College Football is Back! Let’s Go (Insert Favorite Team Name Here)!
The beginning of September marks the start of college football season, and I spent a lot of time this past weekend channel surfing between YouTube channels watching various games (this week’s million dollar business idea – NFL RedZone [where only the scoring or big play highlights for all games are screened in one place live], but for college football. Someone can thank me later).
So, who am I watching? Well, that all depends. I generally will watch a good Top 25 match-up, but I’ll also flit around the dial and see if I can catch a glimpse of teams I’ve had an affiliation or association with (or paid a lot of tuition money to in the past). If my daughters went to college there at some point, I’ll see how that team is doing. Also, If it’s local to me? I’ll also check them out.
That means I’m all over the place, both conference and team-wise. I’ll see if I can find the Maryland game, Penn State, Pitt, WVU, or JMU on a given Saturday. I’ll also look for Towson (yes, they have football), Alabama, UCF, or I’ll even stoop to watching the Florida Gators (my wife’s alma mater) if they are on.
Needless to say, some of these “bigger” schools had some pretty easy opponents in Week One (most of the Top 25). I was seeing scores like 74-0, 69-3, 67-0. You get the idea. What is the world are some of these schools thinking, taking on these games?
Well for the “bigger” school, they get a tune-up game to really test out their rosters and see where the cracks are in the weeks up to their conference opponents. For the “smaller schools? Quite often they get a nice, big, fat check (and I’m talking seven figures) to travel to the opposing team’s school, along with a little national exposure for their players and their program, not matter what the outcome. So, it’s a “win-win” for everyone (except the fans, who have to endure watching these lopsided games early on).
Don’t worry, though. All the big time games are coming. The glorious match-ups, the storied rivals, and the march towards the national championship.
It’s going to be an exciting fall.
So, let’s go [Terps, Lions, Panthers, Mountaineers, Royal Dukes, Tigers, Crimson Tide, Golden Knights, or Gators]!
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’m going to be out of town next week, so I’m taking a little break from the weekly column. I’ll be back on September 16th to share my random thoughts with you. See you then!