Rivals.com: UTEP-BYU is Worst Bowl Game
by asalom on Dec 7, 2010 4:15 PM MST
in UTEP Miners Football
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PrintRivals.com has compiled its ranking of the 35 collegiate bowls for the 2010-2011 season. The New Mexico Bowl, where UTEP will square off against BYU, has been tabbed the worst bowl of all. In a way, it should be understandable. Both teams are 6-6, and neither has a win that's really worth mentioning. However, as the saying goes: you can't judge a book by its cover.
The sad part about this is that Rivals probably just got some random writer to throw a list together without having any real knowledge of each individual bowl game. Yes, the Miners and Cougars are not having their best year, but nothing can take away the history that has been made between these two schools. The schools competed for almost three decades in the WAC, and had some of the most heated battles that we have ever seen. Sure, much of the rivalry was made by the basketball teams, but perhaps UTEP's greatest football win ever came over defending national champion BYU in 1985.
On top of that the game will be played in Albuquerque. The proximity of Albuquerque to El Paso allows for a ton of Miner fans to make the trip, and its close enough for BYU to travel well also. The stadium is going to be rocking, the battle is going to be heated, and it should turn out to be a great game. For someone to sell this game short shows just a complete lack of knowledge on the part of that person.
This complete lack of knowledge is shown in the list itself. Every bowl game on the list is given a quick breakdown as to why it was ranked where it was. You know what the breakdown for the New Mexico Bowl was? And I quote "Not even being the first bowl of the season saves this one". What an explanation. I can go ahead and name a couple of bowls that are, in my opinion, going to be much worse games than the New Mexico Bowl.
Take the Holiday Bowl. This is usually a bowl that is known for matching great schools against each other. A top three team from the Pac-10 faces off vs. a top Big 12 squad. This year? You have no. 18 Nebraska (10-3), who straddled the top 10 for much of the season, squaring off against the University of Washington. The Huskies went 6-6 this year, barely becoming bowl eligible the last day of the season. Not only that they got walloped by the Huskers on September 18 in Seattle 56-21. I guess the bowl committee just couldn't wait to see the rematch.
How about the Meineke Car Care Bowl. This is a matchup of horrific offenses. Clemson at 6-6 finished 8th in the ACC, while USF finished 5th in the powerhouse Big East. Oh wait, this is football. Fifth place in the Big East is probably just as good as 5th in the WAC. Both offenses rank in the bottom third in FBS in both points per game, and passing yards, and neither is much better than that in rushing yards either. Look for this one to be a shootout, 3-0 final.
Point is, names don't necessarily mean anything, and you can't sell us smaller guys short just because you have no clue about us. For me, it's fine that national media outlets make assumptions like the New Mexico Bowl is the worst. It only shows how disconnected they are from the reality of things. UTEP-BYU may be tabbed the worst bowl game of the year, but don't miss out on it cause I guarantee it won't be.
*thanks towerpower for finding the rivals article.
**just for the record, ESPN has the New Mexico Bowl ranked 32nd out of 35 bowls.
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I have to agree-
I’m not saying 6-6 UTEP and 6-6 BYU is a top 10 bowl or anything but this game means a lot for people from UTEP and BYU- it makes sense geographically for both teams, it matches two teams with strong histories. That’s better than the THREE MAC vs. Sun Belt games that are scheduled right.
And I think this is the only C-USA vs. MWC game- so that’s kind of cool with all the realignment/merger talk.
Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans
Exactly
It’s agreed. Neither is a great football team, but they are definitely better teams than a decent amount of teams in other bowls, and the intangibles of the game make for a great one. I guess you have to be from El Paso to realize that.
Rivals et. al.
First off, I think you’re right. Yes Rivals handed an assignment to someone who has very little information about the teams, save for their 2010 records.
There’s too many teams for any one person to be identified as an expert on all division I schools. (That goes for football and basketball.) So what do they do, they rely on the old standard. They’re from out west. Look at their season record. Or in UTEP’s case they look back to the years of pure football ineptitude where the Miners were routinely slaughtered on the football field. UTEP got tagged as the punching bag of college football. And yes, the Miners stunk it up for many years. But change comes slowly when the Miners play nationally ranked teams (this year Arkansas) and still get slaughtered.
