Monday, October 20, 2008
So 2008 was supposed to be different. This was supposed to be the year the Big 12 North stood up to the big bad heavyweights from the South and said, “Enough.” 2008 was the year Kansas backed up its historic 2007 and Missouri cemented itself on the national stage.
Oops.
Kansas meet Missouri. Missouri meet Kansas. Brothers in blowouts. Rivals in routs.
An hour after Sam Bradford finished knifing through Kansas’ defense, Texas began it’s Missouri [tail]-kicking, and the Big 12 North was left wounded and humiliated.
Kansas was gashed, Missouri thrashed, and the North’s reputation trashed.
Get all that?
Of course, Big 12 division dominance has run in cycles. Buoyed by national power Nebraska and plucky Kansas State, the North reigned during the Big 12’s initial seasons. In three of the Big 12’s first four seasons, the North finished the season with the conference’s top two teams in the final Associated Press poll.
But then Bob Stoops rebuilt the Sooners, and Mack Brown landed with the Longhorns, and the Big 12 South began to rise again.
And it didn’t help that the Nebraska program was in shambles and Bill Snyder left K-State to rot in mediocrity.
The South had Varsity programs and the North fielded freshman “B” teams. And it was ugly. Real ugly.
In 2004, led by Oklahoma and Texas, the South finished 15-3 against the North. In 2006, the South won 13 and lost just five.
But then 2007 provided hope for the weary men of the North. Armed with little gutsy quarterbacks, Kansas and Missouri led a Northern gridiron renaissance.
The North was back, they said.
And that’s what made Saturday so frustrating. And that’s why we wanted to scratch our head.
Oklahoma and Texas aren’t just better. They’re faster and stronger and bigger and they’re more-disciplined and they have all-american talent all over the field and quarterbacks taller than six-feet, and well, it all just seems a little unfair.
College football’s a curious institution. More than any other sport — college or pro — tradition matters. It all seems to easy for the Oklahoma’s and the Texas’s and the USC’s. They play in palaces with massive video boards with goofy names like gorilla-tron. And they recruit studs, and they outspend people, and year after year the vicious cycle continues. The rich become richer.
But the advantage goes beyond the field. College football is the only sport where polls are actually used to help determine who will play for the National Title. And a lot of poll voters can’t help themselves. They look at the program’s name and they think about history.
Oh. This team’s not a traditional power. Better slide them down a few spots.
Not following? Let’s look at the past 20 National Champions.
1988 – Notre Dame
1989 – Miami, Fla.
1990 – Colorado (AP), Georgia Tech (UPI)
1991 – Miami, Fla. (AP), Washington (Coaches)
1992 – Alabama
1993 – Florida State
1994 – Nebraska
1995 – Nebraska
1996 – Florida
1997 – Michigan (AP), Nebraska (Coaches)
1998 – Tennessee
1999 – Florida State
2000 – Oklahoma
2001 – Miami, Fla.
2002 – Ohio State
2003 – USC (AP), LSU (National Champs)
2004 – USC
2005 – Texas
2006 – Florida
2007 – LSU
Notice a trend? Aside from the bizarre Colorado/Georgia Tech split title in 1990, and Tennessee’s breakthrough in 1998, the last 20 years have been thoroughly owned by college football’s good ‘ol boys.
And that’s precisely why 2007 had so many fans giddy. We were one week away from a Missouri — West Virginia National Championship. The peasants were finally sticking it to college football’s nobility. Maybe we finally have parody, we thought.
And then comes a day like Saturday. Oklahoma and Texas showed that speed still kill — and thrills — and talents still trumps everything else. And you look at the top six teams in the Associated Press Poll:
1. Texas
2. Alabama
3. Penn State
4. Oklahoma
5. Florida
6. USC
And you realize nothing has changed. The nobles still rule. Parody is a dirty little myth.
— — Edited by Ramsey Cox
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