Football is in the air
David vs. Goliath
The 2006 college football season seems to have had an unusually large number of "David and Goliath" games–major college football factories scheduling games against small schools not known as football power-houses. Unlike David in the Bible story, the small schools rarely beat their Goliath opponents.
Mismatches have been going on for decades–the major colleges have used patsies (usually at the beginning of the season to give the former additional practice or, later in the season, as "breathers" before tough games with traditional rivals the following week), but their imbalance seems to be greater and their number higher this year. Some examples from the Saturday, September 23rd games:
Pittsburgh 56, The Citadel 6
Auburn 38, Buffalo 7
Florida State 55, Rice 7
Tennessee 33, Marshall 7
Louisiana State 49, Tulane 7
Oklahoma 59, Middle Tennessee 0
Nebraska 56, Troy 0
How can a major college maintain its integrity when it beats up a small school so badly; how can it not see itself as a bully? How can these small colleges, knowing as they do the likely outcome when they schedule these contests, bear the humiliation of such thrashings?
There appear to be two reasons: (1) The football factories can use the small schools as punching bags early in the season to ready themselves for their games with their equals later in the season. (2) The small schools are willing to take the punishment and degradation in order to make big bucks for their athletic programs--the money coming from the sharing, with the big school, of ticket sales and TV advertising receipts.
As to (2), the New York Times had an article recently as to how these small schools can make enough money from just one football game with a major team to fund most of their athletic programs that don’t provide any revenues (soccer, field and track, baseball, field hockey, etc.) for a school year. (It should be noted that the only other college sport that attracts national attention and huge revenues from TV coverage and attendance admissions–basketball–likewise subsidizes all of these other minor sports.)
My son just pointed out to me that legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 1972, known as Title IX (which requires schools to provide equal opportunity to female students for access to sports programs available to male students), adds to funding requirements at the small schools--which can be met, at least in part, by the payoff from the shellacking their football teams take when they play against the power-houses.
Never say "never"
The 1958 professional National Football League championship game on December 28, 1958–the Baltimore Colts vs. the New York Giants (played at Yankee Stadium in New York)--has been described as the "Greatest Game of Football Ever Played" by numerous sports writers and others. To me , it was just that: with just two minutes left in the game, and the Colts deep down close to their own goal line and trailing on a 14-17 score, they pulled ahead to tie the game with a field goal at 17-all with less than 10 seconds left. Then, in sudden-death overtime (the first in NFL history), the Colts scored a touchdown and won the championship 23-17. (This game was some eight years before the Super Bowl, which began in January 1967.)
Although I was in my early thirties and in excellent health, I truly thought that, if the Colts couldn’t come through and win that game, I was going to have a heart attack, a nervous breakdown, or both. I was that excited! I said at the time (and have said many times later) that I never expected ever to see such an exciting game again.
But, never say "never." Since that time I have seen two college football games that were as exciting. One was the North Carolina State-Ohio State game on 9/13/03 (played in Columbus, Ohio). In it, N.C. State scored 17 points with 11 minutes left to tie the game 38-all in regulation play. In overtime, N.C. State trailing 38-44, drove to Ohio State’s one-foot line, but couldn’t score the tying touchdown (and perhaps winning an after-touchdown conversion). I was totally limp from yelling (for N.C. State) after that game, and sank motionless in my chair for several minutes.
Another such exciting game was just yesterday: Notre Dame overcame a 16-point deficit with just 8 minutes left to play to beat Michigan State 40-37. It was as exciting as the Colts’ 1958 win and the 2003 N.C. State almost-win, but it didn’t drain me as much as those games because I had no favorite in it.
Sources for college football fans
The website www.CSTV.com carries much detailed info about games still in progress or finished for free (one can view games on TV by subscribing for a fee). I just discovered it yesterday.
The College Football Encyclopedia published in 2005 by the sports TV network ESPN (cover price $49.95, but I got mine for considerably less by shopping among booksellers on the Internet) is a treasury of facts and stats on college football going back to the late 1800's. (It even lists the first game of American football: Princeton vs. Rutgers on November 6th , 1869, won 6-4 by Rutgers). The same two teams played again a week later on November 13th (won by Princeton 6-2). They also played again, once in 1870 and again in 1872, Rutgers the winner in each, 6-2 and 4-1 respectively (those were the only games played by Princeton during those years). How scores were tallied in those early games is not provided in the book–some of the scores would be highly unusual today: e.g., the 4-1 win by Rutgers could only happen if it scored two safeties and nothing else; the one point by Princeton could not happen today.
1 Comment
Anonymous said...
An excellent article! I must say that the two most memorable college football games I have ever seen are:2006 Rose Bowl. In the most remarkable performance I have ever seen by a college football player, Vince Young single-handedly carried Texas to a thrilling last second win over Southern Cal.1984 - Boston College vs. Miami. In his own "Young-like" performance, Doug Flutie threw a Hail Mary pass with no time on the clock to beat Miami in the Orange Bowl 47-45.
The 2006 college football season seems to have had an unusually large number of "David and Goliath" games–major college football factories scheduling games against small schools not known as football power-houses. Unlike David in the Bible story, the small schools rarely beat their Goliath opponents.
