I-Bowl talk

The PetroSun Independence Bowl announcement had been made less than three hours before the shots began from the national media.

The Orlando Sentinel tabbed the I-Bowl's Alabama-Oklahoma State pairing as the No. 31 bowl out of 32 games.

Ouch.

Is it really that bad? Probably not. Oklahoma State does own a win over Big 12 North champion Nebraska. And Alabama took No. 2 Florida to the fourth quarter before losing.

What has drawn negative attention to the bowl, though, is the records of the teams. Both teams are 6-6.

Look, when you pick seventh in the Big 12 and eighth in the SEC you're not going to get 9-3 or 10-2 teams. Not going to happen.

From where the I-Bowl was picking, the best record it could have possibly had was 7-5 with Kansas State.

I-Bowl officials, rightly in my opinion, made the decision to go with Oklahoma State because of proximity, fan base and all those things that keep the bowl afloat.

Would it have been nice to have an 8-4 team versus a 7-5 team? Yes. But until the I-Bowl moves up in the pecking order, this is what we've got.