Is UTEP better than what Rivals writes? Yes.
Could UTEP get slaughtered in this game? Yes.
Could BYU lose? Yes.
I don’t see either team having a dominating edge. And these types of games can turn out to be the most exciting when evenly matched teams lock up.
Look at the Books. The Las Vegas line seems to favor BYU by 12. There’s a lot of BYU fans here in Las Vegas so that may influence the spread. But the Books don’t like to lose money and they usually know where to put the line at this time in the season.
My thoughts? BYU will probably win. But I’d LOVE to see UTEP win.
Honestly I completely agree with you
IMO, You have it exactly right. I’m just saying if the person writing the article knew anything about the history between these two schools, it would instantly be shot up the list. Granted, its not one of the better games this bowl season, but it will be better than quite a few out there.
As far as your outlook on the game…I’ve been saying, UTEP needs to come prepared because BYU is peaking right now. I think you’re right on the money…UTEP can definitely win this game, but they can also get blown out of the water. Either way it’s not the bowl out there.
I compare the history similar to the Sun Bowl...
Miami vs Notre Dame match-up however that even UNDERSELLING the rivalry that existed between BYU and UTEP.
Who cares where the bowl is ranked?
Are UTEP fans excited about the matchup? I think so
Are BYU fans excited about the matchup? After their mediocre season, I would say they are happy to be in any bowl game versus an old rival…
Are the New Mexico Bowl organizers excited about the matchup? Hell yeah because they got 2 regional teams for the game and it will be a nice ticket draw…
In all reality, the BCS Natl title game is the only game that really matters and after that ALL the bowl games are just a chance for fans to enjoy extra football and go to a fun city for a weekend or so…so again who the hell cares what some scrub from rivals says.
Fans from UTEP and BYU will watch/attend and because its the first bowl game of the year, it will draw some interest from across the country, at least in the western part of the US.
What would be disastrous though is if we go out there and lay an egg…for the love of God Coach Price, get these guys ready to play!
We need Floyd Fain
Coach Price needs to find Floyd Fain, he was the Center #61 on the 85 team, he came into the locker room just before the game and gave a great speech and got the team fired up.
Find Floyd Fain!
Don't remember him-
But CTF has done a nice job bringing back the memory of the Glory Days to a new generation- I wouldn’t be surprised if we see something like this in the future.
Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans
All I can say is.....
Get used to it. No matter what sight I see ranking the bowls and/or bowl team selections, UTEP and Middle Tennessee appear to be the whipping boys for this bowl season, secondary to the fact that Temple was left out of bowl selection with an 8 and 4 record with wins over BCS bowl bound UConn and bowl bound Army. Do I agree that Temple should’ve been given a bowl game? Yes. Do I beleive Temple should’ve been given one over UTEP and/or Middle Tenn? Perhaps. Do I believe that Temple’s exclusion from a bowl invite should relegate writers to use this as an excuse to bash UTEP’s attendance at the New Mexico Bowl or the bowl itself? Absolutely not! This is a lazy and irresponsible approach to attempt to make a point when the real story here is how crooked the BCS and Bowl committees are in that the bottom line ($) is all that matters. Additionally, this “Temple got screwed approach” looses sight of how hyped this game will end up really being. BYU v UTEP….are you kidding me?! In all reality, ESPN and the bowl system lucked out for these two teams to be matched up for the first bowl game of the season. As we all know, and those who are true purist’s of the sport know, these two schools have deep seeded history against each other and I guarantee this bowl game will be raucous and sold out! Any further, attempted diminishment of this bowl or a bowl eligible UTEP team without explanation or inquiry as to why Temple wasn’t selected by anybody, on their own merits, is the real question. All this said, it becomes more important for UTEP to make a solid showing in this game, as I believe they will, as anything short of this will further lend misguided creedance to all the nay-sayers.
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