Going bowlin’
Auburn-fla. State clash in BCS a real ...
The bCS games are set, headlined by Florida State-Aburn in the title clash
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THE BEST STORY of the past month in college football goes on.
The Bowl Championship Series, in its final announcement before a playoff format is instituted next season, confirmed Sunday what few people would have expected before the last fews weeks unfolded when it announced that Auburn (12-1) had climbed to No. 2 and would take on No. 1 Florida State (13-0) for the national championship on Jan. 6 in Pasadena, Calif.
“It ought to be a good one,” first-year Tigers coach Gus Malzahn said.
Auburn made a steep and sometimes miraculous ascent to reach the title game. Four weeks ago it was an incredible upset of Georgia. Two weeks ago, the Tigers stunned top-ranked and unbeaten Alabama when Chris Davis returned a would-be tiebreaking field goal try 109 yards for a touchdown with no time left for a miracle victory. And Saturday night, the Tigers won the SEC championship with a 59-42 win over Missouri.
That, coupled with Ohio State’s loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten championship game, allowed the Tigers to move up one notch to No. 2 in the BCS standings released Sunday night. An Auburn win over the ACC-champion Seminoles would mean the SEC has produced eight straight champions.
“Our first game we were probably an average at best team and they just bought into the fact to get better each practice and each game . . . our goal was real simple, just improve each game,” Malzahn said. “We felt like if we did that we’d have a chance to be a pretty good team at the end of the year. . . . We look up and we’re playing for the national championship, and it’s really something.”
Florida State will be going for its first national crown since the 1999 season.
Most of the selections for the BCS bowls played out as expected, with one potential controversy involving No. 10 Oregon being left out in favor of No. 11 Oklahoma.
The Rose Bowl will have a traditional matchup of Big Ten champ Michigan State against Pac-12 champ Stanford. The Orange Bowl chose Ohio State and pitted it against Clemson, maintaining its connection with the ACC.
Alabama gives the Sugar Bowl a traditional SEC flavor, and will face Oklahoma. Oregon might have had this spot but the tradition of Sooner fans turning out at bowl games in force may have tipped the balance financially for Orange Bowl officials.
The Fiesta Bowl gets its Big 12 champion in Baylor and will pair the Bears with American champion Central Florida. BCS history is riddled with controversies, including those about the national title game – like the omissions of Miami in 2000, unbeaten Auburn in 2004 and Texas in 2008 – but the selectors seem to have put together a satisfactory matchup for their final game.
“We all complain about the BCS, but isn’t it funny how often they get it right?” Florida State coach Jimbo
Fisher said.