College football round-up

None of the six major unbeaten teams lost.

Some of the other ranked teams got exposed as pretenders.

  • Oklahoma State had been ranked #9 in the nation. I reckon they were a tad overrated, considering that they were utterly curb-stomped, 48-0, by Kansas State.
  • Former #10 Wake Forest received a drubbing of their own, 48-21, against unranked Louisville.
  • A few of the teams ranked between 16 and 25 suffered losses, but let’s be honest, those teams are not contenders for the Final Four. They are just hoping for a strong game in the post-season.
  • Rutgers watch: LOSS, 31-0. That’s the Rutgers we know and love!

By the way, there will be no bowl games on New Year’s Day this year. It falls on a Sunday, and the NCAA doesn’t compete with the NFL, so the colleges will play the New Year’s bowls on Monday, January 2nd. (The Final Four will play on December 31st.)

The biggest regular-season game of the year is coming next week – #1 Georgia vs #3 Tennessee. It’s kind of a do-or-die game because its a difficult climb back after a loss there. They are both in the same division (East) of the SEC, which means that only one of them can get into the conference championship game, so the one that doesn’t make the conference championship game is unlikely to make the Final Four, even if it suffers a mere one-point loss to the #1 team in the nation. (This is particularly problematic if there are unbeaten teams in the other conferences, and there could be three: TCU, Clemson, and either Ohio State or Michigan.)

Ohio State and Michigan don’t clash until the final game of the regular season. They are in a similar situation to the one I described in the SEC. Ohio State and Michigan are in the same half of the Big Ten, so only one of them can make the conference championship game, even though they clearly seem to be the best teams in the conference.

Football scoreboard

8 thoughts on “College football round-up

  1. Too overlapping with the American Pastime for me.
    But then my relationship with soccer is generally limited to waking up for the Cups and watching old Cruyff clips. I always make sure to pack a couple of #14 tees when I head Haarlem-wards in the summer.

    1. Johan Cruyff played for the Los Angeles Aztecs in the North American Soccer League for at least one season when the Vancouver Whitecaps beat them in the playoffs. In the NASL Soccer Bowl that aired on Wide World of Sports, the commentator referred to Vancouver as ‘a village’ which is why one of the soccer follower groups here refer to themselves as the village.

      The North American Soccer League was arguably one of the top two leagues in the world in 1979 and 1980 but I don’t think there is any question that the best team in the world then was Ajax Amsterdam.

      1. I consider 1974 to have been the greatest tragedy since the 1966 World Series. Btw, he played here (DC) too.
        #14 is a great conversation starter in Dutchland, particularly when I open my mouth and talk like a Yank. Get the same effect wearing a Madness tee in North London. Maybe the greatest band who never cracked it here. A national treasure in the UK, particularly their singer “Suggs”.

  2. The American women’s soccer league championship game was finally broadcast for the first time on a major network (CBS) in primetime. The Portland Thorns defeated the Kansas City Current 2-0 (the score flattered Kansas City.) In addition to some very good soccer (mostly from Portland), there are some very attractive women on both teams.

    For Portland, I guess this goes some way to forgiving the Portland Timbers for embarrassing the men’s Major League Soccer in last years championship game with their ’10 men behind the ball’ strategy.

    1. oh yeah. The Major League Soccer championship game is in a couple weeks. It’s normally much better than it was last year, probably comparable to high level English League Championship soccer: high paced and physical with a lot of technical proficiency but not necessarily a great deal of creative skill unlike in the English Premier League.

      Most World Cup games, especially obviously in the group stage, are far more comparable to high level English League Championship games than they are to English Premier League games.

      1. For instance this is Bella Bixby, the Portland Thorns keeper, from her instagram. (I can’t find any relation between her and Bill Bixby.)

        1

        2

        3

        4

Comments are closed.