A Breakdown of This Season's Bowl Bonanza

‘Tis the season for bowl bonanza!

The bowl madness continues after the 2012 season. There was nothing more typical of how lame this system is than seeing UCLA play last year in a bowl game with a 6-7 losing record. Well, the bowl organizers must have thought that was a great idea so they're having Georgia Tech do it this year. It would be ridiculous, except we get to laugh at the fact that their opponent is former preseason #1 Southern Cal and their Heisman entitled (psych!) quarterback.

There are other ridiculous stories in this bowl season. Louisiana Tech, who is 9-3 and led the nation in scoring offense, refused its invite to the Independence Bowl...out of spite? A bizarre story, where apparently Tech was refusing to play in-state rival UL-Monroe because of some feud, though according to the school they just wanted more time to "shop around" and perhaps get into a better bowl. Dumb move either way.

But let's get down to the dirty details of the bowl and BCS system, and more specifically, to the Benjamins. You can find the details about the matchups here.

The total payout from all 35 bowls will be just under $275,000,000, to be divided amongst 70 teams (!), or nearly $4 million per team. That's more than half the total FBS schools, so in case it wasn't already clear, merit has little to do with this system. For the most part, it's just an exhibition game. Here is how it breaks down per conference:

No surprise, the SEC is once again king of the bowls, earning $12 million more than the nearest conference. But that conference, fortunately, is the PAC-12, which had a very good year and sent 8 teams to bowl games, including 2 to BCS games. That's how you rake it in. Now, mind you, that payout is shared equally amongst each team in the conference. But, as noted by the asterisks, some teams do not belong to a conference. The picture is slightly different once you take that into account:

Clearly, this demonstrates the benefit of being Independent, with Notre Dame raking in all the bowl payout from its BCS Championship game appearance. Just to show how significant that is, it would take them over 6 years to earn that much if they were part of the Big 10 (where most think they belong). If you ask me, that's quite a racket. But the flip side is, if you're a team like BYU and don't have a very good year, you don't make quite as much as if you belonged to a major conference.

The table does show again, however, that the PAC-12 will still do quite well on a per team basis, second only to the SEC. The sham here is the Big East, with its joke of a BCS appearance, while the MAC gets a bonanza with Northern Illinois sneaking into a BCS game. It's all a big joke, we know, but good for them. Finally, while Wisconsin "earned their way" into the Rose Bowl, does anyone really think they belong there? Not to say it won't be a good game, but it's a shame for the Rose Bowl.

It seems Larry Scott has done quite well for the conference already. There is still more to do, of course. Mainly, the bowl tie-ins for the conference need to improve. The payout for the New Mexico Bowl, where Arizona will play, is a measly $456,250. Meanwhile, the lowest payout for the SEC will still be $1 million for the Compass Bowl. The Big 10 and Big 12 also earn over $1 million in their worst bowl game, so perhaps it is time to reconsider and renegotiate.

Bottom line is, of course, that bowl will still select teams that can bring fans into the seats. There are still some nice matchups for the football fanatics, so hopefully we will not let our cynicism get the better of us. All that matters is that UCLA has to beat Baylor in the Holiday Bowl.

Go Bruins!