Friday, September 26, 2008

Any Given Saturday--or Thursday

Nana na na, nana na na, hey hey, goodby!

That is what the college football fans of the nation are singing to USC this morning. Well, except for the left coast. Yes, I have a prejudice against California. I would love to (and plan to) visit the state to enjoy the incredible natural beauty. It is just that many citizens of the state seem to take on an arrogance that insinuates "our state is superior to yours and since I was born/moved here, I must be superior to you". That would not be so bad if the rest of the country did not buy into it. If it is from Hollywood, the nation accepts that it must be glamorous. If it is from Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive it is elegant and trendsetting. What happens in California will happen in the rest of the country--later--when the simple folks catch up. One icon that represents that attitude, at least to me, is USC--the University of Spoiled Children. The amount of money, natural beauty, and glamorous image of the state enable the school to buy, I mean recruit many of the best players. Some of them (remember O.J. Simpson) never get over the better-than-everybody-else attitude. This assertion, and national acceptance, of superiority carried over into the college football rankings AGAIN this year as USC was ranked #1 in the nation and everybody assumed they would cruise unbeaten into the national championship.

Apparently, the folks from the less glamorous west coast state of Oregon did not get the memo. Last night Oregon State AGAIN beat USC. Yes, that is correct. Unranked Oregon State--not even considered the best college football team in tiny Oregon beat the team considered #1 by a score of 27-21. And that was no fluke. Oregon State actually led 21- 0 at halftime. While USC should drop far out of the top 10 and be out of the title hunt based on one loss and a very weak schedule, that will not happen. Most teams will have at least one loss and this one will be distant history by the end of the season.

For now though, the four SEC teams in the top 10 will gain more respect for having to play each other and will be MUCH better by the end of the season. That is why bowl season is so much fun.

So, games like Saturday's match-up between Alabama and Georgia (likely 2009 national champions) become much more important. And fun.

8 comments:

BabyJ20 said...

Nobody plays football like the SEC... they just don't. I'm not good enough with sports to tell you why, but they just don't seem to. I can only guess that the reason any team outside the SEC could conceivably be ranked better or actually be better is that they're the only good team in the state so they've got all the good players. Alabama has to top notch SEC teams... Georgia has two, or at least one :) ... and you could make arguments about others, but they don't matter in my world, and you get my picture.

And for the record... I've been out west and to LA. I don't like dry heat... who knew?!

Anonymous said...

Are you saying that the winner of the Alabama/Georgia game will be the 2009 BCS champion?

Lerra said...

Yes, the mood is jovial in my office this morning, thanks to this game last night. :-)

I still think the polls are worthless & we should have a playoff. But what do I know, right?

Roxy Wishum said...

Well, Bonnie, I was showing my bias for Georgia who was actually ranked # 1 at the beginning of the season. But Alabama has a very real chance of it also. At this point, Auburn, LSU, and Florida are possibilities depending on how they all do against each other (even with Auburn's loss to LSU). There is still a looong way to go and there will be more surprises.

Anonymous said...

Roxy, I was just teasing you - I knew you meant Georgia :) But as a lifelong Alabama fan, I just had to put that in.
LSU won't make it - they don't have a quarterback.
And why do we gloat so much over other teams losing??? I ,too, am a USC un-fan (hater being too strong of a word - um -maybe not)I have always hated Notre Dame, but once a year I pull for them to beat USC(unless, of course, Notre Dame is undefeated and USC is having a bad season - can't have ND sneaking up in those polls) It seems we enjoy other teams losing almost as much as we enjoy our team winning. I think there is a primitive streak in each of us that football unleashes!

SEC rules!!

..but USC does have an awesome band :)

Kat said...

That was quite a game last night, wasn't it? :)

JSM said...

I just love it when the underdog CRUSHES their competition when no one expects it!!

Anonymous said...

So do I !