Unacceptable, Keep the Fight D...

If you’ve been waiting around hoping that the college football season will get really interesting I can tell you right now that your wait is over. What used to be a pretty harmless post game celebration of running out onto the field after a huge home team upset has turned into a hate filled physical brawl between players who many have called “fine upstanding pillars of their community” and it has all transpired from flag planting. Four huge rivalry games last week, Michigan vs. Ohio State, North Carolina vs. North Carolina State, Florida vs Florida State and Arizona vs. Arizona State all saw instances of post game pandemonium after the home teams were upset by the visitors who decided that planting their teams flag at mid field would be a good idea. They could have not been more wrong. Many have described it as a celebration however what I witnessed was violence. With some heavy fines being levied against some prominent teams I’m hoping that this particular celebration has now run its course however considering we still have conference championships to contend with and ultimately the College Football Playoffs I’m thinking we have not seen the last of these displays of immaturity. And yes, the fact that many of the players who participated in these acts are making tens of thousands of dollars in NIL money has not been lost on me. End of story for now. 

Yes, there were some massive upsets last week. Ohio State loosing to a 25 point Michigan underdog at home was probably the most shocking and depending what happens in the playoffs may have cost Head Coach Ryan Day his job if not his personal sanity. I’ve mentioned several times that I felt Ohio State was overrated and this game has proven me correct although I never imagined that the Ohio State program would end up in flames like it did. The Miami Hurricanes of course stepped right into their late season role of getting beaten in games they should be winning and seem destined to miss the playoffs after getting beaten by a fiesty Syracuse team. The Hurricanes always start strong and finish weak much like their professional counterparts in Miami. Being a football fan in Miami can be painful! 

As it turns out there was a massive shuffling in the playoff picture that has left many fans wondering if redesigning the playoffs was worth it at all. Some teams suffered greatly while other teams seemed to survive the cut even though playing poorly. It’s as confusing as ever. Go Figure. 

The only undefeated team left in the picture is of course Oregon who will play Penn State in the Big Ten Championship this weekend. The other three teams rounding out the fist round byes are Texas, Boise State and SMU, all with one loss. Each of these teams of course need to survive their conference championships with a win to stay in position so nothing is yet written in stone. With what I’ve seen in the past couple of weeks in the way of upsets anything is possible at this point and I expect things to change again. 

As predicted several weeks ago by your’s truely The South Eastern Conference should be heavily represented in the playoffs. As of now Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Texas are all in however the outcome of the SEC Championship game between Texas and Georgia will certainly change things. What probably won’t change is that the selection committee will find a way to sneak a three loss Alabama team into the playoffs. Does it seem predestined that The Crimson Tide will always be there? You tell me me. Yes I suppose the more things change the more they will stay the same!

One aspect of the playoffs that I personally am looking forward to is the weather. My prediction is that for at least some of the games the weather is gonna play a huge part in the outcome. With the almost certainty of games being played in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Oregon beginning on December the 20th I’m thinking there’s gonna be alot of uncomfortable players who are used to playing in games way South of The Mason Dixon line, even as far south as Miami. Yes folks, Mother Nature may turn out to be the great equalizer in the college football season. Let’s hope that Global Warming kicks in just before Christmas!

As for my college picks we all know it hasn’t been easy for me. Going 5 for 11 feels like something of a redemption considering there were several upsets across the spectrum so with this coming weekend I’m going to once again pick more games then usual. Somehow winning five games feels better then winning just one or two right!?! Hopefully things are trending upward for me and I can once again say Play On!! 

Kev

Kev's Corner Our Staffs Weekly Sports perspective

(click here for more of Kev’s past articles)