Nick Saban is getting his team ready to take on a big SEC West rival. Steve Spurrier has his team in the upper echelon of the SEC East. In Ohio, Urban Meyer is readying his players, showing the college football world just how good a football coach he can be. Mark Richt is hearing grumblings after losing to a team from South Carolina. And the college football world is preparing for the early candidate for the “Game of the Year”, as two top-ten SEC powers collide.
Nick Saban is at LSU, about to face Auburn. Steve Spurrier is at Florida. Urban Meyer is starting his first year as a head coach at Bowling Green. Mark Richt just lost to South Carolina, not Clemson. And the “Game of the Year” candidate in question is Tennessee at Florida.
It is September 11, 2001. And everything is about to change, forever.
The weekend following 9/11 was the last time college football games were postponed throughout the nation. The rest of the year took on a different feel. Texas A&M famously did a “red, white, and blue-out” of their stadium in their first home game after 9/11 against Oklahoma State. Rivalries were just that…they weren’t war. In fact, Kansas and Missouri changed the name of their rivalry game from the “Border War” to the “Border Showdown” a couple of years later precisely for that reason.
You’ll forgive me for using this space in a different manner than normal. But as one who in the past has not always put football (and Alabama football specifically) in its proper context in life, recalling the events of this day always makes it crystal clear. College football is a great game; some might argue the greatest of games. It is a uniquely American tradition. But at the end of the day, it’s not going to change my life whether my team wins this Saturday or not. Some of us know someone whose life was impacted directly by the events of twelve years ago. We have all been changed in some way by that day.
Nick Saban is getting his team ready to take on a big SEC West rival, Texas A&M. Steve Spurrier has South Carolina at a level they’ve never reached before. Urban Meyer is at Ohio State, showing the college football world how good of a coach he is. Mark Richt quelled a lot of the grumblings from the Clemson loss by beating South Carolina. And the “Game of the Year” of the week is Alabama at Texas A&M.
While things seem similar, sometimes things are completely different. And for me personally, one of those things is perspective.
Congratulations to BEVO, who won a tie-breaker over GO PONIES! and verntroyer for the week two championship. Both finished with 180 points. Pachyderm was one point behind with 179 points, and maestro, JagRag, AUBrian, badgerTime, The Tradition, and War Ralphie all had 178 points. Again, remember that this year is the “drop two worst weeks” format, so we’ll start the top ten rankings following next week, when there will be three weeks of data. The first game this week is TCU at Texas Tech, Thursday, September 12 @ 7:30 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!