Poor Capital One Bowl officials

Mike Bianchi was kind enough to air some grievances on behalf of the Capital One Bowl yesterday. Turns out what they really wanted was Johnny Football jerseys in their stadium and on the streets of Orlando New Years Day.

According to two members of the bowl search committee, the Jan. 1 Cap One Bowl reps wanted Texas A&M quarterback and Heisman winner Johnny Manziel to play in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, but the Southeastern Conference essentially forced them to take Georgia -- the loser of the SEC Championship Game. Not only that, but Cap One Bowl reps wanted to match up Texas A&M with Northwestern, but the Big Ten forced them to take Nebraska, which was in the Cap One Bowl last year and was clobbered by Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game.

While Georgia and Nebraska were probably the most deserving teams to be in the Cap One Bowl, Texas A&M would have been more exciting for fans and more lucrative for the local economy.  Johnny Football is currently college football's greatest show on turf and it's been more than half-a-century since Texas A&M played a bowl game in the State of Florida. Aggie fans would have flocked to Orlando for the bowl game and many local residents would have bought tickets just for the chance to see Johnny Heisman work his magic.

But don't get them wrong, they're happy to be part of the SEC and B1G families!

"Without conference partnerships, you don't have the inventory to play your game," Hogan says. "We don't have the groceries, but we have to cook the dinner. ... We are a host destination that wants to continue to be important.

"You have to understant that we've had a 20-year relationship with the SEC and Big Ten where we've had the top (non-BCS) selection from those conferences. That's an important place to be and we'd like to continue that relationship."

Being lucky enough to land two conference runner ups, especially one that was five yards and a few seconds from going to Miami, is a nice consolation. Add in the star power of Aaron Murray, Jarvis Jones and a Taylor Martinez...it's not so bad is it? So I can understand Hogan's back-tracking.

And I'm sure it helps that Georgia is well on track to meet its share of the ticket allotment. If only the same were true for the Huskers.