Biased College Football Bowl Coverage Part Two: Miami Merely a Tropical Storm

Miami almost pulled the upset over the Cal-Berkeley Golden Bears.

Jacory Harris avoided throwing more than one interception to Cal’s vaunted pass defense, but a late game fumble—forced by Golden Bear senior Zach Follet—cost him an Emerald Bowl victory.

Jahvid Best didn’t help the Hurricane’s cause either, rushing for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Best saved the Golden Bears with his effort, as Cal looked outplayed by Miami for most of the game.

Miami will improve defensively over the next few years with their young squad, but yesterday’s Emerald Bowl was not their time.

After Cal’s exciting win, the Pac-10 is 2-0 in this bowl game season. If you watched the game, you noticed Jahvid Best’s explosiveness and speed. If you followed USC, you will remember that Jahvid Best ran for less than 40 yards in a 17-3 domination of Cal-Berkeley. Arizona was competitive against USC, and this was perceived as a weak game for the Trojans.

But then Arizona beats a ranked BYU, and USC’s schedule is not looking as weak as people thought it was.

The most important game for the “USC was cheated” club (of which I’m a member) is this Tuesday, when the Pac-10 plays its first big conference matchup. Oregon plays Oklahoma State in what will become a very high scoring Holiday Bowl.

USC held Oregon’s strong offense in a 44-10 blowout early in the season. If Oregon beats Oklahoma State, look for rumblings from Los Angeles that their team was cheated from the BCS Championship once again.

Conference strength is nothing more than a false measuring stick. The best way to measure a team is by their out of conference schedule. The SEC has no tough out of conference schedule.

The Pac-10 gets penalized for splitting games against ranked out of conference opponents, or having close losses to those same opponents.

The SEC just lets their best team ride to the top of the national rankings with no real test outside of their incestuous selves.

This needs to end.

With that said, here is how the Pac-10 has fared so far during this bowl season (Big 12 and SEC are yet to play):

Cal 24, Miami 17 (Emerald Bowl)

Arizona 31, BYU (16) 21 (Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl)

Overall Record: 2-0

vs. Top 25: 1-0

vs. SEC: Not Scheduled

vs. Big 12: 0-0