Link: Orange Bowl rep to NIU: We didn't even want you here

WMack4Bama

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As if Northern Illinois didn't need any added motivation for its match-up against Florida State Tuesday night in Miami, the Huskies got a little more. And it comes from an unlikely place: a rant from an Orange Bowl representative towards an NIU staffer.

“You guys [NIU] don't even deserve to be here,” the Orange Bowl rep said to the NIU staffer. “We didn't even want you here.”


According to a source, the exchange took place the other night in a hospitality suite. The Orange Bowl rep had compared NIU to Duke. The NIU rep responded by pointing out that the Huskies, who are riding a 12-game winning streak, have been to bowl games in five consecutive seasons. The conversation escalated from there, the source says.


The 12-1 Huskies' presence in the Orange Bowl has been a sore subject for many from the moment when the BCS Bowl pairings were announced in early December. ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit even called it “a joke” that the Huskies were invited to play in the Orange Bowl. One NIU player responded by heaving an orange at the TV after hearing Herbstreit's comments.


Florida State, which earlier this season did lose to an unranked N.C. State team, is a 14-point favorite.
 

JeffAtlanta

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Elitists - disgusting.
The Orange Bowl wants to make money and NIU being in the game is going to make that almost impossible. I agree that NIU followed the rules that were set up, but it is easy to see how the Orange Bowl is disapointed that they were the bowl that got stuck with them.

The rules are changing anyway, but the Big East should have been the entity that was penalized for this, not the Orange Bowl.
 
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B1GTide

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The rules are ridiculous and they don't deserve to be there.
It's not like they are playing in the championship game. They have won 21 of their last 22 games - better than any other team in college football. IMO, they deserve to play in a game like this as much as any other team in America.
 

CullmanTide

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It's not like they are playing in the championship game. They have won 21 of their last 22 games - better than any other team in college football. IMO, they deserve to play in a game like this as much as any other team in America.
Too many top ten teams were left out of the BCS.
 

B1GTide

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Too many top ten teams were left out of the BCS.
I understand, but the "BCS" is meaningless outside of a single game - and NIU isn't in that one. There are other teams in BCS games that are less deserving - like Wisconsin.
 

OreBama

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NIU got in on a technicallity. They do not really deserve to be there. The Orange Bowl was forced to take them. It's bad for the Orange Bowl and college football. This should have been a showcase game. It is not.
 

B1GTide

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NIU got in on a technicallity. They do not really deserve to be there. The Orange Bowl was forced to take them. It's bad for the Orange Bowl and college football. This should have been a showcase game. It is not.
Same with the Rose Bowl and Wisconsin.
 

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