Bowl season getting boring

Remember the wonderful days when college football bowl games actually meant a little something. The times when a team had to have an 8-3 or 9-2 record just to go to a bowl game, let alone a high profile New Year's Day game. Now a 6-6 record even with a losing conference record can get you a bid to the Mazda Tangerine Bowl, or my personal favorite, the new Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl.\nWith 28 bowl games over a two-and-a-half week stretch, one might think a sports fanatic would be in heaven. It's just too bad that 27 of the 28 games did not mean anything. Of the 117 Division I teams, 56 made bowl appearances and this year only Miami (Fla.) and Ohio State had any significant reason to play. As more bowls seem to be added each year, more mediocre college football teams will have the opportunity to play one more meaningless game to cap their season. Unfortunately, they will not be games to define their season.\nThe 2002 bowl season kicked off in New Orleans on Dec. 17 when North Texas downed Cincinnati 24-19. Little did the average fan know, but North Texas' five-point victory would be one of just seven bowl games (or 25 percent of the entire bowl schedule) which were decided by eight points or less.\nThe best day of games just might have been Dec. 27, which most fans likely did not catch as they were still recovering from a Christmas Day full of eating and dealing with family. A MainStay Independence Bowl match-up of 6-6 Mississippi and 7-6 Nebraska proved to be one of the best bowl games of the year as Ole Miss used a late touchdown and solid second half defense to send the Huskers packing with their first .500 or sub-.500 season since 1961.\nIn the nightcap, the PacificLife Holiday Bowl was yet again a highlight of the bowl season. Kansas State used a 13-point comeback and touchdown pass with 1:15 left to hold off a big underdog Arizona State squad.\nUnfortunately the New Year's Eve and New Year's Day games would not live up to the hype and expectations they often get. Five of the six games on each day were decided by eight points or more and neither Virginia Tech's 20-13 win over Air Force nor Auburn's 13-9 win over Penn State proved to be very exciting games. Even the two Bowl Championship Series games on New Year's were both won by more than 13 points.\nThe highly-anticipated Iowa and Southern California match-up in the FedEx Orange Bowl led to one of the biggest blowouts of the bowl season as Iowa quarterback and Heisman Trophy runner-up Brad Banks forgot to bring his game down from Iowa City. After returning the opening kick-off 100 yards, Iowa allowed Heisman winner and USC quarterback Carson Palmer to pick their defense apart in a 38-17 route of the Hawkeyes.\nLuckily Miami (Fla.) did not run over Ohio State as most analysts thought they would. After battling through two overtimes, the Buckeyes prevailed 31-24 and fans were treated to perhaps the greatest National Championship game in college football history.\nUnfortunately, the disappointing bowl season forces me to say one thing I never thought I would, and hopefully will never have to do again … thank you Ohio State, thank you.