OK, so this weekend’s regular season finale did not quite reach the epic level of proportions we thought it could back in August and September. I warned most that there was a lot of football to be played and that it might not be worth the time hyping a potential colossal match-up, a Game of the Century if you will, between an undefeated Oklahoma and undefeated Oklahoma State. Did that stop you? No, probably not.
While this game is no longer pretty much guaranteed to advance one team in the the BCS championship game, Bedlam is still Bedlam. And that counts for something.
In an age where we are seeing rivalries discontinued due to conference alignment, ending the regular season with a pure rivalry game is something special. So embrace this one Sooner and Cowboy fans, for you have something that is a dying breed right now.
Texas and Texas A&M? It looks to be done with the Aggies moving to the Big 12, but at least Texas A&M will have Missouri to pal around with. Texas A&M and Arkansas has great potential with the history between the two programs but it will never equal the quality of a rivalry like Texas and Texas A&M had.
West Virginia’s departure form the Big East has been anything but hospitable. With bitterness at every corner of the conference West Virginia’s move to the Big 12 is threatening the end, at least temporarily, of one of the top rivalries in the region, The Backyard Brawl between the Mountaineers and Pittsburgh. While there are no plans at the time to immediately resume that series, as a college football fan in general I hope they do not wait long. Pittsburgh is heading to the ACC, and many ACC schools play SEC rivals in the final week of the regular season. We can only hope that this allows for some form of flexibility to continue The Backyard Brawl.
Take it from me, as someone who grew up watching Penn State football, rivalries are special. By the time I started to really appreciate college football for what it is, Penn State appeared to have no rival. When Penn State joined the Big Ten all of the traditional rivalries went by the wayside. No more games against regional rivals like Boston College, Maryland, West Virginia or Pittsburgh. At least not on a frequent basis. The Penn State-Pitt series had many great moments, for both schools, and saw many great players and teams. In the state of Pennsylvania, the PSU-Pitt rivalry was an event all college football fans circled on the calendar. Now it is big news if the two ever face each other (which they will in a home-and-home series starting in 2016).
Penn State fans have clamored for a real rivalry game. Games against Ohio State have been close, but the Buckeyes fail to recognize Penn State as a true rival as long as Michigan is around. The Michigan State series always felt like a forced rivalry game (it was a matter of convenience for the Big Ten). Now the hope is that the series with Nebraska or Wisconsin can develop in to a true rivalry series. Perhaps, in time, it will.
The message is this. Bedlam is a reminder that college football is better with true rivalry games. It is good not only for the two respective universities, but it is good for the state, the conference and the sport in general. If nothing else, conference realignment has spoiled this aspect of the game by tearing some great rivalries apart.
So rest in peace Colorado vs. Nebraska, Utah vs. BYU (still hope for this one), The Backyard Brawl, The Lone Star Showdown and TCU-Boise State (wait, what?). May Bedlam never get to that point.
