0 comments by Matt Zemek on 11/30/2014
It’s true that the Boise State Broncos are tough to beat at home in Albertsons Stadium, the land of smurf turf. It’s true that this program has generally established a comfort zone on its blue field, making it hard for an opponent to travel to this corner of the country and escape with a victory. […]
0 comments by Ryan Palencer
The College Football Playoff did one thing for an exciting Iron Bowl: It made the winner less central to the national championship race for the first time in about eight years. While the 55-44 Alabama victory was entertaining for fans, the final result really did not make a difference either way — at least, it’s reasonable […]
0 comments by Bart D on 11/29/2014
Follow TSS on Twitter @TheStudentSect Author @TheCoachBart If you’ve never seen Jake and the Neverland Pirates, it’s a toddler cartoon on the Disney channel that’s a youthful spin-off from the Peter Pan series, where basically these kid pirates spend their eternity being young and goofing off with a ship to motor around in while a […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
College football usually punishes teams that live with small margins for error — 2014 Florida State and 2012 Notre Dame are two of the more notable exceptions from recent years. The sport is an unforgiving creature, because two bad days at the office are usually enough to leave a season short of its goals. The […]
Georgia Tech beating Georgia in the Paul Johnson era was and is a rare event. With that having been said, the Yellow Jackets’ ability to win in Athens could very realistically represent an equation-changing event in the evolving balance of power between the ACC and the SEC.
0 comments by Terry P. Johnson
You’ve got to tip your cap the Georgia Tech for winning this contest. Despite facing several seemingly impossible situations, the Yellow Jackets upset archrival Georgia, and have emerged as a spoiler in the College Football Playoff race. Let’s be honest: it looked like Georgia Tech was going to lose this ball game several different times […]
If the conferences are given autonomy in their ability to stage championship games, we could see the end of split-division conferences. We could also see conferences decide to make the conference title game a flex-game entity in which the conference champion might not play in it. For instance, the Big Ten could have chosen this year (under a liberalized structure) to anoint Ohio State as its champion. The conference title game slot this Saturday could have beloned to Michigan State and Wisconsin, the second- and third-place teams. Ohio State would love the ability to rest and heal for the bowls. Michigan State and Wisconsin could gain a quality win. Shouldn’t conferences have the freedom to be able to do this? They might… if legislation makes its way through an NCAA board in April.
0 comments by Bart D
Follow TSS on Twitter @TheStudentSect Author @TheCoachBart They always say “there’s a reason you play the games,” and it’s not to insinuate that you’re doing so just because it appears on the schedule and it’d be a logistics nightmare to not do so. Mostly it refers to a player or group of players being completely […]
0 comments by Bart D
Follow TSS on Twitter @TheStudentSect Author @TheCoachBart College football has given us a lot over our lives, the latest of which over the last 15 years has been the ever ridiculous “conference strength” argument, which has replaced the “best home run hitter, NBA player, quarterback, etc. of all time across eras” as the most ridiculously […]
The more one looks at various resumes, the more one realizes that if at least two other top-six teams lose on Saturday, the Arizona Wildcats — should they beat Oregon in Friday’s Pac-12 Championship Game — would crack the College Football Playoff and very likely play in the first Rose Bowl in the history of this snake-bitten program. Arizona is so close to moving out of the shadows forever.
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 11/28/2014
It is remarkable to think that just a few weeks ago, on Nov. 15 in Tucson, Arizona, the Washington Huskies — with a first down and under 1:40 on the clock with the Arizona Wildcats having only one timeout — had just about defeated Rich Rodriguez. All Washington had to do with a 26-24 lead […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Late in a college football season, division and conference championships are won and lost. Prestigious bowl bids — life-changing achievements for the players and coaches at various programs — hang in the balance. The pressure of late-season college football is excruciating, and it’s precisely why 13-0 is one of the hardest feats in sports, no […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
When the Wisconsin Badgers host the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday, a lot more than Paul Bunyan’s Axe will be at stake. Such is the transformed nature of this game, thanks mostly to the ability of Jerry Kill to lift the Gophers to an even higher level. Wisconsin expects — and is expected by pundits […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Remember the 2011 college football season? It was atypical in that it provided a regular-season rematch in the BCS National Championship Game (Alabama-LSU in the Superdome), but it was a rather normal season in this respect: The TCU Horned Frogs won a conference championship. This represented normal business for head coach Gary Patterson and the […]
0 comments by Kevin Causey
It’s rivalry week and there are a bunch of games where in-state rivals put it all on the line, but one that flies a bit under the radar is the rivalry in the Pacific Northwest. It’s called the Civil War, and the Oregon Ducks currently hold a 61-46-10 advantage and have won six straight in […]
0 comments by Bart D on 11/26/2014
Follow TSS on Twitter @TheStudentSect Author @TheCoachBart It’s defined not by traveling trophies, cute nicknames, or in-state borders. It’s called only, “The Game,” and while it’s cliche to say you don’t understand the hate unless you’ve been around it in any way … you don’t understand the hate unless you’ve been around it in any […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Christmas is — within the Christian tradition — a deeply holy day. Whether you are of a religious persuasion or not, you can appreciate that there’s something very sacred about that day, something which ought to make the day a time for simply “being,” not doing; for quiet, not the hustle and bustle of the […]
0 comments by The Editors
The College Football Playoff debate is the centerpiece of the 2014 season, but the Gang Of Five drama owns more prominence and centrality this week after Boise State and Marshall both cracked the top 25 in the College Football Playoff rankings. With Boise State sitting just one spot ahead of Marshall, this Saturday’s late game […]
