3.12.03
College Football: In bowl news, the only thing which is anything close to important is that Ole Miss is going to the Cotton Bowl (registration required). I, a huge college football fanatic, am only mildly interested to hear that Tulsa is travelling to Boise, or that Boise State is travelling to Fort Worth. I thought that the WAC negotiated all these bowl contracts to keep their teams at home for the bowls, especially Boise. Why the hell would anyone want to go to Boise for the New Year? I thought that was a bowl game specifically for Boise State.
Since there are only seven games this weekend, I figure that I can pick them all.
First, the final regular-season games:
Notre Dame travels to Syracuse. The winner is bowl-eligible, even though it doesn't appear that there will be a bowl for the winner, especially if Syracuse wins. So, in effect, this is both teams' bowl game. Of course, this leads me to ask, like I did earlier in this column, who, exactly, wants to travel to Syracuse in December? I can't imagine that there are more than, oh, 6 feet of snow on the ground up there. In any case, this is a game about which I have little interest, because I dislike both teams. I guess I'll take Notre Dame, simply because their schedule has been brutal, whereas Syracuse has played scrubs, and went 2-5 in the Big Least, losing last week by 17 at Rutgers.
Southern Cal beats Oregon State. That game is in Los Angeles, and the Trojans understand that a win puts them, most likely, in the Sugar Bowl. They will be suitably motivated, and Oregon State's postseason has already been determined: I forget where they're going, but it's one of those bowls with no import whatsoever. So, while they may be playing for pride or whatever, they really don't give a good crap.
Boise State has been walking all over the WAC for the last two seasons. They have, thus far, gone undefeated in conference and are a much better team than Hawaii. So it really doesn't matter that the game is on Oahu (I think) - Boise State beats Hawaii.
Army - Navy is this weekend, and I will certainly tune in. Traditionally, this week is wild at both schools, with plebes being allowed (so long as they get away with it) to pull stunts on the upperclassmen, with the upperclassmen, umm..., instilling spirit in the plebes, and hearing "Beat (insert rival here)" early, late and extremely often (I learned all of this by reading John Feinstein's book A Civil War. Navy will travel to the Houston Bowl win or lose, and Army will go home for their postseason. But this game is easily the biggest on both teams' schedules. The only game which may, but probably wouldn't, be bigger for either of these schools would be the national championship. Both of these teams are proud, disciplined warriors. It is possible that the seniors on this year's teams will fight alongside each other next year in Iraq, which is another facet of the rivalry, one which demands respect from the rivals. So both teams will play hard, and a win will make their seasons - even if it is the only one of the season, as would be the case with Army. However, Paul Johnson understands the service academy mentality, having been the offensive coordinator under Charlie Weatherbie in the mid '90s; Johnson has also proven he can win, bringing a title to I-AA Georgia Southern before rejoining the Mids. Army's season, however, is all but lost. They fired their coach, Todd Berry, in midseason, and haven't yet won a game. Certainly this game would make their season, but I see Navy winning and winning big, and capturing the Commander-in-Chief trophy for the first time since the George Welsh era back in the early '80s.
Now, on to the conference championships, two of which are rematches, and all of which are being played in a location within an hour's drive of one of the two competitors:
First, tomorrow night is the MAC championship. This game is being played at the winner of the Western division, Bowling Green. Miami comes in having gone undefeated in conference play. Bowling Green comes in having only one loss in conference play: they lost at Miami. So Miami goes in knowing that they can win. Bowling Green goes in knowing that they're playing at their place now, and looking for revenge. Both teams are very good, with each team's nonconference loss coming at the hands of the Big Ten on the road: Miami lost badly in their first game at Iowa, and Bowling Green lost by a touchdown at Ohio State. So both teams are comparable. Since my parents are Miami alumni, I'm rooting hard for the Redhawks. However, I see the Falcons winning, based primarily on the home field advantage and Bowling Green's desire for revenge (and despite the ass-ugly uniforms...they look like some sort of unholy mixture of things that come out of one's body after a hard night's drinking).
In the Big XII, Oklahoma travels to Kansas City to face Kansas State; KC is about an hour's hard drive from Manhattan, so one presumes the stands will be filled with Wildcat partisans. This game also has some bad blood, as Bob Stoops of OU left Bill Snyder's staff a few years ago to go to OU. Everyone's saying, in some sort of pro forma way, that even if OU loses they still go to the Sugar Bowl. But here's the thing: they won't lose. Oklahoma under Stoops is the best big-game team in the country. Kansas State under Snyder is, very possibly, the worst. So, despite the fact that Oklahoma is playing, for all intents and purposes, on the road, they'll beat K-State.
Finally, we come to the Southeastern Conference championship, featuring another rematch in LSU vs Georgia, and being played in Atlanta, less than an hour from Athens. So, like the previous game, it will have all sorts of home team partisans. Add to this that a plurality (if not outright majority) of Georgia fans are from Atlanta or its suburbs, and this equates to home field advantage. Georgia, like Bowling Green, is playing at home and looking for revenge. When they played LSU earlier in the year, Billy Bennett missed three field goals which would have given Georgia the win. Also, when they played, Georgia was banged up, if I remember correctly. Now, however, they're healthy. And at home. And looking for revenge. And looking to go to a BCS bowl. I could keep going, but all of these motivating factors outweigh LSU's motivator: an outside chance to go to the Sugar Bowl. So Georgia wins the SEC for the second straight year.
Zuletzt: To comment on my Zuerst, I find myself ogling more women than I would have in the past, and doing so more openly. My big question is this: is that a good thing or a bad thing? I find myself feeling vaguely guilty over things like "objectification", etc. Maybe I just need to get laid.
More later.
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