Getting a bowl for Christmas and loving it

For many, this is the most wonderful time of the year.

No, I’m not talking about holiday carols, hot chocolate, presents, or spending time with loved ones, although all of those things are also pretty wonderful.

I’m talking about college bowl season.

What’s not to love? For gamblers, betting on college football bowl games offers the unique matchups that can give handicappers more problems than regularly scheduled games, and those same unique matchups frequently produce classic games for all football fans, no matter who is in them.

College football may not be as popular as the NFL year-round, but from the end of the regular season until the national championship game, college ball moves into football’s driver’s seat. While some NFL playoff drama surfaces in that time and captivates football fans, college bowl games become a ubiquitous part of the sporting landscape for several weeks.

And perhaps that’s what makes them so much fun. Since bowl games take place during a time of the year where most schools aren’t in session, organizers have the freedom to schedule their games for dates and times that are normally bereft of football. That produces a perfect storm where a sports fan looking for something to watch on a Tuesday afternoon can become completely captivated by a random MAC team trading body blows with a Sun Belt opponent.

Beyond that, bowl season has given football fans some of the most memorable big games of all-time, at least recently. Texas beating USC for the national championship thanks to Vince Young’s scramble to the end zone in the 2006 Rose Bowl, Boise State upsetting Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl the following season in a game that featured an absurd amount of trickeration to leave the audience breathless at the finish, and Oklahoma State beating Stanford in overtime of last season’s Fiesta Bowl in a battle of two QBs who are now starting in the NFL. All were prime time bowl games, and all are instant classics.

And beyond all that, these games are the reward for a season well played. Many college football players don’t get to play on national television during their careers, and even fewer will play on Sundays. Bowl games give lesser known schools and players a chance to shine after a long season, and for the seniors, a long career. That kind of opportunity is incredible for many of these athletes, and it shows when watching the joy on their faces as they play these games and talk about their experiences leading up to them.

This season looks to deliver all those things once again. Bowl season kicks off with Arizona State taking on Nevada in an intriguing matchup of southwestern schools that fans rarely get to see. Looking forward, games like Washington-Boise State, Georgia-Nebraska, South Carolina-Michigan and Texas A&M-Oklahoma renewing their former conference rivalry all look to be excellent. Not to mention the many, many games that will surprise fans with their unexpected entertainment value.

This bowl season could also prove to be an all-timer from a historical perspective. As we near the end of the BCS’s stranglehold on college football’s championship picture, a couple of teams are trying to make history within the soon-to-be-defunct system. The MAC champions from Northern Illinois crashed the BCS party and will take on Florida State in a game where NIU and their conference will have a prime-time stage to put their impressive brand of football on display, and possibly signal increased parity in college football going forward.

And finally, there is the throwback of a championship game featuring a team looking to officially label themselves as a dynasty, taking on a historic power that has woken up the echoes and shaken down the thunder in a way they haven’t in nearly two decades. The game will feature two of college football’s most ravenous fan bases rooting for a pair of conservative offenses taking on a pair of throwback defenses so good they should test just how low Vegas is willing to set the over/under (whatever it is, bet the under).

The entertainment value, the recognition earned by the programs and the elevated chance for history define college bowl season, and they combine to truly make it the most wonderful time of the year.

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