It's the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Normally that means the eyes of college football fans would be locked into the matchup between the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes. Heck, even in NY, where I grew up (not a college football hotbed) we knew to watch Michigan-Ohio State on the Saturday before Turkey Day.
However, that's not going to be the case this year. This year, with the exception of the Michigan and Ohio State fans, everyone will be watching tonight's showdown between #2 Texas tech and #5 Oklahoma in Norman. I'm one who can't wait for this one to get underway.
Why TTU-OKlahoma as opposed to Michigan-OSU? Well, there are plenty of reasons.
* There's almost no chance the Ohio State-Michigan game is going to be competitive. The Wolverines are 3-8 this season. It's their first eight loss season ever. The Buckeyes have two losses, but they came to USC and Penn State, not Toledo. Michigan is rebuilding, something Ohio State almost never has to do. They just reload.
I know stranger things have happened in this rivalry, and I know there's always the chance that an upset could occur, but that's probably not going to happen.
* The game in Norman is going to be a lot more competitive. Both teams can score at will. Graham Harrell and Sam Bradford are two of the best quarterbacks in the country. Michael Crabtree is an NFL star waiting to happen. Both teams play tough, hard-nosed defense. This is about as even a matchup as we saw between the Red Raiders and Longhorns a few weeks ago.
* There's so much more on the line in the Texas Tech-Oklahoma game. A Red Raiders win puts Tech into the Big 12 Championship Game against #13 Missouri, one step away from playing for the B(C)S Championship. If Oklahoma wins, you get a three-way tie between Tech, Oklahoma, and Texas. In other words, you get B(C)S chaos, which is something I would love to see.
There's also a little thing called the Heisman that could be on the line tonight. if Harrell plays well at Oklahoma then he pretty much wraps up the trophy. If he doesn't, Colt McCoy of the Longhorns has the inside track.
In a couple of years, the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry probably doesn't take a back seat to anyone (as soon as Rich Rodriguez gets more of 'his' players into Ann Arbor). But that's down the line. We're dealing with the here and now, and that's Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma tonight.
Oh, and in case you are interested, I'm picking the Sooners. It's in Norman, Bob Stoops is a better coach than Mike Leach, and as I've said for years, I want B(C)S chaos.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment