I was listening to the reactionary lunatics on sports radio here in Pittsburgh, and I performed an exercise that I often do. I stopped and asked myself, what would I say if somebody actually bothered to ask me what I thought about the bowl game? So I took a minute, and here is what I came up with. Penn State was picked 7th in the B1G pecking order, here is how I break it down;

First, the guys were 9-3 a good effort, but hardly worthy of the BCS. That’s the first two spots right there.

The next level is the Citrus Bowl/Outback Bowl /it makes no difference level. First, we were just in one of them last year [ED it was the Outback Bowl. jesse. Seriously, it doesn’t matter, they are the same game]. Second, Michigan State, by virtue of winning their division is guaranteed a spot in one of those games. Third, we lost to Nebraska, and they’ve [3b] never been to the Citrus Bowl. So I don’t really have a problem with us missing out on a badly overrated trip to Central Florida. Frankly, I’d rather go to Texas anyway.

Next up is the Gator Bowl. Obviously [and I mean obviously] the Gator Bowl takes Florida if it has the chance. I seem to have read somewhere that Penn State played Florida in a bowl game last year. So all things being equal, would you pass up the Meyer Bowl for giving Matt McGloin a shot at redemption? Do you realize Jacksonville, Florida may actually be the worst place in the United States? So, I’ll file this one under “legitimate reason/who gives a shit anyway”.

The Insight Bowl picks next, and this is the only place I think we got rooked. But let’s lead off the discussion by saying we got rooked out of the Insight Bowl, and measure our rage accordingly. While played in Sun Devil Stadium, the Insight Bowl is not the Fiesta Bowl, it is the Insight Bowl. I believe that it starts at 11:45 on New Year’s Eve, and it is televised by the NFL network. Next, have you ever tried to travel to Arizona in December, it is really expensive. So yes, I’ll concede that it would have been nice to get a crack at Oklahoma, but if this is the extent of how we got screwed this holiday season, deal with it.

We finish with the Texas games. One is Houston, the other is in Dallas. I don’t care what their names are, I could have looked them up, but I intentionally chose not to. It doesn’t matter. The Houston one took Texas A&M, who is 6-6. The Bowl Game is trying to set up a interesting game, and Penn State just played them a few years ago. Other than the fact that Reliant Stadium is nicer than the Cotton Bowl, how does this matter? Dallas is a better trip. The University of Houston is a better opponent. This is a nominal insult to our pride at most.

Finally, look at the B1G Bowl match-ups and divorce them from the location of the game. Other than Wisconsin, who clearly is playing a better game than us, who else has a better match-up? I don’t see one. Houston was a game away from the BCS, they are 12-1, they’ve got some legitimate NFL players on offense, and for the time-being at least, a real up and comer at Head Coach. You’d rather play South Carolina?

Suck it up. It’s not that big a deal.