MU won the game, but KU gets the bowl

Posted by Chris Wristen December 3, 2007 at 12:28 a.m.

In a roundabout way, history repeated itself Sunday evening when Missouri accepted a bid to the Cotton Bowl and Kansas was chosen to play in the Orange Bowl, one of the big-money Bowl Championship Series games reserved for the top teams in college football.Yes, Missouri handed Kansas its only loss, 36-28, on Nov. 24 at Arrowhead Stadium and vaulted to the top of the polls. Then, after being routed by Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game, 38-17, Missouri slipped to No. 6 in the BCS standings. Kansas was No. 8, but it made no difference.The Tigers were the only squad ranked in the BCS top 10 to be denied a BCS bowl berth.Even when Missouri wins, it still is considered second-rate to Kansas.Quantrill and his raiders may have burnt Lawrence to the ground, but in the end Kansas and the Free Staters rose again and came out on top.The MU football team goes from No. 1 to left out in 24 hours. Meanwhile, Kansas is invited back to the party.Or : as somebody posted on a KUsports.com forum: [Missouri is Scott William Winters while Kansas is Matt Damon.][1]![][2]Even in its best season in school history - a season that even derailed Kansas' hopes of a national championship - Missouri still was deemed second-rate to KU.If anybody ever wondered why Missouri fans loathe Kansas so much, this is your answer. Sure, some of them still haven't got over that loss in the Civil War, but for many modern MU fans it's this lack of respect. Of course, respect is something that must be earned. The Tigers won the 1954 College World Series, but they've never won a national title in football or basketball, and they've never been to a BCS bowl or a single Final Four.On the national scale, Missouri athletics have been largely irrelevant. This was their opportunity to make their presence felt on the national scale. They had one of the most high-powered offenses in college football. They had a Heisman Trophy candidate in quarterback Chase Daniel. They held off rival Kansas in the most meaningful game in the Border War's 117-year history, and they did it in front of a national television audience. They were ranked No. 1 in the nation going into the final week of the season. Respect was theirs.Then a three-touchdown loss to Oklahoma - a top-10 team - sent the Tigers spiraling out of the national championship and BCS pictures.The Cotton Bowl's not bad. It's on New Year's Day. It has a mid-day national television broadcast. Plus, Dallas is a fun town to party.But it's not where Tiger fans want to be.Miami would be much better. That's where the Orange Bowl is on Jan. 3, and it comes with warmer weather, an evening national broadcast and a hefty BCS payout.That's where Kansas will be.Even in the best of years for Missouri, Kansas still came out ahead. [1]: http://boards.kusports.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=818726&an=0&page=1#818726 [2]: http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3015/applescopyvg5.jpg

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scramjay 5 years, 6 months ago

And always will as GOOD always trumps EVIL!!

sevenyearhawk 5 years, 6 months ago

here's my $.02

My wife asked me "isn't Virginia Tech where the shootings took place"

I hadn't considered this, but maybe we all should:

Missouri fans (Antlers) have repeatedly demonstrated a lack of decorum in regards to sensitive issues: Quantrill's Raid, Mangino's weight, etc.

Do you think the Orange Bowl committee REALLY wanted to take a chance with either signs/shirts referencing Mike Vick or Seung-Hui Cho appearing in Miami?!?

Think about it ...

dtoplikar 5 years, 6 months ago

Orange you glad you don't live Missouri?

slm 5 years, 6 months ago

The bowls dont mean anything unless your playing for the National Title.

Last time I checked Mizzou was still ranked higher than us and even if we both win our bowl games the polls wil reflect that.

Dont be such a jerk. You condemn the Tigers for acting classless and then this makes the paper?

We lost and they won. I would rather have the nations respect instead of being the reason we need to fix the BCS.

cwrist 5 years, 6 months ago

It is what it is. Missouri fans don't feel like their school is respected because it is not respected. The BCS snub makes that fact as clear as ever.

The Missouri football team proved it was better than Kansas by winning head-to-head. Pollsters agreed that Missouri's football team was better by voting them as such. The BCS computers agreed with that sentiment by putting MU ahead of KU. The Orange Bowl selected Kansas anyway.

Neither school really has any major historical claim to national relevance in football, although whatever relevance the two programs have had historically must lean in Missouri's favor. But Kansas' historical success in basketball gives KU name recognition as a respected sports school in something. Even if it's a different sport, Kansas basketball is associated with winning, as well as a mobile fan base. That basketball success likely played some factor in KU getting the nod for the Orange Bowl.

Missouri most recently has been seen on the national scene in less than positive ways - think Quin Snyder and Ricky Clemmons. Kansas' Chalupagate is ancient history in that regard.

I'm not saying what happened is right. In fact, there really is no justification for MU getting overlooked by the BCS. I figured the Tigers would knock KU out of the BCS for sure. They proved they're the better football team, but they were punished for being in the Big 12 title game and, probably to some extent, for being Missouri.

speedy 5 years, 6 months ago

the bcs makes up its own rules then ignores them!

Ross 5 years, 6 months ago

What rule did they ignore? Once 1 and two are decided, the Bowls (for the most part) get to pick who they want. No, they can't pick a third team from the same conference, and based on which bowl loses out to the NC game based on conference affiliation, th eorder of selection can change. Other than that, they get to pick who they want. So i ask again, what rule was ignored?

KUglow 5 years, 6 months ago

Who cares what the "nation" thinks? We are going to the Orange Bowl and we can shut everyone up by not only winning this game but continuing to win next year, that's the only way to do it. Do you think if we beat MU we still would have the nation's respect? No.

cwrist 5 years, 6 months ago

I wouldn't say KU is the nation's reason the BCS needs to be fixed.

KU might be one of the reasons, but I'd argue that there are a lot of people who say that Ohio State being in the title game - despite not playing Wisconsin this year, despite the Big 10 being terrible this year, despite that conference not having a title game, despite not beating a team that finished in the top 25, and despite backdooring their way into the title game by not playing for two weeks - is a lot of the nation's reason that the system is a joke. Or that the only unbeaten team in the country doesn't get a shot at the title (it's not Hawaii's fault that USC turned down a request to play, that Michigan State bought out of its contract to play them and that Michigan turned down a request and opted to play Appalachian State instead).

I do think beating Missouri would've earned Kansas a lot more respect, but I agree with KUglow that the only way to get respect is to win. Beating Virginia Tech would go a long way to earning Kansas credibility on the national scale.

jayhawk02 5 years, 6 months ago

As bad as it sounds, I have to agree with 7year on this one. Those Antlers and tigerboard posters are HATERS to the extreme. Remember when Roy Williams' mother had recently passed away, and some idiot helled up a sign making a negative reference to his mom. That is the epitomy of "NO CLASS." I can easily see them degrading VTech with their signs.

sayers48 5 years, 6 months ago

Tigerboard...

I just got banned until 2020, just for spreading some holiday cheer!

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