AT LAST, THE FOOTBALL SEASON BEGINS IN EARNEST
September 4, 2010----by Fred Kelly Grant
The long draught of summer has ended. Starting last Thursday night, college football returned for a season that could be
the most entertaining in a decade or more. It could be a season that pushes the
American sports fan even closer to demanding, as consumers, that a playoff be instituted for Division I NCAA football teams.
Boise State University and Texas Christian
University have a shot at reaching the national championship game, or one of the top three BCS bowl games at the end of the
season. Everything has to go exactly right for them, a perfect season, in order
to be rated in the top five teams for those bowl shots. If they should gain those
perfect records and not be included in the Big Games, then it could really set off a national clamor for a play off system---a
system that is opposed by the austere Presidents of the Universities who believe they would lose some of the huge profits
they make from the current bowl system.
Texas Christian started out right with an impressive
win over Oregon State which just might be the class of the Pac 10 Conference this year.
Oregon State is on the Bronco schedule for their third game of the season, and a win for the Broncos there is now a
must because of the TCU victory.
Now, for fans of the Boise State Broncos, rated
number 3 in the nation right now, we can only wait for Monday night when they play Virginia Tech, ranked 6th, in
Fed Ex field in Washington, DC. It is billed as a game on a “neutral site”. Right!! Over 100,000 Virginia Tech alumni
live in the DC area, and 70,000 seats have been sold to Virginia Tech fans.
But, regardless of the fan support and
the field itself, Boise State stepped up and scheduled the big school. This is
not the sixth or seventh team in the ACC, it is the number 6 team in the nation, probably very agitated over being ranked
lower than the Boise State upstarts. Should Boise State win, they will have taken
a giant step toward being in one of the three top BCS bowl games this year, perhaps even the national title game. They will have to win every other game on their schedule to pull it off, but a win in this one makes it
possible. Should Boise State lose, no matter what happens the rest of the way,
the best they can hope for is one of the BCS games, but not one of the top three.
Be sure to note that there will be no “moral
victory” in this one either. A loss by Boise State, by any margin, will
have no victory attached, Moral or not. It will be a loss that will eliminate
their opportunity to get into one of those top three bowl games.
So, we wait.
Meanwhile, it has been a great opening week-end.
My South Carolina Gamecocks led off the nationally
televised games, and showed more offensive strength than they have had for years. A
fine freshman running back, a matured quarterback who doesn’t make foolish mistakes, and three 6’ 4” solid
wide receivers just might finally give Spurrier’s era the boost it needs to get the Gamecocks back into the top teams
in the SEC.
They brought confidence and hope to Gamecock
fans, and a fantasy that maybe that hope will be rewarded. At the first of the
season, all is possible.
Today, the Notre Dame fighting irish,
my favorite team from the age of seven, also showed signs of tremendous improvement in a running game that is essential at
the level they play. During the game, and following the game, I thought I could
hear the Echoes of the Great Teams of the past on the horizon, being re-awakened by a new coach and a new enthusiasm and intensity
of the team.
Watching coach Riley’s face as the coaches
and players joined in the traditional signing of the Notre Dame alma mater at the end of the game, showing such pride and
satisfaction, I couldn’t help but believe that he was hearing the Echoes of the past.
Made me want to one more time see the Irish play in that tremendously exciting atmosphere of South Bend. I was there only once with my wife Lodice, and have always wanted to go back. Maybe this year? The tradition, the spirit, the thrill felt
when the team emerges from that famous tunnel, is all that a football fan could ever ask.
One of the most exciting elements of college
football occurred on the very first week-end of the new season. A Division II
football team, Jacksonville State, played Ole Miss of the powerful SEC. Obviously
this was one of the “cannon fodder” teams scheduled by Ole Miss to give them a good start with an easy win before
the home fans in the season opener.
It looked like that would happen, as Ole Miss
held a three touchdown lead going into the fourth quarter. But, then the magic
of college football competition took control of the field. Interception after
interception allowed Jacksonville State to get back into the game and actually tie the game, sending it into an overtime session. That in itself was a “moral victory” for the Jacksonville team, and they
could easily have folded up and gone home with fans saying “boy we showed them we weren’t pushovers.”
But, the Gamecocks from Jacksonville weren’t
content to get a “moral victory”. They scored to equalize Ole Miss
in the overtime, sending the game into a second overtime. Ole Miss scored a touchdown
and extra point and led by 7. Jacksonville wasted three plays, then on fourth
down and 18, a quarterback being rushed and flushed out of the pocket, launched a pass into the end zone, caught for the touchdown.
The coach called time out, and decided that
on the road, he would go for the win and try for a two point conversion. If made,
the team would pull one of the greatest upsets of the year and win the biggest game in the history of the school. If missed, they would have to settle for the “moral victory”.
The quarterback, a freshman, tried to roll
out, but was caught by a big defensive lineman, and as he was being grasped, the qb did an overhand shovel of the ball to
his big fullback and he fell into the endzone behind a big lineman. Two points,
and an unlikely upset. Those kids will talk about this game when they are old,
achy and living on memories.
That’s the greatness of college football. On any given day, on any given field, a team can get ignited by emotion and pull off
a huge upset. It’s the stuff that makes the Autumn fun.
We’ve waited through a long summer for
the opening week-end and that one thrilling game got us off to a great start.
