College Football – Why Bowl Games Are Such a Big Deal – They Bring Prestige and 9 Million

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

If you are not a college football fan and could care less if you never see a bowl game in your life, you might wonder what all of the fuss is about. If you have a red-blooded male in your life, just ask him.

There will be 34 NCAA bowl games this year and the fuss in each one will be about prestige and money, big money, as in more than a collective 9 million for the participating teams and their respective conferences.

The actual bowl payouts reflected below add up to 7+ million, but the actual 9+ million figure arises because of some additional payouts for participating teams beyond the automatic qualifiers from the 6 major BCS conferences—the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-10 and Southeastern.

A team must win 6 games to be bowl-eligible, according to NCAA standards. Some of the qualifying teams automatically receive bowl bids, and others are asked to participate in the less significant

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BCS Championship 2010 Game Preview: Texas vs. Alabama

The college football season is at an end as the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide take on the No. 2 Texas Longhorns for BCS supremacy on Thursday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Online Betting has Alabama favored by 3.5-points and the Total is set at 46.

The Crimson Tide captured the SEC title when they defeated the Florida Gators 32-13 in the conference championship game while the Texas Longhorns barely held on to defeat the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Big 12 championship, winning 13-12.

Texas and ‘Bama both own 13-0 records straight up but ‘the Tide are 8-5 against the spread while the Longhorns are 5-7-1 ATS.

Dating back to 1997, Texas has not been a profitable play for bettors in January bowl games, going 3-4 against the spread (5-2 straight up).

In the Longhorns last 20 games, they are only 8-11-1 ATS enroute to a 19-1 straight up record.

How about ‘Bama? The Crimson Tide are 6-1 SU in their last

Explore Montgomery Alabama in a Charter Bus

Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, is the kind of place that one should not miss visiting when renting a charter bus in Alabama. Although known for its historical value and places to visit, like the Civil Rights Memorial and Dexter Avenue King Memorial Church, today, Montgomery manages to preserve the old southern charm with a modern sophistication. For fans of the southern charm that will make you feel at home, here are our top picks for traveling in a charter bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

1. Alabama Shakespeare Festival – This is one of the most amazing festivals we have ever witnessed and it is rightfully named as the fifth largest festivals in the world! Many people rent charter buses just for this festival alone. Even for those non-literary buffs it will be well worth your time. What makes it even better is that admission is free. For more information on Alabama Shakespeare Festival, visit their website or call 334-271-5353.
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Top colege football picks for the weekend of sept 17th

Top Play: Tenn/Flroida UNDER 49

OK, looks like the number has crested at 49, and is beginning to
drop, I’m jumping on the under 49 as my Top Play

In my opinion, this number is simply too high with 2 very good
defenses, along with Tennessee’s QB issues, and the fact that I
believe life could be hard for Florida QB Leak with an unproven
O-Line in front of him.

Gameplans

Tennessee’s gameplan is the key to this total, a steady diet of
RB Riggs on offense. I expect Fulmer to pound it, pound it,
pound it with Riggs and pass when need be, or at opprotune times.

Defensively, I expect the Vols D-line is be able to put pressure
on Leak without having to send the house, similar to what they
were able to do two years ago. Florida coach Meyer understands
that his Gators must be able to establish some sort of running
game, to open it up for Leak. And I’m not convinced they can run
it with any sort of effectiveness against this stout Vols

2010 College Football Predictions – Georgia

2009 marked a low point during the Mark Richt era. The Bulldogs’ 8-5 record was the worst in Richt’s nine seasons. Georgia finished in the bottom half of the SEC in both scoring offense and defense. The defense was bad by just about any standards, causing Richt to part ways with three of his four defensive assistants. But there is reason to believe that 2010 will treat the Dawgs better. Richt is 90-27 during his stay in Athens, and wins don’t pile up like that unless you’re doing something right. With Tim Tebow and eight other Gators making the jump to the NFL Georgia is optimistic that it can get back to the top of the SEC East this season, but I can assure you it won’t be easy. After all, Florida crushed the Dawgs 41-17 last season and the cupboard is not empty in Gainesville. The Dawgs rebounded from that loss to win four of their final five games, including a victory over Texas A&M in the Independence Bowl. That gives them some nice momentum heading into the

College Football – Alabama & Florida Barely Win, 12 Others Put on Muscle Shirts & Strut Their Stuff

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

There was only one real upset in college football’s 8th week of play as 12 of the 20 top-ranked teams put on their muscle shirts and showed what they have, a sure sign that teams have begun to stabilize for their last 4 games.

