Dumb NCAA football questions I've always wanted to know (1 Viewer)

[McPaul]

Sorry. Ignorant Canadian alert:

1. What are all those stickers on the back of some players helmet? I once thought they represented their number (8 stars on the left of the team's stripe and 9 stars on the right meant 89) but of course that theory wrong long ago when I actually started counting. What are they?

2. Can ANYONE explain the bowls, who plays who and why and what for?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

1. The stickers usually represent some sort of excellent athletic acheivement. This year Georgia added a second color sticker to also signify academic acheivements.

2. The bowl arrangements have become even more confusing the past few years. Until the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), conference champions were awarded certain bowl appearances (e.g. Big Ten and Pac 10 to Rose Bowl, Big 8 (now 12) to Orange Bowl, etc.). With the BCS, that still exists, but with a twist.

There are four designated BCS bowls -- Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta. These bowls rotate the national championship game on an annual basis -- Fiesta gets it this year, Rose had it last year, Sugar gets it next year. The top two ranked teams go to that game. After that, the conference champs from the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, SEC, Pac 10 and Big East each get selected for the other BCS bowls (unless they are already in the championship game). Then the remaining spots are awarded on an at-large basis.

The remaining bowl games usually have some sort of agreement with conferences -- such as the Big Ten's #3 vs. the SEC's #3.

As for why they play, it's a tradition for college football. The theory is that it's a reward for a good season, and many teams get a chance to win a bowl game. Whether it works out that way can be debated. Before the BCS, numerous bowl games could have national championship implications, depending on the matchups, upsets, etc.

 

[Bill_D]

The logos on the back of the helmets are position dependent. They could be for interceptions, sacks, touchdowns and most notably tackles.

No one can explain the bowls! but here is a try.

Primarily they are meant as a year-end reward for a good season. Bowl games are a money-maker for the Universities. Bowl sponsors pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars to an University if their team plays in their particular Bowl game. Many of the teams in the Bowls are determined by how the teams finish in conference. The Top Bowl this year is the Fiesta which is supposed to determine the NCAA champions. The Top Bowl could vary each year depending on pre-arranged agreements between University/Athletic Conferences and Bowl sponsors.

Miami will play Ohio State Friday for the BCS championship but are they better than Oklahoma or Georgia who looked very good in their games? We don't know because they won't play each other thus the potential for different rankings by each poll at the end of the season. Because there is no other vehicle by which to determine, the Bowls are used to tabulate the final ranking of the season. After the bowl games are complete, the BCS, Coaches Poll, and API and couple other minor associations will release final standings which, in theory, could all be different from top to bottom.

I'm sure I left plenty of detail out but others will surely chime in.

 

[Matt Stryker]

Bowl games are a money-maker for the Universities.

Suprisingly, that isn't the case for most of the bowl games. All the bowl games have a set payout, which first goes to cover the cost of the team/boosters travelling to and staying at the bowl site. In most cases, any leftover money is then distributed evenly among the members of the conference, so an actual school has little to gain (they gain the most when they send a lot of conference teams to big money bowls).

With the exception of the 4 BCS bowls and some of the New Years Day bowls (Outback, Gator, Cotton, Citrus/Capital One), most schools end up breaking even or losing money by sending their teams to bowl games. The plus is that they usually get a boost in donations the next year from the boosters they bring along. And of course it is a reward to the players for a good season.

Very very few college football programs are in the black if you look at their actual cost. Most larger college programs will show a positive cash flow on the balance sheet, but many times they put costs such as stadium maintenance, bonuses, etc under other departments to make it show a profit. TV companies (and Notre Dame) are the ones making the real cash.

 

[Ashley Seymour]

With the exception of the 4 BCS bowls and some of the New Years Day bowls (Outback, Gator, Cotton, Citrus/Capital One), most schools end up breaking even or losing money by sending their teams to bowl games. The plus is that they usually get a boost in donations the next year from the boosters they bring along. And of course it is a reward to the players for a good season.
This topic comes up on our local sports talk radio show all the time and I agree what Matt says. We host the Humanitarian Bowl and if Boise State does not play then it looses a lot of money. Last year UCLA was vocal is stating that it was not willing to buy up 10,000 tickets to "buy its way into a bowl." Probably a lot of merit to that line of thinking. So we got Clemsen to come and play WAC champ Louisana Tech. Both teams and Clemsen fans especially were great and seemed to enjoy the trip. But the bowl had to virtually give away most of the tickets to get anyone to attend.
In contrast this year, the seats were sold out early with WAC champ Boise State playing. The circus was around who we would play. Our contract this year had the 8th team out of the Big 12 and at one time Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State had records that would have qualified them to come. In the end Iowa State fell into the spot.
Most teams at this level get a little bitter. That are frustrated because they were expecting a better finish to their season - witness IS who were 6-1 with wins over Iowa and Nebraska, but fell off to 1-5. The reality is, if you want to go to Orlando or Arizona then go 10-2. Otherwise, expect to pay to play on nasty blue turf in 45 degree weather in rain or snow.
Come to think of it I remember that last year had a bowl game in Louisana that was played in a driving snow storm. Maybe our wx isn't that bad.

