If you look closely enough, you might notice how much the new Lord of the Rings film resembled the 2003-04 college football bowl schedule: Both were visually pleasing, really long and, if you blinked, you missed the Mid-American Conference in a supporting role.
After what is being called the best season in the conference's 57-year history, the MAC deserved better than two bowl bids and more than the paltry $1.5 million it collected for appearing in a pair of mid-December bowl games.
The MAC was the only conference to finish the latest bowl season undefeated, and its schools have amassed a 7-1 bowl record during the last five years.
Something's Gotta Give.
How did teams like Kansas, Northwestern and UCLA, all of whom finished with a 6-7 record, sneak into a bowl, while 10-2 Northern Illinois was left at home?
And how can the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences, whose bowl appearances seem to be Cheaper by the Dozen, each place their top eight teams in the postseason? Surely, Marshall or Toledo, both 8-4, were more deserving of a bowl appearance than another Big Ten or Big 12 team.
When a MAC school did find its way to a bowl game, though, it played more wildly than a Party Monster.
Miami, which finished the season No. 10 in the Associated Press poll ahead of national powerhouses Florida State, Tennessee and Texas, trounced Louisville in the GMAC Bowl, 49-28.
The only blue note for the 13-1 RedHawks is the loss of their Master and Commander quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who will leave early for the NFL Draft.
Bowling Green, the MAC's other bowl team, wore a Mona Lisa Smile after beating Northwestern in the Motor City Bowl, 28-24.
The Falcons were led by their senior quarterback, Josh Harris, who was playing in his final collegiate game and was simply 2 Fast 2 Furious while passing for 386 yards and accounting for all four Bowling Green touchdowns.
After another pair of impressive bowl victories, though, conference commissioner Rick Chryst has to be wondering when the MAC will get a third bowl bid - and a bigger postseason Paycheck.
The MAC finished 10th of 11 conferences in total payout for bowl game appearances, ahead of only the Sunbelt Conference, and collected less than one percent of the total share of nearly $172 million. On the other end of the money spectrum, the Big Ten raked in more than $39 million for its eight bowl appearances.
Of course, this bowl season won't be remembered for its payouts, but for its Rise of the Machines - those darned BCS computers. And because of the controversy they caused, those computers might help lead the way - along with the strong play of smaller conferences like the MAC - to the formation of a postseason tournament.
Until then, though, MAC teams will continue to be Chasing Liberty, and - who knows? --maybe a third bowl bid.
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Matt Lawell
