bowling for links

In case you missed it, the complete bowl schedule was announced yesterday — the Tide drew a berth in the Sugar Bowl, its first since Jan 1, 1993 (yeah ... we're showing it).



Now that I have your attention, here are a few links for the day.
— How Alabama and Utah stack up, according to Pete Holiday.
— Sugar Bowl officials aren't exactly thrilled with the prospect of another non-BCS school in their big game, says Rapaport.
— Dr. Saturday reports that gamblers love Florida thus far.
One thing about gambling on bowl games: it's dumb to gamble on college football anyway, but bowl games are especially unpredictable, if only because you never know how teams will respond on a neutral field after such a long layoff (as Alabama proved on that glorious day in Louisiana 15 years ago). Every coach has a different method of preparing for a bowl game, and none of them are perfect.
— The Sports Economist tackles the South's monopoly on football success, and why it's likely not everlasting.
— Of course, not everybody's planning for a bowl: as you may have heard, some SEC teams are scouring the Earth searching for football coaches. The JCCW has reviewed all the serious candidates for the Auburn job thus far, and is probably the best source for those interested in that sort of thing (like, say, Nick Saban). I won't tell you who Jerry digs as the favorite for Auburn's position, but I will say that it's probably not who you think.

Finally, just for fun, here's what the first round of the NCAA Tournament would look like using the 16-team playoff idea we advanced here a few weeks ago, using the final BCS standings.
(Top team is the home team.)

(16) BYU at (1) Oklahoma
(9) Boise St. at (8) Penn St.
(13) Oklahoma St. at (4) Alabama
(12) Cincinnati at (5) USC
(15) Georgia at (2) Florida
(10) Ohio St. at (7) Texas Tech
(14) Ga. Tech at (3) Texas
(11) TCU at (6) Utah

Feel free to talk amongst yourselves.

wlh