Top Non-Conference Match-ups in 2010

1) Alabama vs. Georgia State in Tuscaloosa

Storyline: Defending National Champion Alabama taking on FCS (Division 1-AA) and 1^st Year of Football Georgia State University coached by former 'Bama head man Bill Curry? Are you kidding me? Hotels within a 150 radius of Tuscaloosa have been sold out for this one since May.  

Prediction: Bama is caught looking ahead to the Auburn game and only wins by 47. Tide fans go home disappointed that only two GSU kids were removed from field by stretcher.

2) Ohio State vs. Eastern Michigan in Columbus

Storyline: Big 10 favorites welcome the former Hurons to the Horseshoe, a ragtag squad coming off a winless season in 2009 and staring down a Xerox'd campaign for 2010. HC Ron English used to coach the Defense at Michigan,  so the Bucks will see this as another opportunity to tangentially embarrass that team up north yet again (though obviously will not utilize foreign words like tangentially).

Prediction: Tyrelle Pryor’s gigantic ears (long striders, those things) score twice helping the bucks cover the 38 point spread.

3) Wisconsin vs. Austin Peay in Madison

Storyline: 90,000 Badger fans google “Ausin Peay” to find out just where in the hell AP is located, and then, upon getting their answer, rub it in their cousin Brett’s face over a Lienenkugels. “See, I told you it wasn’t Canadian, jerk wad.”

Prediction: John Clay breaks single season rushing record in 2^nd quarter on 6 carries.

4) Texas Tech vs. Weber State in Lubbock

Storyline: No Leach. No Problem. College Gameday has their eye on this one as Tommy Tubberville has a chance to flex his muscles against a non-con powerhouse the likes of which he used to line up at Auburn.

Prediction: TT wins by 71. Tubberville immediately proceeds to bitch and moan about the injustice of the BCS system.

5) Kansas vs. North Dakota State in Lawrence

Storyline: Not to be outdone by that hillbilly in Lubbock, Bill Snyder has lined a typical Snyderville-esque non-con opponent.

Prediction: Synder enters the game as the face of all retirement age jackasses and comes out of this contest with that brand still intact.

6) Virginia Tech vs. James Madison in Blacksburg

Storyline: As Dolly Madison University wasn’t available, the Hokies went straight to fellow cupcake opponent and husband school James.
Prediction: If VaTech is coming off a loss to Boise State, this will be really ugly. Alternatively, if VaTech is coming off a win over Boise State, this will be really ugly.

7) Duke vs. Elon in Durham

Storyline: I once saw Elon on a Parisian catwalk. This was just after her 7^th Cosmo cover. Didn’t think she could look better in person. Wrong.

Prediction: Duke sells no tickets to this game and allows no media through the gates. It didn’t happen if no no one saw it.

8) Florida State vs. Samford in Tallahassee

Storyline: New head coach Jimbo Fisher provided some bill board material when he said he couldn’t wait for that smart ass Jim Harbaugh to bring his team into Tallahassee. When told that the Noles were playing Samford, not Stamford, Fisher rolled with it. “Just as I thought, the chicken shit.”

Prediction: Christians on Samford's squad Ponder why the school ever agreed to play this game. Get it? Christians Ponder? Excuse me while I ROFL. I kill me.

9) Wake Forest vs. Presbyterian in Winston-Salem

Storyline: Wake has played Presbyterian 10 times in their history and holds a slim 5-4-1 advantage.  Looking good there, Wake.

Prediction: Unitarian, Zorastrian, and Rastafari Universities all consider trekking to NC for the payday for future schedules.

10) Washington State vs. Montana State in Pullman

Storyline: Stoppable force meets moveable object. Who is who? Who the hell knows? That’s the beauty of this tilt.

Prediction: Of the dozens of people in attendance, 90% will be wearing some piece of clothing from REI.

1987: George Perles loved to (S)party all the time

Once upon a time, national championships were derived from luck, independence and soft scheduling. As such, this championship often alluded teams in major conferences. Within certain circles, winning the conference carried more prestige than winning the national title. Select schools' out of conference schedules, during this Gilded age, included the likes of Notre Dame, Florida State and USC. No, not spaced out over three years. Yes, all in one season.

