College Football Opening Weekend 2013: What to watch August 29, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Aaron Murray, ACC, Alabama, Arkansas, Arlington, Atlanta, Auburn, B1G, Bayou Bengals, Bearcats, Big 10, Big East, Big Ten, Bobby Petrino, Boilermakers, Brent Musburger, Brian Kelly, Bulldogs, Butch Jones, BYU, Cal, California, Cincinnati, Clemson, college, Cotton Bowl, Cougars, Cowboys, Crimson Tide, Dabo Swinney, Dallas, Dan Mullen, Darrell Hazell, FIU, Florida International, football, Fort Worth, Gary Patterson, Georgia, Giants, Golden Bears, Gus Malzahn, Herbie, Hilltoppers, Hokies, Horned Frogs, Kentucky, Kirk Herbstreit, Les Miles, Louisiana Tech, LSU, Mark Richt, Mark Stoops, Maryland, Mike Gundy, Mike Leach, Mississippi State, N.C. State, NCAA, New York, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Pac-12, Pat Fitzgerald, Peach Bowl, Penn State, Purdue, Rose Bowl, Seahawks, Seattle, SEC, South Carolina, Syracuse, T. Boone Pickens, TCU, Tennessee, Tigers, Tommy Tuberville, USC, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington State, Western Kentucky, Wildcats
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Note: Rankings are based the ESPN-Coaches Poll, not the AP Poll as is usually the case on this blog.
Though many good games kick off the season on Thursday (hello, North Carolina @ South Carolina!) and Friday, the real action begins, as it always does, on Saturday (Aug. 31, in this case). Let us cut through the clutter and focus on the good games to watch.
Noon (12:00 PM, EDT): Let’s face it; in recent years, most noon games have been throw-away games (generally, lots of lower-tier Big Ten, ACC and Big East matchups). This seems to be mostly the case this time around, too (case in point: Florida International @ Maryland, which makes Louisiana Tech @ N.C. State look like a marquee game). Yet one game in this time slot is rather intriguing, that being Purdue @ Cincinnati. Both programs have new coaches. Purdue’s Darrell Hazell is working diligently to breathe new life into a program that has underachieved since the 2003-2004 season. Meanwhile, U-Cincy brought in Tommy Tuberville to provide some stability to a program that lost Brian Kelly to Notre Dame after the 2009 season, and just lost Butch Jones to Tennessee prior to this upcoming one. From a business managerial standpoint, the two new coaches make for an interesting study in contrast in that Hazell’s role is clearly turnaround CEO, while Tuberville’s role is that of caretaker to a program that Kelly built up quite well and Jones did reasonably well in maintaining. Talent-wise, it ought not to be close, as odds are the Bearcats could dust the Boilermakers. Nevertheless, this game is far more interesting than the rest of the game fare offered at noontime, and it goes without saying that this game merits a nod for “Intriguing Coaching Matchup” award.
3:30 PM EDT: Normally, one can always look forward to at least one strong SEC matchup during this time slot, but there are none to be had on this date. Syracuse @ Penn State makes for a poor substitute indeed. BYU @ Virginia is for more intriguing than that. Still…next!
With that said, a potentially good game that few people are talking about occurs at this same time, that being Mississippi State at Oklahoma State. The Bulldogs have grown in strength under head coach Dan Mullen, while the Cowboys have also grown in stature under Mike Gundy’s leadership (not to mention T. Boone Pickens’ money). Seeing these two teams butt heads could be very engaging.
5:30 PM EDT: Granted, this is not your traditional time slot for a Saturday game, but it’s the opening weekend, so who cares? If anybody doubts that Atlanta is one of THE epicenters of college football, then they would be well-served to take not that No. 1 Alabama opens the season in the Georgia Dome against Virginia Tech. On paper, it’s a decent matchup in that a top-tier SEC team is about to take on an upper-tier ACC team. But as decent as the Hokies are, the game could very well be a bloodbath, as odds are the Crimson Tide is going to roll. Still, it’s better than the 3:30 PM options.
7:00 PM EDT: Washington State @ Auburn — now we’re getting somewhere. We the fans are not treated to SEC vs Pac-12 matchups enough, in my estimation, so when it happens, it is always something to be relished. What makes this game especially interesting is that the dread pirate Mike Leach is trying to turn around the Cougars program while Guz Malzahn has just been brought in to revive the Tigers’ very quick fall from grace. Could be interesting, especially when one considers how a Pac-12 team not named USC can handle a hyper-hostile SEC stadium crowd.
The other interesting game that evening is the Western Kentucky vs. Kentucky game in Nashville, Tenn. This too merits an “Intriguing Coaching Matchup” nod in that it also pits first-year coaches at both schools, both of whom came there under radically different circumstances. Mark Stoops took the UK job as a top-rated assistant coach at Florida State, with the mission to turn around a perennially struggling Wildcats squad. Thus far he has made lots of recruiting hype, but the actual product he can deliver on the field remains to be seen. On the Hilltoppers’ end is Bobby Petrino, one of the best coaches in the business, but left his CEO job at Arkansas in disgrace and scandal. The WKU job is a rung or two down the ladder from the jobs he has previously had, thus is objective is twofold: maintain what predecessor Willie Taggart had already built (something at which he is more than adept), and also rehab his reputation. Look out for a possible Hilltopper upset over the Wildcats, as it is always dangerous to give Petrino more than a week to prepare for a game.
8:00 PM EDT: No. 5 Georgia @ No. 8 Clemson — easily the biggest game of the day, if not the whole weekend. Head Coach Mark Richt takes a loaded Bulldogs team led by talented QB Aaron Murray (no relation, sadly) in to Clemson to take on a Tigers program that Dabo Swinney has slowly yet quietly strengthened over the past several years (they did beat a strong LSU team in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, after all). This will be a great opening test for the Bulldogs, who are no doubt looking to eventually unseat Alabama at the number one spot in both the conference and the nation. Odds also are that you will be “looking LIVE, at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C.,” as in all likelihood this will be the game that Brent Musburger calls along with Kirk “Herbie” Herbstreit, folks!
