This past week and the next few weeks are some of the most exciting weeks for college sports fans. Whether you are a casual observer who has the TV on in the background because someone else is watching it; or you are a hardcore obsessive fan who doesn’t want to miss a second of the action (this guy); or something in between, this time of year is for you. I hope you watched the excitement unfold while recovering from your turkey overdose this past week and now have your DVR’s and TIVO’s ready, because the next few months will be a wild ride and you don’t want to miss anything.
This past week we saw some great men’s college basketball match-ups including #7 Duke holding on to beat #13 UConn after a late surge in the Finals of the NIT Tipoff Classic, #15 Michigan losing twice to unranked Marquette and Alabama, and unranked Florida upsetting #2 MSU. Those games were only a taste to whet you appetite for what’s to come.
This week #2 MSU will head the Chapel Hill to take on #12 UNC and then towards the end of the week #12 UNC will head down to Lexington to take on #5 Kentucky. That is just this this week. The madness continues throughout December and then the real fun begins around the turn of the year when conference play begins for most teams, leading to some intense rivalries and pushes towards a spot in the field of 65 come March. I am getting chills just thinking about it.
As if that wasn’t enough college basketball, the women are poised for another strong year. The unanimous #1 UConn team looks stronger than ever and they appear to already be on their way to hanging another national title banner in Storrs, CT. They will, however, face some stiff competition in the coming months with games against #2 Stanford and #9 Florida State on December. Then in January they begin Big East play and have a potential national title game preview match-up against #4 UNC at home. Don’t count out #2 Stanford, because they have potent high scoring offense that has averaged over 85 points per game thus far.
And then there is this little-known sport of college football that is the spotlight of the college sports calendar from Thanksgiving to a week after New Years. We saw rivalry grudge matches this past week be a test for some top teams like #3 Texas holding off Texas A&M, #2 Alabama fighting off Auburn, and Oklahoma upsetting #12 Oklahoma State, while national title hopeful #1 Florida looked impressive dominating Bobby Bowden’s Florida State Seminoles. Those games all lead up to an enormous week for college football. The SEC, Big 12, Big East, ACC, and Pac-10 will all decide their champions and all of the BCS Bowl Berths are on the line. Of the 10 teams playing in those 5 games, 7 are in the top 15 in the country.
The BCS picture is still unclear, as there are 5 teams with somewhat legitimate shots at making the national title game, however, in order for that to happen, there would have to be some surprising upsets. All of these games lead to bowl invitations and that glorious time of year from about the 3rd week of December to the beginning of the second week of January, bowl season.
As if all of the college excitement wasn’t enough, the NFL is in the stretch run of it’s season with playoff spots beginning to be locked up and the NHL and NBA are beginning to pick up steam as they reach towards the start of the new year. Phew…deep breath…I will be able to watch every game, I will be able to watch every game, I will be able to watch every game…
If you would like to read more from B-Dogg, visit his blog at www.sportsaholicbrian.blogspot.com.
Need More? Alabama, Auburn, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Kentucky Wildcats, Marquette Golden Eagles, Michigan State, Michigan Wolverines, NCAA, NCAA BB, NCAA FB, North Carolina, Oklahoma Sooners, Texas, UConn
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