The Impossible Dream

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"To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go."

Joe Darion
"The Impossible Dream"

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At Richmond and Morehead State today, they know about Cinderella stories in the NCAA Tournament.

And, while theirs may be short–lived, their victories over Vanderbilt and Louisville, respectively, entitle them to enjoy the sensation of having beaten the seemingly unbeatable foe. They may well come crashing back to earth tomorrow.

The NCAA Tournament has a reputation for upsets. It is one of the main reasons that sports fans tune in to the games in the early rounds. They want to know who will be Cinderella this season.

Upsets were sort of uncommon in the old days of the tournament. Of course, part of that was because the field was much smaller, primarily conference champions and one or two independent programs. Until comparatively recently, there weren't enough slots for every team in the Top 20 to participate. It's kind of hard to call a victory for any Top 20 team much of an upset, even if comes against a higher–ranked team.

Still, upsets did occur from time to time.

They became more frequent when the field began to expand. That was what diminished the NIT, but it certainly brought excitement, an air of mystery, to the NCAA Tournament.

I'm not really sure when the tournament began to develop its reputation for upsets. Maybe it was in 1983 when North Carolina State upset powerful Houston in the championship game. It might even go back to Texas Western's unexpected victory over Kentucky 45 years ago tomorrow.

I do know that it was a reputation that was already established by the time the tournament began 25 years ago this week.

I was working on the sports staff of the Arkansas Gazette in those days, and I had graduated from the University of Arkansas, where I had been part of many exuberant crowds at football and basketball games.

Razorback fans were spoiled in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were accustomed to seeing their basketball team compete in the NCAA Tournament, sometimes doing quite well.

But in the mid–1980s, Eddie Sutton was gone, Nolan Richardson had been hired but was frequently distracted by his young daughter's battle with leukemia, and the basketball program sometimes had the appearance of a rudderless ship.

In March of 1986, Arkansas fans were looking elsewhere to fill the void left by the Razorbacks, and Arkansas–Little Rock stepped up.

In the first round of that tournament, two No. 14 seeds won their opening–round games against No. 3 seeds — Cleveland State beat Indiana and UALR defeated Notre Dame. The ride didn't end for Cleveland State right away. The Vikings got to the Sweet 16 before losing to David Robinson and Navy by a single point.

But, for coach Mike Newell's Trojans, that was it. They lost two days later to North Carolina State.

That first–round game sure was memorable, though.

We had no TV in the newsroom in those days so we had to listen to the game on the radio. My memory is that just about everyone on the sports staff was pulling for UALR. It was the only Arkansas team in the tournament and, besides, who wanted Notre Dame to win?

Well, there was one Catholic guy on the staff, and I think he might have been pulling for the Irish, but he wasn't vocal about it.

I remember the Gazette's sports staffers gathered around a radio in much the same way that families must have listened to radio broadcasts during the Depression. A couple of the youngest staff members sat on the floor. The older staff members sat in chairs and listened intently as UALR built and maintained its lead.

Before long, people from the news side had gravitated to the sports department to listen to the radio.

After Newell left UALR, he spoke of his gratitude to all the people who came to the games and pulled for the Trojans in the days before their five–year postseason run that included three appearances in the NCAA Tournament. That, he said, was when he had been "selling a dream."

And, for one evening, UALR's students and fans permitted themselves to dream the impossible dream of being the ones who would cut down the nets and hoist the trophy in Dallas' Reunion Arena.

It didn't happen that way for UALR. It may never happen for UALR.

But, for that one evening, the Trojans could dream of it.

I Stand Corrected

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Last week, I wrote that Jacksonville State's victory over Ole Miss on Labor Day weekend would be the biggest upset of the still young college football season.

But it took only a week for an even bigger upset to occur.

Thirteenth–ranked Virginia Tech was humiliated by James Madison, 21–16, yesterday.

Kinda makes you wonder what's next, doesn't it?

