1st Annual BCS Corporate Sponsor Bowl Quiz Presented by Westword.com

Last night, college football’s bowl season came to an end when the coveted ADT National Championship trophy was awarded to the Louisiana State Tigers following their defeat of the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Allstate BCS National Championship game. The corporate names littering that last sentence go a long way in explaining why college football can’t work out a simple playoff system. Devising a series of games in which teams square off head-to-head through a succession of rounds – a “tournament,” if you will – is the easy part: figuring out how to divvy up literally hundreds of millions of dollars between NCAA conferences while appeasing corporate sponsors, who put their names on everything from the fields to the trophies - that’s where things get a little more complicated. In honor of the grand mess that was the college football postseason, here’s a quiz to test your memory of the 2007-2008 bowl games and, more importantly, your brand awareness of the various sponsors that pony up serious cash to act as their benefactors.

1. The PetroSun Independence Bowl - in which our own Colorado Buffalos lost to Alabama, 30-24 - was previously sponsored by what company? a. Aramark b. Visa c. Poulan Weed-Eater d. Chevron 2. Roady’s Truck Stops was the proud sponsor of which one of these bowl games? a. New Mexico Bowl b. Motor City Bowl c. Texas Bowl d. Humanitarian Bowl

3. Which of the following companies cleverly added a “.com” suffix to the end of their bowl game? a. Papa Johns b. Champs Sports c. Chick-fil-A d. Capital One

4. True or False: The Alamo Bowl - in which Penn State defeated Texas A&M during legendary coach Joe Paterno’s 500th career game - is named after Alamo rental cars?

5. Which of the following automotive companies did not sponsor a bowl game? a. Autozone b. Mienke c. R+L Carriers d. Pep Boys

6. All of the following financial companies sponsored a bowl game, except: a. Citi b. Pacific Life c. John Hancock d. San Diego County Credit Union

7. The Fiesta Bowl is sponsored by what brand of chips? a. Fritos b. Tostitos c. Doritos d. Pringles

8. One of the most thrilling games of the bowl season, the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl, featured what two teams? a. Tennessee and Wisconsin b. Texas Tech and Virginia c. Texas and Arizona State d. Bowling Green and Tulsa

9.The Champs Sports Bowl has gone by all of the following names except: a. McDonald’s Bowl b. MicronPC.com Bowl c. Blockbuster Bowl d. Carquest Bowl

10. The 2007-2008 college bowl season totally sucked because: a. Corporate partnerships took precedent over the games themselves. b. Waiting well over a month for the National Championship crushes momentum and makes the game feel anticlimactic. c. The top six teams in the final AP Poll all had two losses, raising questions about the legitimacy of LSU’s national title. d. All of the above. e. None of the above.

Here are the answers.