Only 21st-ranked Texas Tech was caught flat-footed at home by unranked Texas A&M, 52-30. The Red Raiders (now 5-3) were favored by 22 and lost by 22, a 44-point negative swing that sent Texas Tech reeling. The Texas A&M Aggies meant business, piling up a 38-22 lead after 3 quarters, and then outscoring the Red Raiders 14-8 in the 4th quarter.

Texas A&M was trounced 62-14 last week by Kansas State and decided to take it out on Texas Tech. The high score was no real surprise; both teams came in as scoring machines—Tech was ranked 2nd nationally at 41 ppg, and A&M was 19th at 33 ppg. A&M piled up 559 yards of offense and Tech 520; the contest was strictly offensive with a combined

BCS Rankings – Alabama and Texas Meet For National Title

Final Projected BCS Rankings: Alabama and Texas Meet For National Title

We waiting weeks for this weekend to come, hoping that it would deliver the drama and intrigue that the rest of the season was missing, and it did not dissapoint.

Texas, playing in what was supposed to be a cakewalk of a Big 12 Championship Game instead needed instant replay on the clock and a 46-yard field goal that just sneaked in the uprights to clinch victory and a likely shot at the national title game.

Alabama and Florida were supposed to play in the season’s most intriguing game. Instead what we got was an Alabama romp, blowing out the Gators and likely clinching their shot at the national title.

So it’s likely that we’ll get that SEC Champ vs. Texas game when the last BCS standings are released tomorrow.

But it could have been much different.

If Texas had lost, we would have entered one of the

Ed Bagley’s Top 25 Poll – Week 10 – Oregon Is Moving Down Fast

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

Iowa, Oregon, Penn State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and California all lost ground in the AP Top 25 Poll this week. All of them also lost ground in my Top 25 Poll this week with the exception of Oklahoma—I kicked Oklahoma out of my Poll some time ago, and the Sooners will not find their way back into my Poll anytime soon. Here is how I see it this week:

1) Alabama (9-0) The Crimson Tide won a 24-15 signature victory over the 9th-ranked Louisiana State (LSU) Tigers this week. No team had a bigger win against a better opponent. With the pressure to perform on, Alabama came through to remain unbeaten. The Tide travels to Mississippi State this week.

2) Florida (9-0) The Gators beat a very weak, 119th-ranked, 2-8 Vanderbilt team this week, 27-3. They remain behind Alabama because this was not a killer performance.

3) Texas (9-0) The Longhorns remained unbeaten with a dominating 35-3 win over 83rd-ranked Central Florida;

Not Being Selected Among the Top 25 in the Preseason Coaches’ Poll Is the Kiss of Death

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

It is three weeks to the kick-off of the 2009 college football season, the preseason USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll is out, my favorite team is not among the top 25 teams, and has no chance to play in the national championship game. Say, what?

“No way, dude,” as Garth (Dana Carvey) would say to Wayne (Mike Myers) in Saturday Night Live episodes and in the movie Wayne’s World.

“Way,” Wayne would reply, meaning, in this case, that any team that is not ranked in the preseason Coaches’ Poll could play in the national championship game at the end of the season if it played a perfect season.

The only problem is, no team ever has. Alabama almost became the first team to do it last year, being unranked and winning its first 12 games to climb to the top of the BCS standings for 5 weeks before losing to Florida 31-20 in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship game.

The Crimson Tide did not handle their first loss