College Football

In the crazy, kooky, ever-cosmic world that is college athletics, you’d have to figure there was some type of connection or link looming underneath the surface of the BCS title game set for Jan. 7 at Miami’s Sun Life Stadium.

Yeah, yeah, you got the obvious: No. 1 vs. No. 2, two powerhouses with football traditions to match any other, All-Americans aplenty on both sides. Basically, just what you’d expect – and want – with the likes of Notre Dame and Alabama.

The somewhat hidden gem to this matchup, though, is a West Virginia kid’s further infiltration into the ultimate hierarchy of greatness in the game’s coaching annals.

No, Nick Saban isn’t exactly new to big games or big things, but, still, he’s on the cusp of breaking down any barriers between himself and a true legacy – a true legacy with an Irish slant.

From 1946 through 1949, Frank Leahy won three national titles while running the post-war gridiron machine at Notre Dame. No coach has pulled the 3-for-4 championship effort ever since in a four-year span.

Saban has the opportunity to do just that if he can direct his Crimson Tide past the Manti Te’o-led Irish.

OK, with Weeks 1 and 2 out of the way, the college football bowl season starts to get a little more serious heading up to the BCS Championship Game on January 6.

But we’ll leave that meeting of No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Alabama at Miami’s Sun Life Stadium discussion for a later date.

Right now, let’s look at everything left from New Year’s Eve until then.

MONDAY

Music City Bowl – North Carolina State (7-5) vs. Vanderbilt (8-4): The Commodores are shooting for their first 9-win season since they pulled that feat under the direction of the great Dan McGugin in 1915. That seems to be about the same time Pack QB Mike Glennon started matriculating in Raleigh, N.C.

Sun Bowl – Southern California (7-5) vs. Georgia Tech (6-7): Remember way back when the Trojans were ranked No. 1 and Matt Barkley was the Heisman favorite? Me neither.

Liberty Bowl – Iowa State (6-6) vs. Tulsa (10-3):  Kinda funny to think a Conference USA squad should beat one from the Big 12.

Did you hear the latest in college football? Some schools are talking about switching leagues. Can you believe it?

Even more amazing, one school – Boise State – is talking about switching back to the league it was switching from. Confusing? You betcha, but it’s not necessarily surprising.

With all the cash involved, and the seemingly never-ending collapse of the Big East – could someone just put a fork in the poor conference and we be done with it already? – it stands to reason that there may be, um, a little movement here or there.

Fortunately, with the bowl season in full swing now, we can focus our eyes onto the actual field these days. So, without further ado, let’s look at upcoming Week 2 of the non-playoff postseason:

MONDAY

Bowl season is here, and it has been long awaited. Notre Dame and Alabama will square off in the marquee game of the year for the national championship while many others will play for bowl money, a nice vacation and hopefully a win to end the season. Let's take a look at some intriguing match ups upcoming in the next few weeks.

Wisconsin vs. Stanford

Penn State University and the football community had an absolutely dreadful start to the new year in 2012. The Jerry Sandusky scandal was completely broken wide open by January, and more was coming out about the terror he imposed on those children throughout the years. Then on January 22, 2012 longtime head coach Joe Paterno died from complications from lung cancer after a short battle with the disease. Everything that alumni, faculty, current and former players had known was now tattered and seemingly irrelevant compared to the monstrosities the children Jerry Sandusky abused had gone through.