College football takes over
October 22, 2003
Baseball was expecting to have a television audience for the World Series this year, but with the Marlins and Yankees, frankly who cares. The Yankees bought their way into the World Series again this year and the Marlins, heck, if they win, management will probably clean house again and get rid of all their players.
So let’s talk about the sport that all true fans are now tuned in to, college football.
This past Wednesday, West Virginia trounced Virginia Tech, giving the Hookies their first loss of the year. So with that there are only two teams left undefeated: Oklahoma and Miami. And while Oklahoma has been practically flawless this season, Miami has had some road bumps. Most experts believe that Miami can’t stay undefeated for the rest of the season. If it doesn’t, that will at least guarantee that one team with a loss will be in the championship game. The front runners would most likely be USC, Georgia, Florida State and Ohio State, who are all 6-1 and would be more then happy to see either Miami or Oklahoma falter down the stretch to give them a shot at the national title.
Georgia: Georgia lost to LSU 17-10 earlier in the season and did not let it hold them down, as they rebounded and won three straight. The Bulldogs, though, may have another loss coming to them soon enough. They still have to play No. 25 Florida in Florida and host No. 21 Auburn the following week. And if that doesn’t sound rough enough, they will be playing interstate rival Georgia Tech at Tech in the last week of the season. And even if they get by all three of those teams, they will still have to play in the never-easy SEC title game. Georgia will be BCS bowl-bound, but not the title game.
Florida State: The Seminoles would be the sentimental pick, especially if Bobby Bowden is building up the wins, but even if they win the rest of the games, their strength of schedule will certainly hurt them when it comes to the BCS polls. The only hard teams they play this season are No. 2 Miami and No. 25 Florida. Too bad Notre Dame was not a little bit better, it could have been the team to push the Seminoles over the top.
USC: The Trojans have once again had an amazing season, not only beating but thrashing the teams they have played. However, a late September trip to California, which resulted in a 34-31 loss, killed their chances at any title bowl berth. Though USC plays in PAC-10, the PAC-10 has not been as dominant as it has been in the past. This year they only have two teams ranked in the top 25, including USC.
Ohio State: So we are left with last year’s champions. Though the Buckeyes never destroy or kill anybody, they always manage to squeak by their opponent. And if they can continue to sneak by opponents and come out with those five-to-six point wins, you will be sure to see this team in the title game come January. Not because they are good, but because of how good the Big Ten is this year and their strength of schedule will boost them past any other contenders. But all this could be pointless, if this Saturday all top teams in college football lose. If that happens there will be an absolute mess at the top of the BCS standings.