I'll be wearing Crimson and White

For the second straight game, Florida plays a team whose primary colors are a white and a shade of crimson. No matter how much pride I have for the SEC, I cannot bring myself to root for the Gators. I hope Sam Bradford and the Sooner offense score enough points to make poor little Timmy cry.

I hate Florida.

Go Sooners!!!

Give Me That Old Time Religion

As I write this, I'm listening to ESPN's "Around the Horn" in the background arguing about just who deserves to be the "national champion." Wasn't the wonderful BCS supposed to settle this for us when it was created 10 years ago. Instead the conference commissioners and college presidents gave us some half-assed excuse between the old bowl system and a playoff, and we ended up with the worst possible system of all.

So is the winner of the Oklahoma-Florida game, Texas, USC or Utah the "national champion?" They told us 10 years ago that it was the winner of the Oklahoma-Florida game. Why? What separates Oklahoma and Florida from the rest? Oh, that's right, they occupy the #1 and #2 slots. And that's all. That's it. That's the only difference. That, and the fact that Oklahoma lost to Texas, that Utah is undefeated with a win over a quality SEC opponent in the Sugar Bowl, and that USC just might have the "best" loss out of all the 1-loss teams considering it was on the road.

So, if we're not going to get an 8-team playoff anytime soon, why not just go back to the old bowl system? Remember when more than one bowl game mattered on New Year's Day, back before we started to pretend that only one game matters now. The Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton and Fiesta.

So why not the Big XII Champion Oklahoma tied into the Fiesta and the SEC Champion Florida tied into the Sugar? Make those top 2 teams play the toughest team possible. In other words, send the #3 Texas Longhorns to play the Gators. Send the #4 Alabama Crimson Tide (I know, I know...the Tide lost to Utah) to play the Sooners. If the Sooners win, they win it all. If they don't, then the Gators-Longhorns winner takes it. Give me that Old Time Religion when New Year's Day meant something.

Speaking of the Big XII...

Why don't we get to see the Oklahoma-Nebraska game every year anymore? Its a travesty that we don't. It's one of the greatest rivalries in college football. The Big XII should incorporate the SEC's rules in regards to this, where there is one crossover opponent every year from the other division (i.e., Georgia-Auburn). What would the SEC be without the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry? Or the Third Saturday in October (Tennessee-Alabama)?



How can you take away a rivalry that included the "real" Game of the Century in 1971? Nebraska's Johnny Rodgers basically won the Heisman Trophy with this punt return.

The current Big XII system rotates teams on a 3-and-3 basis whereas Oklahoma, for example, plays three North division teams for two years, and then plays the other three North division teams the next two years and back and forth.

The Big XII made a big flaw without including the one old rivalry game like Oklahoma-Nebraska every year. I understand why though. The Big XII welcomed four teams in 1996, while the SEC welcomed only two teams in 1992. And all four new Big XII teams are located in the South division. So, the Big XII just didn't have as many old rivalries to preserve as the SEC.

However, I believe that Oklahoma-Nebraska trumps the idea of a 3-an-3 rotating Big XII schedule. The next step would be to ask Oklahoma State, as the only other South division school that was a former Big 8 member, to select a North division school to play every year. And then use the biggest overall traditions from there on out. For example, Texas would play whomever was left in the North with the greatest overall record historically.

Just a thought...at least Oklahoma and Nebraska played each other this year...