December 5, 2013

Must List: Championship Week

Championship week in college football is one of my favorite periods of the sporting schedule along with the 2nd weekend of the NFL playoffs, the first week of the NCAA tournament, and the first week of the MLB playoffs. What I don't love about this week is the politicking going on between schools to see who gets into what bowl game. Let the games be played first before you start politicking guys. Please I beg you.

Friday, December 6th
MAC Championship: Northern Illinois vs Bowling Green, 8:00 (ESPN2: Carter Blackburn, Danny Kannell, Allison Williams) I love how they play this game every year in a quarter full Ford Field in Detroit. Because when you can only fill a quarter of a gigantic domed NFL stadium, you have to do it. Also I love how the MAC plays all of their games on weekdays. Is their better exposure for a lesser league like the MAC than playing on the weekday? I really believe a couple of weeks ago when Fresno State and Northern Illinois were undefeated and Northern Illinois was ranked higher it was because they played during the weekdays when everyone can watch them. East coast people are always going to watch weekday primetime MAC games over 11 PM weekend Mountain West games. It doesn't matter now since Fresno State lost.


Saturday, December 7th
Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, Noon (ABC: Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman, Shannon Spake) OK State wins and they're guaranteed a BCS spot. It's that easy for them. Now here's what really grinds my gears about OK State, they ruined everything. If they hadn't beaten Baylor we could have possibly seen a Baylor-Florida State national championship game where the scoreboard would have been broke and the "SEC ain't in the championship game is un-American" talks would have never happened. DAMN YOU OK STATE.

C-USA Championship: Marshall at Rice, Noon (ESPN2: Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen, Maria Taylor) I'm mentioning this game because if you look at their offensive numbers, this game should be a shootout. Would you rather watch Conference USA teams in a shootout or OU vs OK State? Okay don't answer that question.

Texas at Baylor, 3:30 (Fox: Craig Bolerjack, Joey Harrington, Ryan Nece) Baylor needs to win this game to get into a BCS game. I doubt the BCS would allow a two-loss team into one of their games that plays in a league without a conference championship (see the Pac-12 from 2004-2010). I like Baylor in this game because Texas' defense is bad and the game is being played in Waco. I'm still pissed at Baylor though for losing to OK State.

SEC ChampionshipMissouri vs Auburn, 4:00 (CBS: Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, Tracy Wolfson) I love how Auburn is all fired up about jumping Ohio State to get into the national title game when they still have to play one more SEC game against another 1-loss team that didn't win a bunch of fluky games like Auburn. And that's the truth about Auburn, they've won fluky games. And they've won them recently! They're a bobbled pass and a Saban brainfart away from having three losses on the year but they should totally jump Ohio State in the BCS standings before playing Missouri. I hope Auburn gets crushed in this game.

Pac-12 Championship: Stanford at Arizona State, 7:45 (ESPN: Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe) What a "meh" game. We've already seen these two teams play. We've already seen them both lose games to other opponents and yet here they are playing for a chance to play in the Rose Bowl. And what a crappy Rose Bowl we're headed for. A two-loss Pac-12 team vs. either Sparty or Ohio State. Yuck. I love the tradition of the Rose Bowl and the Pac-12 vs Big Ten aspect of the game, but I'm starting to come around to fact that it would probably be better seeing two different conferences playing in that game.

B1G Championship: Michigan State vs Ohio State, 8:00 (Fox: Gus Johnson, Charles Davis, Kristina Pink) Auburn has made a lot of noise about getting into the national title game despite one loss, but what about Michigan State? Sparty is a few blown calls away in the Notre Dame game from being undefeated and their offense this year has been just as good as Auburn's? What if Sparty blows out Ohio State in this game? Shouldn't they get a shot in the national title game? I still can't believe how much Sparty has been punished in this entire process. Do you realize they're 10th in the BCS standings despite going undefeated in league play and their one loss coming at the beginning of the season? I'm sorry but it's been Michigan State that has been screwed in this entire process.

ACC Championship: Duke vs Florida State, 8:00 (ABC: Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Heather Cox) I'll say this about this game, at least a .500 Georgia Tech team isn't playing in it. Other than that, I really can't say anything nice. This is going to be a bloodbath. Duke has been a cute story this year and have some nice wins on their resume, but they're a lightweight going against a super heavyweight. I would bet Florida State wins this game by at least 20 points.

MWC Championship: Utah State at Fresno State, 10:00 (CBS: Andrew Catalon, Aaron Taylor, Allie LaForce) Well this game certainly lost it's luster as soon as Fresno State lost to San Jose State. Now we're only watching this game letting our hangover to kick in. I will say I'm impressed Utah State is in this game despite missing Chuckie Keaton for most of the season. Kuddos to Utah State for playing so well despite missing someone like Chuckie.

Recipe of the Week, Cornish Game Hens: I'm not going to lie, I picked this recipe for I could play this clip.



Alcoholic Beverage of the Week, Jim Beam Maple: It's cold where I am right now. And bourbon is one of the better alcohols to drink when it's cold. Now Jim Beam is my personal favorite bourbon brand and their Maple is one of the best bourbons I've tasted. You get that maple taste instead of a bitter taste that is delicious and warms your body.

1 comment:

  1. I still can't decide what would be worse, Auburn trying to get into the title game via stump speech or the fact that if Ohio St, Florida State and Auburn all lose, we're probably looking at some sort of Alabama/Missouri title game. It also likely means that someone is on the take and college football is even more fixed than we all realize.

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