Drink-in Saturday College Football

If you consider yourself to be a college football fan, this weekend is the best of the year. Not only will all of the bowl invitations be handed out, but we also have the pleasure of watching some unbelievable match-ups across the country. ESPN clearly knows what fans want, because the fun begins at noon with the Big East title game and ends with the 8pm Big 12 championship. Even better, those games bookend the marquee match-up of the year, #1 Florida Gators facing off against the #2 Alabama Crimson Tide for the SEC title.

For anyone who doesn’t want to miss a moment of the action, my recommendation is to run to the store right now and get all the snacks and beer you will need for nearly 12 hours of heart-pounding, gut-wrenching excitement. To guide you even further, I have suggested beer pairings with each game on Saturday for a perfect day of sports entertainment.

The first pairing for the day is the Big East championship that matches the undefeated #5 Cincinnati Bearcats and the #15 ranked Pittsburgh Panthers at Heinz Field in PA. As this is a noon start, something with some flavor but still light would start the day off right. Yuengling Traditional Lager would be the perfect selection, being that it is a Pennsylvania original. It is an amber beer with a medium-body, which is what I expect out of this game. I expect an interesting contest with plenty of excitement, but ultimately #5 Cincinnati will pull away from the #15 Panthers leading to a smooth, clean finish of 12-0 and an automatic berth into a BCS bowl game.

The meat of the college football sandwich on Saturday pits the #1 Florida Gators against the #2 Alabama Crimson Tide for a spot in the BCS National Title game. For this game, we will require a bit of a heavier beer, perhaps a porter. The Sam Adams Holiday Porter is a great pairing because it is a complex rich malt taste with a robust flavor. This match-up will be as complex as they come this season. #1 Florida has arguably the best QB in college football, Tim Tebow, who is playing in his second to last college game and #2 Alabama has one of the best RB in the country, Mark Ingram. The teams are extremely evenly matched, and the game will be back and forth from the get go. Just like the Holiday Porter, the football regular season will end with a smooth finish by #1 Florida, who will run by #2 Alabama and into the BCS National title game for the second consecutive year.

The nightcap will pair the #3 Texas Longhorns and the Nebraska Cornhuskers in a classic Big 12 title game. This selection will be in honor of the Texas QB, Colt McCoy. The day should end with a nice 40 ounce bottle of Colt 45. The 40 because everything is bigger in Texas and the name Colt 45 because I expect McCoy to air out the ball and drop at least 45 points on the Cornhusker defense. This malt liquor will allow Texas fans to celebrate a berth in the BCS National title game against whichever SEC team emerges on top.

Overall, you have a day filled with football and beer. Can life get any better than this?

Need More? Alabama, Cincinnati, Florida, NCAA, NCAA FB, Nebraska, Pittsburgh Panthers, Texas