Whether a city is blacked out depends on local terms of agreement, I suppose, because some cities, like Dallas, are blacked out, and others are not.
Now, I'll admit — without hesitation — that I don't know much about the business side of cable television.
But I do know that I have been waiting for football since February. And, because of this squabble, I haven't been able to watch the first two Cowboys preseason games.
Fox broadcasts NFC games during the regular season so I'll be able to watch the Cowboys play on Fox when the season begins.
Actually, missing the Cowboys games wouldn't bother me too much. See, I'm not a Cowboys fan. As I have mentioned here before, I am a Packers fan. Been one since I was a child. And the Packers, like the Cowboys, play in the NFC.
But I still like to watch the area teams, even if I don't tend to pull for them.
And if I don't have CBS when the season begins, I will be deprived of AFC games — and there are several teams in the AFC I would like to watch.
One more thing: Each teams plays a few interconference games which might be carried on CBS.
For me, this is a bad arrangement all the way around — and there are only a few weeks left before football season begins in earnest.
My advice to TWC and CBS is simple — Stop acting like petulant children, and settle your differences.
If this squabble drags into the official start of football season — and Bill Carter of the New York Times writes that this seems to be more and more likely — there are going to be some pretty angry subscribers, including yours truly.
Perhaps most discouraging of all is BusinessWeek's Justin Bachman's conclusion that no one on either side has the influence necessary to resolve the dispute. Bachman writes that it may take the arrival of football season — and the blackouts of games involving NFL stars like Denver's Peyton Manning and New England's Tom Brady.
In the meantime, I suspect there are going to be a lot of increasingly frustrated football fans.
"The contract dispute is approaching the two–week mark with no hint of an imminent settlement," Carter writes. He goes on to quote a media analyst who believes "these guys are going to need the NFL to add a sense of urgency to this."
It isn't just the NFL. I'm a graduate of the University of Arkansas, and I've been pulling for the Razorbacks since I was a child. Back in those days, there were fewer college football broadcasts, and teams were restricted to one, maybe two appearances on TV during a regular season.
But now there are multiple channels carrying college football from morning until late at night on Saturdays in the fall.
Arkansas plays in the SEC, and CBS carries an SEC game of the week every Saturday. Now, Arkansas can appear — and has appeared — on other stations. But the big games — the ones with Texas A&M and Alabama and the LSU game on the Friday after Thanksgiving (which is always carried by CBS) might not be available to me.
What does the future hold? Well, Bachman reports that a spokesman for American Television Alliance, a pay–TV coalition, says, "If it goes to football season, I think Congress will definitely get involved."
Great. Congress can't agree on what to have for lunch.
The only exception in recent years has been Southern California in 2004 — and USC, as we all learned, had to cheat to do it.
It wasn't always that way. In the 1970s, as I recall, the preseason polls frequently were right — but not always. I had my own experience with that. I grew up in Arkansas, as I have said here before, and the Razorbacks shocked just about everyone in Lou Holtz's first year at the helm, going 10–1 in the regular season and thrashing heavily favored Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, 31–6. They finished #3 in the nation.
That definitely made some people sit up and take notice. The next year, 1978, the Razorbacks were ranked #1 when the season began, but they stumbled early and never lived up to the hype.
That might not happen with this year's top–ranked preseason squad, Oklahoma. The Sooners were 12–2 last year and won 80% of their games against ranked teams. They have appeared in more than one–third of the last 11 national championship games.
They could live up to the hype.
If they do, though, they will be tested. Four of the games on their schedule are against teams currently ranked in the preseason Top 25 — Florida State, Missouri, Texas &M and Oklahoma State — and who knows what will happen with the University of Texas before the Longhorns and the Sooners square off in their traditional October brawl?
Personally, I'm not convinced that the Sooners will win it all.
Perhaps it is my bias for the Southeastern Conference — which is, I believe, justified by the fact that the SEC champion has won the national championship for the last five years — but I believe the SEC's champion will play for the national title again.
I am not sold, however, on the idea that it will be either Alabama or LSU, both of whom are in the preseason Top 5.
Alabama, of course, won it all year before last — but the Crimson Tide has lost its Heisman Trophy–winning running back and its starting quarterback — and you don't just replace talent like that. Alabama is good but overrated and may struggle with a schedule that has five foes who are in the preseason Top 25 and at least two others who might find themselves in the Top 25 before September is over.
LSU is also talented, but its schedule is, if anything, tougher. The Tigers open the season against #3 Oregon, then must face five Top 25 opponents — and that could be six if Tennessee upsets Florida on Sept. 17.
Actually, the rap on the SEC is that there are so many good teams every year — which is true — that whoever wins it all is likely to have been eliminated from national championship consideration because it lost one or two nailbiters to equally talented SEC rivals.
But that, however, has not been true. If it had, SEC teams would not have won five straight national titles. Someone always emerges from the pack. Sometimes it is the team that was expected to excel, and sometimes it is a surprise, but someone always gets the early momentum and most of the breaks.
That will end eventually — as everything does. But not yet. And perhaps not this season.
And my sincere guess is that it could be any one of maybe half a dozen SEC teams. Four different schools have won SEC and national championships in the last five years. One of those four could win it all again — or Georgia, Arkansas, South Carolina, even Mississippi State could rise to the top.
All eyes will be on Oklahoma on the first weekend of the season, but the smart money will keep an eye on the SEC.
When the name of Texas Gov. Rick Perry surfaces in news reports in the other 49 states these days, it is most likely in connection with the recent announcement of his candidacy for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
But here in Texas, folks aren't concerned with his presidential ambitions. At least, not yet.
Maybe Texans have been a bit spoiled, but they aren't terribly impressed with the mere announcement that a Texan is seeking the presidency. Many have done that.
Come back and talk to them if and when Perry is the nominee. They should have plenty to say. He's been governor for a decade.
Barack Obama's immediate predecessor, of course, was elected governor of Texas twice, and his father, who wasn't born in Texas but represented one of the state's House districts in Congress at one time, was vice president for eight years and president for four. The Democrats even nominated a Texan for vice president.
