TimKesten.com

Things could get very uncomfortable for the BCS system and its proponents this year.  In the past the system has certainly not been without controversy, and every year since its inception at least one school has had a legitimate complaint about their team being snubbed.  This year, however there might be more griping than ever.  This year there might be more teams with worthy arguments that they should play for the national championship than ever.  This year it is reasonable to think that we may have as many as six undefeated teams at the end of the regular season.

After nine weeks of college football there are seven teams left undefeated.  Last year after week nine there were eight undefeated teams, Texas, Alabama, Penn State, Texas Tech, Utah, Boise State, Ball State and Tulsa, yet neither team that played for the national championship did so without a loss.  The difference is that last year five of those teams were already ranked below at least one team with a loss.  Four of those five teams, Utah, Boise State, Ball State and Tulsa, would not have played in the championship game even if they had gone undefeated as evidenced by Utah, the highest ranked of the four, who did go undefeated but was left out of the national championship.  Tulsa was ranked only 18^th at the time and finished outside of the top 25 as did Ball State.

Of the remaining four, Texas and Texas Tech had yet to play each other, Texas Tech had yet to play at Oklahoma State and against Oklahoma, Alabama still had to face LSU and play in the SEC championship against Florida and Penn State still had to go to Iowa, where they had lost five of the last six times they had played.  Six weeks later, Texas had lost to Texas Tech, Texas Tech had lost to Oklahoma, Alabama had lost to Florida and Penn State had lost to Iowa, leaving several one loss teams, but no undefeated team at the top.

This year Alabama and Florida both have the SEC title game looming, but neither will play underdog the rest of the season until then, and it’s likely that one of the two teams will emerge from that game undefeated.  The other five teams only have three games against ranked teams combined; Iowa plays at Ohio State, Cincinnati plays at Pittsburgh and TCU hosts Utah.  The seven teams combined are likely to be double-digit favorites in all but six games for the rest of the year and none of them will play a game in which they are not favored.  Upsets are a part of life in college football, but I can’t imagine all seven of these teams getting beat by a lesser team.  The BCS better hope that at least five do, or the grumbling is going to get louder than ever.

Lately there has been a lot of discussion concerning who the best one loss team in the country is.  USC seems to be getting the majority of the support and other than the fact that “USC” is on their jerseys I can not figure out why.  The only teams that can even be considered for that title at this point are USC and Virginia Tech, and in my mind, the best one loss team in the country at this point is Virginia Tech, in a land slide.

Virginia Tech is 5-1, beating Marshall, Nebraska, Miami, Duke and Boston College.  None of those teams have a losing record, and they have combined for a record of 19-9.  Two of the teams, Miami and Nebraska are 4-1, meaning they have not lost to anyone other than the Hokies.  If you count the only game that Tech lost, their opponents this season have a combined record of 24-9.  USC, on the other hand has beaten San Jose State, Ohio State, Washington State and California.  Those teams have a combined record of 10-12, with Ohio State accounting for half of those wins.

Virginia Tech’s one loss came to a vastly superior opponent than did USC’s.  Virginia Tech was leading in the fourth quarter against an Alabama team that is currently 6-0 and that many (myself included) think is the best team in the country.  The Hokies scored 24 points against The Tide, more than any other team this season and almost double the 12.5 points per game Alabama’s defense is averaging this season.

USC’s lone loss came to Washington, who lost all twelve games they played last year.  This year Washington is 3-3 and when playing teams not called the Trojans they are giving up over 31 points per game.  USC managed only 13, ten points less than the Idaho Vandals scored against the Huskies the week before.

There is plenty of football left to be played.  This week Virginia Tech plays at 19th ranked Georgia Tech, and if they navigate the rest of their schedule they will still have to play in the ACC championship game.  USC plays 25th ranked Notre Dame on Saturday and still has to go to Oregon.  It is not a given that either team will have only one loss at the end of the season.  It is also not a given that Texas, Florida, Alabama, Cincinnati, USF, Iowa and Kansas will all lose one game.  They are all undefeated at the moment, and neither the Hokies nor the Trojans could pass any of those teams, should any of them finish the season with a perfect record, so this discussion may prove to be unnecessary.  For now, however, I think it’s clear that the Virginia Tech Hokies have done enough this season to be recognized as the better team.

