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With all due respect to Mandel, who does a great job covering the game and whose yearly “crush” is a fabulous sidebar to the on-field action, that argument is somewhat facile. Granted, since college football is largely a regional game, whenever someone from the Pacific Northwest is paying close attention to the happenings in Iowa City, it’s a positive. Given the hierarchy — however contrived — established by the weekly BCS standings, there is interest spawned in teams ranked higher up, if only to root against them. There can be no questioning a spike in interest in the teams rated in the top 5-10 by the judges and geeks.
The problem comes with the 110 teams that aren’t among the college football elite. When all interest is on a few schools, the rest of the universe gets little, if any, attention. Great games, conference races and performances are often disregarded completely because they don’t take place in the upper reaches of the BCS hierarchy. Fans from Tucson to Storrs may be interested in what happens to Cincinnati, Iowa and Alabama, but nobody pays attention to the other storylines. In fact, by effectively dividing the country in half among BCS conference teams and non-BCS schools, the system has created a caste system that makes it difficult for 54 programs to get much interest at all. Out of that whole bunch, only two (TCU and Boise State) have attracted any attention. The rest of them are completely irrelevant.
Even within the BCS ranks, the chaff is quickly separated and burned. Teams that lose early become outsiders, and a second loss removes them from any national discussion. Often, entire conferences become irrelevant because they lack a BCS “title game” contender. Consider the ACC, which for the second year in a row has a fascinating divisional race but no national mojo.
Yes, it’s great to hear Oregon fans interested in Big Ten football, but don’t be fooled. They care solely about Iowa, and if the Hawkeyes lose this week to Northwestern, there will be no more love (or hate) for Kirk Ferentz’s team. The BCS may give the illusion of creating interest, but what it does is narrow the college football focus and spend weeks excluding teams and players. That’s hardly good for the sport.
THIS WEEK’S STORYLINES
Calm Before The Storm: There are plenty of great matchups next week in the college football world, including Utah-TCU, Iowa-Ohio State and West Virginia-Cincinnati. But those schools have less sexy opposition this Saturday, creating the possibility of a lull in advance of the excitement. Then again, when teams look ahead, they can be trapped. Look out for Connecticut (Cincy) and Northwestern (the Hawkeyes), who might ruin the fun down the road.
Defenseless: By giving up 47 points and 613 yards to Oregon, USC proved that — for at least this year — it is not the Pac-10’s best. Coach Pete Carroll can talk about his schematic faults all he wants, but the bigger question is whether or not the Trojans’ reign of terror over the conference has come to an end. USC almost lost its Rose Bowl birthright last year, and losses to the Ducks and Washington this year will push it into Holiday Bowl territory, barring another great November. USC may be young, but is it as talented as it was in the past? The rest of the Pac-10 hopes Oregon’s big win is proof that the Trojans aren’t.
SEC Showdown: Anybody who watched Alabama and LSU in early October couldn’t have imagined Saturday afternoon’s game in Tuscaloosa would be anything more than another step for the Crimson Tide on an inevitable path to the SEC title game. Since then, however, the Bama offense has stagnated, and QB Jordan Jefferson has awakened the Tiger attack. Now the game looks a lot more interesting — and dangerous to Alabama. Expect a Tide victory, but don’t be surprised if this one opens up a little bit.
Looking Good: While Alabama and Florida continue to circle each other warily, and hopefuls like Iowa, Cincinnati, TCU and Boise State look for a miracle, Texas appears to have the clearest path to the BCS “championship game.” The Longhorns made quick work of OK State last week, and it’s hard to imagine UCF, Baylor, Kansas and Texas A&M providing much opposition during November. Given the mess in the Big 12 North, the conference title game shouldn’t be so tough, either. Looks like the Longhorns’ toughest foe heading into January will be complacency.
UNDER THE RADAR:
Temple has won six in a row and is bowl eligible, quite an accomplishment given the program’s status as recently as four years ago. (See basement, NCAA.) One of the big reasons is true freshman running back Bernard Pierce, who is third in the NCAA in rushing, with 129.1 yards/game. Pierce has scored 11 times and in last week’s 27-24 win over Navy rushed for 267 yards and two TDs. The performance was even more impressive when one considers the Owls had 311 yards of total offense, meaning Pierce accounted for 85.9 percent of the team’s production.
MUST-SEE TV:
Northwestern at Iowa, Noon, ESPN. Iowa has proven to be the master of the comeback, but the Wildcats have pulled off a few miracles, too.
Ohio State at Penn State, 3:30 p.m. (EST) ESPN2. Back in September, this one looked like the biggest Big Ten game. For now, it’s a BCS elimination tilt.
LSU at Alabama, 3:30 p.m. CBS. The battle for SEC West supremacy features a pair of dynamic defenses and attacks hoping to gain momentum.
Connecticut at Cincinnati, 8 p.m. ABC/ESPN. The return of Tony Pike comes just in time for the Bearcats’ Big East stretch drive.
Oklahoma at Nebraska, 8 p.m. ABC/ESPN. Johnny Rodgers. Jack Mildren. The Selmon Brothers. Mike Rozier. Oh, you mean the 1970s and ’80s are over? Oh, well, watch for nostalgia’s sake.
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