In this Arcadian Utopia, you hung up your car phone immediately when then Ohio Valley commissioner Jim Delaney called to convince you to put Murray State on your schedule. You laughed when Toledo called to ask you out, and you let Miami(oh) down nicely by reminding them they're charming and prestigous, but Jimmy Johnson and Miami(FL) already asked you to the dance. Actually, this fairy tale was no tale at all.

WELCOME TO MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL circa 1987.

Michigan State's 1987 campaign began on Labor Day night with a 27-13 pounding of USC in East Lansing.

The Spartan's season immediately went south with a week two 31-8 drubbing at the Hands of Notre Dame and their Heisman trophy winner, Tim Brown.

Upstart Florida State came calling during week 3; they also ran through the Spartans en route to a 31-3 blowout. Then, the real season began --Big Ten Conference play.

In a season of the unpredictable, Michigan State beat Michigan in Lansing...


...but a Halloween win over Ohio State in Columbus forced the nation to take notice--Michigan State was not fooling around in 1987. Late in the season, Indiana and Michigan State squared off for the right to go to Pasadena. That's right, Indiana, who happen to beat Michigan and Ohio State that season, was one game away from the Rose Bowl. Nonetheless, led by Andre Rison and Lorenzo White, the Sparty machine rolled through Indiana landing a Rose Bowl rematch against big bad USC. This time, the game would take place in SC's back yard.

(In case readers don't pick up on this, former Indiana coach Bill Mallory congratulates MSU after the Spartans 1987 rose bowl clinching victory. He even gives them a pep talk about "going to the [west] coast" to win one for the Big Ten. As blasphemous as his speech might sounds to some of you, I think the time has come for my fellow Rashaad Salon blog contributors to acknowledge the following: 1. that conference rivals root for each other, 2. that they've done so for a long time and 3. that it's ok to root for your conference rival in a bowl game. Also, as illustrated in this video, rooting for a team within your conference cannot be solely attributed to the SEC. This is and has been a Big Ten epidemic as well.)

On Friday January 1, 1988, the Spartans did what only one Big Ten member(Michigan 1981) had done since 1974--win the Rose Bowl. Led by two early Lorenzo White touchdowns, the Spartans jumped out to a 14-3 lead. Rodney Peete helped USC pull even at 17-17 in the 4th. But, a long run by White on MSU's next drive led to a FG giving Sparty a late 20-17 lead. A Peete fumble deep in Spartan territory with 90 seconds left sealed the Spartans fate.

Dream season? I would say so. Reason for George Perles to SPARTY? Hell yeah.

Random Days in College Football History:January 1, 1993

Remember the days when Disney and GE allowed major bowls to play their games on the same day? When USF&G and Sunkist served as title sponsors? I do. Anyway, the day began at 11am EST with the Heath Shuler led Tennessee Vols running over Glen Foley and Boston College in the Hall of fame bowl ; it concluded after midnight with Alabama ending Miami's decade long run of dominance, but what happened in between?

--Citrus Bowl: Ohio State and UGA squared off in the 1st ever Big Ten-SEC Citrus Bowl. Scholars claim this might have been the beginning of the conference fan. Kirk Herbstriet fumbled near the goal line late in the game. Final Score UGA 21 OSU 14. S-E-C... S-E-C... S-E-C

--Cotton Bowl: Notre Dame-Texas AM. Remember Texas AM QB Corey Pullig?Of course you don't. Nonetheless, he orchestrated an undefeated regular season for the Aggies while averaging less than a 100 yards passing through the air. The aggies ran into a superior ND team led by Rick Mirer, Jerome Bettis, Lake Dawon and Reggie Brooks. ND 28 TexAM 3

--Blockbuster Bowl: Stanford-Penn State. The other New Year's day bowl game in Miami. It drew less than 30,000 fans. The nittany lions ended their era of independence and ushered in the Big Ten era in appropriate Big Ten fashion--by getting blown out by a member of the PAC 10. Stanford 24 PSU 3.