9:00 PM EDT: No. 12 LSU vs. No. 20 TCU in Dallas (Arlington, Texas, specifically). Just as Atlanta has its season kickoff Peach Bowl with a SEC-ACC game, over the past few years, Dallas has endeavored to do the same thing with a season kickoff Cotton Bowl of sorts, usually bringing in an SEC and a Big XII team (though there has been the occasional SEC vs Pac-12 game thrown in sometimes, read: LSU vs. Oregon in 2011) as is the case this time. Les Miles almost always has the Tigers up for big games, while it will be a quasi-home game for the Horned Frogs as they have but a half-hour drive (at the most) from their home base in Fort Worth. Moreover, Gary Patterson has built up a strong program over the course of more than a decade, even recently taking TCU to a Rose Bowl just a couple of seasons ago. Moreover, though the Horned Frogs are ranked lower than the Bayou Bengals, they have the good fortune of playing LSU at the beginning of the season, which is historically when the team is most vulnerable to a loss.
10:30 PM EDT: No. 22 Northwestern at California. Normally, the only game one might find on the cable tv guide this late at night is a home game at Hawai’i. Not this time, though. This time, head coach Pat Fitzgerald takes his nimble Wildcats westward from Evanston, Ill., to the west coast. The rankings could be deceiving. Yes, on paper, Northwestern could possibly crush Cal. But that could easily be nullified because of geography. Take a team in the eastern or even central timezone out to the Pacific timezone, and strange things happen to them. Pro teams do not have this issue (say, the New York Giants journeying out to Seattle to play the Seahawks), because they’re older, more mature, and, well, professionals. But in the college game, folks*, you’re dealing with 19-20 year-old kids, who are far more apt to be out of their element when traveling such a distance. Let us also not forget that Northwestern’s internal clock will still be on Chicago time (9:30 PM), not San Francisco time (7:30 PM), which could also make a difference. One could therefore expect a close, hard-fought game, if not even an upset by the Golden Bears. That said, Pat Fitzgerald is one of the most underrated coaches in the business, and has proven to be very adept, time and again, at not only recruiting decent players into a school with the most academically-rigid standards in the Big Ten Conference, but also coaching them up to be competitive in that conference and in bowl games, too. No doubt he’ll have a trick or two up his proverbial sleeve to try to nullify the problems of geography and time discrepancy. We shall see soon enough, as that is why they line up and play.
* Another Musburger-ism, in case you missed the reference!
You too can put together a Top 25 CFB preseason poll! February 17, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: ACC, Alabama, AP, Auburn, B1G, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Big XII, Boise State, Braxton Miller, Cal, Charlie Weis, Cincinnati, Clemson, college, conference, Duke, Florida, Florida State, football, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, LSU, MAC, Manti Te'o, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi, NCAA, Nebraska, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Pac-12, preseason, Purdue, ranking, San Jose State, SEC, South Carolina, Stanford, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Tim Tebow, Tommy Tuberville, top 25, UC, Urban Meyer, USC, Utah State, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Will Muschamp
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Ever wanted to make a college football Top-25 preseason ranking but just didn’t know how? Well, now you do! Thanks to the hilarious writers at SBNation’s Every Day Should Be Saturday, we now have a guide at our disposal to put such a list together and look like prognostication geniuses in so doing! I have taken the liberty of quoting the guiding text to give you reference while we play along. The quoted text from the actual (and funny) guide page is given in italics.
1. Alabama. Look, maybe you have a perfectly strong case for some other school, but if you go off the reservation right away, the readers are going to suspect something is amiss. Stay with the pack here and, if the Tide stumble, you’ll be one of many mistaken scribes, not a distinct and lonesome idiot.
Alabama looks and sounds like a winner to me!
2. Big 12 or Big Ten team. BOOM! Because you started comfortable, those stupid readers didn’t see this knowledge roundhouse coming. Pick a team that didn’t meet expectations in 2012 and talk about how they’ll be “hungry” and “focused” because of it.
Michigan, perhaps?
3. SEC team. Mention how battle tested playing in the conference will leave this team by the end of the season. Then hedge by saying SEC play could eat them alive. SPORTSNIGMA!
Texas A&M; they’re really hot right now. Seriously, so much for them having to get behind Arkansas like we all predicted last year!
4. Ohio State. Emphasize how good the team looked in the first year of a new system. Ignore that they barely beat Cal, Indiana, and Purdue. Clunky suggestion that Braxton Miller could be the next Tim Tebow. Obliquely suggest Urban Meyer could quit at any week for any reason.
Ohio State, and this is why I didn’t put them at the No. 2 spot like I would have otherwise.
5. Oregon or Stanford. Sh-t, you meant to put one of them higher, but that much backspacing seems like a real pain in the ass. Say something here about how you’re being cautious not to put too much stock into a big bowl performance.
Stanford, for reasons of coaching continuity.
6. Team Coming Off A Big Bowl Performance. Clemson-Louisville national championship game ahoy!
Okay, I’ll bite. What the heck; let’s put Louisville in there for the fun of it!
7. SEC team. Which one? Any one THAT’S JUST HOW DAMN GOOD THEY ARE MAN. (Seriously, though, not Auburn.)
Seriously; definitely not Auburn! Already put Texas A&M in there, so let’s have LSU fill this slot, shall we? Or maybe South Carolina; yeah, definitely the Gamecocks. They’re doing quite well right now.
8. Notre Dame. Yes, Irish fans are going to be super pissed at the perceived disrespect, but that’d be true even if you ranked ND numbers one, two, and three simultaneously. Don’t fight a losing battle. Just slot them here and suggest that they could be better off without Manti Te’o.
Notre Dame; and they might not miss Manti Te’o that much if their highly-ranked recruiting class has any teeth to it, unlike “highly-ranked” recruiting classes under Charlie Weis.
9. Oregon or Stanford (whoever you didn’t put at 5). Say something about how they’ve lost a lot of key pieces. Is it true? Players graduate, don’t they?
Oregon, for reasons of lack of coaching continuity.
10. ACC team. You’ll need to construct a paper fortune teller and write the names of four plausibly successful teams twice each. Be sure you only do it twice, because if you write out “Georgia Tech” three times on the same piece of paper Paul Johnson appears out of nowhere and insists on rearranging your pantry.
Well, we already put Louisville at No. 6, so we might as well put Florida State into this one.
11. Team that will likely have three losses before Halloween. Your obligation in preparing this ranking is not simply to come up with a sensible accounting of the top 25 teams heading into the season. It’s also to provide us with teams destined to leave unreasonable expectations unfulfilled. Who will be this year’s Arkansas? THE POWER IS YOURS!
