College Football Matchups

:There really isn’t another sport that’s defined by its rivalries as is college football. Oh, sure, college hoops has its share, and the NFL is dotted with nasty, ancient rivals. So is Major League Baseball. And the NBA. And the NHL. What makes college football unique, however, is that these old rivals only get one crack at each other during the season. There’s more frequency in rivalries in other sports. Heck, the Red Sox and Yankees play each other almost 20 times every season.

Why, can you imagine 20 Notre Dame-USC football clashes each year? Faith and begorrah, indeed!

Historically, the upcoming pre-Thanksgiving weekend has been when many legendary college football rivalries have been contested. Although a handful of long-standing antagonists traditionally have squared off a week later (Texas-Texas A&M has long been a “Thanksgiving Friday” battle, and Army and Navy usually renew their hostilities the first weekend in December), the upcoming pre-Thanksgiving weekend has usually been the big one for rivalries. Times have changed a bit, however, and the old “Rivalry Week” is not quite the denouement of the campaign as it used to be. Expanded conferences, league championship contests, and TV-dictated switches have pushed some of those traditional matchups after Thanksgiving, and in some cases into early December. And the “bowl season” gets going in mid-December these days, so there’s hardly a break until after New Year’s.

No matter, there is still plenty of action in the upcoming pre-Thanksgiving Saturday, when more traditional rivals get together than any other weekend. And that includes this year’s biggest showdown, Michigan at Ohio State, at the "Big Horseshoe" in Columbus. See what we think about that titanic matchup in this week’s College game-by-game Analysis.

Although long-standing antagonists, the OSU-Michigan rivalry started began to heat up in the late 60s, games we at THE GOLD SHEET remember well. ::img928::The “modern era” of OSU-Michigan really began in 1968, during a regular-season ending Rose Bowl showdown at Columbus between Woody Hayes’ (left) unbeaten Buckeyes and one-loss Michigan, led by All-American RB Ron Johnson. OSU’s “super sophs,” led by QB Rex Kern, rolled to a dominating 50-14 win, and it’s really been “game on” between the two Big Ten foes ever since. The Wolverines returned the favor the following year and earned a Rose Bowl berth in the process with an epic 24-12 upset over an unbeaten Buckeye team (still argued by some as one of the best-ever college sides) at Ann Arbor, Bo Schembechler’s first year as Wolverine HC, immediately transforming it into a national rivalry instead of a regional one.

The teams were both unbeaten the following year when the Buckeyes gained revenge at Columbus, 20-9. If possible, the rivalry heated up even more a few years later, after the Big Ten dropped its archaic “no repeat” Rose Bowl rule for its conference champs in '72 (neither 1969 OSU nor 1970 Michigan was eligible to return to Pasadena). In the 1972 showdown, Schembechler eschewed a late game-tying FG that would have sent the Wolverines to Pasadena, and a subsequent heroic goal-line stand gave the Buckeyes a 14-11 win and ticket to the Rose Bowl. And they’re still talking about the 1973 game in the midwest. That year’s 10-10 tie at Ann Arbor is the OSU-Michigan equivalent of Notre Dame and Michigan State’s 1966 deadlock by the same score—and no less controversial. Both the Buckeyes and Wolverines entered that game unbeaten and untied, and to this day old-time Michigan fans are convinced the Big Ten used a 4th-quarter shoulder injury to QB Dennis Franklin as justification to vote OSU, and not the Wolverines, into the Rose Bowl (where once-tied OSU whipped USC, 42-21). It’s worth noting that this week’s renewal at Columbus is the first time since ‘73 that both teams have entered the annual showdown unbeaten and untied (Michigan was twice tied when it lost to unbeaten Ohio State in 1975).

But there is a lot of other rivalry fun on deck. And, from a handicapping perspective, such “special” games have long produced some significant pointspread angles. Following are some of the more pronounced “rivalry” trends for this coming weekend and the two subsequent weeks

Games of November 18: Indiana at Purdue...Time for another home-road swing? The host team had covered seven in a row for the Old Oaken Bucket before the Boilermakers won at Bloomington, 41-14, last fall. Previously, there was a 9-0-1 pointspread run by series visitors from 1988-97. That's Boilermaker QB Curtis Painter pictured on the left. Iowa at Minnesota...Let’s see if the Hawkeyes continue their recent mastery in Floyd of Rosedale battles. They’ve covered the last 7, and 12 of the last 13, vs. the Gophers. Kansas State at Kansas...KSU has won 12 of last 13 SU and covered 11 of last 12. Michigan at Ohio State...OSU’s Jim Tressel is 4-1 SU vs. Michigan after predecessor John Cooper was only 2-10-1 against the Wolverines. No wonder Cooper never seemed too comfy in Columbus. Illinois at Northwestern...Road team has covered 10 of last 13 meetings. Washington at Washington State...U-Dub had covered 5 straight and won 6 of last 7 Apple Cups before bitter 26-22 loss at Seattle last year. Auburn at Alabama...Home team has covered last 2 Iron Bowls after visitor had covered 7 of previous 8.

Games of November 24-25: Texas A&M at Texas...Aggies 0-5 SU and vs. line last 5 at Austin. Oregon at Oregon State...Home team has won the last 9 Civil Wars, covering 8. Arizona State at Arizona...Road team and underdog 11-3 last 14 Territorial Cups. Utah at BYU...Another road/dog series, with “short” covering 8 of last 9 and visitor 12 of last 14 for Beehive Boot. Florida at Florida State...Favored team 7-1 last 8. Georgia Tech at Georgia ...Road team has covered 7 of last 8. Oklahoma at Oklahoma State...Home team has covered 7 of last 8. North Carolina at Duke...Tar Heels have covered 7 of last 9 in this “Tobacco Road” special.

Games of December 2: Army vs. Navy (at Philadelphia)...Midshipmen have covered 7 of last 8. Stanford at Cal...Bears have won and covered Big Game each of last 5 years.

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