I don`t get this Bowl business??

[Blurredorunfocused]

I could search through a million topics, or look on google, but the input of people

here means a lot more than that, so I`m gonna be lazy...

There seem to be a ton of "Bowl" games on TV over here, but I just don`t get how

teams get to be in certain "Bowls" what its all about?

Is it just a popularity contest??

Who don`t the best teams just play each other in "Championship games"?? or

is that what it all comes down to?

I`m English, I don`t have a clue, and really don`t understand this college way of

doing things, this top 20 rankings crap and why it all can`t be so much simpler??

In Europe most sports are about going up a division if you`re good and going down

a division if you`re bad, why does American sports have to be so difficult!!

I`m not here to critisize!! only to try to understand!

[Gainzo]

I could search through a million topics, or look on google, but the input of people

here means a lot more than that, so I`m gonna be lazy...

There seem to be a ton of "Bowl" games on TV over here, but I just don`t get how

teams get to be in certain "Bowls" what its all about?

Is it just a popularity contest??

Who don`t the best teams just play each other in "Championship games"?? or

is that what it all comes down to?

I`m English, I don`t have a clue, and really don`t understand this college way of

doing things, this top 20 rankings crap and why it all can`t be so much simpler??

In Europe most sports are about going up a division if you`re good and going down

a division if you`re bad, why does American sports have to be so difficult!!

I`m not here to critisize!! only to try to understand!

I've lived in the USA since 1986 and the Bowl system still doesn't make sense to me. Don't even bother trying to understand it.

BTW: There are actually 4 Divisions in College football. 1, 1-AA, 2 & 3. The Division 1 teams are the ones you are watching in all of those Bowl games.

The rest of the divisions actually have playoffs. It makes zero sense to me.

[PFSIKH]

I could search through a million topics, or look on google, but the input of people

here means a lot more than that, so I`m gonna be lazy...

There seem to be a ton of "Bowl" games on TV over here, but I just don`t get how

teams get to be in certain "Bowls" what its all about?

Is it just a popularity contest??

Who don`t the best teams just play each other in "Championship games"?? or

is that what it all comes down to?

I`m English, I don`t have a clue, and really don`t understand this college way of

doing things, this top 20 rankings crap and why it all can`t be so much simpler??

In Europe most sports are about going up a division if you`re good and going down

a division if you`re bad, why does American sports have to be so difficult!!

I`m not here to critisize!! only to try to understand!

Yes and No. Is that clear enough? J/K.

It is kind of similar to the European soccer Cups.

At the 1-A level, which was renamed to Football Championship Series (FCS) to add to the confusion, each conference has bowl tie-ins. There are 34 bowl games. For example, if you finish second in the Big 10 conference, you are invited to the Capital One Bowl. The bigger conferences have 5 or more bids. The smaller ones will have 1 or 2 if they are lucky.

Of course, using the above example, if you finish second from the big conferences and have a good record, you could qualify for a BCS bowl game which is a step above. Kind of like the Champions League. Colleges want the BCS bowls.

There are 5 BCS bowls. One is for the national championship. The other 4 are just match-ups of the best teams. The remaining 29 bowls are more meaningless and nothing more then a 'friendly' in your terms.