press this year vs say last year and the press TCU was getting. This year BYU, Utah, and TCU is getting quit a bit of love...
Here are a couple links (Scout.com and Rivals.com);
http://collegefootball.rivals.com/conten...CID=814190
http://cfn.scout.com/2/747627.html

I still think BYU got robbed in '96, once Fla got beat by FSU, no way they were in line to play FSU again for NC. I always tought BYU should have played FSU for NC.

templefootballfan Wrote:I still think BYU got robbed in '96, once Fla got beat by FSU, no way they were in line to play FSU again for NC. I always tought BYU should have played FSU for NC.

I don't know about playing for the NC, I would have just been happy if they would have been able to play in one of the Bowl Alliance Bowls. BYU was ranked #5, so I don't know if the title game was an option (but BYU did have the longest win streak in the Nation at the time). They had a high enough ranking yet were snubbed and ended up playing #14 Kansas St in the Cotton Bowl. BYU's talk of law suit brought about the BC$...

I forget how it worked out, maybe FSU was #1, Undeafeated Ariz St was #2 & lost to #3 OhioSt & both had to go to the Rose Bowl, 4 was Fla. BYU at 5 should have got shot. They could have easily put FSU & BYU in the Fiesta Bowl.

templefootballfan Wrote:I forget how it worked out, maybe FSU was #1, Undeafeated Ariz St was #2 & lost to #3 OhioSt & both had to go to the Rose Bowl, 4 was Fla. BYU at 5 should have got shot. They could have easily put FSU & BYU in the Fiesta Bowl.

My memory is not the best any more either, I had to look up what BYU was ranked heading into the game with Kansas St...

Here is another one from Rivals, not much love for C-USA or the Sun Belt;
http://collegefootball.rivals.com/conten...CID=815257

Didn't y'all win 14 games that year? Unbelievable.

Caltex2 Wrote:Didn't y'all win 14 games that year? Unbelievable.

Yes, BYU finished 14-1 that year. But the crazy thing was even after beat the 14th ranked Kansas St BYU still stayed at #5 in both Polls. That was the year when my eyes were opened wide about College Football is "Big Business".
BYU works like crazy to move up the rankings, only to be told even though you are ranked 5th in the nation, have the longest win streak in the Nation. You will not be picked for a Bowl Alliance Bowl game because you play in the WAC. Then when BYU beats 14th ranked Kansas St and is the first D1 team to ever win 14 games in a season. They don't move up in the Polls...
I guess it could be worse, Wyoming finished 10-2 and ranked #22 in the Polls and was not even invited to a bowl game. Instead an 8-3 Utah team was invited to the Copper Bowl (now the Insight Bowl).

If there had been a BCS in 1996, Florida State would have played Arizona State in the title game, but that mythical creation did not yet exist at that time. The loss by Jake Plummer and his fellow Sun Devils in the Rose Bowl really infuriated me because I wanted a split title in order to force a shake up to the system.

It turns out I was one year early with that scenario but the BCS is not exactly the shake up that most people wanted. These particular Bowl Alliance pairings in 1996 basically turned out to be 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3, which is what you would get in a Final Four or Seeded Plus One, but without a follow-up round of games.

The Bowl Alliance was set up to match #1 vs #2. Yet how did they expect to do that without the Pac 10 and Big 10? The Bowl Alliance had the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl, with auto bids for the SEC, ACC, Big 12 (Big 8, 1995), Big East, and SWC in 1995. The Big 10 and Pac 10 wanted to stay with their Rose Bowl deal and out of the Bowl Alliance, that had to change with 1996 and 1997 outcomes.
But getting back to the 1996 years Bowl Alliance Bowls match ups;
Sugar Bowl- #1 Florida St (ACC Champ) vs #3 Florida (SEC Champ)- Florida 52-20
Orange Bowl- #6 Nebraska (Big 12 Champ) vs #10 Virginia Tech (Big East Champ)- Nebraska 41-21
Fiesta Bowl- #7 Penn St (at-large) vs #20 Texas (at-large)- Penn St 38-15

So the Bowl Alliance says it was set up to to pit the best teams together in 3 Big Time Bowls. I guess they forgot to say you had to be from the right conference or the right school from the right conference.
BYU was #5 and Kansas St was #14, who happened to be in the Big 12...

BYU was as good as in the BCA in 1996---until Texas upset Nebraska. That forced the Big 12 to get another bid and the Fiesta Bowl was unable to invite BYU.