Championship Saturday

Here it is, the last time that the Big Ten will be excluded from Championship weekend and late season exposure around the country. At this time next year, two Big Ten teams will be gearing up to meet in the first annual Big Ten Championship game. The beauty of it all is that the game will be played indoors at Lucas Oil Stadium, which serves as the home to Peyton Manning, the Indianapolis Colts, and the NFL Combine. Just imagining what it is going to feel like is giving me chills, but for now, I'm just as excited for this upcoming weekend.

You might not think that this weekend has any effect on the Big Ten because we stopped conference play last weekend, but I'm here to tell you that this weekend has a major effect on how the Big Ten Bowl picture is going to line up. Aside from the Big 12 championship game, the DE facto Big East Championship Game (UConn vs. USF), meaningless ACC Championship Game (Seriously, FSU got smashed by Oklahoma and VTech lost to James Madison), there are two games that are going to have a major effect on the outcome of this year's bowl lineup. They are none other than the Civil War (annual rivalry game between Oregon State and Oregon) and the SEC championship game (previously known as the annual match-up between Florida and Alabama).

Basically the outcome of these two games has a major affect on the outcome of where Big Ten teams will be placed in terms of BCS Bowl games, and more importantly who we are going to face on New Year's Day in the Outback Bowl. So let's go ahead and get started with the scenarios and see how each one plays out and what the results can do for Penn State's match-up in their bowl game as well.

Both Auburn and Oregon win:
This one is pretty simple:
BCS Championship Game: Auburn vs. Oregon
Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. TCU
Sugar Bowl: Ohio State vs. Arkansas
Orange Bowl: FSU/VT (ACC Champ) vs. Stanford (at-large)
Fiesta Bowl:  OU/Neb (Big 12 Champ) vs. UCONN/WVU/Pitt (Big East Champ)
Capital One Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan State
Cotton Bowl: LSU vs. OU/Neb
Outback Bowl: Penn State vs. South Carolina

Now here is where it starts to get pretty ugly, If Auburn loses and Oregon wins:
BCS Championship game: Wisconsin vs. Oregon
Rose Bowl: TCU vs. Stanford
Sugar Bowl: South Carolina vs. Ohio State
Orange Bowl: FSU/VT (ACC Champ) vs. Auburn
Fiesta: OU/Neb vs. UCONN/WVU/Pitt
Capital One Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan State
Cotton Bowl: Arkansas vs. OU/Neb
Outback Bowl: Penn State vs. LSU

If Oregon loses and Auburn wins:
BCS Championship Game: Wisconsin vs. Auburn
Rose Bowl: TCU vs. Oregon
Sugar Bowl: Arkansas vs. Ohio State
Orange Bowl: FSU/VT vs.Stanford
Fiesta Bowl: OU/Neb vs. UCONN/WVU/Pitt
Capital One Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan State
Cotton Bowl: LSU vs. OU/Neb
Outback Bowl: Penn State vs. South Carolina

If Both Lose:
BCS Championship Game: Wisconsin vs. TCU (BCS will have no choice justifying a team that didn't win their conference to jump TCU to play in the National Title Game, this is everyone's worst nightmare)
Rose Bowl: Ohio State vs. Oregon
Sugar Bowl: South Carolina vs. Stanford
Orange Bowl: FSU/VT vs. Auburn
Fiesta Bowl: OU/Neb vs. UCONN/WVU/Pitt
Capital One Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan State
Cotton Bowl: Arkansas vs. OU/Neb
Outback Bowl: Penn State vs. LSU

Those are the four basic scenarios of what will most likely happen depending on the outcome of those two games this weekend. It also shows the politics behind each game, and how important a conference championship game is this late in the season. It definitely makes it much more interesting than just the BCS rankings. Two main questions that I know are going to be asked when I publish this, why would the Capital One bowl select Alabama over LSU if both are available, the simple answer, the Capital One bowl likes the draw of Saban versus Sparty since he used to coach their, and answer number two, they want to avoid giving the Outback a re-match of Penn State versus Alabama since they already played earlier this year. The main reason is because the officials for all of these bowls watch each other's backs, and they know that the intrigue of another Penn State vs. Bama match-up this year might not be as big of a draw considering how Bama handled Penn State earlier this year.

Question number two that is going to be asked, is why would the Cotton Bowl get Arkansas, if LSU, Arkansas, and Bama are all available. There is one simple answer to that question as well........money. The Cotton Bowl will be played in Big 12 country in Dallas' new stadium, and Arkansas provides an intriguing match up with a Big 12 team because they have been courted multiple times by the Big 12 in the past and they border Big 12 country. The final reason is because Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, is probably the most famous Razorback alumni (famous Kappa Sigma alumni as well) in the country and he would love to play host to his Alma mater in a huge January Bowl Game (especially since his Cowboys won't be playing in the Super Bowl this year in his home stadium). He would most definitely love to see one of his teams have great success in his new house.

Enjoy Championship weekend, and when it is all said and done come back and take a look and see how I did. I will admit that I do believe that the winners of the Big 12 and Big East will be Nebraska and UCONN, but since there was no definite was the reason why I outlined the match-ups the way that I did. So when the picture is complete and the match-ups are made final on Sunday, come back and see how I measured up to reality. Until then enjoy the weekend and get ready for a trip to Tampa on New Years Day.

WE ARE.........................