For David Flick

[Joseph Patrick]

From Gerry Milligan. I could not find a string where this could be appropriately written, but SO SORRY DAVID FLICK...Oklahoma State Cowboys were WAAAAAY outcoached. Sorry, David. And to all Oklahoma Sooners fans, (my wife, three children, and assorted grand-kids) I hope their cut of the prize money will take some of the bitter taste from their mouths. As Pogo often said to Albert Aligator, "shoulda stood in bed."

[David Flick]

[Joseph Patrick]

[Sandy]

Maybe we need a football forum here, though those discussions are somewhat rare. I watched the Aggies and Cowboys, really a pretty good game and hoped the Cowboys would pull it out since I usually favor anyone playing against the Aggies. As far as the Sooners go, well, they more or less shot themselves in the foot with discipline issues. Not that they really had a chance.

Bowl games just don't have the meaning that they once did. There are too many of them for one thing. Schools with television money can manipulate the other pick to guarantee a win on national television, the "Camping World Bowl" being one example of that. So if your school doesn't make that final four, which is also a pre-determined pick by a stacked committee, your reward is a bowl game that's no big deal for the team because NFL considerations pull some of the better players out. I think you should not get your scholarship unless you complete the season, bowl game included.

But it is time to restructure the whole post season. Instead of a stacked committee, you should have to win your conference to get a bid, not your half of the conference, your conference. The bowl games that have accumulated the wealth can afford to put on the show. If your scholarship requires you to play through, then the games should mean something.

[Haruo]

I'll admit that even though I'm a cat person, I root for the (UW) Huskies and the (Yale) Bulldogs over anybody's Cougars. Or Lions or Tigers. In part this is my way of obeying Moses on the honor-your-father bit. Especially now that I have a car, finding ways to honor my father can be a challenge. Back in the mid-1960s, my dad was the Huskies' team chaplain when they went to the Rose Bowl.

[David Flick]

[William Thornton]

[Sandy]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb ... spartandhp

Good example of what happens with a lot of bowl games. Utah was a strong team this season, probably one of their best ever and ranked one spot ahead of Oklahoma prior to their conference championship game with Oregon. If they'd won, they would have gone to the Peach Bowl. Instead, the loss put them in a third-tier bowl game, the "nobody remembers the Alamo bowl. " It's one of those Texas bowl games designed to give consolation prizes to the big-name Texas schools when they don't meet expectations. The Longhorns are way past the end of their fans' patience and since they don't have a game with A&M anymore to redeem a bad season and they lost to Baylor they needed a bowl win. I feel sorry for Utah's coach who is a great guy and an excellent coach who has done wonders with the program, and for thousands of their fans who made the trip.

On the other hand, the "Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl" (one of the few that retains its original name) between Florida State and Arizona State was an outstanding game. Both of those schools have hit the skids and have new coaches who want to return to their glory days. I don't know about FSU, but ASU had several senior starters, including a pass receiver and conference leading rusher, lay out because of pro-considerations but their young players saw a chance to step up and they did. It was an intense defensive battle, great game to watch.

I still say a playoff, eight teams, three consecutive Saturdays after the season with a championship on New Years Day is the way to go, but all that bowl money would dry up and that's the driving force in college football now. Friday nights have become my weekend recreational venue.