Two other presidents in the 20th century were born in Texas — Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson.
As I say, the presidential campaign isn't what folks in Texas are talking about right now. Their immediate concern, as always, is football — and lately they are interested in what the future holds for Texas A&M.
Perry's fate they will find out about in due course.
In recent days, word got out that A&M wanted to leave the Big 12 and join the Southeastern Conference, and journalists who were following Perry as he coyly made his way to South Carolina (where he sought to upstage the Iowa straw poll by announcing his presidential intentions) asked him about it.
Perry, as you may know, graduated from A&M in 1972. Currently, he probably has the highest profile of any A&M grad, and it is assumed by many that the governor has some special insights and/or connections to the decision makers in College Station.
If he does, though, Perry didn't mention it.
"As far as I know, conversations are being had," the Dallas Morning News quoted Perry as saying about the situation. "That's frankly all I know."
Turned out, Perry was right. Conversations were"being had."
And, apparently, because of those conversations, the decision makers in College Station jumped the gun a bit and announced that the Aggies were moving to the SEC. Problem was, the invitation hadn't been extended.
At least, not yet.
That was the encouraging part for Texas A&M, its student body and its supporters across the nation. The Aggies were not flatly rejected by the SEC — which, with five consecutive national championships divvied up between four schools, must be regarded as America's elite football conference.
The SEC left the door open for future expansion — which could very well include Texas A&M — after it carefully surveys the terrain. That says something, I think, about A&M and the SEC.
A&M's football program has struggled in recent years, but the Aggies seemed to be turning the corner last year, winning their last six regular–season games (including victories over Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas Tech and arch rival Texas). Some weaknesses were exposed in their Cotton Bowl loss to national power LSU, but, overall, the season left a good taste in the mouths of Aggies everywhere.
The 2010 season was the Aggies' most productive since 2006 and the closest they have come to a double–digit victory season since the 1990s. Preseason polls have A&M ranked among the nation's top programs. The sky seems to be the limit.
Well, except for one problem that I think played a key role in the collapse of the old Southwest Conference — and is probably contributing heavily to the impending collapse of the Big 12.
What is the problem, you may ask? It is the University of Texas' commitment to sucking all the oxygen out of any conference in which it competes.
UT did that in the old Southwest Conference, where it routinely pounded schools like TCU, Baylor, Rice and SMU, usually handled programs, like Texas Tech and Houston, that occasionally emerged as threats and usually repelled Arkansas and A&M, which were the most persistent challengers. It cast a huge shadow over the other teams in the conference with its vast financial resources, its massive and influential alumni base and its athletic prestige.
In fact, the only three games that made the Longhorns break a sweat most years were their contests with OU, A&M and Arkansas.
(That may have been the most shocking thing about legendary coach Darrell Royal's final season in 1976. In two decades as UT's coach, Royal never had a losing season — but, in 1976, Texas lost as many games as it won. Texas lost to Baylor and nearly lost to SMU — and was just another team when Royal departed.)
In the early 1990s, Arkansas made the decision to join the SEC. Perhaps athletic director Frank Broyles and the decision makers in Fayetteville realized that it was becoming the Longhorn Conference, and it was doomed to collapse under its own weight.
Maybe the decision makers in College Station are sensing the same thing in the Big 12 today. Nebraska and Colorado have already left the conference, and A&M may have realized that no conference will ever be big enough for Texas and even one other big–time program — let alone two or three or four.
The SEC is clearly big enough to accommodate several big–time programs, and it is open to the idea of adding more. A&M is on the SEC's list of prospects.
A sure sign that the college football season is approaching is the release of USA Today's preseason poll.
That poll was released yesterday, and it ranks Oklahoma #1. USA Today's Jack Carey calls it a "salute ... to tradition," and I guess that is true.
There are aspects of the Top 10 that are very traditional. OU at #1, with Alabama #2, LSU #4, Florida State #5, Texas A&M #9 and Wisconsin #10, is reassuringly traditional.
But then there are the teams like Boise State (#7) and Oregon (#3), who have been major contenders in recent years but meant nothing when I was growing up. They were the schools that Oklahoma and Alabama would put on their schedules to pad their stats.
I only remember Stanford (ranked #6) being a factor in the national polls once when I was a child — and that was primarily due to the presence of the eventual Heisman Trophy winner on the roster.
And Oklahoma State (ranked #8) was nowhere when I was growing up.
So, while USA Today's preseason Top 10 does resemble the ones I remember from my formative years, it isn't exactly a flashback. Not completely. There are a few variations.
That's a good thing, I suppose. Every sport — team or individual — needs its standouts, the ones that are usually contenders for the championship. It encourages a sense of stability, of continuity.
The sense of drama is provided by those who emerge to challenge the establishment for the championship.
As I have mentioned here many times, I grew up in Arkansas and got my B.A. at the University of Arkansas. It's part of my DNÅ to fantasize about the Razorbacks playing for a national football title — and there have been times in my life when they have been contenders, but they've always fallen short.
As the 2011 season approaches, the rankings reflect a healthy respect for recent history. The Southeastern Conference, after all, has produced the last five national champions, and Oklahoma has played in four national championship games in the last 11 years — so it is reasonable to rank OU at the top and Alabama, a perennial contender long before the Crimson Tide won the national title year before last, just behind the Sooners.
Those two might very well end up facing each other for the national title in January.
But there are many challenges facing both schools before they can punch their tickets for the national title game.
In Oklahoma's conference, Texas is the only other school to win a national championship since the inception of the BCS, and Nebraska was the only other member of the conference to play for one (losing to Miami a decade ago).
Nebraska (#11 in USA Today's preseason poll) hightailed it to the Big Ten and, thus, won't stand in OU's way. But four other members of the conference could — Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, #21 Missouri and #24 Texas — as well as nonconference foe #5 Florida State.
Alabama probably faces an even stiffer challenge. Four of 'Bama's five divisional rivals in the SEC — LSU, #14 Arkansas, #19 Auburn and #20 Mississippi State — are in the Top 20. One of the three teams the Crimson Tide must face from the SEC's other division — Florida — is in the Top 25, and another (Tennessee) received some votes in the poll but not enough to be ranked.
