCS games looked helpless. What would have been better? Besides a playoff? USC vs. Ohio State or Georgia in the Rose Bowl and anyone else but Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. If you could break all the dumb BCS rules Missouri and Georgia would have been a great matchup, especially after the 38-7 dismantling of the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Cotton Bowl.

Tonight we're looking at a similar outcome I'm thinking. A down on their luck, coachless, directionless West Virginia team squaring off against a tuned up and physically dominating Oklahoma team. I'm guessing OU wins by at least 25. But I'm not going to give the Sooners too much credit and while I want the Big 12 represented well, this still is a Huskers blog so I'm obligated to include this.