Motivation for the Big Game

College Football Bowl Game Motivation

One of the most overlooked factors to investigate when making a selection on a bowl game is motivation. Teams are in unique situations and all of them are different and with a lit bit of searching you can find factors that display whether a team is motivated to play well in a bowl game. This article will cover some factors and some teams that may have motivation to win during the bowl season or no reason to show at all.

Factor #1: Just a little bit of respect: The BCS polls are a disturbing mind numbing look at college football and politics and money are just as responsible for the rankings it would seem then how a team will perform. So when the rankings screw a team it may provide motivation. There is no team that emulates this more than the Texas Longhorns. They beat Oklahoma and had just as many losses as the Sooners yet it is Oklahoma playing for the national title and the Longhorns on the outside looking in. This could affect a team negatively or positively, do they want to win to prove they should be in the Championship or do they lay an egg thinking they should not be in this game? In this case Texas is not in the proper mindset to play and could lose it outright if they are not careful! The case could be made that Boise St is also in this situation.

Factor #2 The at large bid: Winning gets a bid to the BCS and you can get it by winning the conference championship or by getting the at large bid but only one team gets that reward. That is usually enough motivation for any team to play well and this year that team is the Utah Utes. They had to go perfect to get this bid and then they still had to beat out Boise St for a chance to play Alabama. The theory is the world is against them and they had to prove their worth to get to a BCS bid and now only winning would grant them the respect they deserve not to mention that they could go undefeated, another motivator!

Factor #3 Win one for the gipper: Great coaching can’t be beat and throughout the year a great coach can be the different between a few wins and losses. With that in mind when it gets to the last game of the year especially if it is a big win the kids are motivated to go all out. To me two teams fit this mold. Jo Pa in Penn St has always been a sentimental favorite but this year more than ever as he brought Penn St back to a trip to the Rose Bowl. In Cincinnati Brian Kelly brought the Bearcats out of the dregs of society to be Big east Champions and convincing ones at that, but they have not finished the mission and only a win can do that!

Factor #4 Location, Location, Location: Teams with no motivation can easily be swayed by where the bowl game is being played or some teams even get a slight home field advantage. In the Music City bowl its Vanderbilt that is playing in their backyard and on the other end of the spectrum its Notre Dame getting a paid vacation to Hawaii. Motivation could be tough to come by for the Irish.

These factors are not the only reasons to look for motivation for college bowl games there are much more than this. Before making a wager on a bowl game make sure to check to see if you can find the factors. Good Luck this bowl season!

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