Because It Matters

In college basketball the events of the past weekend with West Virginia, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and Rutgers from the top 10 all losing would be no big deal. Yes, the losing teams might fall a few places but the regular season in hoops is to position your team for tournaments (conference and NCAA). In football these teams that had their hopes set on the MNC have while not completely eliminated are out. That said they still have something to play for in that near excellence in football is rewarded by the invitation to a BCS bowl, a New Years Day game or in fact almost any bowl. Even the Made for ESPN Bowl can give your team positive exposure.

College basketball has it all wrong in that the season there is just jockeying to make it into the high stakes winner takes all invite the marginal conferences to shut them up hope you get hot who’s the Cinderella team March Silliness. In this system steadiness during the season is rewarded by a high cede but does not really reward success much beyond the first two rounds. On the hardwood floors January's triumph is all but worthless. College football that does not allow the quantity of games, and therefore few are wasted, the season is the tournament but, with the bonus that those not bound for the very top are not necessarily sent home. In basketball the match up are at the mercy of the brackets precluding purposeful selection of teams to face off.

What matters in college football every Saturday matters? Your team is the hero or the heel. You watch nervously because it matters. You live or die for the next week because the game matters. You look ahead to the next game for confirmation or redemption because it matters. The message boards and the water cooler talk for the week it based on the looking back and ahead because it matters. And you are there the next week because it matters.

Florida could still play for the MNC by beating LSU this Saturday because…