Well at least I have the Cotton Bowl

ESPN pretty much took over the college football bowl scene last season, and that tradition has carried over into this year. And thanks to having just basic cable, I've watched maybe three for four quarters of bowl action over the course of the last two seasons.

I never thought I'd see the day where ESPN(and cable, in general) would get so big that the Powers That Be in division I college football (sponsors) would be comfortable enough to agree to air marquee bowl classics like the Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl on a cable network.

But that's where we are in 2012. There is the occasional second-tier bowl on ABC, but ESPN gets all the beefy match ups, including the National Championship Game between LSU and Alabama next week.

For me, a huge football junkie, I'm now more likely to sit down and watch the NHL Winter Classic on New Year's Day than I am to see any bowl games. That's rather unfortunate, but that's the way it's going to be until I expand my cable package.

All is not lost for yours truly, however, because it's been sort of a tradition of mine over the past two years to sit down on the first Friday evening after New Year's and watch the Cotton Bowl. The Cotton Bowl used to be a pretty big deal. Well, it still is, but it's not as big a deal as it used to be because the BCS tells us so. You see, the "big" bowls are the aforementioned Sugar and Fiesta, along with the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, and the Title game. Those are the games that all the teams shoot for, because, in today's world of college football, they're considered the elite bowls. Of course, only the title game decides anything, really.

Anyway, the Cotton Bowl used to be played during the afternoon on New Year's day, but in recent years, it's been moved back to the first Friday after New Year's and is played in prime time on the Fox network. And the match ups are actually really good. Heck, they always have been.

Last year, for instance, LSU played Texas A&M in a pretty exciting, 41-24, game won by the Tigers.

This year, the match up is Arkansas vs. Kansas St. For what it's worth, both teams finished in the top eight in the BCS standings. Not bad.

It's not New Year's Day, we're damn near into the second week of January, and most of the bowl games are over. Keith Jackson is no where to be seen, and neither is Brent Mustburger. But what the hey, it's a great night for some college football on Fox.