By Michael Richter
Thank you Jay Sean and Lil’ Wayne for that intro!
Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the wonderful world of college football, and the BCS. We have seen it time and time again. We have seen teams implode on themselves, and we have seen teams rise from the ashes. We have also seen Spurrier’s phrase of “it’s harder to win the SEC Championship, than it is a National Championship” in action last year, and we might see it again this year before it is all said and done.
2012’s Week 12 has caused mass chaos for the BCS and her many conferences. The BCS has been sent to square one, and basically has been thrown back two weeks. Allow me to explain in a little more detail. Two weeks ago, we were all discussing the simple question: Who is #2?
The only reason we were asking ourselves that, was because Alabama appeared to be the clearly dominate #1 team in the nation. But that is why we play the game, and just as Saban said, “the only thing predictable about college football, is that it is unpredictable.” So, two weeks ago, Alabama dominated the polls as the #1 team, and nothing seemed to stand in there path. Then a young man who has acquired the nickname Mr. Football strutted into Tuscaloosa almost mid way through November, and showed everyone that Alabama was not deserving of the early praise. Johnny Manziel lead his Aggies to victory against the then top-ranked Crimson Tide. As we all saw, the Tide dropped down in the rankings, and then became dependent upon others around the nation to lose for its shot at a second straight National Championship. To all those SEC fans, the streak of 7 national championship games was dead.
The new question was Who was #1? The Crimson Tide had fallen, the new BCS rankings had come out, and she had deemed Kansas State to be the leaders of the pack followed by Oregon, and then Notre Dame. We all knew that the computers loved the Fightin’ Irish, but the Humans had their doubts about the Irish Offense. Then we played the game. The deadly Week 12 swept across the nation, and appeared in such dramatic fashion just as it had done a year ago.
Just a year ago, this very same weekend, we saw practically the exact same shake up in the BCS. We saw how LSU was dominating the nation with its top rank, and we had seen the overtime battle between (1) LSU and (2) Alabama. Oklahoma State seemed to be the team that was headed to New Orleans to attempt to take down the SEC’s streak. But fate decided to intervene. Late in the evening in Week 12 of 2011, the Oklahoma State Cowboys suffered a late overtime loss at the hands of the Iowa State Cyclones, as the Cowboys were denied a field goal that was just a bit wide. Funnily enough, that same weekend, the Oregon Ducks met fate in a similar way when the USC Trojans showed up on the Ducks’ front door, and demanded respect. The Trojans yanked the National Title away from Oregon. Fate had lined up the SEC to be pitted against each other for the first time in BCS history for a National Championship Game.
This year, the road is not over. Week 12 has proven to us once again, that it takes no prisoners. Les Miles had the phrase correct, but was incorrect about the location. He should have corrected himself and said, “The Middle of November is where National Championship Dreams come to die.” Week 12 is smack dab in the middle of that tough November slate. This year, we have seen the mighty topple. We saw the Oregon Ducks fall to a solid Stanford defense, and we saw the newly crowned top ranked Wildcats take a dive to the Baylor Bears.
Just as we saw in 2011, fate has allowed for the SEC to have a chance to continue their streak for 7 consecutive national championships. Not to mention the way that these two years have been similar. Both years have featured teams that have missed field goals that had the distance, just not the angle. Now, Alabama is back in the driver’s seat to the National Championship, as well is Georgia. Everything has fallen into place for the SEC for the second year in a row, and now we will watch as history repeats itself.
Listen up y’all, this is getting exciting!
Now, Jay Sean & Lil’ Wayne, take it away!
“Even if the sky is falling down, Down, down Ooh (ohhh)…”
For more SEC football articles from Michael check out Remember the Tide!
