I used to have it all listed out. My favorite college football teams, the first obvious, after that not so much.
Things have changed over the years though. Favorite coaches have retired, been fired, or moved to new schools. Offenses have evolved. Teams have changed conferences. So, I find myself in the market for a new second favorite college football team.
For a very long time Air Force was my second favorite. I like planes, I liked their uni’s, and I liked their Flex-bone option offense. After Fisher Deberry retired though, I found my interest waning. My tastes in offense changed and now, though I wish the Falcons well, I wouldn’t put them at number two on my list.
I’ve always admired Southern Miss. their willingness to play any major school and scare the bejesus out of said Goliath. Such was the case when Southern Miss. came to Lincoln and the Huskers only escaped an upset loss at home because of a few turnovers run back for touchdowns. The rest of the game the Husker O was stopped cold. Which was another reason I liked Southern Miss. Their defenses were always a treat to watch, but like Air Force, I became more and more interested in fast paced passing offense, lessening my interest in solid ‘D’.
I did have fun watching USM upset Houston in their conference championship. I’ve talked about it a lot over the last few blogs, but I tuned in to see Houston’s high flying pass offense and ended up rooting for the Golden Eagles, great game. Now that I think about it, I would still consider them for my very highly touted second fav spot. If they beat my favorite team the first game of the season,....yeah, better hold off on crowning them number two yet. Best case for them, they impress me with their tough play and still have the decency to lose.... Then again, they have quite a few matchups coming up over the next few years. I suppose I could dethrone them later if I had to...but I’m just typing out loud now.
I really like Central Florida, but for the wrong reason. A reason as a heterosexual male and self respecting college football fanatic I shouldn’t admit to......I really dig their uniforms. I also don’t like that their current coach lasted all of about three hours at Notre Dame before getting fired for lying on his resume. He strikes me as a sleazeball.
I’d put the Golden Knights in my top five for now, and wait to move them up until they fire their current coach or they finally check his references and realize most of them are fake people.
Our move to the Big Ten makes for some interesting prospects. In high school I liked Michigan State. A traditional big school, not a school that everyone else seemed to like though, and yes,....I liked their uni’s too. This last season my younger brother took me to see them in person and Sparty didn’t disappoint. They also had the kind decency to lose and keep my streak of never seeing Nebraska lose in person alive. So, what’s not to like? Well, their new uniforms (/sigh.....that just keeps coming up doesn’t it?). It’s also probably not a good idea to make your second favorite team a division rival of your favorite team. Plus them being in the Big Ten, I find I’ll be rooting for them anyway when they aren’t playing us and therefore have some de facto favoriteness.
Speaking of Sparty, they played arguably my favorite game of all last season to watch, against Wisky in the Big Ten championship. A game so good I’ve actually looked into purchasing it. *
I do like Wisconsin’s offense. They aren’t in our division and watching them play reminds me of my high school team, north/south ram straight ahead running game mixed in with the surgical play action pass. The kind of offense everyone thinks of when they hear “Big Ten Offense”. They churn out my kind of o-lineman into the NFL and yes,....I must admit, can’t help but like their uni’s. In my defense it seems genetically weaved into my dna to root for a red/white clad team. I can’t help it....(stupid uniform thing again huh?)**
So why not Wisky? Well kind of a long walk but when I was in high school I was really into Texas Tech. When it came time to purchase a coat for winter I didn’t want a team that everyone else had, but the store didn’t have Texas Tech, but they did have Texas.... I liked Texas, until they started beating us every time they played us, causing me to get heckled on the street. Not to mention they convinced everyone who rescued them from the last conference they destroyed, to vote for rules that directly hindered Nebraska, moved the conference headquarters to Texas, and then after they got their way started talking to every conference that would listen about leaving, THEN had the balls to call us cowards when we saw the writing on the wall and jumped what at the time seems like a sinking conference ship.....(Deep exhale....)
So....maybe not a good idea to love a team from the opposite division that has already spanked us once...
What about the less threatening folk in the Big Ten? Up until these last few years I liked Purdue and they were my solid second favorite. Another long story, but it’s my blog so you’ll just have to ride along Mwahahaha!
Playing Ncaa football on the original Xbox, I took it upon myself to start my lowly coaching career at Idaho (another team that would be in my top 10) whose lowly Kibbie Dome in some place called Moscow, Idaho holds fewer people than a typical party at my parents house... Also, it looks like a refurbished zeppelin hangar... Anyway, I started my career there and before long I had them going undefeated, forcing other schools to start to take note in the subsequent offseasons. No team seemed like the right fit, until Purdue came calling.
A Big Ten school, a pass heavy offense, a team named after guys who build locomotives, a train horn that goes off during the game, train tracks that lead from the locker room to the field. They were just bad enough that turning them would be a fun challenge, but not impossible, and to top it all off a huge-mong-gus ass drum . So one late summer day, back when ESPN started the day at 11 am with a Big Ten game, I tuned in and settled in to watch the real team in action. What followed was one of my all time favorite quotes from a head coach.
When Joe Tiller was asked how the late August heat would affect his offense he replied, “We’re going to pass until we get too hot, then we’re gonna pass some more.” @#$@# YAH! I thought, but alas, it was towards the end of his coaching stint. His replacement, who strikes me as grumpy old “kids get off my lawn“ type, took his place. He said early on it was still important that the Boilermakers still be able to run the ball occasionally. Not against that entirely, but their offense has seemed to evolve into a read option offense where too much dicking around happens five yards behind the line of scrimmage. Instead of spread passing offense, a spread running offense,...no thanks, still dig the train thing, but... /meh. I’d have them in the top five still I think. I wish them well, just not stoked to actually watch their offense though.
Minnesota has always held a special place in my heart, being one of the few Big Ten states I’ve personally visited recently (not including Iowa), but as with the other Big Ten teams, I’ll always root for them anyway...in the top ten I’d say.
2012 also brings in four new possible teams for my list, another coming in 2013. How can adding four new teams to a list of already 120 possibilities really be such a big deal? Because, they are something new and as much time as I spend watching football, yes, I have become VERY familiar with every existing 1A team, all 120 of them. So much so, that I’m stoked about this year’s fresh new cupcakes for the big boys to “Welcome” to 1A ball with one and done, away trips. I feel like it might be early to tell how I feel about them... Any team that is called “The Roadrunners” has my interest though.
I mentioned earlier my interest in Texas Tech. Guess why? I liked their uniforms? Nope! Not this time! I was very pro Big 12 during its inception (before the ugly truth would set in...) and even shortly before the league's first official year. It was something new. A conference championship game,....and Tech was my fave of the new teams, plus Spike Dykes was always entertaining. He retired shortly thereafter, and Mike Leach took his place. I was not a fan of Tech per se, especially after they beat us 70-10...but the more I’ve gotten to know Coach Leach, the more I’ve become fascinated. Read the wiki link I put for his name. It gives a good summary of his coaching career and should give you a good idea of why I like him. Also, it also summarizes his unfair firing at Tech. He’s laid low these last few years, but he’s about to start his first season at Washington State. A team which I’ve always kind of liked, sort of why I originally liked Michigan State. A big name school with some history in a major conference, overshadowed by a bigger team in their own state.....
I’m also assuming he’ll bring his spread passing offense to Wazzou and I can’t wait for that. The only downside is playing in the Pac 12 I won’t see them on tv much and if I do, their game will prolly start at about 10 pm Central time, but hey, that’s what DVRs and Sunday mornings are for right? Yup, I’d put the Cougars at number two going into this season,....and YES,....I do like their uniforms too.....oh the shame....
Follow me on twitter @TheSmittyBlog for teams that didn’t make the cut and to stay up to date on my blog, receive updates on how my blog is doing,...seriously, follow me...i beg you...
* = /cough Christmas Gift /cough
**= I totally am gonna have to turn in my college football fan
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