Three weeks (and one Thursday night game) into the college football season and there are now 28 teams without a loss, including two teams from non automatic qualifying conferences that are ranked in the top 25, and thirteen undefeated teams that are not in the top 25.  Twenty eight teams have a chance this weekend to keep the dream alive or be cast off with the also-rans.  Some, like Texas, who plays UTEP this weekend, are a pretty safe bet to remain undefeated.  But I will tell you who I think will get their first loss this week and some teams on the rise that may survive the weekend with a perfect record.

Dunzo:

Indiana, Southern Miss, Colorado State, Iowa, South Florida, Kentucky, Arizona State, North Carolina, Wisconsin

Indiana plays at Michigan after beating Eastern Kentucky, Western Michigan and Akron.  Southern Miss has a shot against Kansas but it’s a long one, as their three wins have come against an FCS school and two really bad FBS teams.  Colorado State has improved greatly this season under second year coach Steve Fairchild, but not enough to win at BYU, as the Cougars look to rebound from their embarrassing loss to Florida State last week.

Iowa upset Penn State last year and ruined their national title hopes, but this year the game is in Happy Valley and I don’t see them doing it again.  Kentucky hosts a Florida team that is unhappy about its performance last week against Tennessee and is getting several key players back from injury or sickness.  The Wildcats will put up a fight at first, but it will not be enough in the end.  South Florida goes to Tallahassee to play a Seminole team that looks as though it may have gotten the wake up call it needed against Jacksonville State.  Without the Bulls’ quarterback Matt Groethe this one could be a laugher.

Arizona State is ranked first in the country in total defense, but mostly because they have only played Idaho State and Louisiana Monroe.  This week that defense will be tested as they go between the hedges to play at Georgia, who scored a combined 93 points in their last two games.   I think the Dawgs will cruise in this one.

North Carolina and Wisconsin are both favored this week, but I think they will both lose.  UNC has a very good defense but they play at Georgia Tech this week.  The Tarheels have not played anyone with a rushing offense like Tech’s this season and have lost at Georgia Tech five straight times.  Wisconsin is undefeated but could easily be one and two.  Their only convincing win came last week against Wofford, an FCS school.  The Badgers host Michigan State this week, who is one and two but could easily be undefeated.  The Spartans can not afford to lose another close one, and I think they’ll upset Wisconsin.

Still Undefeated (but don’t get your hopes up)

Texas A&M, Missouri, UCLA, Auburn, Pitt

Texas A&M is an unconvincing 2-0 after beating New Mexico and escaping Utah State.  The Aggies will win again this week against UAB, but the next two weeks, against Arkansas and Oklahoma State they will be exposed.  Missouri has been surprisingly good after the loss of Jeremy Maclin and Chase Daniel.  They will continue to impress this week against Nevada, and they will win more games down the road, but don’t expect them to navigate a schedule that includes Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Texas without some bumps and bruises.

Auburn will improve to 4-0 this week against Ball State, and after wins against Louisiana Tech, Mississippi State and West Virginia, but the rest of their schedule is ridiculous.  The Tigers will play at Tennessee, at Arkansas, host Kentucky, at LSU, host Ole Miss, at Georgia and host Alabama.  That may be the toughest schedule in the country.  I do not think that Auburn has enough to get through that stretch.

Pitt has yet to play an FBS team with a winning record.  They will when they travel to NC State this week.  The Wolfpack have righted their offense against two FCS teams after it looked terrible in week one against South Carolina.  I think Pitt will win this game easily, and I think they can compete inside their conference, but that’s about it.  UCLA will remain undefeated by default; they are on a bye.

Still Undefeated (and look out!):

Cincinnati, Houston, Miami (FL)

Cincinnati hosts giant killers Fresno State this week, and if they had to travel to Fresno for the game, I would probably see this one differently.  In the last four weeks Fresno State has had to travel from California to Wisconsin, back to California, and now to Cincinnati.  I think this one will be close, but I generally don’t like teams that have to cross time zones.  After this week Cincinnati’s schedule is very manageable, as they will likely not play a ranked team for the rest of the year.

Houston already has one signature win against Oklahoma, this week they will be looking for their second against Texas Tech.  I don’t necessarily think that Houston is better than Texas Tech, but the Red Raiders are going to be fighting the Texas hangover, and both games they lost last year came away from home.  This is another game that I might pick differently if it wasn’t a home game.  If Houston does beat Texas Tech, they have an incredibly easy schedule the rest of the way, including several games against very bad teams.

Miami (FL) is two games into a brutal four game stretch.  They survived Florida State and then thumped Georgia Tech.  This week they play Virginia Tech, a team that I think, because of lack of production by quarterback Tyrod Taylor is totally over rated.  Taylor is completing just 47.6 percent of his passes this season.  The game is in Blacksburg, and that will certainly help the Hokies, but quarterback Jacory Harris seams like the real deal and Miami’s defense will try to make Taylor make bad decisions.  The last game of Miami’s gauntlet is next week against Oklahoma.  There’s no indication that Heisman trophy winner Same Bradford will be able to play in that game, and if (and that’s a big if) Miami wins these two games, they will undoubtedly be a top-five team and will only have one ranked team remaining on their schedule.

I’m Not Sold:

Michigan, Kansas, TCU

Michigan has looked impressive so far, but they’ve played a couple teams from non-automatic qualifying conferences, and until someone from the Big Ten conference does something to convince me otherwise, I’m not going to count a 3-0 start by a Big Ten team as impressive.  At this point, for a Big Ten team to be considered worthy of a national championship bid, they must run the table.  I don’t see Michigan doing that.

Kansas is 3-0 after beating Northern Colorado, UTEP and Duke.  In other words, they haven’t proven anything yet.  This week I believe they will remain undefeated as they play Southern Miss, but wee really won’t know much about the Jayhawks until October 24th when they play Oklahoma.  Kansas has a very good shot at being 6-0 before they play the Sooners, but after that they play at Texas Tech, host Nebraska, play at Texas and host Missouri.  This could be a 7-4 type of team at the end of the season.

TCU has been close to busting the BCS before but, have never succeeded.  This year they are 2-0 and ranked 15th in the A.P. Poll.  They have already beaten one ACC team, but that team was Virginia, who is 0-3 and already had lost to an FCS school.  This game is a toss up for me, but I’m inclined to pick Clemson because they are at home.  Even if TCU wins this game, however, they still have games remaining against Colorado State and Utah and at BYU.  Never mind the championship game, to play in any BCS bowl TCU must win every game.  I’m not convinced they can.

At the end of every college football season you look back at certain wins and realize that they were not as good of a win as you thought at the time.  Similarly, there are losses that do not seem as bad.  When LSU beat Auburn 26-21 last year, it was perceived as a big win for the Tigers.  At the end of the season, it looked like they should have beaten them by more than five points.  Similarly, Florida’s home loss to Ole Miss looked a lot worse on September 27th then it did on January 2nd, after Ole Miss had beaten Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl and completed a nine-win season.

This season will be no exception, and after week one it’s hard to definitively say that we truly know much about any team.  Michigan and Notre Dame have to be thrilled with their convincing wins over Western Michigan and Nevada, respectively.  However, if Michigan beats Notre Dame this week and Nevada gets hammered by Missouri next week by Missouri, it suddenly won’t seem so impressive, and the same goes in reverse.

Ohio State, meanwhile survived a scare from Navy at home, needing an interception on a two point conversion late in the game to preserve a victory.  With USC coming to Columbus next week that result made a lot of Buckeye fans very nervous, and maybe they should be.  But, I don’t think that ten wins is out of the question for Navy this year, and come December that result may demonstrate more about Navy being better than most expected than it does about Ohio State being worse.  We’ll know a bit more about the Buckeyes after they host USC, but even if they beat USC some will question the weight of that victory if true freshman quarterback Matt Barkley struggles playing in only his second college football game, and his first on the road.

