Anticipation…making me wait, making me wait. Well the time for waiting is officially over as the 2010 college football season kicks off Thursday night with a battle between Pittsburgh and Utah, a rematch of the 2005 Fiesta Bowl. Utah looks to rep the mid-majors once again, just as it did in the 35-7 thumping of the Panthers in 2005, on their way to a historic 12-0.
Although the Utes are not a top-25 team, they are certainly forerunners for cracking the top 25 this season, and are in contention with TCU for the Mountain West title. Coached by none other than current Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer.
College football has received a lot of criticism for these high-ranking match ups early in the season. I personally love it, and think its a great way to gain some television time and some strong revenue.
The last thing people want to see is Florida take on Coastal Carolina and win 69-0. Fans enjoy the close, hard-fought games against another great powerhouse.
And the most important part: it cost money. Florida payed Coastal Carolina 465,000 dollars to travel down to Gainesville and take a beating. These teams know they will get absolutely destroyed, but the school gets the big bucks out of it, and in college football these days, it really is all about the benjamins.
These early games where a powerhouse takes on another powerhouse reminds me to my days of playing virtual NCAA football, creating my Dynasty mode and picking out teams to play against in my non-conference schedule. Who did I pick to play? Ohio State, Florida, Oklahoma, Miami (FL), among others. I didn’t give myself an easy schedule. I wanted a challenge!
Along with Pittsburgh playing Utah, Oregon State will take on TCU at the new Cowboys stadium on Saturday, and LSU will play against North Carolina in another top-25 match-up.
And then college football fans get a special labor day gift, when Boise State battles Virginia Tech, a match-up between two top-10 teams.
These early matches allow teams to put all their cards out on the table. A mid-major like Boise State has nothing to lose. They go undefeated, and still are left out of the BCS championship game. If they want to prove themselves among the six powerhouse conferences, they have to play with them.
Broncos coach Chris Peterson is making a bold move playing high-calibur teams early in the season. It’s all about recognition, and the Broncos are in it to win it. They dominated Oregon last year, and even got LaGarette Blount to throw a nice sucker-punch at a Broncos player, but that’s a different issue.
It’s a catch 22 for non-BCS schools. If they try and take on the big boys in non-conference play, they are criticized for scheduling such marquee games early in the season. If they schedule games against say Eastern Washington, Sacamento State, or North Texas, they are criticized for having a weak schedule when they are in the running for an undefeated season, and year after year, will find themselves on the outside looking in.
How do you get into a place where only the elite belong? IS there a way to get this special membership, and crack the code of the BCS system, which naturally only locks in college football’s “elite.”
Fresno State coach Pat Hill started a tradition of scheduling brutal non-conference schedules a few years back. Like Teddy Roosevelt once said you have to “speak softly, but carry a big stick.” Inconspicuously, the Bulldogs would be traveling to Cincinnati or Wisconsin, taking on Ohio State or some big NCAA powerhouse. His philosophy: anytime, any place, anywhere.
Although this pattern did not favor him (the Bulldogs would win a few of those games and gain respect, then falter in conference play), he earned a lot of respect for making such a bold move in the scheduling process.
In 2010, other coaches, even ones in BCS conferences, are following suit. Chris Peterson has done it for Boise State the past few years, and at this rate, we might just see Boise State play in the national title game.
The rigged BCS point system which favors the six power conferences is like the Tower of Piza right now; every year, it is gradually leaning over, until one day it will all come crumbling down. When that day comes, scheduling marquee games early for recognition will be the biggest payoff for these non-BCS coaches.
It will spark an innovation, a change, something that nobody thought could be done but did. I made it happen on a video game, and now its entering the portal of reality. Big time games in September. Who would have thought.