Bowl Mania

It's the most wonderful time of the year. No, I'm not talking about Christmas, although it is my favorite holiday. Tis the season of the college football bowl games, the last chance for teams to salvage a season or make it magical. The hype of having 35 bowl games in 23 days is more than hype, it's a great time to sit back, stay inside next to the fire, and watch some good old fasion football. It's like Thanksgiving and March Maddness combined! Like March Maddness, you can pick the winners and even go further and give how confident you are on the outcome. It also puts teams against one another that usually wouldn't play (execpt for the BCS Championship this year). You don't see Penn State and Houston play very often, neither do you see Wyoming play Temple. It brings new matchups that are hard to predict and always seem to be entertaining.  I like the bowl system rather than a playoff system because it gives more teams a chance to be noticed on national television. It does wonders for recruiting, allowing the top players to see their top college choices play within a couple days and possible influence their decision. It's also good for a lot of teams like Iowa, who are a bowl game's dream. They play hard, clean football, their fans travel well, and they are never involved in blowouts. Iowa is one of the best teams in the country in preparing for bowl games and it allows them to salvage a season. I like that like March Maddness, upsets happen more regularly, making for exciting games. Who wouldn't like to see a team from the Mountain West or WAAC beat a team from the SEC or PAC-12? It makes for good television and something to do during Christmas break. The playoff system might be the best for college football, but the bowl games truly are the best time of the year.