Well, as devastated as the Tech players must be after being embarrassed, the loss may prove to be even more deadly for Boise State, the team that beat Tech in an electrifying Labor Day night game.

Boise State had hoped that a victory over Tech could serve as its springboard into the national title game in January. But, as USA Today observes, JMU's triumph "devalued" Boise State's achievement.

And I have to believe USA Today is right about that. Virginia Tech is almost certain to fall out of the rankings, and Boise State will be deprived of its signature win.

Which, I think, makes my point for me.

College football needs a legitimate playoff system.

If Boise State goes undefeated this regular season, it will be the fifth time in the last seven years. Sometimes the Broncos have stumbled in their bowl game, as they did against Louisville in December 2004 and against TCU in December 2008. But other times they have met the postseason challenge, like last January when Boise beat TCU and January of 2007, when the Broncos shocked Oklahoma.

But they've been repeatedly denied a spot in the national championship game, sometimes in favor of teams with blemishes on their records, because the Broncos don't play in what is considered a "power conference."

Lots of people thought that beating Virginia Tech would permit them to get over that hurdle, but JMU likely will turn out to be the fly in that ointment.

Ya gotta wonder. What's next?

A Memorable Afternoon

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Part of the college experience for most people is Saturday afternoon football games.

This Saturday will be the anniversary of one of the most memorable games of my college days — and I hope it turns out to be every bit as memorable for those who are students now on the campus of my alma mater.

It isn't the kind of thing that can be duplicated for succeeding generations. But my college experience would have been completely different without it.

I graduated from the University of Arkansas. And it was on October 17 in 1981 that the Razorbacks defeated their arch rivals, the Texas Longhorns, who were ranked #1 in the nation, by the lopsided score of 42–11. I went to many Razorback games when I was in college, and I don't think I ever heard the home fans cheer as loudly as they did on that day.

Maybe that's because the whole thing was such an astonishingly unexpected event.

Arkansas wasn't ranked. Two weeks earlier, the Razorbacks lost to perennial Southwest Conference doormat TCU for the first time in my lifetime. To lifelong Razorback fans, it was embarrassing. Things are different now, but back then, it was a disgrace for a team that was usually a contender for the conference title, as Arkansas was, to lose to a team in the lower tier of the SWC. And TCU definitely occupied the lower tier.

The Hogs bounced back with a 26–14 victory over Texas Tech the next week, but the unbeaten — and seemingly unbeatable — Texas Longhorns were next on the schedule.

I was living off campus in those days, and the girl who was going to the game with me was living in one of the dorms. I remember calling her and telling her that I didn't think I would go to the game that day. Like most Arkansas fans, I thought the Hogs were going to lose to the powerful Longhorns.

But she told me to come on over to the dorm and we would see how we felt when the 2:30 kickoff drew near. So I agreed to come over, although I still didn't think I would go to the game. But we talked about it and, in the end, we decided to go.

If it turned into a blowout, we agreed, we would leave. Her dorm, after all, wasn't too far from the stadium. And I admit that I was far from certain that we would stay past halftime. It turned out our seats were just across the aisle from where the huge University of Texas marching band was seated. I made a mental resolution: If the score was as out of hand as I expected and I wasn't deaf from hearing repeated playings of "The Eyes of Texas" in the first half, I should leave and count my blessings.

Well, we didn't leave the stadium at halftime. The score was out of hand, but not in Texas' favor. The Razorbacks had taken a commanding lead, and the fans were raucous. The band had been mostly quiet in the first half, and my hearing was still intact.

So we stayed. And I am glad we did. It was an experience I wouldn't trade for anything.

I found the attached clip of game highlights, and it brought back some memories of that afternoon. It's interesting, though, that whoever compiled that YouTube clip chose Michael Jackson's "Beat It" as the background music. Fact is, that song wasn't recorded until the following year so, even though it may be an energetic theme, it really isn't an appropriate one. The jubilant Razorback fans in Fayetteville that day couldn't possibly have listened to it at their victory parties that night since it didn't exist yet.