Oklahoma State scored a huge win when they defeated Georgia and they look like they are ready to back up the hype surrounding their program this year.  The Bulldogs were ranked thirteen coming into the game, but nobody really knows how good Georgia is at this point.  They lost Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno to the NFL draft, and Joe Cox, Stafford’s replacement had the flu on Saturday.  I think Oklahoma State needs to beat a more seasoned team before they are considered an elite team in the Big 12.

The SEC is hanging its hat on Alabama’s victory over Virginia Tech.  The common theory is that it was Alabama’s toughness on defense that limited the Hokies to only 155 yards of total offense.  We really will not know if that’s the case until Virginia Tech plays Nebraska next week and then Miami after that.  If their offense sputters in those games, the accomplishments of the Crimson Tide’s defense will be diminished.  If, on the other hand, the Hokies are able to move the ball on those teams, then you would have to consider Alabama to be a contender for the BCS championship.

The final wait-and-see scenarios produced by this weekend’s games are Washington and LSU.  The Tiger’s fans are panicking because they watched a team that was winless a year ago go toe to toe with their team for three quarters before LSU finally took control of the game.  But Washington may surprise some people this year.  The Huskies have a new coaching staff and returned talented quarterback Jake Locker who missed most of last season due to injury.

All of this will work it out on its own; it always does.  The SEC and Big 12 will slug it out in conference play, leaving one team from each conference standing.  But I think the most intriguing situation in all of this is the sort of round-robin tournament that will play out this season between Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan and USC.   As I said before, Notre Dame and Michigan will have a chance to knock each other off this weak, as will USC and Ohio State.   Next month, Notre Dame and USC play each other and Michigan and Ohio State face off in their season finales.  Each of the four teams will play two out of the other three before the end of the year.  If any of those teams wants to be selected for the BCS national championship over a Big 12 or SEC team, winning those two games would be a good place to start.

For most powerhouse programs in college football the first weak of the season means playing a team with more words in its school’s name than professional prospects on the field.  Most title-contending teams ease into competition with the likes of the Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders or the Red Hawks of Southeastern Missouri State University.  This year, however, a handful of teams have scheduled tough, non-conference opponents for their first game of the season, and should make the first weekend a memorable and exciting one.

The season starts on Thursday night as South Carolina travels to Raleigh to take on N.C. State, and even though this is an SEC vs. ACC match up it is not the marquee game of the night.  That takes place later when Boise State hosts Oregon on the blue turf.  Boise State has lost twice at home this decade.  Oregon will be looking for revenge as Boise State beat them last season in Eugene.  Both teams are ranked in the top twenty, and Boise State has serious aspirations of crashing the BCS this year.  If the Broncos can get by Oregon they would likely be favored in every game for the rest of the year and might be playing after New Year’s.

Saturday will start with plenty of laughers and blowouts, but at 3:30 things will finally get serious as Georgia plays at Oklahoma State.  The Cowboys are a popular pick to stir things up in the Big 12, much like Texas Tech did last year.  They return quarterback Zach Robinson, wide receiver Dez Bryant and running back Kendall Hunter, arguably the three most important players in an offense that averaged over 41 points per game last season.  Georgia, conversely, has to replace their two most important offensive players, Knowshon Moreno and Matthew Stafford, who were both first round draft picks.  If Oklahoma State can beat Georgia, they will have a very good chance of being 7-0 when they play Texas on Halloween.

All eyes will turn to the Georgia Dome Saturday night when fifth ranked Alabama plays seventh ranked Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff game.  Alabama took part in this game last season as an underdog to Clemson who entered the season ranked ninth in the nation.  Alabama beat Clemson soundly and rose from 24th to 13th in the nation.  Two months later, Dabo Swinney had replaced coach Tommy Bowden at Clemson and Alabama had replaced Texas as the number one ranked team in college football.  Virginia Tech is hoping to win its third straight ACC championship and fourth in the six years since the Hokies joined the conference.  This will finally be Tyrod Taylor’s chance to shine, as he will no longer have to split time at quarterback with Sean Glennon.  Taylor is an athletic quarterback who has run for more touchdowns in his career than he has thrown.   If the Hokies hope to beat the Crimson Tide, and contend on the national level, they will need Taylor to be more consistent and more productive through the air.  For the Tide this will be a real test for their revamped offensive line, which, without tackle Andre Smith was dominated by Utah in the Sugar Bowl.  The winner of this game will undoubtedly enter the conversation about national title contenders.

