West Virginia routed Clemson, 70-33, in a record-setting performance in the Orange Bowl on Wednesday night. The Tigers, needless to say, ended their successful season with a thud.
With their big loss fresh in our minds, let’s take a look at the Top 10 embarrassing BCS bowl performances since the system began with the games in January of 1999, based on the competitiveness of the game, margin of victory and pre-game expectations.
.
10. Illinois (2008 Rose Bowl vs. USC)
The Rose Bowl was criticized for adhering to its traditional practice of pairing the winners of the Pac-10 and Big Ten. The reason? This one was a mismatch. The Illini came in as 13.5-point underdogs and lost by a score of 49-17. They allowed the Trojans to set a Rose Bowl record with 633 yards of total offense. It was an embarrassing showing for Illinois, which played like it wasn’t even in USC’s league. And it wasn’t.
.
9. Notre Dame (2001 Fiesta Bowl vs. Oregon State)
The 2000 season was the highlight of Bob Davie’s five-year tenure in South Bend. The Irish earned a spot in the Fiesta Bowl after getting their first win at USC since 1992 in the regular-season finale. Notre Dame responded by suffering a 41-9 thumping at the hands of Oregon State, which blew open a nine-point game at the half with a 29-point third quarter. 29! Embarrassing, to say the least. “We got our butt kicked,” said then-Irish coach Bob Davie. And that’s putting it nicely.
.
8. Notre Dame (2007 Sugar Bowl vs. LSU)
Guess who’s back?! There were big expectations for Notre Dame with QB Brady Quinn as a senior in 2006, and the Irish delivered – until they got to the Sugar Bowl. Eventual No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell and the Tigers routed the Irish, 41-14. It was the second straight BCS bowl loss for Notre Dame, which sunk to a 16-21 for the rest of Charlie Weis’ tenure after this game. Notre Dame still hasn’t picked itself off the mat from this one.
.
7. Ohio State (2007 BCS Championship Game vs. Florida)
After Urban Meyer got on his hands and knees to plead Florida’s case to play in this game, it was Ohio State that looked like it didn’t belong. The Buckeyes returned the opening kick for a touchdown and then were promptly outscored, 41-7, by the Gators as QB Troy Smith looked completely overwhelmed by the UF defense.
.
6. Hawaii (2008 Sugar Bowl vs. Georgia)
Playing the role of BCS buster, Hawaii rolled into the Sugar Bowl undefeated – and were trounced by Georgia by 31 points. The Warriors had their school-record, 13-game winning streak snapped and scored just 10 points behind record-setting quarterback Colt Brennan, who was playing his final college game. The saddest part? Hawaii lost 41-10 and the game wasn’t even that close, as UGA led 34-3 entering the fourth.
.
Pages: 1 2
It’s not the teams who are embrassments, it’s the BCS. They are a joke on how they rank teams and their bowl picks. They are a bunch of crooks.