LATEST BCS NEWS

- Future Conference Affiliation Chart (Updated 5/4)

CBS: Boise State Having Second Thoughts About Big East

Slate: Should College Football Be Banned?

- Sports Illustrated: BCS Zeroes in on Bowl-Hosted Semifinals

- Sporting News: Notre Dame Moves Closer to Irrelevance

- Complete Leaked BCS Memo of Proposals

THE GURU'S 2012 BLOGPOLL BALLOT

The Guru is not a big fan of the preseason poll. It'd be harmless if it's totally meaningless, but in the age of the BCS it is not. The BlogPoll, though, seems like a reasonable proposition, since we're just trying to find out what everybody thinks at this point, so here goes:

(READER COMMENTS)

HOW THE BCS KILLED ORANGE BOWL

Talk about a Faustian bargain. No BCS bowl has been as negatively impacted since its formation in 1998 than the Orange Bowl. Once the glowing powerhouse on New Year's night, when no championship could be decided until things were settled in Miami, now the Orange Bowl game itself is almost always irrelevant.

In the 15 seasons between 1983 and 1997, eight national champions were crowned on the Orange Bowl field, more than any other bowl during that span. Its tie-in with the Big Eight Conference, with Oklahoma and Nebraska at the height of their powers, along with the meteoric rise of the Miami Hurricanes, made the Orange Bowl an ideal matchmaker for teams vying for the title.

But all that changed with its participation in the BCS, as well as the demise of the Big Eight. After the conference reconstituted itself as the Big 12, its alliance shifted to the Fiesta Bowl, leaving the Orange Bowl scrambling to hitch its star to the ACC. While the Orange Bowl had hoped that Miami, which joined the ACC in 2004, and Florida State would be frequent flag bearers for the conference, both erstwhile powers have gone into a tailspin they have yet to emerge out of.

(FULL ARTICLE @ SB NATION)

B1G-PAC COLLABORATION: END OF BCS?

The Granddaddy of 'em All has been at best a reluctant participant in the BCS. For nearly a decade, the Rose Bowl, along with the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences, shunned efforts by the Bowl Coalition and Bowl Alliance to match the top two ranked teams. It wasn't until 1998 that the BCS was finally formed.

That relationship has been short of a boon for the Rose Bowl. In the BCS era, the Rose Bowl has lost some of its luster because its annual matchup between the Big Ten and Pac-10 were frequently disrupted. From the 1946 season to 2001, every Rose Bowl game featured a Big Ten and a Pac-8/10 team. That hasn't been the case for half of the past 10 games.

That's why the recent announcement that the Big Ten and Pac-12 are building a more "collaborative" relationship must be viewed with some suspicion by the other parties in the BCS. This may be the prelude to the two conferences, as well as the Rose Bowl, making a move to sever their ties to the BCS. The possibility exists that the Rose Bowl will return to its old and exclusive Big Ten/Pac-12 matchup in the very near future, perhaps as soon as the the current BCS pact expires.

(FULL ARTICLE @ SB NATION)

CLASSIC BOWL GAMES

The bowl season is upon us. There are 35 bowl games, starting Saturday all the way through the Jan. 9 BCS championship game. A lot of those bowls will be dogs, completely unwatchable games between mismatched opponents.

But maybe, just maybe, you'll catch a gem in a most nondescript whatsitsname.com bowl between two middling teams. Out of all those games, there's bound to be a handful that will prove to be highly entertaining.

To make our case, we've researched each of the 35 bowl games, from the Granddaddy of 'em All, which will be hosting its 98th extravaganza, to the Pampers ... er, Pinstripe Bowl, which was born just last year. We picked out the best game in each bowl's history, in order of when they'll be played this year.

First up, the New Mexico Bowl through the Holiday Bowl:

(PART I: FULL ARTICLE @ SB NATION)

(PART II: FULL ARTICLE @ SB NATION)

(PART III: FULL ARTICLE)