Perhaps a better tune would have been Christopher Cross' "Arthur's Theme," which was the top–selling song on Billboard's charts at the time. It might be a more subdued melody, but it is more representative of what people were listening to.

A few memories stand out from that day:

• Through most of the time I was growing up, Southwest Conference schools ran the ball. Throwing the ball was something you did if you were way behind. And some coaches apparently had too much pride to throw the ball even if they were far behind. Frank Broyles, for example, was coach of the Razorbacks until I was in high school, and I have few memories of the Razorbacks throwing the ball — even when they trailed by huge margins.
  
  I vividly recall listening to radio coverage of Arkansas' season opener when Lou Holtz took over for Broyles. On the first offensive play, Holtz called a deep pass. The sharp intake of breath from the capacity crowd was clearly audible.
  
  On that afternoon in 1981, Holtz was able to run a more conservative offense, but, because of the score, Texas was forced to abandon its running game, eventually setting a school record for pass attempts in a game. Many of those passes were incomplete, which stopped the clock and prolonged the game.


• It was starting to get dark by the time the game ended. Visibility was restricted for everyone, including the TV audience. In those days, Razorback Stadium had lights that were adequate only for practice sessions, not for illuminating a field for TV cameras.
  
  Here in the 21st century, it may be hard to imagine a stadium that isn't equipped with lights that make it possible to play there at night. But they were still around in 1981, and Razorback Stadium was one of them.


• I don't think I have ever been to a game that had as many shifts in the weather conditions. If you watch the clips, you'll see that, at some points, the field was bathed in sunlight. At other times, when clouds — and even some rain — went through, it got a little dark.
  
  There were even times when the area was under a tornado watch.
  
  It was never announced over the P.A. system, and the fans who didn't have radios with them didn't know that at the time. But the ones with radios weren't exactly making their way to the exits.
  
  This was Razorback football. The opponent was the hated Texas Longhorns, who were the top–ranked team in the nation that day. TV cameras were broadcasting the game to the outside world.
  
  And the Hogs were winning.
  
  For Razorback fans, no better conditions could be imagined for one's last moments. I can only assume that those who did know we were under a tornado watch decided it was worth the risk.


• When I was growing up, Texas was the source of a lot of frustration for Razorback fans. Nearly every year, the Longhorns beat the Razorbacks, often decisively — and that win over Arkansas usually gave Texas the conference title.
  
  In the years leading up to that memorable afternoon in 1981, Texas had run off a streak of seven straight wins over Arkansas. The Razorbacks ended that skid with a three–point win over Texas in Little Rock two years earlier, but then they seemed to resume their old ways when the series returned to Austin in 1980, giving Texas eight wins over Arkansas in the 10 years prior to that memorable afternoon in Razorback Stadium.
  
  So, on that afternoon, Arkansas fans were ready to celebrate. They tried to tear down one of the goal posts, but they couldn't quite manage it. The goal post apparently was made of metal, and the fans only managed to distort it into a bizarre dangling wishbone shape that I could see for several days as I walked past the dorms that stood at the top of the hill looking down on the stadium.

This Saturday, there will be a few clear differences between the game Arkansas will play against #1 Florida and the game the Razorbacks played against Texas in 1981.

For one, the Florida game is a road game for Arkansas. The Texas game was played at home.

For another, the top ranking in the nation hasn't been the revolving door in 2009 that it was in 1981. By mid–October of that year, Texas was the fourth team to be ranked #1. Unless I have missed something, the Gators have been ranked #1 all along.

Yet another difference is that, while Arkansas lost to a lightly regarded foe two weeks before the Razorbacks played Texas in 1981, Arkansas' two losses this year have been against teams that were ranked — Georgia and Alabama.