With the NFL not starting until the following week, there are two intriguing match ups on Monday to finish off the weekend.  First, in the afternoon Cincinnati travels to Rutgers in a Big East conference game.  Greg Schiano has done a great job making Rutgers relevant, yet for all his success in Piscataway, the Scarlet Knights have yet to win a conference title or play in a BCS bowl game.  Many believe that this is the year they will, and a win over Cincinnati would certainly be a step in the right direction.  Cincinnati has enjoyed a bit of rebirth under coach Brian Kelly, as they won eleven games last year and went to a BCS bowl as the Big East champions.  This year, however, they return only one starter on defense.  This game should serve as a good barometer for both teams.

Later that night, Florida State hosts in-state, in-conference and hated rival Miami (FL).  This Monday night game used to feature rosters full of players that would one day play on Monday nights more regularly.  Now both programs are trying to recapture the magic that once made them two of the most dominant programs in the country.   There is little doubt that Miami needs a win in this game more than Florida State.  The Hurricanes start their season with a brutal stretch, facing Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma after their meeting with the Seminoles.  Miami will be handing the reigns to sophomore quarterback Jacory Harris, as last year’s often maligned starter, Robert Marve, is no longer with the team.  Harris played quite a bit last season, but he will have to learn and improve very quickly for the Hurricanes, or an 0-4 start for 2009 is not out of the question.  Red shirt junior Christian Ponder returns at quarterback for the Seminoles.   Ponder showed flashes last season, but he will need to limit his mistakes as he threw almost as many interceptions (13) last season as touchdowns (14).  The Seminoles will also have to find someone to catch the ball as their top two receivers from a year ago are no longer with the team.  This game may not mean as much to the rest of the country as it once did, but the ‘Canes and the ‘Noles still don’t like each other and it should be fun game to watch.

Dear Golden Domers,

I know this time of the year is filled with excitement for football fans.  I know you are just itching to get that six loss taste out of your mouths.  I know you think this is the year that Jimmy Clausen finally puts it all together.  I know you have BCS dreams.  I think you are getting a little ahead of yourselves.

I realize that you play a very manageable (read: weak) schedule, that you have some talent at wide receiver, that you return seventeen starters, including ten offensive starters.  The thing is I still don’t think you’re going to be that good.  Sure, because of the schedule you’ll win some games, but all that will just be window dressing if and when you get pounded by USC and whatever team you play in your bowl game (because, let’s face it, no matter how mediocre you play this season, you are going to a bowl game).

Let’s look at the schedule.  In week one you host Nevada.  This is not a gimme.  Nevada went 7-6 last season (same as you) and returns sixteen starters, including seven all conference selections.  This is their Superbowl.  If this wasn’t a home game for you, I would probably pick you to lose.  As it is, I’d say it’s a toss up.

In week two you travel to Michigan for what should be a pretty convincing win.  Michigan is a mess.   Coach Rich Rodriguez will eventually turn things around in Ann Arbor, but for now he still has a lot of square pegs and not a lot of athletes.

In week three you will be over-matched by Michigan State’s receiving core, provided that one of their talented sophomore quarterbacks emerges.  The Spartans return fifteen starters from a team that went 9-4 a year ago and finished one game back from the lead in the Big Ten.

Weeks four and five should produce wins at Purdue and against Washington, two teams that won four and zero games last year, respectively.  Both teams have first year coaches and Washington hasn’t won a game since November of 2007.

A bye week will give you time to prepare to be crushed by USC, a team that you haven’t beaten since 2001, and the following week you will probably lose to Boston College.  I know that both teams have uncertainty at quarterback, but USC would probably beat you with their third-string signal caller and Boston College returns four starters on the offensive line, as well as their top two running backs, so they probably won’t need much production from whoever is taking the snaps.

After you beat an absolutely horrible Washington State squad you host Navy, a team that infamously upset you two years ago, and a team that you beat by only six last season.  The Midshipmen led the nation in rushing last year, and have played in a bowl game six consecutive years.  Don’t expect much to change this year.  This one may be a shoot out like in 2007.

