I just heard on the Boise State telecast that Fiesta and other bowl reps are there. Why? Do bowls actually choose teams in part based on what the reps think of the teams after watching them play?

And even if so, pretty much every game is on TV. And are these reps that smart of football people that their opinions on a team are better than the three polls?

Yes they are.

They do have a voice in the selection of the ballclubs. Most bowls have a philanthropical tie in, so they want to gauge the mood of the ballclubs, how their unversity operates, and, more importantly, judge their fan base. The only way you make a game is to get people to travel to it. You've got to be able to judge how good (or not so good) the fans are in certain locations of the country to see if they would come to your game.

JoeA1010 wrote: I just heard on the Boise State telecast that Fiesta and other bowl reps are there. Why? Do bowls actually choose teams in part based on what the reps think of the teams after watching them play?

And even if so, pretty much every game is on TV. And are these reps that smart of football people that their opinions on a team are better than the three polls?

Bowlreps are there to evaluate potential programs on one primary basis, that programs ability to put butts in seats and bring money to where ever the bowl is being held. They might prop up some other aspects as being important but when it comes to the bottom line those two factors are the only ones that matter.

If you were representing a Bowl, wouldn't you want to "scout" teams to find out who's going to be the most exciting with well traveled fans so that you can make as much money possible for your Bowl?

All of those reasons make sense. The announcers on these games make it sound like the bowl reps are there to scout the teams on the field, much like an NFL scout would in evaluating a player for the draft.

But even assuming they are there to scout the fans and overall atmosphere, what exactly is it they are looking for that they can't find out without being there? I can tell from here at home the Boise State fans are totally into this game and want to go to the Fiesta Bowl. They have a track record of how well they will follow their team to a BCS bowl, so that information is already known.

Anyway, I don't really care, the bowls can spend their money however they wish. It just seems so absurd in this day and age.

Bowl reps are often on hand at times to offer the invitation to their game immediately following one team's win; Rose Bowl representatives were on hand in the Shoe for the Iowa game, knowing that one of those two teams was going to win and represent the Big Ten in their game; Fiesta Bowl reps were also on hand in '02 and '06 for the Michigan games. Obviously they won't extend Boise a Fiesta Bowl invitation tonight; too much still depends on outcomes tomorrow and next saturday