WDAM Viewpoint- USM and College Bowl System - WDAM.COM - TV 7 - News, Weather and Sports

December 19, 2011

This coming Saturday on Christmas Eve the University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles will be playing Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu.  We wish the team great success and congratulate them once again on their outstanding 11-win season and Conference USA Championship.  They have a lot to be proud of.  Unfortunately, this scenario underscores just how broken the whole college bowl system is.  Had Southern Miss lost to highly ranked Houston in the Conference Championship game…Houston would have gone to a bigger and more lucrative bowl and divided the money with the other Conference USA teams.  Southern Miss would have been in the neighborhood of a Million dollars richer.  Also…at the very least…the Golden Eagles should be going to a well paying bowl with an 11 win season than they are.  But because of the way things are set up in the BCS and the world of Division I football…they are going to a bowl that will not make them any appreciable money.  It is also a bowl that few friends, family or fans can afford the airfare and expenses to attend.   So the price of winning ends up being high.  It is just wrong when a team is essentially penalized for excellence.  Nevertheless—we do hope the players have an enjoyable trip and bring home that coveted 12^th win.  They deserve that at the very least.  I'm Jim Cameron and that's today's Viewpoint.  Write and let us know what you think.