Whenever college football appears headed to a lazy Saturday,
you should probably cancel all of your pre-existing plans.
By 2pm, 8-2 South Carolina was tied with Wofford in the
second half. It was the first indication that Saturday, November 17, 2012, was
going to mark its place in the history of college football. The sport literally
changed on Saturday, both on the field and off.
Around the same time UCLA was delivering a shocking beating
to crosstown rival USC and Ole Miss was stunning LSU in Death Valley, the news
blitzed through Twitter that the Big Ten was very close to inviting Maryland
and Rutgers. The greed could be seen dripping from every
word in every article. The Big Ten did not need to expand. Maryland was
about to throw away a half-century of tradition for a few extra million
dollars. Well, eventually, since Maryland is facing a $50 million exit fee and
has cried
poverty for the past few years.
Rutgers is, well, Rutgers. It is seen by people who don’t
understand how the Northeast works as the key to New York City. Those people
seem to forget that New York City’s favorite college football team plays in
South Bend.
It is fitting that Notre Dame ended up as the main talking
point by the time Saturday night turned into Sunday morning. During the week,
much of the words typed leading into a weak slate of games focused on Notre
Dame. How the team was hurt
by independence. How it was being overlooked despite a strong strength of
schedule. How it wasn’t
worthy. How Brian Kelly said he would
go on Oprah* to plead his case if necessary.
*It was such a Notre
Dame thing of Kelly to say he would visit a show that no longer exists.
As USC finished up losing the Pac-12 South and Los Angeles
to UCLA, as LSU stunned Ole Miss
and gave Les Miles the
chance to make us gaze in wonder again, as the evening games kicked off,
there was a palpable sense that the day was not going the way it planned. I
mean – who woke up Saturday thinking Rutgers would end up in the Big Ten?
Saturday night’s games likely changed the future of several
programs – not this year’s team, but the future of programs. Witness:
Kansas State again blew a chance to win a national title,
will they ever get another?
Baylor proved the football program is now more than RG3.
Oregon again blew a chance to win a national title and it
appears very likely Chip Kelly is on the way to the NFL in 2013.
West Virginia lost its fifth game in a row for the first
time in 15 years.
Stanford has won 9 games for 3 straight years for the first
time in a century, proving that Jim Harbaugh and Andrew Luck laid the
foundation for a program that isn’t going anywhere.
Vanderbilt beat Tennessee at home for the first time since 1982.
Tennessee fired its coach and the Jon Gruden
rumors are only going to intensify.
Oregon State destroyed Cal – in all likelihood, Jeff
Tedford, the man who rebuilt Cal, will be fired.
For roughly a dozen schools, November 17 changed the face of
their football program. That number will rise if/when Rutgers and Maryland bolt
for the Big Ten and the realignment game begins again (UConn to the ACC?
Florida State to the SEC? Louisville to the Big 12?).
Yet, at the end of the day, it was all about Notre Dame. It
has been widely rumored that Notre Dame’s decision to sort of join the ACC –
all sports but football – played a role in the Big Ten’s latest power play. The
Big Ten and the SEC run college football, though the Pac-12 will always have a
strong hand thanks to its West Coast footprint. The SEC got stronger in 2012 by
adding Texas A&M and Missouri.
The Big Ten desperately wanted Notre Dame, as it has for the
past 20 years. Notre Dame desperately wanted to hold onto its independence, as
it has for the past forever years. Notre Dame would give the Big Ten the
foothold from DC through NYC it wants so badly. It has convinced itself that
Maryland and Rutgers will do the same. They won’t, but it won’t matter. They’ve
set it up so if Notre Dame ever joins a conference in football, it won’t be the
ACC – that’s the end game here.
Yet as November 17 drew to a close, Notre Dame returned to
what its followers believe is its rightful place as the ruler of college
football. While other schools scramble to find a home, Notre Dame has its own.
While other conferences fight to increase its television value, Notre Dame
waits for NBC (or another network) to give it another blank check.
Today, Notre Dame is #1. The sound you hear in the
background is the Notre Dame fight song being played on a constant loop in
Bristol, Connecticut. On Saturday night, Notre Dame will play USC in primetime
for a spot in the BCS title game, a semifinal game for the Irish. Provided they
win, they will play in the BCS title game on ESPN in January that, in all
likelihood, will be the
highest rated in the BCS era*.
*It’s worth noting the
previous record, held by Texas/USC in the 2005 Rose Bowl, aired on ABC. This
year’s game will be on ESPN. If it’s Notre Dame/Alabama, that won’t matter.
After nearly 15 hours of football – which ended with BYU
losing to San Jose State in what has to be a sign of the apocalypse – the landscape
had never looked so different. #1 and #2 went down within hours of each other.
The SEC, left for dead 7 days ago, now has 3 teams with a good chance to play
in the title game and a legit chance, if Notre Dame loses, of having another
all-SEC title game. The Big Ten was ready to expand to 14 teams, the ACC looks
to be a patsy ready to be raided by multiple, stronger conferences and who
knows about the Big East.
The landscape of college football, though, has never looked
so similar. Chaos is what makes the sport so great. Teams lose every week to
teams they should beat. Programs seem to change conferences on a monthly basis.
The BCS is alternately a
cause for concern and the reason for joy. It’s why I sat glued to my TV at
midnight Saturday, trying to comprehend what I saw. It’s why I’m writing this
on a Sunday night, trying to comprehend what I saw.
Despite the chaos, college football never changes.
Notre Dame is #1. Alabama is #2. Is this 1964 or
2012?
Does it even matter?
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