Week 11: Football Armageddon

Football Armageddon is here and you cannot underestimate the wave of euphoria that must have overtaken ESPN and the greater, ABC/Disney media kingdom on Saturday as both Ohio State and Michigan took care of business (with authoritay) and made it to The Game undefeated 1 and 2. The Game has always been a big deal for ABC, but since the Michigan Notre Dame game, the emphasis on undefeated has pointed to November 18 in Columbus as the crux of the entire college football season. With the increased national awareness, The Game is the ad-selling extravaganza of the year since the Super Bowl. Nobody wanted this to happen more than ABC, since they don’t care how The Game shakes out as long as 100 million drunk eyeballs are watching at kickoff. The Hype this week is already reaching unbelievable levels.

I’m not sure if this is the right word or not, but I’m going to say it’s a bummer that BSU finally rises into the guaranteed BCS ranking (#12 this week) in the wake of what to me is the team’s least impressive win of the season. There is also the unfortunate matter of Ian Johnson’s collapsed lung, a serious-sounding injury that went sort of under the radar if you were watching the game or any of ESPN’s summative coverage on Saturday and Sunday. It’s a bummer because a lot of this was achieved by 1-loss teams losing (Texas, Cal, Auburn) and not the Broncos' play on the field. This isn't the way to arrive in the BCS and does not bode well. I’m afraid the Broncos may be trending down going into the end of the season. Fortunately, they get a break with Utah State at home before finishing at Nevada in two weeks with a Wolfpack team that seems more dangerous to me than San Jose State (though the Broncos have a history of tripping up in Silicon Valley).

Boy was I wrong about Cal. Florida is back as the BCS #3 and that’s no good as it took everything they had (a miraculous double-blocked field goal game) to best South Carolina. The Gamecocks are feisty and all, with Steve Spurrier calling the shots on offense, but the #3 team in the land beating them by just a point didn’t enhance my appreciation for the team voted most likely to play the winner of The Game, even if it is a bunch of lousy computers doing the voting.

After this weekend, you have to doubt every team with a loss. Florida is suspect #1. You have to have doubts about the rest of their season in the SEC, which leads me to believe that the winner of USC/Notre Dame has the inside track on the National Championship game by virtue of not having to play in The Game.

Finally, did anyone else hear Lee Corso absolutely shitting on the Big East on Pardon the Interruption (Nov. 10 Podcast) the other day? He hates the Big East (even before Louisville lost). He may look nuts on TV but I knew there was a reason I liked him.