Ole Miss, because expectations are high due to their half-way decent team from last year and No. 7-ranked recruiting class this year.
12. Team with the highest ranked recruiting class that you have not yet included. I mean, all that talent wouldn’t be going to a bad team, would it? And I bet half of them start right away! (note: I do not know how recruiting works)
I want to put Florida here, because they’ve got the No. 4-ranked recruiting class, and I’ve got to stick ‘em somewhere! But, skip down to No 14, and you’ll find out that cannot be done, according to this system. So, we’ll put in Oklahoma.
13. This is exhausting. You really deserve a lemonade, and maybe even an oatmeal cookie. I mean, people bitch about preseason rankings, but then they lap them right up like hungry dogs. Do they not understand how market forces work? Oh, um, Michigan State. Whatever.
Georgia; gotta stick ‘em somewhere.
14. Florida. “Will Muschamp is driving a truck with a great engine and no brake pads. Will Muschamp is eating a sandwich with meat and no bread. Will Muschamp is developing a model that explains how light behaves like a particle but not as a wave.” Metaphor them to death in this middle section.
Okay, NOW we’re allowed to put Florida in there.
15. School that was good six years ago and has stunk since. Because these things are cyclical, or something.
USC, anybody?
16. Team stocked with seniors that have mostly underachieved up to this point. They just want it more, man. That’s why they’re fighting in spring practice. Out of love.
Michigan State, perhaps?
17. Big 12 team with a miserably weak non conference schedule. Basically, this is between Texas Tech, West Virginia, Kansas, and Kansas State. Kansas is out for reasons of being Kansas, so just pick one of the other three and feel like a genius up to, but not beyond, Week 5.
West Virginia is the safest pick out of the three, at least through Week 5. After Week 5, it might be Texas Tech. Just sayin’.
18. Big East team. Start out by noting that the conference had a better bowl winning percentage last year than the every other AQ conference. Pretend you knew that Memphis was joining this year without looking. Realize that the team you pick could join the ACC before this gets published. Shrug, and continue trying to beat Jetpack Joyride.
Cincinnati, because after U of L, UC is the only Big East team that comes to mind, and goodness knows what could happen with Tommy Tuberville at the helm.
19. Team that was terrible but hired a trendy coach. You’ve already won me over, Cal, in spite of me.
Okay, let’s go with Cal. Let me waste another space on something ridiculous, why don’t you!
20. School from a non AQ conference. Again, this is mostly an exercise in antagonizing fans, so just find a Mountain West or MAC team that could plausibly win eight games and put them here. Then say something snide about the Big Ten.
Ah, so THIS is where you put in Boise State!
21. Scandium. Don’t think it belongs here? Check your atomic numbers, clown.
Okay, now they’re being downright silly. Not funny, just silly. Let’s go with LSU.
22. Team with a coach on the hot seat. If you’re not sure who qualifies, just pick any coach that hasn’t won a conference title in the last two years and say he’s on the hot seat.
Texas, because even though I love Mack Brown as a person, he ought to be on the hot seat after three consecutive seasons of underperformance.
23. Almost there! Pick any team, say this is a make-or-break season for the program, and move forward.
Auburn, because after the horrible year they had last season, we’ll now see how quickly they can bounce back.
24. Duke.
Are you kidding me? Alright, we’ll play along for the funny hell of it.
25. Team that barely made a bowl last year. “Trial by fire has made them stronger” sounds way more optimistic than “holy sh– they needed a punt return touchdown to beat Sweet Valley High.”
Heck, Purdue barely made it to a bowl game last year, but I’m certainly not putting them at No. 25! I’d put somebody like Nebraska in there, but I don’t know if it fits the template. Screw it; I’ll put Nebraska in anyway.
Now, let us see how this ranking plays out, according to the above formula:
- Alabama
- Michigan
- Texas A&M
- Ohio State
- Stanford
- Louisville
- South Carolina
- Notre Dame
- Oregon
- Florida State
- Ole Miss
- Oklahoma
- Georgia
- Florida
- USC
- Michigan State
- West Virginia
- Cincinnati
- Cal
- Boise State
- LSU
- Texas
- Auburn
- Duke (groan!)
- Nebraska
I know, I know; LSU is ranked way too low, and it bothers the heck out of me, too. Just for fun, let us compare this with the current 2013 AP preseason Top 25 poll:
- Alabama (no surprise there!)
- Oregon
- Ohio State
- Notre Dame
- Texas A&M
- Georgia
- Stanford
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Florida State
- Clemson
- Kansas State
- Louisville
- LSU (beats not being ranked at all!)
- Oklahoma (I knew they were overvalued!)
- Utah State (there had better be a darn good reason for this!)
- Northwestern (quite plausible, actually)
- Boise State (are you sure you want them that high, AP?)
- Texas
- Oregon State
- San Jose State (huh?)
- Northern Illinois (I guess they felt compelled to stick a MAC team somewhere)
- Vanderbilt (also plausible; have you seen their recruiting class lately?)
- Michigan
- Nebraska
For starters, I’m really regretting sticking Michigan in that No. 2 slot, but the formula called for a Big Ten team, and Ohio State was already locked in to No. 4; what was I to do? The Florida State ranking, though, seems pretty spot-on, and many others (Alabama, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Stanford, South Carolina, and Nebraska are within one or two rankings). Yes, it’s all in fun and jest, to be sure, but it shows that sometimes these whacky formulas work, other times, not so much. And it still sticks in my craw that it compelled me to under-value the Bayou Bengals, and grossly over-value Michigan.
Some thoughts on the Bowls as of Dec. 28 December 29, 2012
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: ACC, Arizona, B1G, Bearcats, Belk, Bengals, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Big XII, Blue Devils, Boise State, Bowl, Brent Musburger, Capital One, Champs Sports, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Citrus, college, Duke, ESPN, football, Golden Gophers, helmet, Hokies, Holiday, Independence, Kirk Herbstreit, Las Vegas, LeGarrette Blount, Little Caesars, MAACO, Meinecke Car Care Bowl, Minnesota, Mountain West, NCAA, Nevada, New Mexico, Ole Miss, Pac-12, Red Raiders, Ronald Reagan, Russell Athletics, Rutgers, Scarlet Knights, SEC, Tangerine, Texas, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, Washington
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From azstarnet.com; try to ignore the Arizona player bumping into the ref and instead, focus on how cool their unis look, along the with the awesome color contrast between Arizona’s and Nevada’s helmets!