One more noteworthy difference: In 1981 — and this could be the most important factor for Razorback fans — Texas brought a healthy squad to Fayetteville. The Gators are led by a quarterback who has won a Heisman Trophy and two national titles in his collegiate career — but he suffered a concussion against Kentucky weekend before last and played in spite of it against LSU this past weekend.

That flew in the face of what modern authorities on sports injuries tend to recommend for concussion victims. They usually recommend that football players who have had concussions sit out the next game.

Will that affect Tim Tebow's performance against the Razorbacks? That remains to be seen. Arkansas' defense hasn't been particularly impressive this season, but I don't think it has been panned as much as it was after the TCU loss in 1981.

And, if Arkansas' explosive offense isn't held in check by Florida's defense, that may put more pressure on Florida to be productive.

Florida certainly has shown that its offense can put points on the board. And, if Tebow is 100%, beating Florida may prove to be too great a challenge for the Razorbacks.

But a lifetime of watching the Razorbacks has taught me never to count them out — even if the foe is the top–ranked team in the nation.

Common sense says Florida probably will win. But I'll be watching, anyway.

Just in case.

Is USC One and Done?

I stayed up late enough on Thursday night to watch Oregon State hold off Southern Cal's comeback attempt, and the then-No. 1 Trojans lost the decision to the upstart Beavers, 27-21.

And, because of that loss in late September, many people are now writing off USC's prospects for playing for a national title in January.

For example, Michael Ventre writes, for NBCSports.com, that the Trojans can forget about appearing in the national title game in January.

"The Trojans didn’t just hurt their chances to play for a national title," Ventre says, "they slaughtered them."

Ventre doesn't refer to the mere fact that Oregon State was unranked. In fact, according to SportsIllustrated.com, the Beavers barely rank in the top half of the entire Division I.

He contends that the real problem is that the Trojans "should have learned this lesson already" when they lost at home to Stanford, 24-23, nearly a year ago, "and that’s why voters will punish them from here on."

Thus, in Ventre's analysis, those who vote in the poll rankings have such long memories and extensive knowledge of college football that they will remember not only that USC lost to Stanford last October but also that they will recall the role they played in gradually improving USC's chances of playing for the national championship by continuing to rank them higher with each succeeding victory — and they will seek absolution for their complicity.

"People are savvier these days," Ventre writes, "and they’re more likely to sip the Kool-Aid rather than guzzle it without thinking."

In Ventre's words, last year the Trojans "finished strong and made an inspired case for why they should play for the national championship."

But, in the end, even though the Trojans were in the running for a berth in the national title game, they didn't get it.

Ventre suggests that the voters won't let USC get away with another upset loss in 2008 and be a prospect for the national championship by season's end. I think he gives the voters more credit than they deserve.

Personally, I'm not convinced that USC won't be in the national title picture again at the end of the season — assuming they run the table the rest of the way.

And, as weak as the Pac-10 is, it seems likely to me that USC can win the rest of its games.

It seems to me that the team that has been living on borrowed time is Ohio State.

The Buckeyes played SEC teams for the national title the last two years and failed miserably each time.

USC's loss on Thursday night should weigh even more heavily on the Buckeyes than on the Trojans. It was merely two weeks ago that Ohio State was hammered in a face-to-face meeting with the same USC team that was embarrassed by Oregon State.

So it seems to me that the real question should be, will the pollsters promote Ohio State (currently languishing in the Second Ten of both Top 25 polls) and eventually give the Buckeyes a third straight opportunity to seize the ring — in spite of lurching through the season?

Lord knows, I'm no fan of the BCS. But there's a good reason why the BCS rankings are not released until after the midway point of the season. It gives teams time to show their true identities.

Are they contenders or pretenders? That's a question that simply cannot be adequately answered in three or four games.

And, with all due respect to Ventre, the BCS pollsters haven't demonstrated to me that their memories are longer than the typical gypsy moth's.