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Another reason you need to love a college football playoff?

Less waiting!

That’s right: Instead of 31 days of pretending to watch college basketball like you aren’t constantly thinking about that nagging hammy on your running back, you wait, at most five…that’s it! You barely even have enough time to get worked up about this kind of stuff!

Since there are so many games to contend with, the first round would take place over three days: Two games on Thursday; Three on Friday and Saturday. Simple right?

Of course Fox would set the game times to maximize ratings. So, naturally, they are going to keep the “big draw/ big interest” games for the weekend power slots. Not because major college sports is a big money business or anything…but because they want the most people watching the game for its ability to bring families and friends together…right??…right??

So, the Thursday matchups come about and the 7:00 game brings about the first “meh” matchup of the evening.

(4) Alabama v. (13) Virginia Tech:

The good folks at Fox like to tease, so they put a game with some decent names in the early slot to draw your attention. In reality, this is a matchup of two teams that never expected to be here. For Alabama, it was just for short quarters against Florida ago that they were dreaming of a 1 seed and a sure fire win against Troy. The Hokies got off to a rocky start with a loss to East Carolina and were essentially written off. But while the entire country was busy falling in love with the ”you don’t want to play these guys in a bowl game” Boston College Eagles, Va Tech managed to squeak past them in the ACC championship game…Yup, they play football in that conference too!

In game action, the Hokies never really stood a chance. Nick Saban and the Tide came out with a chip on their shoulder and in front of a home crowd jumped out to a 24-0 lead at the half on the heels of two Glen Coffee Touchdowns.

At the half, Saban was offered two cans of Squirt and a life-time supply of Dipsey-Doddles to go sweep floors at Grover Cleveland School in Buffalo. He gladly accepted and left on the spot…Hey, that’s how scumbags roll.

Even with the advantage of a coach, the Hokies could only muster 10 points with an offense that was the team’s weakness all year. ’Bama rolled over the Hokies 27-10.

The shame of it all for Fox was this: The best television they had had all year was about to happen in the 10:30 game. There was some minor outrage about a game being on so late for the east coast, but Fox never listened to it when it came to the baseball playoffs either, so they just went about their business.

(6) Texas Tech v. (11) Texas Christian:

TCU was the last team to get in to the tournament, which, in its first year is pretty fitting that they beat out a bunch of big time teams to make it.  Texas Tech, on the other had, wasn’t happy at all to be here; a six seed when their landmark win during the year was over the 3 seed. But at least they still got their shot.

You’d think both these teams left their defense in their other pants for this game. I swear. But I promise you, there were, in fact, 11 players on the opposing side of the line of scrimmage for each and every play…I promise.

Each team came out throwing bombs like they were trying to show what Gatti v. Ward would’ve looked like if it took place on a football field. After the first four offensive possessions, the two teams had combined for six rushing attempts…six!! At that point, two things became clear: 1) Wearing down the opponent’s defense wasn’t going to be much of an issue, and 2) The first team to kick a field goal just might lose this thing. Graham Harrell and Andy Dalton had combined for 580 yards passing and eight touchdowns for a 28-28 tie going into the half.

With an absolute shoot out already assured, Mike Leach threw Michael Crabtree out to take the opening kick for craps and laughs. As if it were a shock, Crabtree ran it back for a 35-28 lead. The two teams went back and forth for the rest of the game making sure that their running backs did little more than collect dust. The Red Raiders managed to score last to make it 63-56, which meant they ended up advancing. Anybody that saw the game was hard pressed to say TCU lost this game that nobody wanted to end. Sadly, they just ran out of time. Thankfully, even in loss, they managed to score one for the mid-majors.

And just like that, Fox was kicking themselves in the crotch for putting the “money” game on at 10:30. They say they lost millions…er…are upset at the relationships that could’ve prospered over the course of such a great game.

Tomorrow: Friday’s triple-header. 

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