We have taken a look at what is, to be blunt, rather a weak college football slate on the national scene, so, before we turn to the much more intriguing matchups to be found in the SEC, I would like to take this opportunity to identify the national game of disinterest.
On a weekend as bland as this one, it was particularly challenging trying to pick out the single least intriguing, inspiring, or even interesting contest on tap this Saturday, but, after much persistent effort, I found it. Ladies and gentlemen, the national game of disinterest is . . .
This was the one we were all looking forward to during the offseason, right? The ‘Huskers, long the class of the Big Eight and lately resurgent in the Big 12, arrived in the Big Ten looking to make some noise, and the Buckeyes, long the class of the Midwestern BCS league, would visit Lincoln as the representative of the conference’s old guard. The storyline was as set in stone as it was perfectly suited to sepia-toned ESPN puff pieces featuring sonorous voice-overs and languid camerawork lingering over pictures of the icons of old.
Unfortunately for college football’s haughtiest conference, this is 2011, and both Ohio State and Nebraska are reeling. Certainly, neither team looks like a contender, as each combatant limps into the arena 0-1 in Big Ten play after Wisconsin took Nebraska behind the woodshed and Michigan State beat Ohio State by an American League baseball score in a game that made announcers want to take their own lives and prompted bloggers to advocate firing everyone.
These two programs have storied histories and tons of tradition. At the moment, though, they also have crappy football teams, and I’m not watching two crummy clubs duke it out just because I’ve heard of them both. If I cared about that, I’d watch Army play Notre Dame.
Coming Soon: The sweet relief of actual SEC predictions.
Go ‘Dawgs!