Column by Mark McFarland, Sports Editor
One of the greatest times of the year is here. Time for people to start wearing their favorite jeans and windbreakers, time for bonfires and cookouts. But for the people in this world who are diehard sports fans, they are really excited for only one thing: college football.
Many football fans have always loved to watch their favorite college football team go to battle on Saturdays. They love to go to the games and tailgate just to see if their team has what it takes to win a national championship. The first week of the season is much anticipated as fans from around the country are looking at preseason polls and looking at the latest Heisman Trophy buzz to see who has a chance.
It doesn’t matter whether it is NAIA or NCAA Division I, Saturdays are about to be filled with excitement and heartbreak. It is a time where people will get their hopes up as their team is finally showing the country they deserve respect and then lose to some “cupcake” school no one has heard of. It happens every year, take Michigan and Appalachian State in 2007. Michigan was ranked No. 5 in the country as Appalachian State was a pay to play game (meaning they got paid to go play Michigan). The Mountaineers ended up shocking the world beating the Wolverines 34-32, in what some would say is the greatest college football upset in history.
And then there was the recent development into the college football playoff for the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). It is a four-team playoff where the top four teams in the country will compete in a bowl game and the winner of both those games face off for the ultimate prize of becoming national champions. It adds to the drama. By doing away with the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), the NCAA has made the game even more interesting. It is not up to computers to decide who will be one of the top four teams, but to a committee who takes every little thing a team did during the year into consideration. Usually the teams consist of teams in the power five conferences.
This year will be one for the books as fans from around the country will be geared up Aug. 26-Sept. 3 to see if they will be fighting back tears of joy or tears of complete disappointment. It is time to get strapped in and enjoy a season of a lifetime.