Alabama also must face Penn State in the second week of the season, which figures to be an early test for both. If they are still as highly regarded in the polls at that time, the Nittany Lions should have something to prove when they play the Tide. They finished 7–6 last year but enter the 2011 campaign ranked 25th by USA Today.
Obviously, it is by no means certain that either team will play for the national title — but it might be a little easier for OU since the Big 12 won't be playing a conference championship game now.
No such luck in the SEC. The survivor of what figures to be an all–out battle between five talented teams (and one potential spoiler) in the SEC West will have to face the champion of the SEC East in a championship game, and the SEC East could produce Florida or Georgia or Tennessee (the schools that won all the division titles between 1992 and 2009) or possibly South Carolina, the school that won it last year.
Recent history suggests that the SEC champion will have an outstanding quarterback. Nine of the last 11 MVPs in the SEC's championship game were quarterbacks.
Recent history also suggests that the winner of the SEC West is not the team that won it the year before — or even the year before that. Four different schools have represented the SEC West in the championship game in the last five years. Arkansas was one of them, but the Razorbacks haven't been in the title game since 2006. They may be overdue.
Frankly, I think the Razorbacks might have been the favorites to win the SEC West this year if Ryan Mallett hadn't decided to skip his senior year. But he did, and now the Razorbacks will have to break in someone new.
In the past, that might be a big problem at other schools, but Arkansas was never overly dependent on its quarterback when I was growing up there. The offense was always centered around the running backs, and, if the quarterback could take the snap from center and hand off to the tailback without fumbling somewhere in between, he did his job satisfactorily.
Things are different now, though. Bobby Petrino, the current coach, is a devotee of the passing game, and a team definitely needs more than just a guy to take a snap and hand off the ball at quarterback when the passing game is as vital as it is in Petrino's playbook.
Mallett's replacement will have some growing pains as he works his way into the offense, but there are a lot of experienced players around him to ease the transition.
The Razorbacks could be the champions of the SEC West. They face Missouri State, New Mexico and Troy in their first three games, which should give the new quarterback a little time to get something of a handle on things.
Then Arkansas faces a back–to–back–to–back challenge — a trip to Alabama on Sept. 24, a date with Texas A&M here in north Texas on Oct. 1 and a home game with Auburn on Oct. 8. If the Hogs can get past those three, they will have a well–earned week off, followed by road games against Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. Both schools have had their moments in the sun in the last decade, but recent history suggests they will struggle in 2011.
If the Hogs are unblemished at that point, they will take an 8–0 record into their home game with South Carolina, followed by home games against Tennessee and Mississippi State, who may or may not be ranked by that time. Then the Razorbacks wrap up their regular season with a post–Thanksgiving trip to Baton Rouge to play LSU — who also may or may not be in the rankings by that time.
Clearly, it's a tough schedule for the Razorbacks, as it always is. Success in the SEC depends as much on good fortune and lucky breaks as it does on talent, and, if Arkansas can avoid major injuries, the Hogs just might be playing for the SEC title — and perhaps the national title.
Sometimes, I have been paid to write. Other times, I have been paid to help others write better. Most of the time, I guess, my writing has been for my personal benefit.
It's my passion, though. It is what has always given meaning to my existence — whether I have been paid for it or not — and it is why I have gravitated to blogging. In blogs, I can devote my passion for writing to my passion for other things.
My readers know that I also write blogs on other subjects — but, even with three blogs, I don't always write of the things about which I am truly passionate.
For instance ...
I am a football fan, and I have been a Green Bay Packers fan since I was a child. You would have thought that I would write post after post about the Packers last season. They did win the Super Bowl, after all, and it was played about 25 miles from where I sit writing this.
But if you go back and look at my posts in this blog, you won't see an excess of Packer postings.
I'm also a graduate of the University of Arkansas — but I was a Razorback fan long before I walked into my first class in Fayetteville. I didn't need to enroll in college there to be a Razorback fan. When you're brought up in Arkansas, it goes with the territory.
Sure, there have been times when I have written about the Razorbacks or the Packers, but I never wanted this blog to be solely about the Razorbacks or the Packers. I wanted it to be a little more open than that.
It's kind of the same way with my entertainment blog, although I freely admit that I do tend to use that one to write about the music, the movies, the books that have meant something to me. For example, I'm a Beatles fan, and I have been known to write about the Beatles — as a group or as individuals — from time to time.
But I do strive for some variety.
However ...
I am a football fan. And, by late July, I'm really anticipating the start of the football season. I don't think it would matter what else was happening in the world of sports — but that's sort of like trying to prove a negative, isn't it?
Let's just say that nothing so far — not the Summer Olympics nor anything else — has stolen my attention from the approach of the football season.
Right now, I suppose, it is still up for grabs whether the NFL season will be played or if it will be delayed — the team owners unanimously approved an agreement and, if the players don't do so as well, they will be seen as the obstructionists by the fans.
Never fear. Sources apparently are telling ESPN that a deal has been reached.
Now, as a Packer fan, I will always be interested in what happens to Brett Favre, and I'll always be grateful to him for what he did for the Packers. It sure was a lot more fun to watch Packer games after he came along than it was before.
But Favre is 41 now, and the most recent word from him, after an injury–plagued 2010 season in Minnesota, was that he was retiring from pro football. Now, however, comes word from The Sporting News that he might sign with Philadelphia to serve as Michael Vick's backup.
Will the drama never end?
With the season approaching, I much prefer the drama coming from the keyboard of Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham (Ala.) News, who suggests that Arkansas (currently picked to finish third in the SEC West) could well be "the next Auburn."
The Razorbacks, he writes, are "a team that can leap from something like 8–5 to something like 14–0 in a single bound." That is definitely the kind of thing I like to hear.
About 20 years ago, I recall visiting my friends in my home state of Arkansas.
One evening while I was there, we all went out to visit a friend who lived in the country. We roasted hot dogs and drank beer. Some of my friends played their guitars. The rest of us talked.
