Normally, I don’t post on weekends, because I think that there’s an even lesser chance that my six readers will actually read what I post, since it’s the weekend, and we all undoubtedly have something better to be doing than reading someone else’s brog. But something(s) have occurred that have piqued my interest and inspired me to do some writing about it.
This past Saturday marked the end of regulation for college football that actually matters. Frankly, I don’t think it’s possible for one single day to have had so many sports things happen that impacted so many other sports things I’ve seen in my entire life.
First, there was the unprecedented culmination of the success of the Duke football program, where they squeaked out a win against North Carolina to end the season as winners of the ACC Coastal division, and punched their ticket to Charlotte, where they’ll play Florida State for the conference championship.
A couple of weeks ago, I pointed out that Duke winning the division would essentially be the epitome of chaos, and that I was torn like Natalie Imbruglia about how I felt about Duke winning the division, because it comes at the expense of Virginia Tech, but the possibilities of seeing Duke possibly beating Florida State, and the off-hand chance of a Duke vs. Stanford game were at the same time chaotically appealing.
But in spite of Duke’s successes creating a chaotic landscape, they actually paled in comparison to the other big thing that happened on this particular day.
Prior to the start of the college football season, nobody would have guessed that Alabama was going to ever lose, again, depending on whom you asked. Alabama was preemptively crowned the 2013 National Champions before a snap was taken on any field across the NCAA landscape. Regular predictions of “three-peat,” “dynasty,” and “Heisman” were often associated with Alabama or particular players on their roster.
So, when Alabama lost to Auburn, that created the epitome of a chaotic situation. I’m actually still kind of in awe at how it all happened, and the pretty substantial number of repercussions that are going to occur as a result of it.
Firstly, it’s absolutely mind-boggling that Auburn has won two straight games in the manner that they won them. Seriously, the way they beat Georgia a week prior was about as fluky and blessed by divine intervention as they come. A touchdown reception after a botched interception attempt that bounced perfectly into the arms of a man at full stride? Total divine intervention. And then to beat the uncrowned National Champions on a returned missed field goal about 103 yards, with no time left on the clock? I’m pretty sure that might never happen again; if I’m an Alabama fan, I sure as hell hope that doesn’t, because if it ever does, there’s no doubt that footage of the ’13 Iron Bowl will be shown as a reminder.
I can’t take anything away from Auburn in spite of their two straight fluky victories, and an unexpected trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game, because ultimately, they still hung a large number of points on two pretty good football schools. But god damn, has it been an incredible ride for the War Eagles here.
Back to the important stuff though, the repercussions of Auburn beating Alabama are pretty massive. For starters, despite the fact that Alabama has dominated the college football scene over the last three years, they chose pretty much the worst possible time in history to finally lose a game. Because of this loss, happening on the last game of the regular season, Alabama loses their shot at a third consecutive SEC Championship, which depending on whom you ask, is pretty much the only title that matters. Some years, I begrudgingly have to agree with that opinion.
Ironically, due to the absurd way the BCS is run, Alabama’s chances at a third straight National Championship however, are not completely dashed yet. Granted, they’ll definitely need some help from the teams that are likely going to be #1 and #2 going into the start of next week, as well as ironically, Auburn.
Basically, if either the likely #1 Florida State or likely #2 Ohio State lose in their respective conference championship games, there’s a remote chance that Alabama can sneak back into either of those rankings. It’s even more likely if that scenario is combined with a loss by Auburn in the SEC Championship game to Missouri, because Mizzou might win the SEC, but they’re probably not going to rank high enough to matter.
So basically, despite the fact that the entire sports world was convinced, CONVINCED that Alabama was already the 2013 National Champions, one very untimely, unlikely, and unexpected loss has pretty much caused a gargantuan level of chaos and gutting of the entire college football ranking system and championship landscape.
I realize that I’m kind of sounding like an Alabama sympathizer, which I have to admit I kind of do. But I think I like to tend to stay near the status quo when it comes to things, and that oddities don’t ever seem right to me, so I guess with all the expectations that Alabama should be the top of the heap, I’m just kind of in a mindset of wondering on how to return to that quo. It’s also 2:24 a.m. while I’m writing this, so whatever, judge me not.
Anyway, the best part about all of this madness and chaos is that it’s not over yet. Not by a long shot. Duke and Missouri have all the reason in the world now to believe that they’re more than capable of ruining the expectations of others, and if any of the members of the BCS top five who have conference championship games to play next week stumble in their own right, even more chaos is to be expected.
Either way, I’m actually very excited to see just how it plays out, because all this chaos is making me kind of happy.
