Give me a break

Yesterday my dad tried to convince me the Big 12 towers over the Pac-10 in football, and the almightly bowl system laid the venue for proving it.

His argument rooted from the beatdown Texas was giving Arizona St. in the Holiday Bowl on Thursday. I indulged him since it was his 56th birthday. But really I say fooey!

So to indulge y'all, I present his argument.

ASU is the No. 2 team in the Pac-10. Texas is the No. 4 team in the Big 12. On a nationally-broadcast game, the No. 4 Big 12 team dismantled the No. 2 Pac-10 team 52-34. The rest of his points were mostly cannon fodder.

The reality of it is Oregon would have been higher than ASU had Dennis Dixon not gone down. Heck, the Ducks could have topped USC had Dixon remained healty. So I claim ASU is the No. 3 Pac-10 team.

Next, look at the mindset of these two teams coming into the game. Texas: A September blowout by Kansas St. caps a rough start to the season that saw the 'Horns edge out Arkansas St. and Central Florida by a combined 11 points. It follows that up with a heartbreaking loss to Oklahoma and is out of the national title hunt on Oct. 6. Not only that, but Texas probably is out of the Big 12 hunt with the OU loss. They close out the regular season 5-1, but very unimpressively.

ASU: Undefeated, sixth in the country, and gunning for a national title shot until a November loss to No. 4 Oregon. Still with a shot at the BCS title game with two games left (both at home), ASU falls to a resurgent USC team that has regained its starting quarterback.

Now, neither of these teams have played in the past 25 days. They line up against each other in a game that has no kind of title implication except for this bowl game. ASU had dreams of a national title. Texas has been fighting to prove it's still relevant. Do you honestly believe both teams have the same drive to win the Holiday Bowl?! Texas has been there so many times this decade it ought to buy a San Diego timeshare. I bet you dollars to doughnuts that Texas carries a bit of pride in winning this bowl game that has become such a rich part of it's recent history.

But all this goes to inhance my true point: Who cares?

It's a meaningless bowl game that decides nothing. The only game that matters is the national title game in this system. At least in the traditional bowl system there was a certain romanticism to getting picked for your conference's bowl. Now it just plain sucks when your top program doesn't get into one of the four BCS bowls (or now adding the title game). Even then, the winner and loser of a BCS bowl get the same payout. Why do you need to win? Recruiting, yes, but if you're visible - win or lose - athletes will come. Just look at Notre Dame.

There's so many mixed feelings on this bowl system that doesn't put a premium on winning, there's no way to tell for sure if a team is jacked up to play their best in a non-title bowl game.

So don't try to tell me because the MAC went 4-0 in their bowls and the Big Ten went 1-3 that the MAC is the better conference, because the same principles that make that claim ridiculous apply for comparing the Pac-10 with the Big 12. Can you smell the next argument? I'll give you hint, it starts with a "play" and ends with an "off"...