Next you travel to Pittsburgh for a game I do not seeing you winning.  The Panthers are a common pick to win the Big East this season and they return a strong offensive line and a tough defense from a team that went 9-3 for Dave Wannstedt last year.  With the loss of running back Donald Brown and quarterback Tyler Lorenzen, I think you will handle Connecticut.  But the Huskies have made it to two consecutive bowl games, so this one might not be easy.

In the final game of the regular season you play Stanford, a seemingly improving team under Jim Harbaugh.  The Cardinal’s defense was pretty bad last year, and even with the returning offensive skill players they have I think you will be able to outscore them.

So where does that leave you, Notre Dame fans.  I foresee losses against Michigan State, USC, Boston College and Pittsburgh, wins against Michigan, Purdue, Washington, Washington State, Connecticut and Stanford, and I think you will split against Nevada and Navy.  So that means 7 wins and five losses.   If you beat both Nevada and Navy, then you will have 8 wins and four losses.  But even then, no BCS.

The bottom line is the flawed system that is the BCS will do anything short of rewriting the rulebook to include you in one of its games, but eight wins just isn’t enough.  Can you get to nine?  It is possible.  But if you do, if you get invited to a BCS bowl game and get to play one of the nations elite teams, I promise you, Irish, it won’t be pretty.  Nine wins against bad teams does not make you a good team, but it may afford you the opportunity to be embarrassed by one.

Sincerely,

Tim Kesten

There is nothing we, as a society, like more than a rags to riches story more than a riches to rags to riches story.  We love to tear down our celebrities.   We love to watch the downfall of those who have been afforded more than us.  And we love to watch them pick themselves back up.  M.C. Hammer has a reality show, for God’s sake.

Michael Vick had everything.  He was the highest paid player in the NFL at one point, and he was an idiot.  He gave “the finger” to his adoring fans in Atlanta.  He was stopped in an airport for having a water bottle with trace amounts of marijuana.  He thought that he was above the law and, of course, he wasn’t.

He wasn’t above the law when he financed and took part in a dog fighting ring.  This dog fighting ring not only pitted man’s best friends against each other but also tortured and killed dogs.  Just to be clear, I love dogs.  I like dogs more than I like most people, to be honest.  I think that dogs are one of God’s greatest gifts to man.  They are loyal, they are caring, they want nothing more than the company of humans (well, that and something to eat).  The acts that Michael Vick carried out against those pit bulls were despicable.

That said, Michael Vick was punished.  He spent time in prison.  Not just 30 days or a few months, Michael Vick spent 23 months in prison.  The purpose of prison is to punish those who commit crimes, and Michael Vick has served his sentence.  Not to mention the fortune that he has lost because of his actions.

There is no solid evidence that there is still a place for Vick in the NFL, at least not as a starting quarterback.  He’s never completed more than 57% of his passes in a season, and his career passer rating is 75.7.  Many believe that he regressed in his last two seasons and two years away from the game may further diminished his skills.

With the emergence of the “wildcat” formation in the past year, he more likely will find a role as a situational back.  He is, after all the only NFL quarterback to run for 1,000 yards in a season.  If the single back formation bothers offensive coordinators when a running back is under center, it should be a nightmare to prepare for when the player taking the snaps is a quarterback.  But even as the “wildcat” trend seems to be Vick’s ticket back into the NFL, no team has publicly expressed interest in him, and most front offices have stated explicitly that they are not interested in Vick.

But that said, we should all hope that Vick takes the necessary actions, as well as avoiding others, to have at least a shot at reviving his career.  If he fails as a quarterback, or as an NFL player in general it won’t be nearly the tragedy than if he fails again as a human being, and never gets that opportunity.

If in the coming months, or ever, for that matter, Vick should show his arrogance again and runs afoul of the law for any reason, then we should all wish him the justice he deserves and no one should hope for anything other than what is coming for him.  In the meantime, we should all collectively be hoping that this young man has learned from his mistakes and his hubris, that he might take this opportunity to make himself a better person, to succeed where he once failed and to be a glaring, if not a shining example to those who would come after him.

