Welp, it happened. Kansas State, once thought unbeatable†, loosed the SI-cover-jinx-aided mother of all bedshits Saturday. Call it the revenge of the Southwest* Conference: Texas A&M downs the No. 1 Crimson Tide last week, Baylor (editor's note: LOL) conks the Wildcats this week. This is agonizingly disappointing for Kansas State fans, but then, they're accustomed to heartbreak: A good many of them ended up as permanent residents of Kansas, after all.
That upset paired nicely with Stanford's surprise win over Oregon, a team that had been leaving tire tracks over absolutely everyone all year but which ran into a semblance of a defense and couldn't uncork its traditional fifty-whatever points. The Cardinal needed only two touchdowns to push the Ducks to OT, where Oregon doinked its field goal attempt off the left upright and Stanford slid its kick just inside. Ballgame, Andrew Luck's old team, which now controls its Rose Bowl destiny. Oregon controls nothing but the chance to throttle Oregon State next week and maybe get an at-large BCS bid instead of colliding with Alabama in the national title game.
And, yes, with the last two unbeaten teams of any merit now vanquished, the title game shot is Bama's to lose. In an ideal year we'd see Alabama (or maybe Georgia, or LSU, or hell, maybe even A&M) take on the cream of the Midwest, the The Ohio State University Buckeyes. ESPN's headline Saturday after the Buckeyes' 11th win really did say it all: "Ohio State stays perfect after beating Wisconsin in OT." Perfect. Ah, but if only the Buckeyes were eligible to lock horns with the Tide! Alas they're doing penance this year for violating a bunch of NCAA ninnyrules like "you can't get free tattoos just for being awesome at life." So we're going to be stuck watching another all-SEC title game. Everyone's sick of that conference, but what are you going to do? As steel sharpens steel, men sharpen men and teams sharpen teams. Frankly it would be ridiculous to look outside a conference like the SEC for a so-called champion.
Gosh, but as long as it's going to be the SEC, why not an LSU-A&M championship game? It'd be nice to have something other than Georgia or Alabama or even Ohio State colors in that BCS title tilt. Not red? Amen.
†see editor's note, above