It’s getting to be that point of the year where we have The Itch. That football itch. That, yeah baseball is fun but I need a defensive end to obliterate a quarterback, itch.
In order to get us ready, every year ESPN releases the Top 25 games of last college football season, and runs it like Law and Order marathon on USA.
Here is the list ESPN recently released:
25) Kentucky at Texas A&M 10/6/18
24)
23) Syracuse at Clemson 9/29/18
22)
21) Texas A&M at Auburn 11/3/18
20)
19) Ohio State at TCU 9/15/18
18)
17) Duke at Clemson 11/17/18
16) Florida at Miss State 9/29/18
15) OK State at Oklahoma 11/10/18
14) LSU at Auburn 10/27/18
13) Florida vs Georgia 10/27/18
12) Auburn at Georgia 11/10/18
11) LSU at Texas A&M 11/24/18
10) Oklahoma at Texas Tech 11/3/18
9) LSU at Florida 10/6/18
8) Clemson at Boston College 11/10/18
7) Washington vs Auburn 9/1/18
6) Texas vs Oklahoma 12/1/18
5) Iowa at Penn State 10/27/18
4) Oklahoma vs West Virginia 11/23/18
3) Clemson at Texas A&M 9/8/18
2) Ohio State at Penn State 9/29/18
1) Georgia vs Alabama 10/1/18
(Disclaimer: There are obviously a few games missing. I put this list together by myself. Checked with Reddit and they had the same exact list I created. There’s a conspiracy going that ESPN just only made a list of 21 games and never replayed the 4 others.)
Here’s my only thought after seeing this list:
Did we…did we have a bad college football season last year?
These games STINK to the high heavens. From the games that I’ve recently watched on ESPNU (yes I have an addiction) and the ones I remember, this list is awful. There are barely any suspenseful games, barely any upsets, or even overtime thrillers. We were so blinded by our love for football that we were openly accepting a shitty football season.
Here are some examples of the best and the brightest from this marvelous list:
-The #8 game is Clemson heading up to Boston College and winning 27-7 while BC’s quarterback gets hurt. BC’s only touchdown was on special teams.
-Another wild one from Clemson at #17. They beat the breaks off Duke 35-6. Absolute shocker that Daniel Jones, current Giants savior, couldn’t pull the upset for Duke.
-Right below that at Game #16 is a barn burner, ESPN Classic. Florida beat Mississippi State 13-6. It was 6-3 for most of the game.
Even though it wasn’t the most thrilling college football season, maybe ESPN just sucks at making lists. I mean, LSU at Texas A&M went SEVEN overtime’s and couldn’t even crack the top 10 games? It’s sitting right outside at 11. A Labor Day Weekend affair between Auburn and Washington was somehow better? How does that make any sense?
The theory is that this is classic ESPN bullshit, pandering to fan bases who will watch the replays in an effort to garner ratings. This isn’t the best 25 games from last season, it’s 25 games featuring rabid fan bases (mostly the SEC) who will watch a boring game, just because it’s their team. ESPN ruins everything, even regular season college football games from last October that we almost forgot about.
I’ll leave with this to keep it local: the #2 game is Ohio State at Penn State. The 4th & 5 game. Watching it back, how the hell did Penn State lose that game?!