By Keysha Hogan
After Notre Dame’s Saturday night win, we just know that somewhere little Rudy Ruettiger is shedding a tear of joy for his fighting Irish. This has been the team’s first unblemished regular season since 1988. This season of historical dominance is, in large part, due to the solid defense led by linebacker Manti Te’o. Notre Dame’s defense kept the upper hand and allowed only nine touchdowns all season. Playing hard to the end of every game was impressive, but not crumbling under the weight of the team’s tough history was inspiring.
The team will have until January 7th to prepare for the BCS title, and later this week they’ll have a clear picture of whom they’ll be up against. Alabama and Georgia will battle it out this weekend in Atlanta for the SEC championship. The Crimson tide has held its own over the season by playing and winning against exceptional teams. But, this season Georgia has managed to only beat one Top 25 team. And to further complicate their chances, the Bulldogs QB Aaron Murray has shown potential this year, but his record against ranked opponents stands at an abysmal 3-9.
All of the regular experts, authority figures, talking heads and most likely your drunken uncle have already called this game for Alabama. Gambling sites have averaged the Bulldogs as opening at eight-point underdogs. And if you’re putting down cash on this one, remember both teams are 11-1 for the season, and are both 6-6 against the spread. The few times they’ve played against each other since ’95, Georgia came out on top 3 out of the 5 games played. But ‘Bama triumphed in their last match up in 2008 with a 41-30 win.
Currently Florida is fourth in the standings, but that’s not all bad news for them because they will probably score an at-large BCS bid to the Sugar Bowl. From now until the last Bowl game is played, expect every coach to weigh in on how things in the BCS selection system still feels unfair. But regardless of how this shakes out, the SEC will have another solid chance at its 7th BCS title championship.
Come 2014, none of this will matter. Feel free to get all of your BCS angst out of your system, because the unjust system will have died a death that we all waited too long to witness. The new plan will make a pair of national semifinals; No.1 will play No. 4 and No. 2 will play No. 3. Those games will really be the current Rose, Fiesta, Orange and Sugar Bowls (and two to-be-determined games) reinvented into a playoff system. These teams will be chosen by committee – much like the NCAA basketball games are determined.