First off, what was Northern Illinois doing in the Poinsettia Bowl? Are they handing out invites in Cracker Jack boxes now?

Yesterday the Huskies and the nation’s leading rusher Garrett Wolfe were completely embarrassed on the field by a break-off WAC team: TCU. The Horned Frogs completely outclasses NIU by putting up 37 points and only allowing 7, which came on a blocked punt return. And to think… this could have been a first-round playoff game instead of a boring matchup of second-tier conferences.

If this tells me one thing though, its that the MAC is quite possibly one of the most pathetic conferences in the country, and might consider dropping down to the 1-AA level; that was sad. It also suggests that the Mountain West (a conference still referred to by most people outside its realm as the “Big West”, “Mountain Sky”, and the worst of them, the “WAC”) might be a better conference than a lot of people give credit for. The true test of that of course will be tomorrow when the BYU Fightin’ Mormons (what, they’re the Cougars now? When did that happen?) take on the Oregon Ducks, who without the mishap in Oklahoma earlier this year would be 6-6. So if BYU can play with Oregon, it pretty much tells us that the Mountain West is better than the MAC, and about as good as a moderate team in a top conference. Laugh you may, but that is a compliment from my perspective.

But I would seriously recommend that anyone considering skipping the Oregon-BYU game think again: after tomorrow there is not another decent bowl game until the 28th… maybe the 26th. Yes, with matchups like Rice-Troy, South Flordia-East Carolina, San Jose St., -Marcus Vick New Mexico, Tulsa-Utah, and Middle Tennessee-Central Michigan — Arizona St.-Hawaii is a tossup — (and yes I know I just listed two other Mountain West Teams, but look at who they’re playing!); well, with those matchups it looks like this holiday season you will be spending a little more time with your Aunt Mildred then you might like, cause unless you like watching Arena Leauge, CFL and semi-pro football these bowl games are not for you.