At the time, the big topic of conversation was whether the University of Arkansas' athletic program should leave the Southwest Conference and join the Southeastern Conference.
For the previous two years, I had been living in Texas, the home state of all the other members of the SWC — but, before that, I had lived practically my entire life in Arkansas. I had grown up with the Southwest Conference, and I couldn't imagine the Razorbacks competing in any other conference
So, initially, I was against the idea. But my friends were all in favor of it, and I reluctantly embraced it. The move meant giving up some of my favorite annual sporting events — the football games against Texas and Texas A&M (and, because my parents were graduates of SMU and my grandparents had lived in Dallas all my life, I always enjoyed the Arkansas–SMU games, too — but SMU had fallen on hard times by then so that was a rivalry that was easy for me to give up) — but my friends assured me the move would mean more nationally televised games in every sport, hence more money for the athletic department.
In the end, it didn't really matter how I felt about it. Arkansas left the Southwest Conference after being a member for close to 80 years — and, a few years later, the remaining members of the SWC went their separate ways. Perhaps the SWC was already crumbling when Arkansas made its move.
As a graduate of Arkansas and a lifelong supporter of the Razorbacks, I have to say the move has paid off. Since moving to the SEC, Arkansas has played in two national championship games in basketball (and won one of them) and it has played in a couple of college World Series, too.
And the Razorbacks have enjoyed the reflected glory from other SEC teams who have won it all in their sports.
In basketball, SEC teams have won the national title five times since Arkansas left the SWC, starting with Arkansas' national championship in 1994 — and seven other SEC teams have advanced to the Final Four in that time.
SEC football teams have won five consecutive national titles, and three of the last four Heisman Trophy winners have come from the SEC.
The college world series, of course, is a double–elimination tournament. The finals, therefore, are best–of–three, with Game 1 to be played tonight, weather permitting (no rain in the forecast right now). Game 2 will be played tomorrow night and, if a third game is needed, it will be played Wednesday.
But it is more than that, Kenney writes. Carolina went 2–1 in a series at Florida in March, and the Gamecocks have won their last 14 consecutive tournament games — "and there's no sign of the streak coming to an end."
Sounds like a daunting task, doesn't it?
But one thing I have learned from watching the SEC for the last couple of decades is that the teams that compete in it never give up until the game is over.
That's how the SEC has won all those championships.
In their long history, the Arkansas Razorbacks have never played Ohio State in a football game.
For that matter, the Razorbacks have seldom played in the Sugar Bowl.
But both will happen on January 4.
I know the game will not be played for a national championship. That will be between Auburn and Oregon nearly a week later.
And it probably isn't the most intriguing of the remaining postseason games. That distinction, I think, has to go to the Rose Bowl, where 11–1 Wisconsin will take on 12–0 TCU.
But I really do believe the Sugar Bowl between the 10–2 Razorbacks and the 11–1 Buckeyes is next on the list.
I just hope the Hogs can win the game. The Sugar Bowl hasn't been a very sweet experience for them in the past.
Neither, for that matter, have the Hogs' encounters with teams from the Big Ten. Ohio State will be the fourth Big Ten team Arkansas has faced in a bowl since the 1998 season, and Arkansas lost to the other three (Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin).
When you factor in the Razorbacks' 1–2 regular–season mark against Big Ten teams, Arkansas' overall record against the conference is 1–5. Not terribly impressive.
John Tamanaha of NBC Sports doesn't think the Hogs will beat Ohio State, either, but he does think they will beat the 2½–point spread.
I guess both teams have a lot to prove.
The Buckeyes, writes the Associated Press, are "tired of hearing how their predecessors have lost all nine bowl meetings with teams from the Southeastern Conference."That's a skid that dates back to the days of Woody Hayes. Through most of his career at Ohio State, Hayes was bound by Big Ten rules. Only the conference champion could play in a bowl game, the Rose Bowl. Everyone else had to stay home.
Many years, that meant that some pretty decent teams, teams that were capable of competing for a national title, stayed home during the postseason, often because they could not defeat Ohio State.
But conference rules changed and, in his final years with the Buckeyes, Hayes could accept invitations to play in other bowls if Ohio State did not go to Pasadena. And, in January 1978, Hayes' Buckeyes lost the Sugar Bowl to Bear Bryant's Alabama team.
The other eight bowl losses to the SEC came under other coaches. Hayes was forced into retirement late that year when he struck an opposing player in the 1978 Gator Bowl.
It still strikes me as odd to hear Arkansas mentioned as a Southeastern Conference team. All five of their previous Sugar Bowl opponents were from the Southeastern Conference
When I was growing up in Arkansas, a berth in the Cotton Bowl was the reward for winning the Southwest Conference — which is where Arkansas played until the early 1990s — so that clearly was the objective that Frank Broyles and the Razorbacks aimed for when each season began.
The Cotton Bowl game seldom means anything anymore, but old habits die hard, I guess. If the Hogs can't play in a BCS bowl (and this will be the first time since the introduction of the BCS more than a decade ago that Arkansas has been in a BCS bowl), I want them to come to Dallas and play in the Cotton Bowl.
But, although Broyles won nearly 70% of all the games he coached in at Arkansas, he led the Razorbacks to as many Sugar Bowls as he did Cotton Bowls.
In the 1960s, the Hogs played in four Sugar Bowls and lost three.
Arkansas' first appearance in the Sugar Bowl came on New Year's Day 1962 when the Razorbacks faced Alabama.
The Razorbacks were 8–2 and ranked ninth in the nation. Alabama was 10–0 and ranked #1.
It was a low–scoring contest, with Alabama getting all 10 of its points in the first half and Arkansas getting its lone field goal in the third quarter.
A 10–3 final score may seem odd to people who look at the box score of that game from the perspective of 2010, when high–scoring offenses have led the Tigers and Ducks to the brink of college football supremacy and defense almost seems to be an afterthought. But the Razorback defense entered that game third in the nation against the pass and 10th in the nation overall.
And Bryant's defense did a great job of protecting that lead in the final quarter.
Only three of the Hogs' regular–season foes scored more than 10 points against them in 1961, but Bryant claimed his first national title with the 10 points his Crimson Tide scored on Arkansas that day.
