Moore Fun in December

Barney continues his non-stop coverage of the 2008-2009 college football bowl season, sponsored by the San Diego County Credit Union who remind you that your money probably isn't safe with us, but we'll take it anyway. Tonight, a legitimately great game, a BCS bowl worthy game, stuck in the normally boring pre-Christmas rotation. Hey, at least us viewers are treated to an early Christmas present. 

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl

No. 9 Boise State vs. No. 11 TCU

Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA

Why to Watch: This game proves why the BCS is flawed. A game fit for January, and a game with the potential to be a classic, relegated to a pre-Christmas slot. In fact, with Boise State being ranked 9th and TCU being ranked 11th, this game will feature teams both ranked higher than the teams playing in this year’s Orange Bowl, a first in BCS history. The only beneficiaries of another BCS screw-up: the viewers. If you could only watch one non-BCS game, I would suggest it be this one. This game has it all. Boise State’s high-flying offense (the Broncos rank 12th nationally in scoring at 39.4 points per game) against TCU’s tough as nails defense (the Horned Frogs rank second nationally at 10.9 points per game). TCU allowed more than 297 yards of offense once this season, against Oklahoma, and the Horned Frogs held seven opponents to fewer than 200 yards. In fact, TCU was one of two teams to hold Oklahoma, the nation’s best offensive team, to under 40 points. Boise State has had at least 340 yards in each game and reached 484 yards in each of its final five regular-season games. Another compelling match-up is the one between Boise State’s fabulous freshman quarterback and TCU’s relentless D-end. The Broncos Kellen Moore has completed 70% of his passes and thrown for 3,264 yards and 25 TDs. The Horned Frogs Jerry Hughes leads the nation with 14 sacks, and is going up against Boise's freshman offensive tackles. This will also be the last game in which you can watch Ian Johnson, Mr. “Will you marry me?” himself, strap on the pads for the orange and blue. Johnson, a senior, has 738 yards and 12 TDs on the season, but will be going up against defense that allows opponents just 48.7 rushing yards per game, the fewest in the nation.

Why not to Watch: Unless this economic maelstrom has caused the San Diego County Credit Union to seriously screw you over in the past few months, or you prefer watching Fringe re-runs on Fox, I find no reason to not watch this game, or at least tune in for a bit of the action. Trust me, it will be worth your while.

Randomness: While no Heidi game, last year’s game experienced a similar television programming snafu. The first six minutes of game time was seen on ESPN Classic rather than ESPN. This is because the previous program on ESPN, the Aeropostale Classic basketball game between Duke and Pittsburgh, ended in overtime.

Pick: Boise State 31, TCU 24