Championship Saturday... a relatively new wrinkle in a sport that bleeds tradition. It remains odd to see a handful of regular season games in the mix, courtesy of the Big East and Pac Ten. Next year there will be two more championship games as the Big Ten and Pac Ten join the pigskin parade. Which I guess is a good thing, right? The one sport that doesn't have a playoff has more than a few playoffs under its umbrella. A world without tradition may be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof, but a college football roof shingled with dollar bills is robust as ever. And while tradition is nice, you can't contain progress.
If the NFC East can have Dallas... TCU joins the Big East. Wow, a school west of the Mississippi. Frankly, I was hoping Hawaii would join the league as well to complete the transformation. But in a world where the Big 12 will have ten schools and the Big 10 will have 12 teams, a world where the Atlantic Ten's 14 team membership includes a school on the coast of the Mississippi River, a Pac 12 (thanks for keeping it real with numbers, kids) that has four schools not residing in Pacific coast states--I'm okay. At least for a moment.
Alma Mater Update-- Syracuse is bowl bound! To the Bronx! Yes, the Pinstripe Bowl may not have the history (starting up this year) or the prestige of other December destinations, but it sounds much better than the "Beef O'Brady's Bowl"...and at least at Yankee Stadium they'll be using both endzones (thanks, Wrigley). As the Big Apple is an SU alumni magnet, I'm sure they won't have issues selling out the stands. Although I wonder if the New England contingent of Orange fans will start a "Yankees Suck" chant if the game gets out of hand.
Another relic in the refuse can-- Nebraska plays Oklahoma in the Big XII Championship Game... in the Cornhuskers final game leaving for the Big Ten plus Two. Cornhuskers-Sooners used to be the November game you circled on your schedule when they were Big Eight rivals... and although they've played sporadically since the beginning of the Big XII, it marks the passing of the era after the era. Nebraska-Oklahoma was great for the game, and it's a shame we won't see this matchup anytime again soon.
Top Coach + Top Rookie= shortest commute?-- Congratulations to Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen and Danny O'Brien for taking respective ACC honors... as the road to redemption takes the coach off the hot seat and opens up some pretty incredible possibilities for 2011. Unfortunately, due the fact that Maryland doesn't draw that well, the Terps could find themselves shut out of a warm-weather bowl. If the right things fall into place we could have a Maryland-Notre Dame Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando... or a Maryland trip to the Armed Forces Bowl at RFK Stadium in DC. The same fans who stayed away from October 30th's game with Wake Forest will be among those complaining about the lack of respect given the program now.
#15 Virginia Tech plays #21 Florida State in the ACC title game... and in a perfect world we'd care about this game because the winner would clinch one of eleven automatic berths in the Division I playoffs. Instead, it's a battle of dynasty present against dynasty past... for the right to go to the Orange Bowl. Frank Beamer's been here before (although not Charlotte for the title game until this year) and you have to think his Hokies are playing the best football in the league (since two September losses in five days). The running game is firing on all cylinders with 17 runningbacks able to carry the load if needed... Tyrod Taylor is quietly having a fantastic finish to his seemingly ten-year career... and you can't underestimate BEAMER BALL!... although I expect the customary slow start. Hokies allow the usual early touchdown before rallying, 28-21.
Last Week: 2-0.
Overall: 50-24.
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