The Bowl Champions

Generally, the start of the new year, with all its bowl games, is the best time for college football viewing, but Thanksgiving has been a great time to watch this year.

LSU lost its number one ranking the day after Thanksgiving. The night after, Missouri knocked out number two Kansas. These two games were indicative of the fluctuations of this football season.

The preseason rankings were littered with typical collegiate football powers--1. USC 2. LSU 3. WVU 4. Texas 5. Michigan.

Michigan didn't last long. In their first game of the season they lost to Appalachian State. Their fellow leaders didn't fare much better. USC fell in week 7. LSU lost in week 8, climbed back to the top, then lost again the day after Thanksgiving. West Virginia lost in week 5, though they've managed to get back into contention. Texas also lost in week 5 and never made top 5 noise again.

We know that baseball teams profit even as they lose. So how about college football programs? It would appear as though losing doesn't hit their bottom line too hard either.

Forbes has a story about the top NCAA earners. Though Notre Dame is a mess this year they'll likely come out clean in revenue. Forbes reports the team is worth $101 million dollars. They call the Fighting Irish the most valuable school in the nation, though The Wall Street Journal gave that distinction to Ohio State a few months ago.

When Appalachian State pulled what John Feinstein called the "the greatest upset in the history of college football," it had a myriad of effects.

Michigan football earns $85 million a year in revenue, $36.2 million in profit, says Forbes. Appalachian State, if it sells out every home game for the season will earn $5 million for the season says Darren Rovell. He also points out Appalachian-who were paid $400,000 by Michigan-could suffer from the loss because fewer teams like Michigan would be interested in playing a quality opponent from a lesser conference.

In a more recent post Rovell wrote that the upset helped the small school:

When we talk about a school seeing a huge application boost, it’s usually from winning a national championship. Well, Appalachian State is projecting a 20-25 percent increase in freshman applications for 2008-09 thanks in large part to its victory over Michigan to open the season.

While that jump may be a blip compared with Notre Dame, who Forbes says gives $22.1 million to academics, its significant for a small school.

As the season wraps up in the next few weeks, the majority of the talk will be about who should be number one. Or whether there should be a college playoff system.

With this years season in a perpetual state of flux, I'd much rather hear some chatter about what types of wins and losses occur when underdogs beat the champs.

Do television ratings drop or grow when the winner is less certain? Do small schools get more money or less by beating the big boys? Do alumni increase or decrease donations in accord with rankings? How long does it take before these changes take place? For instance: Miami, Penn State, Florida State, Nebraska, etc. Are these schools creating a more or less determined group as they their programs wither away?

I understand the BCS is a goofy system, so lets not rehash that tired story line.

Tell me how college football is experience bigger changes outside of the rankings change.