The New Mexico Bowl kicked off the season to a surprisingly auspicious beginning. I say “surprisingly,” because let’s be honest; nobody thought that the first bowl game of the year would be that swell, and moreover, it seemed as though Nevada had the game well in hand by the end of the 3rd quarter before Arizona managed to make a pretty good game out of things yet and scored 18 unanswered points to pull ahead at the end, 49-48. And to think that I predicted that the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27 would be the bowl season’s “offensive explosion,” yet so far, the results of the New Mexico Bowl have fit that distinction more than any other of the 2012-2013 bowl span.
But wait, there’s more! As more teams unveil special bowl game helmets (read: Cincinnati, Virginia Tech), the jury will still be out until Jan. 7 to decide this ultimately, but thus far, the Arizona-Nevada matchup is definitely the “most aesthetically pleasing helmet contrast,” with the Wolfpack sporting their dark blue helmets on one side, and the Wildcats sporting their special red domes on the other!
Moreover, it will be very difficult for any other team to top the Wildcats for the “sartorial splendor” award, as they have set a new precedent. Normally, if a team has dark blue and red for their colors (technically, Cardinal and Navy Blue, as is the case for both Arizona and Ole Miss), the modern precedents have been something along the lines of 1) dark blue helmets, dark blue jerseys, and either white or gray pants, or white helmets, or 2) white helmets and pants with dark blue jerseys, or 3), dark blue helmets, red jerseys, and white or gray pants. What Arizona did was break through normal precedents and set a whole new one with red helmets, dark blue jerseys, and red pants. It does not get much better than that!
Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports
Speaking of good games, this year’s MAACO Bowl of Las Vegas turned out to be a ‘dandy’ of a game, folks! There are times when you swear that ESPN does actually have a crystal ball in some secret location on their Bristol, Conn., campus, because they sent their front-line crew of Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit to call the game, reflecting on the fact in real time that it was worth tuning in to see! Either that, or it was an elaborate rouse to get Musburger in touch with Chan Lo and the Chinese Triads to settle his gambling debts: who knows? That having been said, what on Earth was Boise State doing wearing those god-awful matte black helmets instead of their pretty metallic blue domes? Sometimes it pays to leave well enough alone; such is what Washington did with their tasteful combination of metallic gold helms, white jerseys and purple pants.
Of all places, this pic came from Bengals.com!
The Belk Bowl also exceeded expectations in terms of a competitive, watchable game. Only two things overshadowed Duke’s first bowl game since the mid-1990s: 1), Cincinnati’s garish, red, carbon fibre-colored helmets, a first in football helmet decor, and 2), the Bearcats ultimately won. Still, it was nice that the Blue Devils wore their tasteful royal blue helmets instead of their generic-looking white ones, which overall made for a nice helmet contrast between the two teams as they played each other in Charlotte. Moreover, keep in mind that the Bearcats pulled off the win with basically a five-man coaching staff (for purposes of comparison, college teams usually have about 10 coaches on staff, not including graduate assistants).
Another very interesting teams’ helmets contrast took place on Dec. 28 in the Russell Athletic Bowl, formerly the Champs Sports Bowl, formerly the reincarnated Tangerine Bowl (basically, the other bowl game they play in the Citrus Bowl before the real Citrus Bowl game, which is now called the Capital One Bowl. Got all that?). Rutgers put up one heckuva fight against Virginia Tech, but came up a field goal short in overtime of tying the Hokies after the first round in overtime. But the contrast was nevertheless unique in that the Scarlet Knights had their newly characteristic chrome shells, while the Hokies sported new, matte maroon helmets with an orange decal of a “Hokie,” which, from what us fans can deduce, is basically a turkey bird on a roid rage. Virginia Tech has undertaken numerous helmet styling experiments during the 2012 season, some kind of interesting, some downright head-scratching. The white helmets with turkey feet clearly belonged in the latter category!
Oh, and the guys at EDSBS, you boys have some ‘splainin’ to do! You ranked the Meinecke Car Care Bowl of Texas last among your list of the 35 bowls for this season. In the words of Musburger, the game turned out to be a real ‘dandy.’ Thanks to the realignment of bowls, this Texas Bowl is about the only B1G vs Big XII matchup we have to look forward to, as the Alamo Bowl no longer affords us that luxury. The game did not disappoint, as Minnesota and Texas Tech butted heads in dramatic form practically from the whistle giving the green light for kickoff. The game remained close and competitive for the whole 60 minutes, though a turning point came when a Red Raider receiver pancaked a Golden Gopher defensive back in the end zone and walloped him — right in front of the back judge. That led to the player, No. 22, to be summarily ejected from the game (and due to an arcane NCAA rule, he shall also have to sit out the opening game next year, too). LeGarrette Blunt would no doubt be proud. A third and goal near the one became a third and goal at about the fifteen. The next play was botched, leading to a field goal. Minnesota called a timeout just as the ball was snapped, and on the next, true snap, the Gophers blocked the kick! A sure TD was reduced to, well, nothing. Yes, in the end, the Red Raiders won on a last-second field goal. Still, the game was riveting from the opening kickoff to the very last play, and that’s all we fans can ask for in any of these bowl games.
In all frankness and honesty, the 2012-2013 bowl season has been overall underwhelming this far. The Little Caesars Bowl and the Independence Bowl (oh, my, have the mighty fallen!) have been nothing about which to write home, and similar things can be said for most of the other bowls up to this point. But having said all that, it is worth pointing out that there have been some high points thus far, and odds are, it can only get better from here. After all, Ronald Reagan himself was known to joke that if one searches through enough mounds of manure, sooner or later one is bound to find the pony!
