There are some things in college football I just can’t get down with. This would be one of them. When it comes to the national title picture, I’m a snob; I want to see big-time programs and dominant teams. I don’t like seeing teams luck out because their conference was weak and they played an easy non-conference schedule. Which brings us to the upcoming Kansas/Missouri game this weekend. The thought that the winner of this game could have a one-way ticket to the title game in New Orleans makes me just a wee bit uneasy.
Take the Kansas Jayhawks for instance. They played perennial powerhouses Central Michigan, Southeastern Louisiana, Toledo, and Florida International to pad their record at 4-0 to start the year. Nice little confidence-booster type games that made their players feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Missou at least took on Illinois on the road non-conference, but their schedule was hardly daunting. Oh yeah, and they’ve also already lost once to Oklahoma.
Should Kansas win this weekend and make it into the title game by winning the Big 12 conference championship game, I won’t say that they haven’t earned their way in — at that point they will have. I’m just disappointed that it will have sent the wrong message, that scheduling cupcakes is in your best interest once again. We’ve come a long way since the mid-90s to get past that point. Now I have nothing left but to hope that the winner this weekend loses to the Big 12 South champion in the conference title game. Kansas or Missouri playing for a national title? I just can’t fathom it.