We should all hope that Michael Vick has a chance to return to the NFL, in some capacity, and we should all hope that he succeeds.  We should all hope that Michael Vick never has another run-in with the law.  We should all hope that Michael Vick becomes a model citizen.  We should hope that he reaches out to troubled youth and that he supports animal rights.  We should hope that someone who falls so far, no matter how high a pedestal we once placed him on, can at least rise to redeem himself.

On an unusually warm October day, even for Florida, I attended a University of Florida football game with a very important guest, my older sister. It was 2001, my Senior year at Florida. I had been to countless Gator football games, but this game, I will never forget. This game, as it turned out, proved me right about something that I had suspected for a long time. College football is special. My sister was a three sport all conference athlete in high school and briefly played sports at the collegiate level, before she realized that the drain on a collegiate athlete took too much from everything else she wished to experience as a college student.
By the time she attended that game with me she had grown tired of sports in general, having to spend holidays with her sports-crazed brothers and cousins, listening to discussions over turkey and gravy about who should start, who should be fired, and why there should be a college playoff.
And so my sister came to visit me for the weekend. I was 21, enjoying what looked to be shaping up as a possible national championship run. She was 24, enjoying what looked to be a weekend tolerating her little brother and his hard partying friends. I bought two tickets for us. In those days you could still use student tickets even if you were not a student, but I couldn’t find any. No matter, I was sure my sister wouldn’t have wanted to stand and cheer the entire four quarters anyway, as is required of everyone positioned in the student section. So we sat in the corner of the north end zone as Florida racked up a large lead on Vanderbilt in this homecoming game. Stacy, my sister, got a kick out of Mr. Twobits, as he led each section of the stadium, “All for the Gators stand up and holler!” She got a kick out of the student section leading the entire stadium, all 85,000 plus back then, begging the alumni with “ORANGE!… ORANGE!… ORANGE!…,” Until the alumni section obliged by repeating “BLUE!,” each time.
At halftime we were up big, and I figured Stacy would probably be over all of it. I asked her if she wanted to leave, go get something to eat and head back to the house. She replied, “Not unless you want to.” I thought she was just being polite, so I asked her, “Are you sure? We don’t have to stay just for me.” She replied, “No, this is fun.”
So we stayed for the entire game. We cheered. She followed my lead when it came to “the chomp” and did her best to keep up with the rest of us as we yelled, following the cues from the band. We swayed back and forth between the third and fourth quarters as the rest of the 85,000 plus and I sang “We are the boys.” Stacy didn’t know the lyrics but she swayed with us anyway, and laughed heavily at the end of the song. Relishing, as someone who couldn’t care less about sports, “that is so great,” she said through chuckles, laughing at the hokeyness of it all. It is hokey. We all know it’s hokey. She knew that we knew it was hokey, and yet all of us sang with so much joy and passion, any skepticism didn’t stand a chance. We do it every Saturday from September to November, and we wouldn’t miss it for anything.
My sister thinks that my obsession with college football, and my family’s obsession with college football are both annoying and ridiculous. I don’t blame her. I think it’s beautiful, but deep down even I know it’s ridiculous. Yet I can watch plays from last season or ten seasons ago, and still get goose bumps. I see the blocked field goal against South Carolina that saved our national championship season three years ago or a not-so-fleet-of-foot Danny Wuerfell running for a touchdown against Florida State in the National Championship of 1996, and both make me proud to be part of something bigger than myself. Suffice it to say, Florida football is fourth in my life, but only because God, my family and my friends are so incredibly important to me.
As we swayed back and forth in the Florida sun almost eight years ago, my sister had a look of amusement on her face. She didn’t know the words that the rest of us were singing, but she could sense the joy that was behind the song. “Through all kinds of weather we’ll all stick together, for F-L-O-R-I-D-A.” She didn’t care about the score, just the pageantry. Just the passion. Just the conviction behind all of us chanting, “It’s great! To be! A Florida gator!”
In that moment, if not in any other, she saw why it’s great to be a college football fan.
Just don’t ask her to admit it.