The Razorbacks were back in New Orleans the next year, this time to face third–ranked Ole Miss (9–0). The Razorbacks were ranked sixth and entered the game with a 9–1 record.
Another defensive battle ensued, with Ole Miss prevailing, 17–13. The Rebels, coached by the legendary Johnny Vaught, took a 10–3 halftime lead, then held on while Arkansas outscored Ole Miss in the third quarter, 10–7.
The fourth quarter of that year's Sugar Bowl, like the one the year before, was scoreless.
Arkansas did not return to New Orleans for another Sugar Bowl for six years.
On Jan. 1, 1969, the Razorbacks, ranked ninth in the nation and coming off a 9–1 season, met the Georgia Bulldogs, who were fourth in the nation with an 8–0–2 mark.
This time, the Razorbacks won the game, but, once again, it was a defensive battle. Given Arkansas' history in New Orleans, that was probably to be expected. Georgia's defense was #1 in the nation.
But Arkansas' defense, which was much more prone to giving up points than the first two teams Broyles took to the Sugar Bowl, got the better of things. The Georgia defense provided the Bulldogs' only score — a second–quarter safety.
Meanwhile, the Arkansas offense — led by Chuck Dicus' 12 receptions — scored 16 points and won the game, 16–2.
The Razorbacks returned to New Orleans the next year.
The Sugar Bowl was still a prestigious bowl game, but it had the feeling of a consolation bowl for the Razorbacks and their fans. If they had beaten Texas in the "Game of the Century" in December 1969, they would have gone on to play for the national title in the Cotton Bowl.
But they lost that game by a single point and had to face Ole Miss, with Archie Manning at quarterback, instead.
In the aftermath of that classic Arkansas–Texas game, wrote Jim Bailey and Orville Henry in "The Razorbacks," the history of Razorback football, "[a]ll the accolades you could imagine fell on both teams, but nothing could change the fact that Texas was going to the Cotton Bowl to play Notre Dame for the final No. 1 prize, and Arkansas was going to the Sugar Bowl to play Ole Miss for nothing, compared to what they had just lost."
My memory of the game is that Arkansas (9–1 and ranked third after the loss to Texas) made ghastly mistakes — Bill McClard, who was at that time the best kicker ever to play for the Hogs, missed field goals, and the offense failed on a two–point conversion attempt and turned the ball over in some critical situations — while Ole Miss (7–3 and ranked 13th) played essentially turnover–free football.
That tends to win against just about everyone, and it won against Arkansas that day.
And Broyles, who will be 86 the day after Christmas, never coached in a Sugar Bowl again.
But he returned as the Arkansas athletic director when his successor as coach, Lou Holtz, brought the Razorbacks to New Orleans for their first (and, until next month, their only) Sugar Bowl appearance in New Orleans' Superdome.
All four of Broyles' Sugar Bowl appearances had been at Tulane Stadium.
And for the fourth time in five Sugar Bowls, the Razorbacks went down to defeat, this time by the biggest margin yet.
The Hogs came into the game with a 10–1 record (ranked sixth in the AP poll, seventh in the coaches' poll), but they were no match for unbeaten Alabama (ranked second by AP, first by the coaches). Alabama sprinted to a 17–3 halftime lead.
I was a student at the University of Arkansas at the time, and I remember watching the game on my TV in Fayetteville, yelling at the screen, "Throw it to Farrell!" In case you're unaware, Robert Farrell was Arkansas' star receiver.
Alabama's defense kept Farrell bottled up for most of the game (he only caught three passes all day), but Arkansas QB Kevin Scanlon finally found him for a touchdown in the third quarter.
At the time, the score cut the deficit to 17–9, but Alabama scored an insurance touchdown in the fourth quarter and won the game, 24–9.
The Hogs haven't been back to New Orleans to play in the Sugar Bowl in the 30 years since.
Maybe that's enough time for their luck to change. I hope so.
If you never lived in Texas — or this region of the country — you may not know who Blackie Sherrod was.
He was a sportswriter, a sports columnist whose columns frequently were about many topics so, rather than give priority to any one subject, he would begin by writing "Scattershooting while wondering whatever became of [insert name of obscure or no longer prominent person]," and then he would launch into a stream of unrelated consciousness.
Perhaps Blackie should have patented that word. It seems almost blasphemous for anyone else to use it. At the very least, it seems it ought to be required that Blackie's name is mentioned whenever it is used.
Well, I have. And now I'm going to write about a few things that are on my mind today, starting with
Urban Meyer, the soon–to–be ex–coach of the Florida Gators.
Is there anyone who can honestly say he/she was not surprised to hear that the 45–year–old Meyer is calling it quits after Friday's Sugar Bowl contest with Cincinnati? Or that the reason for his departure was health issues presumably brought on by the stress of coaching?
But — and this is in no way intended as a slap at Meyer or his achievements — I think Dan Wetzel's assertion at Yahoo! Sports that Meyer "was the most influential coach in college football this decade" is a little over the top. Wetzel makes a good case, but I have to point out that there are other coaches — USC's Pete Carroll, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, Texas' Mack Brown come immediately to mind — who have enjoyed enormous success and coached Heisman finalists (if not winners) in this decade. Meyer has been one of many.
Again, I'm not running down what he's done at Florida. He will be hard to replace. But "most influential?"
Well, the process of replacing Meyer probably has begun at the University of Florida. I'm sure officials in the Athletic Department have been conferring informally since yesterday's announcement.
And, whether justifiably or not, football fans in the SEC — and elsewhere across the nation — are wondering if their coach will be lured to Gainesville. Matt Hayes of The Sporting News says Florida may name Meyer's replacement within a week — in other words, before Alabama and Texas play for the national title.
Hayes says five names are at the top of Florida's coaching wish list: Houston's Kevin Sumlin, Stanford's Jim Harbaugh, Boise State's Chris Petersen, Arkansas' Bobby Petrino and Utah's Kyle Whittingham.
