Morning Report: Wishful thinking on bowls

Just wondering. Did the Bowl Championship Series blow a chance to have a really interesting game in its New Year's Day lineup, a date that receded from the limelight now that the BCS championship is played a week later?

Nobody but the schools involved usually watches the Fiesta, Rose, Sugar or Orange Bowls, as the game a week later is the only one that counts.

But the BCS could have made the Fiesta really worthwhile this January by matching up Boise State (12-0) and Utah (12-0), the only two Division I unbeatens.

The Fiesta doesn't have a bad game right now in Texas vs. Ohio State.

But put Texas in the Sugar Bowl against Alabama and you have what amounts to a second "national title" clash, as Texas die-hards are still shouting about that win over Oklahoma in October.

That would leave out Ohio State, but is that really worth worrying about? There are at least a dozen other bowls the Buckeyes could fit into. For example, have No. 10 Ohio State play No. 7 Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl.

Or send the Bucks to the Poinsetta Bowl in San Diego as a replacement for Boise State and let 'em play TCU. They might actually win one that way.

Or not.

Hometown heroes. Speaking of Ohio, both of the coaches in the BCS championship game are from Eastern Ohio. Oklahoma's Bob Stoops is from Youngstown and Florida's Urban Meyer is from Ashtabula.

(That doesn't really mean anything, but I love the name Ashtabula).

Streakers. Florida State will be making its 27th straight bowl appearance, the longest active streak in the country, when the Seminoles play Wisconsin in the Champs Sports Bowl. Michigan had gone to a bowl game a staggering 33 straight years but crashed to a 3-9 finish this season.

Factoids. The Detroit Lions bolted out to a 6-2 start in 2007. Since then, they have lost 20 of their last 21.

After Sunday's collapse against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Dallas Cowboys are 18-32 in regular-season games played in December or January since their last playoff victory in 1996.