Are you having fun with this Texas-Ohio State hysteria? Stay tuned there will be more to come. Much more.
Think with me folks: When is the last time you saw this much hoopla for an early September game? David and Goliath gets noticed if the little fellow wins, and that's only after the fact. But Goliath smashing up against another Goliath from a distant galaxy makes us crazy. It's the rarity that makes it so. Long considered a dying breed, the classic intersectional matchup between powerhouses makes for incalculable publicity, soaring ratings, a world of witty and witless conversation from the "experts," and scalpers' heaven. Most of all, it's great fun.
Goliath Games
The reasons for the diminishing numbers of Goliath games are complicated, but understandable when studied. The most important factor is simply the increase in conference games. There was a time in the Southeastern Conference when teams were required to play only five conference games a year. When Bear Bryant was the Kentucky coach in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Kentucky's out-of-conference schedules included Xavier, Evansville, Marquette, Villanova, The Citadel, North Texas State, North Dakota and George Washington.
By 1987, 3½ decades later, SEC teams were required to play only six league games. Our Alabama team that year played Southern Mississippi (which had a young quarterback named Brett Favre) and Southwest Louisiana, teams we were expected to beat, and did. We played Memphis State, a team we should have beaten, but did not. We played two Goliath games, the first against Penn State, a game we were expected to lose, but did not, the second against Notre Dame, a game we were expected to lose, and did. If that is confusing, the bottom line is not. We had five games of wiggle room on an 11-game schedule.
By 1989, the conference required that we play eight SEC games. At the same time, scholarship numbers were diminishing, and injuries increasing due to larger, faster bodies. Alumni, college presidents and fan bases were becoming much less patient, and for the first time coaches were being fired after winning seasons.
So when league game requirements increase by 60 percent, championship games are added, player numbers thin with the brutal competition, losses are mounting and coaches are drawing unemployment checks, one does not have to be very smart to see what's next -- lighter schedules. And all of this got rolling before the BCS was a glimmer in Roy Kramer's eye.
So while we still have USC-Notre Dame, Michigan-Notre Dame and a couple of others (they are so exciting I honestly cannot remember what they are), we are feeling a bit short-changed on the monster game front, especially since the Irish have stumbled a bit. Hence the elation and celebration of this week's earth-shaking event.
I say sit tight, stay tuned, help is on the way. I predict that athletic directors and coaches of the best teams will digest what is going on this week, and start looking for someone awesome to play in the near future.
When Oklahoma scheduled TCU for its 2005 opener, Bob Stoops may not have been there. Do you think now that he would have preferred to play, oh, say UCLA, or even Miami? I think so. Do you think his players would have played a little better?
Listen to coaches' interviews, read the police blotters on players in a few of the good programs, and pay attention to what the coaches are saying. They correctly state that the biggest challenge they face in big-time programs in this era is maintaining the focus of the student-athletes.
As silly as it sounds, a Texas vs. Ohio State game at the beginning of the season accomplishes just that. When it comes to offseason conditioning, voluntary passing practices and the weight room, there now has to be some driving force beyond the tradition, pride and pep talk stuff. This generation has lots and lots of distractions, all lurking and lying in wait. I need not enumerate them.
If you doubt me on the focus idea, just read the following quotes (paraphrased):
• "I cannot lie -- I started thinking about it halfway through the fourth quarter of last Saturday's game."
-- Jim Tressel, who probably could not bring himself to confess that he was thinking about it during the bowl game last year.
• "I circled the date of the Ohio State game four years ago when I committed to Texas during my senior year in high school."
-- Aaron Harris, Texas linebacker
• "If you want to beat Ohio State University, meet me at 7 p.m."
-- Vince Young, Texas quarterback, urging teammates to show up for summer workouts.
• "What are you gonna do about No. 7?"
-- Vince Young, months ago, to cornerback Michael Huff, referring to Ohio State speedster Ted Ginn, who wears jersey No. 7.
A strange and unique synergy is required to pull football teams together for a championship run. Contrary to popular opinion, football championships are not won in the fall. They are won in the dog days of winter, at 5 a.m. in the offseason conditioning drills. They are won in the brutality of spring practice, during which every day is a test of manhood. They are won in the weight room, where iron wills are required to move iron off the racks. They are won in the hot, humid summer evenings as 7-on-7 drills are run over and over after a day's work. They are won in the gut-check moments of two-a-days and three-a-days during training camp. They are won with absolute focus by a large group of teenaged males. Those are some of the reasons most people will never play on a championship team.
Those who do focus and go the distance all want to quit at one time or another. If they have something, anything, to hang onto, like the biggest game of the year, they just might stick together and go beyond themselves. Coaches and athletic directors know this, and are watching. They love championships. Be on the lookout for some more of these once-in-a-lifetime events -- they are on the way!
Clash of the Titans Wish List
Here are some of the matchups we would love to watch. My source is our resident ESPN scheduling guru, Dave Brown:
Oklahoma vs. Miami -- apparently already on the docket
Tennessee vs. Michigan
USC vs. anybody with a great team -- Pete Carroll is fearless!
Ohio State vs. Florida
Ohio State vs. Alabama, after the Tide gets great again.
ESPN college football analyst Bill Curry was an NFL center for 10 seasons and coached for 17 years on the college stage. His Center Stage examinations appear each week during the college football season.