Pat Forde on the bowl matchup
Here's ESPN's Pat Forde's take on the EagleBank Bowl, after the jump:
EagleBank Bowl
UCLA vs. Temple
Dec. 29, Washington, D.C. (ESPN, 4:30 ET)
Why to watch: Canada could invade from the north on Christmas Eve and it would be less shocking than the sight of Temple in a bowl game. Tune in just to make sure it's not all a giant hoax.
Who's happier to be there: The Owls, by a light year or two. Last bowl appearance: 1979, in the prestigious (ahem) Garden State Bowl. Only other bowl appearance for the Owls: the 1935 Sugar Bowl.
Moderately useful Dash fact: Temple (16) hasn't beaten an opponent from a big-six conference since 2004 and carries a 17-game losing streak against such teams into this game.
Completely useless Dash fact: Temple had a nine-game winning streak sandwiched between two early losses and one late. UCLA had a five-game losing streak sandwiched between three early wins and three late wins (followed by a season-ending loss to USC).
Dash pick: UCLA 23, Temple 7.
Jon,
Pose this algebraic problem to Bruin mathematician Altrrraun Verner:
Team A beat Team B by 4 points, and
Team B beat Team C by 11 points,and
Team C beat Team D by 18 points.
How many points will Team A beat Team D?
For those wondering about the connection A is UCLA, B is Tennessee, C is U of Ohio, and D is Temple.
Charlie Bucket was trolling on Inside USC today.
That Teams A-D is nonsense. Head to head match-ups are all that matter.
In these tough economic times, we all need to do our part to save precious resources. As such, next season all of CFB will play 3 games. Then, by analyzing the outcomes and using transitive logic, we will anoint a MNC winner...
Will Harris unfortunately doesn't understand the PAC 10. Our bowl tie ins are so pathetic that getting an at large bid to the Eagle Bank bowl is more lucrative and visible than 3 of our 6 automatic bowl births.
I think the fans in LA are more excited about this game than the Poinsetta or Vegas Bowl, and they are certainly as excited as they would have been to play in the Emerald bowl for less money and less national exposure.
A normal conference would have better bowl tie ins, but the PAC 10 was so poorly run by Tom Hanson, it isn't the case.