At ESPN.com, Chris Low also mentions Petrino and Petersen as possibilities, but his list includes the likes of Stoops, Mississippi State's Dan Mullen and former Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan.
Petrino and Mullen are the only SEC coaches whose names I have seen mentioned — so far. But SEC ties (or, for that matter, a background as a player or coach for Bear Bryant) do not mean what they once did. Meyer himself had neither on his resume when he was hired to replace Ron Zook five years ago.
It's all a guessing game right now. I don't know if Florida will announce Meyer's successor within a week nor do I know who is really at the top of the Gators' list, but my prediction is that speculation will be widespread by the time Meyer's last game is under way Friday night.
Meanwhile, Meyer has been preparing for his Florida coaching finale. Only time will tell if he will ever return to the sidelines, but it can be said that, while he won't be competing for his third national title in five years at Florida, Meyer will be finishing his career as a Gator coach in the bowl game that once was synonymous with SEC excellence — the Sugar Bowl. The opponent may not be traditional, but the setting certainly is.
It is interesting, though, that Rick Newman recently wrote, in U.S. News & World Report, about something that has bothered me over the years — the odd combinations of sponsors and bowl games.
For example, Newman takes exception to the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, which will be played in nearby Fort Worth on Thursday. "If you really want to honor the men and women in uniform," he writes, "just name the bowl after them, period. Don't stick you own name in there and ride on their coattails."
Newman rants about the "absurdities that will be tripping across the TV screen" during the bowl season, but, in my opinion, his complaints are pretty tame. My complaint about bowl game names goes back 20 years, when Mobil Oil was the sponsor of the Cotton Bowl.
When I was growing up, the Cotton Bowl was often the game that produced a national champion, although it wasn't always obvious. Sometimes you had to wait until the pollsters voted the next day before you knew who the national champion was.
That was a simpler time, a time when bowl games didn't have to have a corporate sponsor in the bowl's name. That changed at some point, and, from 1989 to 1995, the Cotton Bowl (previously called the Cotton Bowl Classic) was sponsored by Mobil Oil. As a result, the game was called the "Mobil Oil Cotton Bowl Classic."
It never seemed to me that oil and cotton made a very appealing combination.
It was disappointing for me — as it was for other Arkansas alumni — to watch the Razorbacks lose to top–ranked Florida on Saturday, 23–20.
Especially because the officials made bad calls that gave the Gators new life — and, ultimately, enabled them to win the game.
Make no mistake about it. It wasn't Tim Tebow's heroics that won the game for the Gators.
Now, it's not my way to blame the officials when a game doesn't go my way, but I have to say that I felt the pass interference call in the fourth quarter that helped Florida get the touchdown that tied the game at 20–20 was ridiculous. And I have to agree that, as someone I have never met observed in a comment that was posted online, the refs at that game should have been wearing blue and orange instead of black and white.
So I have to agree with what John Taylor wrote for NBC Sports: "Look, it's all well and good that the SEC is willing to admit that their officials are not infallible. But, when are they going to, you know, prevent it from happening before it really costs someone a game?"
I hate to be the one who has to point it out to Mr. Taylor — although, at this point, I doubt that I am the first to bring this to his attention — but those calls on Saturday did cost Arkansas the game. A pretty big one, too. It doesn't get any bigger than a game against the top–ranked team in the country.
Well, anyway, the Gators got the win and they remained unbeaten, but the Razorbacks exacted a measure of revenge. The Associated Press pollsters were not impressed with Florida and permitted Alabama to leapfrog into the top spot in their weekly poll.
Of course, it's October. It will be about 2½ months before the national championship game will be played. And, in that time, Florida could return to the top spot and be positioned to win yet another national crown. But their failure to convincingly defeat Arkansas worked against them — and I believe the Razorbacks continued to grow and improve.
No matter what the scoreboard said, it was a win for the Razorbacks and a loss for the Gators. And I think most people who watched the game would agree.
In most respects, I guess my prediction for the Southeastern Conference is not too surprising.
I'm picking Florida to win the SEC and play for a second consecutive national championship. With 18 starters returning, including a former Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, I don't see how anyone can pick against the Gators in the SEC. But I'm not convinced that they will win a second straight national championship. It's awful tough to repeat.
Likewise, it seems to me to be a no–brainer to pick Georgia to finish second in the SEC East. The Bulldogs went 10–3 last year and finished ranked 13th in the AP and Coaches' polls. And, in the history of Georgia football, only one other coach has a better winning percentage than Mark Richt — and he coached one season in the 19th century.
The rest of the SEC East looks pretty dismal to me. Normally, I would expect Tennessee to be competitive. But the Volunteers went 5–7 last season and they have a new coach (Lane Kiffin). The Vols have a winning tradition — second among SEC schools, ninth nationally — and an enviable bowl record — tied for third in bowl appearances, fourth in bowl victories — so I expect Tennessee to resume its winning ways in the near future. But not this year.
The SEC West gives me a challenge — and not just because I am a graduate of the University of Arkansas.
Most people seem to pick Ole Miss and Alabama to battle it out, even though LSU is the team that has enjoyed the most success in recent years.
Predictions I've seen forecast Ole Miss to be Florida's foe for the SEC title, but I'm going to pick Alabama to win the West. And I pick LSU to finish second. Ole Miss will be good, and as a Razorback fan, I know how good Houston Nutt is as coach. He was at Arkansas for 10 years before moving on to Ole Miss. But I'm expecting Ole Miss to drop off a little from its 9–4 finish last season.
My alma mater, the University of Arkansas, got to play the University of Florida in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference tournament last night. And the outcome, considering the way the conference schedule has gone for the Razorbacks this season, was predictable. Florida prevailed, 73-58.
The Razorbacks started the season 12-1, with victories over the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas.
But then the SEC season began, and Arkansas went 2-14. The Razorbacks lost several close games and could easily have finished the season with a conference record of 6-10, possibly 7-9, maybe even at 8-8. Nothing spectacular, but a solid showing in the always competitive SEC.
So the Hogs came into last night's game with a 14-15 record. Florida, on the other hand, was 22-9.
