Oregon State slammed to the turf by BYU, and then last night Utah man handling CAL. Mountain West looking excellent. Interesting that BYU who used to be a regular Holiday Bowl participant now seems to be the default home team for the Las Vegas Bowl. Which has to be the worst bowl to play in, it's always cold and extremely windy and the Mormons aren't let anywhere near the strip no doubt. I think I read that Las Vegas does have a large Mormon population though. The best part of the night was the Pony channeling IrishCorey with his lament that TCU and Boise State were playing each other instead of BCS conference teams. I agree with him, it would have made for some more exciting matchups. As it is with the exception of Ohio State/Oregon the rest of the BCS bowls are snooze fests for all but the fans of the teams involved.
The fact is.. The Mountain West just might be pretty good. Teams like UCLA go out and beat SEC East 2nd place Tennessee in back to back years.. yet they are bottom of the bowl qualifiers in the Pac10. The MWC has been handing us our ass for a few years now and I'm sick of this crap. We get zero credit for beating them and humiliated by losing to them... yet few of the 'big boys' east of the Rockies will play them anywhere other than at their place on their terms. The Pac10 Admins are idiots and I have been on record saying that for quite some time now. Their bowl ties are moronic.. The go for convenience first.. Terrible... just frigging terrible.
While I'm on a good rant and my ex just pissed me off, let me also say this.. I believe ND-Utah play next year and lots of ND fans on the various boards seem to treat this game with a lot of contempt.. The fact is, right now they'd kick our ass.
Yeah I'd say that Utah game is a premier game, the Utes have proven to me that they are for real. Well coached team. I thought it interesting that when Mike Stoops was asked by Heather what's her name about the Mountain West deserving a guaranteed bid he sort of stopped short of saying they were good instead said that BYU/Utah/TCU were as good as anybody leaving me to believe he doesn't think top to bottom the MWC is as competitive as the PAC10. Also I had to laugh at Heather, who is hot, she asked Jahvid Best about how he felt about this maybe being his last game for CAL....huh? Heather he was in civvies, if he goes pro his last game for CAL was 6 weeks ago. Also when talking to Mike Stoops she referenced he and Pellini being on Hayden's Fry's staff when he coached the Gophers ...huh ...isn't Iowa the Hawkeyes sweetie?
Holy Crap, I just google Heather and found out her last name was Cox and that she graduated from College in '92 and has been doing sports since '93. JHC she's freakin' 39years old...she looks great for 39! Huba Huba... Now that I think of it after every on camera interview Heather gave last night the Pony kept laying it on thick with the great interview Heather, great job......I'm wondering if Mrs. Pony needs to put a PI on him?
sadly, I was doing some Christmas shopping last night and missed the beat down. Sounds like I missed some great sports journalism and a bad football game though. The Pac10 guys just seem to refuse to want to admit the MWC is for real, but the bottom line is.. they are.
I have a business associate/friend who is Mormon and whose Mormon parents retired to Las Vagas. I believe he told me that LV is the second largest (to SLC) Mormon population center in the U.S.. That's why they like BYU as the unofficial home team.
The guys who post on Blue Gold Illustrated love to mock Rutgers, especially when Rutgers demands a true Home and Home with the Irish. They act like Rutgers is a scout team or something. I think we are fortunate that deal could not be struck, at least up until now.
Relative to opinions contrary to scheduling teams like Utah and Rutgers: There is a lot of arrogance among ND fans, so much so that we have an undeserved reputation for it. I've never seen it among the fans here on Skybox, but it is quite evident among the most vocal, heavily opinionated members of boards like NDNation. Although I don't agree with the frustration about scheduling Western Michigan, I certainly understand it. Notwithstanding those feelings, unfounded arrogance seems to rule the collective attitudes of some on other ND boards, hence the criticism of scheduling teams like Utah, Rutgers, Connecticut, etc.