2012-2013 Bowl Games of Some Interest December 15, 2012
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alamo, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas State, Auburn, Baylor, Belk, Big East, Big XII, Boilermakers, Boise State, Bowl, Bronx, Buffalo Wild Wings, Chris Ault, Colin Kaepernick, college, Commodores, Copper, Cotton, Cowboys, Darrell Hazell, Dave Doeren, Earl Scheib, East Carolina, FBS, Fight Hunger, football, GoDaddy, Gus Malzahn, Heart of Dallas, Horned Frogs, Huskies, Insight, Ka'Deem Carey, Ken Niumatalolo, Kent State, Kraft, Land of Enchantment, Las Vegas, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisville, MAACO, Michigan State, Mountain West, Mountaineers, MSU, Music City, N.C. State, Navy, NCAA, Nevada, New Mexico, New Orleans, North Carolina State, Oklahoma State, Orange, Pac-12, Pinstripe, Purdue, Silver, Spartans, Stefphon Jefferson, Steve Sarkesian, Syracuse, TCU, Texas Tech, Todd Graham, Tom O'Brien, Vanderbilt, Vandy, Washington, West Virginia, Wildcats, Wolfpack, Yankee Stadium
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As mentioned in the previous installment, I have ranked the bowl games by category, with the major criterion being level of desirability to view, partly on my end, partly on the end of the average viewer who is NOT a certifiable college football addict like yours truly!
To find a complete bowl game schedule where each game is found in order of date and time each game is to be played, go here.
This second installment is of bowl games about which I am rather interested, which is, to me, higher than “moderately interested:”
New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque, N.M.), Sat., Dec. 15, 1:00 PM EST
Arizona (7-5) vs. Nevada (7-5)
Chris Ault leads the now-Colin Kaepernick-less Wolfpack back to a bowl game to take on the rejuvenated Arizona Wildcats in a fairly evenly-matched game in the Land of Enchantment. Speaking of which, Enchantment Bowl has a nicer ring to it than New Mexico Bowl, doesn’t it? But I digress. What makes this game truly interesting is that there will be lots and lots of yards gained on the ground by both sides. How do I know? Both teams each have some of the leading rushers in the FBS this season, in Ka’Deem Carey (is the apostrophe really necessary? Then again, the name is already made up, so might as well be stylin’ while we’re at it!) for Arizona and Stefphon (sic) Jefferson for Nevada (one too many consonants in that first name, don’t you think?). Moreover, both teams also sport mediocre run defenses. It all adds up to lots of rushing yardage gained on both sides of the ball, with an inability to stop each other on the other side. Think: the equivalence of Baylor-Texas Tech, ground game edition! The fact that the hilarious writers at EDSBS referred to both of these two teams as the plague monkeys of their respective conferences is the icing on the cake!
New Orleans Bowl, Saturday, Dec. 22, 12:00 PM EST
East Carolina (8-4) vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (8-4)
If I miss this game, it won’t be the end of the world. It used to be that we CFB fans would look forward to this game because it kicked off bowl season. Now, it’s just another bowl. Still, it pits two solid teams within their respective conferences against each other, which was my rationale for designating this game the “Best Non-Big Six Matchup” for this set of bowl games.
MAACO Bowl (Las Vegas, Nev.) Saturday, Dec. 22, 3:30 PM EST
Washington (7-5) vs. No. 19 Boise State (10-2)
This used to be called the Silver Bowl, but that was before sponsorship took over bowls big time. Soon, they renamed this game after a slightly classed-up version of Earl Scheib. That notwithstanding, this could be a decent match-up. On one hand, Steve Sarkesian has worked diligently to bring the Huskies back to respectability. On the other hand, Boise State has had a slightly down year compared to their last several. Could be interesting.
Pinstripe Bowl (Bronx, N.Y.), Sat., Dec. 29, 3:15 PM
West Virginia (7-5) vs. Syracuse (7-5)
Old conference rivals reunite in this bowl game, between a squad that hit the wall when they reached the real meat of their schedule, and a team that gradually improved throughout the year. On paper, the Mountaineers are more talented than the Orange, but will the former have time to regain their energy? Plus, the game is in [new] Yankee Stadium: how cool is that?
Fight Hunger Bowl (San Francisco), Sat., Dec. 29, 3:15 PM
Navy (8-4) vs. Arizona State (7-5)
So which is it going to be, the Pinstripe Bowl or this one? I choose this one, my “intriguing coaching matchup” bowl game pick, and for multiple reasons. For one, you have one coaching philosophy of pounding the rock vs. the opposing one that amounts to a watered-down “west coast” offense. But that’s not all: on one side is Ken Niumatalolo and his apparent philosophy of family, loyalty, dedication, etc., and in the opposing corner is the notoriously mercenary, leave-in-the-dead-of-night Todd Graham. Very intriguing indeed!
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl (Tempe, Ariz.), Sat., Dec. 29, 10:15 PM
TCU (7-5) vs. Michigan State (6-6)
(What used to be the Insight Bowl, and before that, the Copper Bowl) Okay, so the Spartans have been no team to write home about this year, given their inability to, you know, score touchdowns. Meanwhile, on TCU’s side, their performance this year has been one of peaks and valleys. Where the Horned Frogs are with respect to their highs and lows will determine whether they mop the field with MSU, or the game remains a defensive struggle. What could really set things off, though, is if the two teams show up in their chrome purple and green helmets, respectively (oh boy, oh boy!)!
Music City Bowl (Nashville, Tenn.) Mon., Dec. 31, 12:00 PM
North Carolina State (7-5) vs. Vanderbilt (8-4)
Last year, the Wolfpack was in the Belk Bowl, and defeated a young Louisville team. It looked like they were really up-and-coming. They return to a bowl game this year, and fire Tom O’Brien. It makes no sense. Will head coach-in-waiting Dave Doeren lead the team, or will Tom O’Brien play out the string? Or will the assistant coaches be left to watch over this mess before Doeren comes in to right the ship? All this will be moot anyhow, since this is a glorified home game for Vandy, who by all rights should kick N.C. State’s butt. And that’s what’s really enticing; would it not be grand to see the Commodores win a bowl game? Goodness knows they have earned it!
GoDaddy.Com Bowl (Mobile, Ala.), Sun., Jan. 6, 9:00 PM
No. 25 Kent State (11-2) vs. Arkansas State (9-3)
College football on a Sunday night instead of pro football? Yes, please! Plus, this game is my “intriguing no-coaching matchup,” given that Kent State’s erstwhile coach Darrell Hazell took the Purdue job and Arkansas State’s erstwhile coach Guz Malzahn bolted for Auburn.
