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Elrick: Bowling For Pasadena
What would it take for a Bowling Green to break through the glass ceiling?
July 15, 2005
By Andy Elrick
Special to CSTV.com
Quick. Name every Division I football program that returns a 1,000-yard rusher, passer and receiver in 2005?
Since I can't hear your guesses, this is really an exercise in futility, and since it was a rhetorical question, I'll just tell you:
Bowling Green State University is the only D-I program in the country that holds the aforementioned distinction.
P.J. Pope: 1,131 yards rushing in 2004
Omar Jacobs: 4,002 yards passing in 2004
Charles Sharon: 1,070 yards receiving in 2004
Fans of college football should be used to this by now. It seems like every season there's at least one MAC team that pokes its head into the Top 25, wins the GMAC Bowl and sends a quarterback to the NFL. This year, it appears that team is Bowling Green.
But I'm not here today to talk about the GMAC Bowl or the Motor City Bowl or the Emerald Bowl or the brand-spanking-new Poinsettia Bowl or any of the twenty-some fun-though-meaningless games played on and around the holidays every year. I want to talk about the one that really matters, in this case, the Rose Bowl.
Let's start by admitting to ourselves that, this year at least, the Rose Bowl is the only game that counts. If December rolls around and you haven't been invited to the Rose Bowl, that means you'll be playing in some other bowl which could mean a lot of money for your school and a trip to Fort Worth - but little else. For that matter, you could be playing in a BCS bowl like the Sugar or the Orange, and even then the game will be little more then a big payday because, you see, that's how the powers that be in college football like to do things.
It's shortsighted, it's annoying, it's unsatisfying -- it's college football, my friends. So if you're Bowling Green -- a team that has gone 8-2 in its last 10 games against schools from BCS conferences -- there is no place for you at the table. Bowling Green, despite its bona fide Division I status -- is essentially shut out of the BCS system and, save for a miracle, has no shot of competing for a national championship in the sport of football.
It bothers me a lot, but Bowling Green head coach Greg Brandon is taking it all in stride.
"I love the bowl system, that is a great reward for a team to get to go to a bowl game," says Brandon, enjoying the one quiet month of the year for college football coaches. "I tell my players that they should be aiming to still be playing between December 20th and January 4th, that's a great time of the year because everybody is watching college football."
In the offseason, the BCS was tweaked a bit and will eventually include another game, allowing teams from conferences like the Mountain West, the MAC and Conference USA to compete. But that won't really solve the problem, because it just adds another meaningless game, right? Brandon understands where that line of thinking comes from, but also understands that for a school like Bowling Green, there's more to a BCS game then winning a national title.
"I can understand if you had a team like Utah that may be capable of winning it all it would be frustrating not get a shot at the championship," says Brandon.
And if Bowling Green were to get to one of the "meaningless" BCS games this year?
"It would be unprecedented and a financial windfall for our school. To me that's where the real difference is between a Bowling Green and an Ohio State. I think the difference in talent isn't that great, but the financial resources of SEC and Big Ten schools are just so much greater then at a MAC school."
Still, there has to be some interest in a playoff? The third year coach of the Falcons doesn't seem averse to the idea but he doesn't see it as a panacea either.
"All the NCAA basketball tournament proves is who the best team is in March." He points and it doesn't put an end to controversy "They put 65 teams in and there are still guys crying."
Crying? There's no crying in football. Unless you're a sportswriter and the issue is a playoff in college football.
While We're In Bowling Green
I couldn't let coach off the phone without asking him about Omar Jacobs, his team's junior signal-caller. Jacobs put up near-mythical numbers last season that would be nearly impossible to improve upon.
"Last year Omar went 41-and-4 [touchdowns to interceptions], so I told him this year he has to go 42-and-3," says Brandon. "Honestly, Omar would be perfectly happy to throw half as many touchdowns this year if it meant a MAC championship."
It seems unlikely Omar will have to choose between the two.
Andy Elrick is CSTV's News Editor and a frequent contributor to CSTV.com