It's still possible that Arkansas will make it to the NIT. When I was growing up, the NIT was where the runners-up played because the NCAA field was only 16 teams. But four times that number of schools get to participate today, and the NIT has become kind of a consolation tournament for teams that weren't good enough to make it to the national tournament.
The Hogs did lose 15 conference games, including last night's loss. But the NIT doesn't care about that as much as it wants to invite schools that can guarantee a lot of fans will attend, especially in these recessionary times, and Razorback fans are nothing if not dedicated. They will buy tickets to see the Hogs play, particularly if the Hogs are paired with an appealing opponent (offhand, I would suggest a game with former Southwest Conference rival Texas A&M, which went down to defeat in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament).
It would have been nice to see the Hogs qualify for the NCAA Tournament, especially this year. It was 15 years ago that Nolan Richardson and the Razorbacks won the national title. I wasn't even living in the state by then — in fact, by the time the Hogs won the 1994 tournament, I had been away from Arkansas for almost six years.
Yet, even from a distance, it was an exciting time to be an Arkansas alum.
It must have been even more exciting to live in Arkansas at that time. I got to see several games where I was living, but folks in Arkansas must have gotten to see almost every game in that championship run. That's a memory to cherish — and probably one that was more meaningful to more Arkansans than the election of the first president from Arkansas had been almost two years earlier.
Nothing personal as far as Bill Clinton is concerned, but that's just the way it is in Arkansas. Damn near everyone loves the Razorbacks, regardless of personal politics.
I don't know which school will win the national title this year. But, whether it's one of those schools that seems to be playing for the national title every year, like North Carolina or Duke or Kentucky or UCLA, or a school that has never won it before, I hope that school, its student body and all of its fans understand how special the experience is.
When your team is at the peak of the mountain, it's nearly impossible to imagine not being able to scale those heights again. But it really is hard to repeat.
In April 1994, I believed the Razorbacks would be back — and, as it turned out, they did return to the national title game the following year. But they lost the championship game — and they haven't made it back to the Final Four since.
Enjoy the ride while you can. It's never guaranteed that you'll be back.
In Florida Today, David Jones reports that Florida's junior quarterback — and defending Heisman Trophy winner — Tim Tebow is considering "fil[ing] the paperwork with the NFL to see about his possible draft status, should he elect to leave school early for the NFL."
That's not really a surprise in this day and age. It often seems to be less common for an athlete to stay at a school for four years than it is to jump after one's junior year.
Merely filing the paperwork doesn't mean Tebow will leave school early — but it does mean he's weighing that option.
Seen in that context, then, it's prudent to regard Saturday's SEC championship game against top-ranked Alabama as Tebow's final conference game of his collegiate career. If it isn't, it still should be an entertaining game to watch.
Jones also reports that the CBS announcers who will handle the duties in the broadcast booth — Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson — believe that Tebow could win his second Heisman if he has a big game against Alabama.
And Jones reports that the only man — so far — to win two Heisman Trophies, Archie Griffin, also thinks Tebow has a strong shot.
Former Heisman winners are permitted to vote in the Heisman balloting, but Griffin said he wants to watch Tebow's performance against Alabama before deciding how he'll vote.
Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford is considered the front-runner for this year's Heisman.
The Birmingham News is reporting that the decision to dismiss football coach Tommy Tuberville has been made at Auburn.
No announcement has been made so far, but Tuberville met with the athletic director yesterday and today. And today he also met with the university president.
When an announcement is made, it will be either that he's been fired or that he's the recipient of a rousing endorsement from the Auburn administration.
And I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that "rousing endorsement." The signals seem to suggest a coaching change is in the works.
Charles Goldberg points out that Auburn was a "disappointing 5-7" this season — and, certainly, the 36-0 loss to in-state rival Alabama in last weekend's "Iron Bowl" is one of the disappointments that Auburn fans endured this year.
But Tuberville is 7-3 against Alabama in his tenure at Auburn — and, before Saturday's loss, he had won six in a row against the Crimson Tide.
As it is with all coaches, it's about the numbers. The cumulative numbers.
Of course, it wasn't just the loss to Alabama that hurt Tuberville's cause — although it obviously didn't help.
Considering that Auburn came into the season as the media's choice to win the SEC West — but Alabama won the division and may play for the national title — I think it may have been just one more nail in Tuberville's coffin.
He might have been able to salvage his job with a win over Alabama — but that's going to be nothing but speculation now, I believe.
After the Tigers started the season 3-0, they won only two of their last nine games — and they will take a five-game SEC losing streak into the 2009 season, whoever the coach is.
To say Auburn's offense struggled this season is to be generous:
Auburn was 100th in the nation in passing yards per game.
Auburn was 71st in the nation in rushing yards per game.
The Tigers were 112th in the nation in scoring.
Auburn was somewhat better on defense.
But the defense couldn't compensate for the fact that Auburn only scored about 17 points per game.
Auburn was 17th in the nation in points allowed per game.
The Tigers were 53rd in rushing yards allowed.
Auburn was 23rd in the nation in passing yards allowed.
If everything goes according to expectations, the SEC and Big 12 Conference championship games on Saturday will decide the participants in the national championship game in Miami on Jan. 8.
That seems to be a given in the SEC, where the top-ranked team in the BCS, Alabama, will play the #4 team in the BCS, Florida. That game will be played in Atlanta starting at 3 p.m. (Central) on CBS. Whichever team wins is expected to advance to the national championship game.
In the Big 12, the team that is ranked #2 in the BCS — Oklahoma — faces the team that is currently ranked 20th in the BCS — Missouri.
If Oklahoma wins the game, the Sooners are expected to play for the national title, but Missouri will not advance to Miami if the Tigers pull off the upset. If Missouri does beat Oklahoma, it is expected that Texas will face either Alabama or Florida in the national championship game.
That game will be televised at 7 p.m. (Central) on ABC.
Here's how things look:
Florida vs. Alabama — This appears to be shaping up as a confrontation between the Florida offense, led by defending Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, and the Alabama defense — although Tebow's numbers aren't as spectacular as they were last year.
In the offensive categories,
Florida is 61st nationally in passing yards per game. Alabama is 97th.
