Anyone still want the Crap1 Bowl?

The coverage was surprisingly big time for a non BCS bowl.

ESPN coverage of the bowl game just wouldn't have felt as special.

Cotton Bowl was awesome. Best bowl game I have watched this season. Not just because LSU was playing. It was a big time atmosphere.

I'll give my opinion on it, as an outsider. To me, the Cap One is still the better bowl (right now, though I know about the Cotton's history). It may have seemed like a BCS type broadcast tonight, but I think that may have been because FOX went all out, as it was their only game. I remember the Sun Bowl being the same way, and that was on CBS. If you went to the game, I guess I could see how a stadium like Jerryworld would be more appealing than the Citrus Bowl, but only 80,000 people go. The opponent was about the same quality (Cap One might be a little better opponent typically, but it's not a huge difference), so that's a wash.

But I feel as far as exposure's concerned, the Cap One is better, and that puts it over the edge. I actually wouldn't be shocked if the ratings were better for the Cotton, because it was the only game on, the Cap One was a complete massacre, and it wasn't on cable (we'll see tomorrow what they were), as opposed to the Cap One, but people could still flip back and forth to the Cap One, and it got a lot of coverage (both preview and recap) on SportsCenter, college football live, etc. If you've been watching ESPN at all today (both before and after the game), the Cotton Bowl has barely even been discussed. So to me, the Cap One's better, for that reason. But that's just my opinion.

Cotton was way better than the Cap one this year hands down

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Cotton was way better than the Cap one this year hands down

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If you're talking about the game, that's needless to say, look at the result. If you ignore the result, I still think the Cap One is "better" (the field is also no longer an issue, since they got turf this year). I think for the players, coaches, and traveling fans, the Cotton was probably preferable (though I'd rather go to Orlando than Dallas, personally, but as far as the game/stadium itself is concerned to play/watch in, Dallas is better).

But January 1st is "college football day". Pretty much everyone I met up with that day was talking about it, a lot of people had it in their facebook statuses, it was all over ESPN, etc. The Cotton today I've hardly even heard anything about. Some anchor mentioned the score in passing on ESPN, and that was it. People are concerned with more important things on a Friday night, and until the championship, the college football bowl season has been "complete" since the Sugar Bowl. I know that may not seem like a huge deal, but exposure is never a bad thing. It really depends on how you look at the bowl. If you look at it more as a reward for a good season, then the Cotton is probably better. If you look at it as a start to next season/way to increase buzz/exposure for recruits, the Cap One was better. Again, that's just my opinion.

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The Cotton today I've hardly even heard anything about. Some anchor mentioned the score in passing on ESPN, and that was it.

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If your rating bowls based on exposure on ESPN, then obviously the Cap1 Bowl will be better than any other bowl game not televised on ESPN (or a related network). Networks don't advertise other networks' broadcasts. It takes an event like the Superbowl or the National Championship to break that rule.

Obviously we are in a different situation than most because we are LSU fans and our team was playing tonight and not on January 1st. But I would not be a bit surprised if significantly more people saw more of this game than they did of any recent Cap1 Bowl. Being the only game on carries a lot of weight, and a shitload of ratings points.

Think about this: there is only one reason for any college football game in history to have ever been scheduled on a day other than a Saturday, or bowl games on Christmas Day or New Years day. And that is to give it a timeslot away from competing college football games. And the weight of that factor alone has given us Tuesday night games, Thursday night games, Friday night games, and bowl games almost every night from December 19th throught January 7th. Why do you think the National Championship Game was moved from January 1st in the first place? If they were afraid of the impact the other New Years day bowl games would have on the National Championship Game, what kind of impact do you think it has on the Cap1 Bowl?

I think the exposure for the Cotton Bowl will turn out to be at least the equal of the Cap1 bowl. And all reports seem to indicate that it also won out on every other aspect as well.

That being said, I hate bowl games after January 1st, but that's only because I am a wildly impractical traditionalist and purist (since it's not up to me, I can afford to be).

The Cotton's big negative was the stadium was trash and the time slot (usually 10:00am)stunk. I hear what your saying about the Cap but being the only game on during prime time in the new stadium trumps the Cap.

Then you would be wrong.

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the field is also no longer an issue, since they got turf this year).

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But the stadium is still fifty years old and in the hood.

A Big Ten guy would probably think Orlando was better, because it's the #2 bowl for that conference, and because they know the way down I-75 pretty well. But anyone south of the Ohio River can see that the Cotton Bowl has a better history, tradition, matchups, and community support. The Cotton has a legitimate shot at being a BCS game if/when they expand. The Cap1 has no chance.

Don't let the fact that ESPN "buried" coverage of the game because it wasn't "their" bowl influence an objective analysis.

It would be fine with me if LSU never went to the Cap1 bowl again.