 

[Matt Stryker]

nasty blue turf in 45 degree weather in rain or snow.

I don't watch too much Boise State football, but that turf is awesome. It gives your school instant recognition (on TV) and is definitely different. I liked it so much, that it is my home field for my created team in EA NCAA 2003!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Ashley,

Is there any significance to the blue turf (other than to be different and it's the school's colors)? In other words, any unusual story regarding the turf's origin?

 

[Ashley Seymour]

The blue turf was put in around the mid 80's as a marketing idea from the Athletic Director. It did match the school colors of blue and orange. Also it was about the only other color that would work. Imagine orange or brown or - sorry anyother option would be too horrific to consider.
Last spring we installed the third version of the turf. It lasts about 6-7 years and then has to be replaced. It is just plastic strips with black rubber pellets sprinkled in to soften up the surface. The stripes and numbers are white of course and just woven in and are permanent. I walked around on the field after a preseason scrimage and it was not hard at all. The Iowa State coach said it was very good and is the same turf as he played on at Nebraska.
After the first version was put in the NCAA was a little pissed I think and outlawed any color for turf except green. We did get a grandfather right so it stays. A survey in the spring was strongly in support of keeping it. I dissed it above, but that is just a reiteration of some negative comments we often get. I think it is cool and think we should keep it.
I don't know what it is like for opposing quarterbacks but watching the Boise State players in their solid dark blue uniforms and helmets might make for some natural camouflage.
I don't watch too much Boise State football, but that turf is awesome. It gives your school instant recognition (on TV) and is definitely different. I liked it so much, that it is my home field for my created team in EA NCAA 2003!
We don't get on TV much. The home game this year with Fresno State. That game was awesome, 67-21, and the Humanitarian bowl. Until we cracked the top 25 in November we didn't even get highlights on ESPN.
Fresno State has been an ESPN favorite but next year we may get some more telecasts. ESPN likes the offence we put up and we have kind of muscled Fresno out of the top spot in the WAC.
It is halftime at the Orange Bowl. We got dissed by a fan with a sign that read "Hey Iowa State This ain't Boise!"
Kind of funny really.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

1. The stickers usually represent some sort of excellent athletic acheivement. This year Georgia added a second color sticker to also signify academic acheivements.

Learned that from the trivia question during the Sugar Bowl, eh? Georgia has little dog bone stickers, white for athletic achievement and black for academic achievement. As we watched the game my friends and I noted that there were very few black dog bones on the helmets.

And how come every time they show that fugly dog on TV, he turns around to give us a view of his testicles?

 

[McPaul]

Because he knows you're looking and besides, he's a little cocky!
Thanks Scott and everyone for the thorough responses. I've always wanted to know. I love college football but have always been confused about this. Is there some sort of BCS website out there that explains which seed in which conference plays who in the cotton bowl this and next year, etc? Or is it much more of a "selection show" like NCAA basketball has for the final 4 tournament? I love NCAA basketball, have for a long time, and learned the conferences a long time ago, but never really gotten into NCAA football. I now know more than my dumb canadian friends!
I'd assume that conferences are no different than NCAA basketball, correct?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Is there some sort of BCS website out there that explains which seed in which conference plays who in the cotton bowl this and next year, etc? Or is it much more of a "selection show" like NCAA basketball has for the final 4 tournament?

Other than the four major bowls (Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta), the rest are not part of the BCS. Each bowl negotiates its own contract/agreement with a conference or conferences for a certain "seeded" team (e.g. fourth place Big Ten team). The bowl invitations usually trickle out one by one after the regular season is over -- there is no selection show like the basketball tournament (although I think the BCS does something for the four major games).

One other tidbit. In the days before the BCS, the Cotton Bowl was at one time considered one of the four major bowl games (instead of the Fiesta, which is a relatively new bowl game). The conference champ from the old Southwestern Conference received an automatic Cotton Bowl bid. When the SWC disbanded, it put the final nail in the coffin for the Cotton as a major bowl. It's become a 2nd-tier game now.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

It seems like even with conference agreements the bowls still have the ability to do a lot of "jockeying for position" to get a certain team from the conference rather than another, sometimes a team that is nearby or can otherwise fill more seats. For example, the Peach Bowl in Atlanta got Tennessee, the Cotton Bowl got Texas, the Outback Bowl (Tampa) got Florida, the Music City Bowl (Nashville) got Arkansas, the Seattle Bowl got Oregon, the Independence Bowl (Shreveport) got Mississippi, the Silicon Valley Bowl got Fresno State, and the two most obvious ones, the Hawaii Bowl got Hawaii and the Humanitarian Bowl (played on Boise State's smurf turf) got Boise State.