Wintzell's Oyster House Not Choosing Sides

Smart move by Wintzell's Oyster House in Mobile to not choose sides when it comes to college football.

Auburn and Alabama side by side in the front window.

College Football Play of the Day for 11/12/11: Auburn

One day removed from 11/11/11, it's a big day for college football.

Two old rivals meet today in Athens, GA.  Georgia and Auburn. 

Georgia is on a tear, winning seven straight games.  They need this win to almost wrap up the SEC East title.  Auburn is 6-3, but only 1-3 on the road.

The problem is Georgia is handing Auburn way too many points with the 13-point line.

I know it's not the same Auburn team as last year, but they are 13-3 ATS in their last 16 conference games. 

Georgia is 3-9 ATS vs. a team with a winning record, not great.

In the end, I like Georgia to win the game, but not by 13.  Take Auburn and the points.

College Bowl Play of the Day: BCS Championship Game

Oregon vs. Auburn

This is what it all comes down to, Oregon and Auburn for the BCS Championship.

The teams are undefeated, Cam Newton has been the most talked about player in college football this season and won the Heisman Trophy. Auburn has several factors working in its favor.  The SEC hasn’t – in six tries - lost a BCS title when it has sent one of its teams to the big game. The conference has also covered the number in each of those games.  The Tigers are 4-0 ATS vs. a team with a winning record.    They also are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games as a favorite.  Strong trends.

Oregon has some favorable trends as well, but with the line only being Auburn -1.5 I have to say "War Eagle" this time.

Oregon is a fine team and an exciting team to watch.  I look for a good game for about a half then Auburn pulls away.  Take Auburn.

Phoenix Hits the Jackpot this Bowl Season

Every December, cities from San Diego to Shreveport and Memphis to Miami wait patiently for Cornhuskers and Yellow Jackets, Bulldogs and Hurricanes to arrive.

What I'm talking about here, are teams and fans that head to bowl games. Money gets spent, bodies get tanned, and in between some football gets played.

Cities make big bucks for hosting these bowl games. A city like Atlanta estimates that the annual Chik-fil-A Bowl held at the Georgia Dome brings about $35 million to the Atlanta economy. So it's not just the fans and players that love these bowls, It's the hotels, restaurants, taxi drivers, and street vendors that like the influx of visitors each year.

These year, one city is going to reap the bowl benefits three times over.

Phoenix is that city, and before Monday night's BCS Championship Game, Tempe hosted the Insight Bowl between Iowa and Missouri, and another Phoenix suburb, Glendale hosted the Fiesta Bowl between Connecticut and Oklahoma on New Year's Day.

The bowl matchups in the Phoenix area were a little something for everyone. "When you look at this set of bowl games," said John Eaton, clinical associate professor at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, "I think you have a much better Insight Bowl matchup, a Fiesta Bowl matchup that isn’t as exciting, and the BCS title game that will generate interest and bring in a lot of people from outside the town."

Bowls have the interest of the cities they represent when looking at which teams to invite to their bowls. Phoenix landed the Iowa Hawkeyes, who bring a ton of fans to games, Oklahoma, who also travels well, and an on the rise Missouri team. The one bad egg they landed was Connecticut who doesn't travel with any sort of fan base.

When the East Valley of Arizona last hosted three bowl game back in 2006-07 — the Carey School of Business estimated an overall economic impact of $401.7 million, including $171.5 million for the BCS championship game between Florida and Ohio State. Fiesta Bowl chairman Duane Woods said that he is hopeful that number can be topped this time around.

"We could see three times the stadium size, based on the demand we’ve had for the championship game," said Woods, who added that the Fiesta Bowl is hoping to add about 1,300 seats to University of Phoenix Stadium (capacity 73,000) for the BCS title game.

Michael Martin, executive vice president of the Tempe Convention & Visitors Bureau, said retailers in the city are especially excited about the upgraded Insight Bowl pairing. The Insight moved up the bowl pecking order among the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences, enabling it to select 12th-ranked Missouri and Iowa.

Being a BCS bowl, the Fiesta Bowl has a little less latitiude on who they can pick, but most years it gets a top drawer matchup. "We always try to make the right decision based on rankings and how teams perform for their conferences," Woods said. "Fortunately for us, we’ve developed a reputation as a bowl people want to come to. I think the schools know when they commit to coming how important it is to get their fan base out here."

The Fiesta Bowl ended up being a bit of a challenge. Big 12 champion Oklahoma was visiting for the third time in five years, and Connecticut struggled to sell tickets. During the Fiesta Bowl week some hotel operators reported blocks of rooms that wouldnt be rented, and tickets were widely available on internet sites like StubHub and TicketsNow for around $15.

The BCS title game between Auburn and Oregon sells itself. Both teams will bring large groups of fans, the national media will flow into town, and it appears lots of money will be spent. Hotels report they are busy, restaurants are advising you make reservations and people are all over the tourist spots.

One call I made to a Waffle House in Phoenix summed up the whole bowl experience. I asked the manager who he wanted to win the game. He replied by saying: "Which ever team will celebrate the most and hit the Waffle House late that night, or in the morning."

FBI Trying to get to Bottom of Cam Newton Case

John Bond and Kenny Rogers, two of the key players in the ongoing Cam Newton saga are meeting with Federal authorities today, as in the FBI.

In reading The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, former Mississippi State quarterback John Bond met with officials this morning and pseudo sports agent Kenny Rogers will tell his story this afternoon.

Bond’s attorney confirmed his client’s meeting with the FBI. The FBI’s involvement in an NCAA scandal, overstepping the NCAAs bounds might be because Cam's father, Cecil Newton might have laundered payments through his tax-exempt church or construction company.

Both the FBI and the NCAA appear to be moving quickly, possible to make a ruling in the next week or so. Auburn has a regular season game remaining with Alabama, and then the SEC Championship Game. Everyone looking at this wants to get a ruling so we don't have a tarnished Heisman, SEC, or BCS Championship.

The SEC may play a part in this as well, since in the SEC bylaws it states:

If at any time before or after matriculation in a member institution a student-athlete or any member of his/her family receives or agrees to receive, directly or indirectly, any aid or assistance beyond or in addition to that permitted by the Bylaws of this Conference (except such aid or assistance as such student-athlete may receive from those persons on whom the student is naturally or legally dependent for support), such student- athlete shall be ineligible for competition in any intercollegiate sport within the Conference for the remainder of his/her college career."

Cecil and Cam Newton at the very least might have violated this bylaw and Cam Newton would be immediately ineligible.

The SEC Commissioner Mike Slive can make a determination on this even though he previously stated that it's in the NCAA's hands.

I think we'll have some more news later this week.