Last Saturday kicked off a season filled with traditions, as the 25-day countdown to Christmas began. Red and green are once again fashionable, and it’s now socially acceptable to listen to Christmas carols twenty-four-seven.
Many sports fans expected to enjoy another December tradition as they sat down to watch Saturday’s college football games. They presumed they would see top teams perform at the level of their rankings, but this expectation was turned completely upside down as the teams did just the opposite.
The No. 2 West Virginia Mountaineers fell to unranked Pittsburgh, while No. 8 Oklahoma showed their power for a second time this season as they upset the No. 1 Missouri Tigers. The victory wasn’t a fluke either: the Sooners owned the field, pounding the Tigers to win by 21 points. Fans on all sides—not to mention the Bowl Championship Series organizers—were shocked.
The top-ranked teams have historically played for the championship title, but this year, who’s to know which teams really are the best? This past weekend, Ohio State, who sat at home watching the games, gained a No. 1 ranking and a spot in the title game on January 7th in New Orleans.
LSU, which will face Ohio State for the title, will make history as the first team with more than one loss to play in the championship game. Missouri, meanwhile, was completely left out of the BCS bowls. West Virginia will have a chance to salvage their name when they play Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl-a task not to be taken lightly, considering the Sooner’s last performance.
The commotion around this year’s picks is greater than usual due to all the surprise uprisings of underrated teams. Sports fans who planned to sit down to the holiday ritual of feasts and classic bowl match-ups between top teams will have to change their expectations.
That’s not to say that these results were unexpected; the season started to go awry in week one when Appalachian State came out of nowhere to dominate No. 5 Michigan. As the season continued, four top-ranked teams fell and six number two teams were defeated. A season like this hasn’t been seen since 1990 when four of the five top-ranked teams lost on one Novermeber weekend and the No. 1 team had been upset two times earlier in that year.
What can be done to stop the chaos? We could hope that the underdogs learn to know their places, but I can’t say that would be all too practical. A playoff may resolve some of the mayhem, but that is a major step away from the last decade’s college football norm.
Regardless of what might happen in the future, this bowl series may bring some emotions contrary to the holiday spirit. Pick your game dish carefully, because the way this season is going, it’s likely that at least a few bowl outcomes won’t go down so easy.
