• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, Media Insider Column

Posted on: Friday, 14 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

By Jan Hubbard, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Oct. 14--The greatest day in the history of the Fort Worth Bowl occurred on Saturday, although that was news to Tom Starr, the executive director of the bowl.

"Why's that?" Starr asked.

"You don't know?" I said.

"No."

"Because Oklahoma is coming!"

Sooners fans were depressed about the 45-12 smacking administered by Texas on Saturday. And Longhorns fans finally had their retribution for five years of embarrassment.

But from a Fort Worth Bowl perspective, who cares whether those people feel good or bad? For the bowl, the OU flameout was wonderful news.

Think of it. Fort Worth is a short drive for fans in Oklahoma. Many OU alums live in the area. If the Sooners came, the game would probably be a sellout. And, more importantly, there would be hundreds of thousands of additional fanatic OU and college football fans watching on TV. Maybe even a million or two.

The Fort Worth Bowl is only 2 years old, but it's in a television slump. The first game between TCU and Boise State attracted a TV audience of 2.5 million. But last year's clunker matchup between Marshall and Cincinnati had slightly fewer than 1.5 million viewers.

Starr, however, was dubious about the chances of an OU visit, pointing out that seven bowls will pick Big 12 teams before the Fort Worth Bowl gets pick No. 8.

"I've got to think that the Independence Bowl will grab them," Starr said. "They had them there in '99, and they filled the house with Oklahoma fans."

Maybe. But have you checked the standings? Oklahoma is the only team in the Big 12 with three losses. It is also the only team with a season record worse than .500.

To translate, there are currently 11 teams with better records than OU in the Big 12!

Hello, Fort Worth Bowl!

Cynics point out that OU cannot lose more than five games and remain bowl eligible. That's silly. The Sooners will not go 5-6 this year.

Ideally, they won't go 7-4 or 8-3, either. For the good of the Fort Worth Bowl, Oklahoma needs to be 6-5 -- barely bowl eligible.

And then Texas goes to a BCS bowl, Texas Tech goes to the Cotton Bowl, Colorado goes to the Holiday Bowl, Baylor goes to the Alamo Bowl, Nebraska goes to the Independence Bowl and Texas A&M goes to the Houston Bowl.

The Fort Worth Bowl then makes a deal with the Champ Sports Bowl, which instead of exercising its right to select a Big 12 team takes a Big East team, such as West Virginia or even South Florida.

And then it's set.

Oklahoma in the Fort Worth Bowl.

And record TV ratings.

-----

To see more of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dfw.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas)

More News in this Category