From the cheap seats

What would a sports world be like without football?

There would be a lot less grown men crying on the weekend.

There were so many upsets this Saturday. This makes me happy. I love upsets. There is nothing greater than a real life ‘Rocky.’ In the heart of every sports fan, there is that glimmer of hope you have that Oklahoma State University might beat Oklahoma University or Syracuse University might beat Miami University.

That being said, the University of Florida’s upset of the University of Georgia didn’t evoke those emotions from me. I considered UGA as an underdog in that contest. The Bulldogs (UGA) had lost 11 times out of the last 12 meetings of the interstate rivalry.

For those people that believe in superstition or fate, the Bulldogs loss made perfect sense.

First, the Bulldogs had too much momentum. They were playing too well.

Second, the Bulldogs were favored to win the game for the first time in recent years.

Third, ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso picked UGA to win for the first time all year.

Finally, fans had SEC Eastern Division champion shirts printed up with UGA as the champions.

Now for those people with a more realistic grasp of the game, there were many practical reasons why UGA lost.

First (and most important), the Gator’s quarterback, Rex Grossman, passed for 339 yards, completing 36 passes out of 46 attempts. He threw two touchdowns and was only sacked once.

Second, both teams blew some pretty big opportunities. In the first half, the Gators turned the ball over three times in seven possessions. UGA showed them up by laying a big goose egg for the second half.

In the eight possessions for the Dawgs, they missed two field goals, punted the balls four times and turned the ball over on downs once.

Finally, the Bulldogs did something they hadn’t done all season (besides losing). UGA made careless and costly mistakes. There were many personal fouls that were just plain stupid.

Anyway, what’s done is done. Although they are having a great season and Ty Willingham should be Coach of the Year, I was excited to see the University of Notre Dame lose.

Virginia Tech lost. The undefeated Hokies lost to the University of Pittsburgh, who is now ranked in the National Top 25 Poll for the first time since 1991.

Finally the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets handed the North Carolina State University Wolfpack their first loss of the season. The Jackets are also one of my favorite college football teams. I’m one of those rare people that will root for both the Bulldogs and the Jackets. When they play each other I’ll be rooting for the Dawgs all the way.

That only leaves four undefeated teams in the NCAA Division I Top 25 rankings. Coming into last weekend there were eight. How many will last all season?

Out of the four teams left, the two that I can see going undefeated (I will undeniably jinx them, and they will lose next week) are Ohio State University Buckeyes and Bowling Green State University Falcons.

Since the Falcons are ineligible for a BCS (Bowl Championship Series) bid, the NCAA National Football Championship will be played by the two teams who are one and two in the standings right now. This is my official prediction for the National Title.the Buckeyes will beat the Sooners.

Hopefully a lot of upsets will happen and I will be wrong. Never give up on the underdogs and keep that ‘Rocky’ theme in your head when you see an upset in the making.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 8 2002. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry