Now that the final weekend of the summer is behind us, let’s start the week off with some great news – we’re only three days away from college football. OK, all together now: “Woo-hoo!”
Epic. Fantastic. We just passed the last Saturday with no College Gameday on ESPN, and there is no better way to start off a college football morning followed by a bevy of pigskin played with passion.
But we can’t have football season without some trivia (and don’t be cheating with Google or anything): four NCAA division-1 teams have had nine-wins-or-more in each of the last five seasons. Name them.
Really, only four teams have done it, and guessing them is harder than you think. Yeah, yeah, I know, you probably already have the first two on the list. Congrats. So does everybody else.
Ah, but now name the other two. Uh huh. More on that in a bit.
Surely every eyeball on the continent that gives a darn about college football will be tuned in Thursday night when Texas A&M and South Carolina open up the season on the SEC Network. This game is great because it lets us jump right into conference play instead of the boring non-conference match-ups that litter the landscape in week one.
Kansas State vs. Stephen F. Austin, Michigan vs. Jacksonville State, Virginia Tech vs. William and Mary, among others. Yawn.
Actually, there are many decent matchups in week one, including LSU vs. Wisconsin in Houston, Arkansas at Auburn, UCLA at Virginia, and Clemson at Georgia.
The best thing about college football is that it is unscripted reality television. Who’s going to be this year’s Auburn and make the unexpected run? Who’s going to be the next great freshman, following in the footsteps of Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston?
The added bonus this year – the College Football Playoff. Most people have Florida State as one of their four teams to make the playoff. That’s the easy one – the Seminoles won’t have much in their way to another undefeated season.
Most of the other picks center around Oregon, Alabama, UCLA and Michigan State. Surely there will be a surprise team that crashes the party. We’re going to go with the Badgers, who we pick to upset LSU in week one and then run their way through a very favorable schedule in the Big 10.
But the bottom line is that we get to watch it all play out in living drama. And perhaps one, two, three or all of those four teams that have each won nine-or-more games over the last five years will do so again in 2013.
So back to our trivia question. Surely you had Alabama and Oregon as your first two picks of those four teams. Those were both relatively easy. The third team? Figure it out yet?
Louisville? No. USC? Two words: Lane Kiffin (no). Wait, I got it – Oklahoma State! (negative – 8 wins in 2012). Almost had it.
Oh, of course – how could you forget LSU (you did, for some reason, at least for a few minutes). Yes, the Bayou Bengals join the Tide and Ducks on the list.
But who is that fourth team? Want a hint? Perhaps the conference they play in? OK, we’ll help you – they play in the Big 10.
The usual suspects up there probably come to mind. All wrong. No, the team you are seeking is one you would never suspect as being one who reached nine wins in each of the last five seasons, but they have.
Still wondering? The answer’s right in front of you. Well, you’ll actually have to scroll up and look at the first eight paragraphs, the first letter of each to be exact.
Yeah, that’s college football. Hope you enjoyed one last quiet weekend, cause it’s about to get cranked up. You never know what you’re going to get week-to-week. And in this case, year-to-year.