Mismatches have been going on for decades–the major colleges have used patsies (usually at the beginning of the season to give the former additional practice or, later in the season, as "breathers" before tough games with traditional rivals the following week), but their imbalance seems to be greater and their number higher this year. Some examples from the Saturday, September 23rd games:
Pittsburgh 56, The Citadel 6
Auburn 38, Buffalo 7
Florida State 55, Rice 7
Tennessee 33, Marshall 7
Louisiana State 49, Tulane 7
Oklahoma 59, Middle Tennessee 0
Nebraska 56, Troy 0
How can a major college maintain its integrity when it beats up a small school so badly; how can it not see itself as a bully? How can these small colleges, knowing as they do the likely outcome when they schedule these contests, bear the humiliation of such thrashings?
There appear to be two reasons: (1) The football factories can use the small schools as punching bags early in the season to ready themselves for their games with their equals later in the season. (2) The small schools are willing to take the punishment and degradation in order to make big bucks for their athletic programs--the money coming from the sharing, with the big school, of ticket sales and TV advertising receipts.
As to (2), the New York Times had an article recently as to how these small schools can make enough money from just one football game with a major team to fund most of their athletic programs that don’t provide any revenues (soccer, field and track, baseball, field hockey, etc.) for a school year. (It should be noted that the only other college sport that attracts national attention and huge revenues from TV coverage and attendance admissions–basketball–likewise subsidizes all of these other minor sports.)
My son just pointed out to me that legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 1972, known as Title IX (which requires schools to provide equal opportunity to female students for access to sports programs available to male students), adds to funding requirements at the small schools--which can be met, at least in part, by the payoff from the shellacking their football teams take when they play against the power-houses.
Never say "never"
The 1958 professional National Football League championship game on December 28, 1958–the Baltimore Colts vs. the New York Giants (played at Yankee Stadium in New York)--has been described as the "Greatest Game of Football Ever Played" by numerous sports writers and others. To me , it was just that: with just two minutes left in the game, and the Colts deep down close to their own goal line and trailing on a 14-17 score, they pulled ahead to tie the game with a field goal at 17-all with less than 10 seconds left. Then, in sudden-death overtime (the first in NFL history), the Colts scored a touchdown and won the championship 23-17. (This game was some eight years before the Super Bowl, which began in January 1967.)
Although I was in my early thirties and in excellent health, I truly thought that, if the Colts couldn’t come through and win that game, I was going to have a heart attack, a nervous breakdown, or both. I was that excited! I said at the time (and have said many times later) that I never expected ever to see such an exciting game again.
But, never say "never." Since that time I have seen two college football games that were as exciting. One was the North Carolina State-Ohio State game on 9/13/03 (played in Columbus, Ohio). In it, N.C. State scored 17 points with 11 minutes left to tie the game 38-all in regulation play. In overtime, N.C. State trailing 38-44, drove to Ohio State’s one-foot line, but couldn’t score the tying touchdown (and perhaps winning an after-touchdown conversion). I was totally limp from yelling (for N.C. State) after that game, and sank motionless in my chair for several minutes.
Another such exciting game was just yesterday: Notre Dame overcame a 16-point deficit with just 8 minutes left to play to beat Michigan State 40-37. It was as exciting as the Colts’ 1958 win and the 2003 N.C. State almost-win, but it didn’t drain me as much as those games because I had no favorite in it.
Sources for college football fans
The website www.CSTV.com carries much detailed info about games still in progress or finished for free (one can view games on TV by subscribing for a fee). I just discovered it yesterday.
The College Football Encyclopedia published in 2005 by the sports TV network ESPN (cover price $49.95, but I got mine for considerably less by shopping among booksellers on the Internet) is a treasury of facts and stats on college football going back to the late 1800's. (It even lists the first game of American football: Princeton vs. Rutgers on November 6th , 1869, won 6-4 by Rutgers). The same two teams played again a week later on November 13th (won by Princeton 6-2). They also played again, once in 1870 and again in 1872, Rutgers the winner in each, 6-2 and 4-1 respectively (those were the only games played by Princeton during those years). How scores were tallied in those early games is not provided in the book–some of the scores would be highly unusual today: e.g., the 4-1 win by Rutgers could only happen if it scored two safeties and nothing else; the one point by Princeton could not happen today.
1 Comment
Anonymous said...
An excellent article! I must say that the two most memorable college football games I have ever seen are:2006 Rose Bowl. In the most remarkable performance I have ever seen by a college football player, Vince Young single-handedly carried Texas to a thrilling last second win over Southern Cal.1984 - Boston College vs. Miami. In his own "Young-like" performance, Doug Flutie threw a Hail Mary pass with no time on the clock to beat Miami in the Orange Bowl 47-45.
posted by Mycroft Watson at 9:51 PM
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1 Comments:
An excellent article! I must say that the two most memorable college football games I have ever seen are:
2006 Rose Bowl. In the most remarkable performance I have ever seen by a college football player, Vince Young single-handedly carried Texas to a thrilling last second win over Southern Cal.
1984 - Boston College vs. Miami. In his own "Young-like" performance, Doug Flutie threw a Hail Mary pass with no time on the clock to beat Miami in the Orange Bowl 47-45.
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