Heart of Dallas Bowl (Dallas), Tues., Jan. 1, 12:00 PM
Purdue (6-6) vs. Oklahoma State (7-5)
Okay, how on Earth did this become a New Year’s Day bowl game? I know that the Cotton Bowl is no longer played in the Cotton Bowl (stadium, that is), but that does not mean that this manufactured bowl game deserves to be on the same day as the Capital One, Outback, Rose, and other bowls that have earned being on this date. That aside, this game is a rematch of the 1997 Alamo Bowl. Just don’t expect the Boilermakers to beat the Cowboys 33-20 like they did 15 years ago. In fact, expecting the score to be reversed in the Pokes favor might be an overestimation. Still, Purdue is playing in it, so one has to watch it.
College Football Week 14 Awards December 3, 2012
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: ACC, Alabama, Arkansas State, Army, B1G, Baylor, Big 10, Big East, Big Ten, Big XII, Bo Pelini, championship, Charlie Strong, Charlie Weis, college, Florida State, football, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Gus Malzahn, Kansas, Kyle Flood, Louisville, Mack Brown, Mark Richt, Navy, NCAA, Nebraska, New Mexico State, Nicholls, Nick Saban, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Pac-12, Rutgers, SEC, South Alabama, South Florida, Stanford, Texas, Texas State, UCLA, West Virginia, Wisconsin
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(Note: All rankings are week 14 AP polls unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Nick Saban, Alabama
Glad I’m not him: Mark Richt, Georgia
Lucky guy: Charlie Strong, Louisville
Poor guy: Kyle Flood, Rutgers
Desperately seeking a clue: Charlie Weis, Kansas
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Gus Malzahn, Arkansas State
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Bo Pelini, Nebraska
Desperately seeking … anything: Mack Brown, Texas
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Oregon State (beat Nicholls 77-3)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Stanford (beat UCLA 27-24 in the Pac-12 championship)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Kansas (lost to West Virginia 59-10)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Georgia Tech (lost to Florida State in the ACC championship)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Texas State (beat New Mexico State 66-28)
Dang, they’re good: Alabama
Dang, they’re bad: South Alabama
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Nebraska
Did the season start? Rutgers
Can the season end? South Florida
Can the season never end? Wisconsin
GAMES
Play this again: No. 2 Alabama 32, No. 3 Georgia 28
Never play this again: No. 15 Oregon State 77, Nicholls 3
What? No. 8 Stanford 27, No. 16 UCLA 24
Huh? Louisville 20, Rutgers 17
Are you kidding me? No. 21 Northern Illinois 44, No. 17 Kent State 37
Oh – my – God: Wisconsin 70, No. 12 Nebraska 31
Told you so: Baylor 41, Oklahoma State 34
NEXT WEEK
Only one regular season game is to be played next week, which is the annual Army-Navy game: a cherished American tradition. Go Armed Forces – God bless our troops!
Teams that hit the wall November 29, 2012
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: 'Canes, ACC, Alabama, Arkansas, Austin, Ball State, Baylor, BCS, Belk Bowl, Big 12, Big East, Big XII, Bobcats, Bowl, Bowling Green, Bulldogs, Butch Jones, Cardinals, Charlie Strong, Cincinnati, Clemson, college, Dan Mullen, Dana Holgorsen, Duke, Egg Bowl, Florida State, football, Frank Solich, game, Hurricanes, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Kent State, Longhorns, Louisville, LSU, MAC, Miami, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Mountaineers, MSU, NCAA, North Carolina, Ohio U, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Pittsburgh, Rebels, Rutgers, Scarlet Knights, SEC, Southern Miss, Stanford, Syracuse, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, U of L, USF, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, WVU, Yeoman
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Ohio U: The Bobcats were off to a great start under Frank Solich. They won seven consecutive games, and were even ranked No. 24 going into the Miami (Ohio) game on Oct. 27. After that game, they were undefeated no more. The team lost the next four of five games, including their last one to currently No. 18 Kent State. That loss was understandable, even excusable. Losing to Ball State the previous week? Less understood, even less excusable. But losing to Bowling Green? No excuse at all. Perhaps the Bobcats just ran out of energy, which is one form of hitting the proverbial wall.
Correction: A well-informed, experienced observer brought something else to my attention regarding Ohio U. The biggest reason they hit the proverbial wall was injuries, especially injuries to their offensive line. By season’s end, they were playing third-string linemen without any subs — brutal! Upon further review, that might explain their loss to Bowling Green after all!
Mississippi State: Poor MSU (the Magnolia State MSU, not the Great Lakes State MSU). They try so hard, but they try to excel in the most brutal of all college football neighborhoods. Dan Mullen has done the Yeoman’s work making the Bulldogs more than respectable, and making their fan base believe in the team’s potential. Seven consecutive games, seven consecutive wins: so far, so good. Then came the game at Alabama: automatic loss. Fair enough. Still ranked No. 16, they were to play Texas A&M at home. That turned out not so well, either. The next game was at LSU; care to guess how that turned out? The thing was, after the big win over Arkansas (45-14), one would think that the worst was behind them. After all, in the Egg Bowl (their traditional rivalry game against Mississippi), they were favored. Ole Miss is mediocre, and Mississippi State has had, all things considered, a great season. But then they inexplicably lost to the Rebels 41-24. What gives? They obviously hit the wall, but how? Was it loss of energy, in clear case of Ohio U, or was it just the more brutal part of their schedule? The latter cannot explain things alone, since, hello, they lost to Ole Miss, and though the Rebels have improved, they have not improved that much. The answer might therefore be, a little of both. Let us hope Dan Mullen can allow for some of the energy in the team to recover for the bowl game.
West Virginia: The Mountaineers were flying high after their big debut in the Big XII, beating Baylor at home in an offensive explosion for the ages, 70-63. The following week, they journeyed to Austin to take on then-No. 11 Texas, where they beat the host Longhorns 48-45. It went downhill for five straight weeks after that, with consecutive losses to Texas Tech (49-14), Kansas State (55-14), TCU (39-38), Oklahoma State (55-34), and Oklahoma (50-49). Welcome to the Big XII, Dana Holgorsen. The obvious wall WVU hit was tough schedule, plain and simple. That said, five tough losses obviously took something out of the Mountaineers as well, since they had to struggle to beat Iowa State this past weekend. Whether they have recovered any energy at all will be demonstrated when they play Kansas this upcoming week for what should be a fairly easy clean-up win.
