The complaints about why the No. 11 Virginia Tech Hokies and No. 13 Michigan Wolverines are playing in the 2012 Sugar Bowl while the No. 7 Boise St. Broncos and No. 8 Kansas St. Wildcats have to play in non-BCS game have been loud and they have been growing.
Sugar Bowl 2012: Virginia Tech In Game Thanks To ‘Good Ol’ Boy Network’
Intensifying the arguments is the news that, despite being chosen in part because their fans travel well, Virginia Tech is doing poorly in ticket sales while KSU is selling huge amounts of tickets to the Cotton Bowl.
In his latest column, CBSSports.com’s Brett McMurphy outlines just how crass the entire process was that gave Virginia Tech the financial windfall of a BCS bowl while many deserving schools were shut out.
Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan said among the reasons his bowl selected Virginia Tech was because of his long-time relationship with coach Frank Beamer -- “a very good friend throughout the years,” Hoolahan said -- and the bowl’s familiarity with the Hokies.
Speaking of relationships and familiarity: did it also matter that Hoolahan and ACC commissioner John Swofford are both North Carolina alumni?
In the meantime, Kansas State athletic director John Currie is trying to bring the matter to the forefront, just one of the many injustices the BCS has created for itself.
“We can’t go to the Rose Bowl and a school from a [non-Big 12] league can’t go [as the league champion] to the Fiesta Bowl, because that’s our relationship with the Fiesta,” Currie said. “I can explain that to my student athletes.”
For more on the Wolverines, be sure to head over to the SB Nation blog Maize ‘N Brew. Check out Gobbler Country for everything Hokies. Head over to the official site of the Allstate Sugar Bowl for more info on this year’s game.
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