Florida is 10th in the nation in rushing yards per game. Alabama is 22nd.
In points per game, Florida is third in the nation, scoring slightly more than 46 points per game. Alabama is 29th with an average of about 32 points per game.
On the defensive side of the ball,
The two teams are neck and neck in points allowed per game. Alabama is third in the country, giving up 11.5 points per game. Florida is fourth in the country, yielding 12.3 points per game.
In rushing defense, Alabama is ranked second in the nation. Florida is ranked 12th.
In passing defense, Florida holds a narrow lead over Alabama. Florida is 17th in the nation and Alabama is 20th.
In total defense, Alabama is ranked third. Florida is ranked seventh.
What does all that mean? Well, on offense, Florida has the edge in the significant team categories, but both teams are strong running the ball. Tebow's passing seems to have helped the Gators build a big advantage in scoring — but don't overlook Tebow's ability to score TDs on the ground, which has helped the Gators' running game become one of the 10 best in the nation.
On defense, both teams have been successful in preventing the other team from scoring and both teams have done a good job of stopping the run and the pass. Ultimately, Alabama's pass defense may hold the key. If the defenders can stop Tebow by land and by air, Alabama should win the game — but the Crimson Tide will still need help from its offensive unit.
It may be helpful to look at some of the individual statistics.
Penalties, for example.
Florida has been penalized nearly twice as often as Alabama. Some ill-timed penalties could halt crucial Florida drives or breathe new life into Alabama drives.
Being from opposing divisions, the two teams have few opponents in common. Alabama beat three teams from the SEC East — Georgia, 41-30; Kentucky, 17-14; and Tennessee, 29-9. Florida also beat those three teams by scores of 49-10, 63-5, and 30-6, respectively.
Florida went 2-1 in its games against the SEC West, losing to Ole Miss, 31-30, and beating Arkansas, 38-7, and LSU, 51-21. Alabama went 3-0 against those teams, 24-20, 49-14 and 27-21.
When comparing the results of the games against those six teams, Florida clearly performed better against Georgia, Kentucky and LSU. Alabama narrowly beat the Ole Miss team that barely beat Florida. And the outcomes against Tennessee and Arkansas were roughly the same for both Alabama and Florida.
It's a close call. I've felt all season that Alabama was the best team in the country, and I'll stick with the Crimson Tide in this game.
But I won't be surprised if it goes into overtime.
Missouri vs. Oklahoma — Let's look at the same categories in the Big 12 championship game — but because the BCS rankings put OU into the championship game and left Texas out, I compare the numbers of the two combatants with the numbers put up by the Longhorns:
In the offensive categories,
Oklahoma and Missouri are neck and neck in passing yardage. Oklahoma is third in the country, Missouri is fourth. (Texas, by the way, is 11th.)
In rushing yardage, Oklahoma is 21st in the country. Missouri is ranked 46th. (Texas is 34th.)
In points per game, Oklahoma leads the nation with a 53.3 average. Missouri is fourth with a 45.0 average. (Texas is sixth, averaging 43.9 points per game.)
In the defensive categories,
Missouri is 58th in the nation in points allowed per game, giving up an average of 24.7. Oklahoma is 60th, surrendering 24.8. (Texas is 21st, yielding 18.6 points per game.)
Oklahoma is ranked 18th in rushing defense. Missouri is ranked 24th. (Texas is third.)
In passing defense, Oklahoma is 99th in the nation. Missouri is nearly the worst, ranked 117th. (Texas falls in between the two at 109th.)
In total defense, Oklahoma ranks 66th. Missouri ranks 92nd. (Texas is 50th).
Based on those numbers, I expect a high-scoring game between these two schools. The most important factor appears to be the passing game, On the offensive side of the ball, both schools are in the top five nationally, but both passing defenses are among the worst in the nation.
Oklahoma's had a pretty good running game this year while Missouri's has been adequate if unspectacular. Both defenses are in the top 25 against the run so, while the running game has been a traditional component of OU's offense, I don't expect it to be the key in Saturday's game.
Oklahoma has forced more turnovers and committed fewer than Missouri. But the Sooners have been penalized twice as often as the Tigers. If you're talking about the turnovers when the game is over, OU probably won. But if you're talking about the penalties that were committed, Missouri may have pulled off the upset.
How did they do against common foes? Well, like the SEC championship contenders, they each played three teams from the other school's division.
Oklahoma was 3-0 against Big 12 North foes Kansas (45-31), Kansas State (58-35) and Nebraska (62-28). Missouri was 2-1 against those teams, losing to Kansas last weekend (40-37) but beating Kansas State (41-24) and Nebraska (52-17).
The Sooners clearly played better against Kansas and won by a wider margin against Kansas State, but the Tigers actually had a wider margin against Nebraska than Oklahoma did.
Against the Big 12 South, Missouri was 1-2, narrowly beating Baylor (31-28) and losing to Texas (56-31) and Oklahoma State (28-23). Oklahoma also lost to Texas (45-35) but beat Baylor (49-17) and Oklahoma State (61-41).
Both teams lost to Texas, but the final point spread was closer in the Oklahoma game. OU beat Baylor by 10 times the margin Missouri did and beat Oklahoma State while Missouri lost to OSU. Again, the edge goes to Oklahoma.
A "tomato can" is a fighter who is believed to be past his prime and an "easy" or "guaranteed" win for an up-and-coming fighter who wants to pad his record.
Sometimes, though, the "tomato can" doesn't cooperate. For example, in 1990, undefeated heavyweight champion Mike Tyson lost the title to a 42-to-1 underdog named Buster Douglas.
Another heavyweight champion, Muhammad Ali, almost lost his title to lightly regarded Chuck Wepner in 1975. Wepner nearly went the distance against Ali and inspired the original "Rocky" movie.
I got my bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas, and I got my master's degree in journalism from the University of North Texas. Most of my adult life has been dedicated to writing and editing in one form or another. Most recently I have taught writing (news and developmental) as an adjunct journalism professor at Richland College, where I advise the student newspaper staff. Go, Thunderducks!