Louisville: So much for running the table for Louisville after losing to Syracuse 45-17 on the road for their tenth game. To be sure, most of their wins up to that point were a little more than close for comfort, such as beating North Carolina only 39-34, beating Southern Miss 21-17 (the rain notwithstanding), or beating awful South Florida only 27-25. With such a pattern of wins, one would think an ugly loss would be inevitable, if only to get it out of their system. Sadly, whatever ailed the Cardinals in Syracuse did not yet pass, for the following game, they coughed up another loss at home to Connecticut in the third overtime. Worse yet, they only have until this Thursday to bounce back on the road against Rutgers in order to win a BCS bowl berth. The Scarlet Knights lost badly that same day to Pittsburgh, so both teams are in a must-win situation. But with the recent pattern of play, the concern remains that U of L might have lost their energy. Thus, the upcoming proposition is dicey at best. Charlie Strong might want to go easy on his boys so they can get their energy.
Addendum 12-07-12 — Duke: Part of me says “poor Duke,” while the other part of me says “hey, all things considered, they’re doing pretty well.” But nevertheless, they were flying high during the middle of the season, or high by Duke standards at least! Throught Oct. 6, they were 5-1, with the one loss coming to them on the road against Stanford. Any reasonable person would quickly excuse that! Then the next week, they lossed to Virginia Tech, 41-20. Fair enough. Moreover, credit goes to this team, as the following week, they rebounded to beat North Carolina 33-30. Then came four consecutive losses in their last four regular season games, first to Florida State (48-7; imagine that!), then to Clemson (56-20), then to Georgian Tech (42-24 — keep in mind that the Yellow Jackets run out of the flexbone!), and then lossed a shootout to Miami (52-45). In the first three out of four, they were clearly out-manned. The last loss could be attributed to having too much stuffing beat out of them by the first three of those four teams, hence having nothing left in the tank against the ‘Canes. But at least they got a Belk Bowl berth, and have a decent shot at winning it, too, since Cincinnati’s head coach Butch Jones just took the Tennessee job.
Memo to Big Ten: More is not always better November 21, 2012
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: ACC, Atlantic Coast Confernce, B1G, Badgers, Big 10, Big East, Big Ten, Blazers, Buckeyes, Buffaloes, Cal Poly, college, Colorado, Cornhuskers, D.C., Dan Wetzel, demographics, football, Hawkeyes, Iowa, Iowa City, Jim Delany, Madison, Maryland, Michigan State, Missouri, Nate Silver, NCAA, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Pac-12, Rutgers, Scarlet Knights, SEC, Spartans, Terps, Terrapins, Texas, Texas A&M, UAB, Utah, Utes, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Youngstown State
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More is not necessary better. If one of your favorite products introduces a new product line, will that help the overall brand, or will it detract from productive capacity and quality control resources for the product and you and others already know and love? If your favorite airline adds more routes, instead of enhancing the brand, all it might do is cause more flights to be delayed.
The reason I bring this up is because the news has come out that the Big Ten is inviting both Maryland and Rutgers into their prestigious conference. The invitation obviously benefits these two universities, but how does it benefit the Big Ten? More is not always “more,” as in better. It’s not as if the Big Ten is adding Notre Dame and Texas, in which there would be more great TV games and home games.
The benefits for Maryland and Rutgers are obvious. Neither teams are making much money with their athletics programs (least of all Rutgers), not with the relatively lousy television deals they currently have. By joining the Big 10, that problem instantly vanishes, since that conference has one of the best TV deals in the business. It is not rocket science to figure out why a poor guy wants to marry into a rich family.
Moreover, while those two teams’ conference fit is a geographic stretch, academically it somewhat makes sense. Like almost all other conference members, Maryland and Rutgers are both members of the Association of American Universities, for what that is worth (oddly enough, Nebraska is the only B1G member not yet in that affiliation). Adding these two schools could further enhance the conference’s already solid academic reputation.
But aside from that, how does the Big Ten benefit? From a fan’s perspective alone, this could border on havoc. Think of the traveling distance. Many Big Ten fans travel by the busload to some away games. A band of Nebraska fans traveling to Piscataway, N.J. to see their beloved Cornhuskers play Rutgers would literally be journeying halfway across the country. That’s a huge difference from a more typical conference matchup in which some Wisconsin fans would have but a [roughly] three-hour run to Iowa City to cheer on their Badgers against the Hawkeyes.
Moreover, think of home game schedules for a moment. So few great home games are available year in and year out. Think about how many season ticket-holding fans have to put up with lousy match-ups at home. Wisconsin playing Cal Poly or Ohio State playing Youngstown State at home might be easy wins, but they are horrible games for the fans. Ditto with the Buckeyes playing the Blazers of UAB; yuck! Fans of B1G teams wait patiently from great match-ups, such as the Buckeyes coming in to Camp Randall Stadium in Madison for a night game, or Michigan State coming into Northwestern for a close, hard-fought match-up.
With Rutgers and Maryland now in the mix, those great regional rivalries that fans hunger for are now further in jeopardy in place of a potentially mediocre match-up with these mediocre teams. Again, what has the Big Ten, on balance, to gain from this? The Terrapins’ affiliation with the conference will not make the program improve.
It also messes with traditional rivalries. The Terps have nothing to do with the Spartans, Buckeyes or Badgers. Their rivals are Virginia, North Carolina, etc., all in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Leaving the ACC for the B1G means all those rivalries instantly vanish.
Ah, but adding Rutgers and Maryland into the conference means that the Big 10 can tap into the New York City and Washington, D.C. markets, say the expansion advocates. But people in those markets don’t care about either team, so says Nate Silver, who has a great piece that voices that same concerns written on this page. Silver’s analysis shows that there are low percentages of college football fans in those two large metro areas. Why compromise teams’ schedules for such a diminishing return?
The bottom line is that the Big Ten, arguably most prestigious athletic conference overall in college athletics (notwithstanding football alone, in which the SEC is, at this time, head and shoulders above everyone else), is running a serious risk of diluting their brand.