--Fiesta Bowl: Syr - CU . The pre-game fight no one remembers and the classic fiesta bowl game everyone forgot about because everyone was watching the Rose Bowl. Kirby Dar Dar went wild and Qaudry Ismail(Rocket's brother) returned a kickoff for a TD. Syr 26 CU22

--Rose Bowl: UW-Mich. Michigan avenged the 34-14 thrashing UW put on them the year before. Tyrone Wheatley rushed for 700 yards(ok it was more like 280), Elvis Grbac threw beautiful spirals and Derrick Alexander looked graceful catching them. Mich 38 UW 31.

--Orange Bowl: As if NBC didn't have enough problems with a fiesta bowl that drew 7 viewers, the Orange Bowl had to go up against ABC and the Sugar Bowl's defacto national championship game. Nothing significant here. In a rain soaked orange bowl, Florida State shut down the vaunted option again. Tommie Frazier and Lawrence Phillips played as freshman. "Will Osbourne ever win a bowl game again" we thought to ourselves. FSU 27 NU 14

1997:A Magical season(relatively speaking) or Return to Glory (relatively speaking again)

Champ Bailey's recent quote about tim tebow prompted an inquiry from Pete as to Bailey's record against Florida.

Here is the answer and more:

Bailey was 1-2 against the Gators, but Bailey was part of the only UGA team--with Hines Ward, Mike Bobo and Robert Edwards-- to beat the Spurrier Gators in what is now considered UGA's "return to glory"*** season. Prior to 1997, Georgia struggled to get its self out of the Roy Goff era. In 1997, Georgia raced to a 4-0 start before Peyton Manning and Tennessee brought them back to earth. On Nov 1, Georgia entered the cocktail party with a 6-1 record but were 20 point underdogs to the gators. 3 hours and 23 minutes later Georgia celebrated a 37-17 win over the Gators. Larry Munson lit a cigar in the press box(probably against the law for anyone other than Munson) and Dawg fans proclaimed they had turned the series around. Chants of "you can't spell sugar**** without UGA" were rampant throughout the river city. I even felt the aftershock of that victory 350 miles south in Miami as my Dad and I attended the Orange Bowl Committee--consisting primarily of UF alums-- pot luck dinner. Never before had I seen so many distraught 50 plus year old men in orange blazers.

Well, Auburn blew the dawgs out two weeks later forcing them out of a major bowl and into the place where dream seasons end..... The outback bowl. Much to the chagrin of Georgia fans, the Gator's popularity landed them in the citrus bowl against Penn State. 13 years later, Georgia fans still wait to turn the Florida series around, but they'll always have the magical season of 1997 which included an outback bowl victory over Wisconsin.

***For purposes of this post, "Glory" means 9-3 seasons with second or third place finishes in the SEC east.

****Ohio State got the nod over Georgia to get blown out by FSU in the 97-98 Sugar bowl. Somewhere in Columbus right now, a bitter Buck claims OSU would have beaten UGA had they gone to the outback bowl in 1997:

Kurt from Chesapeake, Va., writes: Adam, As you are talking bowl tie-ins I got to thinking. One of the reasons that the Big Ten has such a bad record in bowl games is because there have been 2 teams in BCS games. Because of this, the rest of the Big Ten has been "bumped up" in the slotting. Take last year for example. If Ohio State would have not been a BCS team, they would have taken Michigan States place and probably beat Georgia. Michigan State would have then played in Iowa's place and beat South Carolina. And so on. Is the Big Ten looking at this senario when making new bowl tie in agreements?

Adam Rittenberg: You're absolutely spot on, Kurt. While the Big Ten must perform better in BCS games, the league's overall bowl record would be much better if each team moved down a slot and there was only one BCS selection. No league plays as challenging a bowl lineup as the Big Ten, especially when you factor in the geography. That said, I don't think the Big Ten will ever scream, "Please don't take two of our teams for BCS bowls!" The revenue and exposure is way too appealing to pass up. But as far as the proposed lineup, it does give the Big Ten another manageable matchup on Jan. 1 in the Gator Bowl. The Big Ten still will be "playing up" against the ACC in Jacksonville, but I doubt there'll be a major difference between those teams.