If you want further proof of this real possibility of brand dilution, look no further than the Pac-12 to see how this move makes no sense. Any benefit of adding Utah and Colorado is marginal at best. The Utes have been mediocre this year, and the Buffaloes have been an outright embarrassment, as they are arguably the worst team in the FBS (see: “Dang, they’re bad,” see: “Can the season end?”). Yes, the Pac-12 has some great teams right now: six of its member teams are, as of his week, ranked in the top 25. But Utah is not among those who are ranked, and, as already mentioned, Colorado is embarrassingly abysmal.
At least when the SEC expanded, it brought in Missouri and Texas A&M; two quality programs. Maryland and Rutgers just dilute the brand, and further weaken an already teetering Big East. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany may think that bringing these two teams in will allow for it to reach certain key “demographics,” but not only does Nate Silver show that those demos are not as inviting as they would initially appear, Dan Wetzel of Rivals/Yahoo! points out similar problems. Delany and the rest of the conference leadership need to snap out of this trance before they make a horrible mistake that will ruin the brand.
Whither the conferences in major college football? September 8, 2011
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: ACC, Big 8, Big East, Big Ten, Big XII, Colorado, conferences, football, Jupiter, Miami, NCAA, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SEC, solar system, Southeastern Conference, static, SWC, Texas, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech
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When I teach my course in American government at my community college in Louisville, one thing I have taken to doing early in the course’s term is to hand out a sheet to each student with a list of important rules in physics/economics. My rationale for this is to get the students thinking about the potential consequences of certain actions on the part of government. One such rule I lay out for them is thus: “Nothing is static.” Just try to disprove that rule. After all, nothing is static in the economy, nothing is static in our own interpersonal relationships, the climate is certainly not static — regardless of what the enviro-socialists want us to think — and indeed, nothing is static in the Solar system, not with variations in solar radiation output that have implications for the temperatures on this planet as well as for Mars and the Gallilean satellites around Jupiter.
The recent announcement that Texas A&M will depart the Big XII Conference for the Southeastern Conference come June of next year has reminded me of this rule once again. Though this is not the first move of a D-1A (pardon me, Football Bowl Subdivision) school to shake things up a bit regarding conference affilition, this one move could open the floodgates for radical conference realignment, the likes of which none of us have seen in our lifetime.
Most moves up to this point seemed fairly self-contained. When the Southwest Conference folded after 1995, the top four teams in that conference joined the Big 8, thus giving birth to the Big XII. The other four teams disbersed, many initially ending up in Conference USA, which banded together lots of erstwhile mid-majors and independents. The arrangement within the Big XII was one that on paper made geographic sense, at least longitudinally (much like the erstwhile Pac-10), with Nebraska the anchoring power in the north, and Texas the anchoring power in the south. Furthermore, should Texas have a down year, Oklahoma was eventually strong enough to fill that power gap on the southern end.
The switch-ups we witnessed earlier last decade did not seem to portend major realignment, either. The only thing that Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College bolting from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference amounted to was to question whether or not the former still deserved to have a berth in the BCS bowl games.
All that was put in jeopardy with Nebraska bolting for the Big Ten after last season. Less consequential was Colorado moving to join the Pac-10, now the Pac-12. As things currently stand, the Big Ten now has 12 teams, and the Big XII has been reduced to nine, or at least will be with the Aggies’ imminent departure. This current state of affairs raises two simultaneous possibilities. For one, many thought that even though the Cornhuskers left for the Big Ten, the Big XII could still limp on, possibly even bring in new up-and-coming teams to fill the void left by the Huskers and the Buffaloes. With A&M soon to leave, the death knell for the Big XII has been all but sounded. Even though, at this moment, Oklahoma and Texas both remain, and Oklahoma State would add increasing credibility, given their up-and-coming status (thank you, T. Boone Pickens), the gradual disintegration of the conference, first at the northern end and now at the southern end leaves many to conclude that more dominos shall inevitably fall.
One such departure has already pushed Southeastern Conference membership to a future number of 13. Further speculation has been fueled as to whom else the SEC might court. Already, conferences such as the Pac-12 have been making major overtures for the Sooners and the Cowboys to join them. The Longhorns are an even more juicy target for conferences as well, though UT, what with its special brand and its own sports channel in the newly-created Longhorn Network, has the prestige, winning tradition, not to mention geographic advantages to be successful as an independent. Indeed, what we may be witnessing is Texas becoming the Notre Dame of the 21st Century in terms of athletic prestige, winning tradition, privileged status, and ability to attract top recruits.
But, in returning to the point of the SEC’s burgeoning membership, 13 could be a magic number, magic in the sense that it creates the possibly for that number to grow further, not just for the southeastern juggernaut power, but for conferences elsewhere. As mentioned earlier, the possibility persists that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State could end up in the Pac-12, bumping their lucky number up to fourteen. Moreover, it is not inconceivable that Texas could join that new mega-conference as well. USC plus the Sooners plus the Longhorns equals one formidable conference indeed. Iowa State could end up following suit in a different sense by joining the Big Ten (Nebraska is already there, and in-state rival Iowa has been a long-time member). Geographically, that theoretical move is quite logical. Where Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Missouri and Texas Tech might end up — again, should the dominoes continue to fall — is anybody’s guess, though the Mizzou Tigers might end up joining the Big Ten as well. That possibility has been broached several times before, in fact. My only reservation against that is, can one conference abide three different teams whose colors are (officially) Old Gold & Black?
While there could be a scramble for a would-be disintegrated Big XII’s table scraps, the Southeastern Conference might try to bring in other powers to join their juggernaut league (Florida State and Virginia Tech have been listed as possibilities). Might such a conference cannibalization prompt the ACC and the Big East to join forces? Given that Texas A&M has turned its back on its long-time rivals and all-too willingly allowed itself to be used by the SEC, perhaps all of us ought to rethink what is possible.
The bottom line in all of these prognostications is that we could be witnessing a radical realignment of teams into mega-conferences, which in turn will have major implications for bowl game affiliations, and even coveted BCS eligibility. If the Sooners and Cowboys end up joining the Pac-12 and that move makes no sense to many on a geographic level, just keep in mind that Texas Christian University — the recent Rose Bowl champs — are about to join the Big East. The new paradigm is that geography is hardly a constraint anymore when it comes to conference affiliation, and it’s all part of the brave new world of NCAA football realignment about to happen before our eyes. What we fans and observers of big-time college football thought were secure affiliations over the past 15 years have turned out to be anything but. Once again, the firm rule about nothing being static has held.
intellectualgridiron 