Super Bowl Sunday: David vs. Goliath
There are a couple things we know for sure about Super Bowl XLII—the playing conditions in Phoenix will be far more welcoming than those in Green Bay or Foxborough, and the commercials will be killer. It’s also pretty much guaranteed that the Patriots will continue their dance with destiny and become the only team in NFL history to go 19-0.

A House Divided
They don't call it Rivalry Week for nothing.

All across the country, intrastate and border-state rivals took to the gridiron to fight for recruiting dominance, bowl berths, and bragging rights as the crazy, unpredictable 2007 season drew to a close. And wouldn't you know it? These matchups were everything they were promised to be, with enough improbable plays, thrilling overtimes, and heart-stopping finishes to make a holy man swear.

That Good Old Baylor Line
You won't see the Oklahoma State-Baylor game on the highlight reels this week, so I'll go ahead and give you the score: OSU 45, Baylor 14.

I know what you're thinking. My editor asked the same thing. Why go to Baylor to see a team that finished the year with a 3-9 record?

For one thing, I haven't covered a Big 12 game this year, and I feel it's important for us to cover all conferences with Southern teams. I could have gone to Lubbock to watch the Red Raiders upset the Sooners, but I picked this game long before the season started knowing I had some work to wrap up in Central Texas. Besides that, the winning teams aren't the only ones with great traditions.

We Will Prevail
There were 33 students and faculty members missing from Virginia Tech's game Saturday when they played Florida State. In a perfect world, they could have been there, should have been there. Instead, they all now lie in distant graves, but their senseless deaths continue to weigh heavily on the Virginia Tech family.

Before home games, many fans make the trek to the "April 16th Memorial" in front of Burress Hall. The simple monument contains a semicircle of 32 gray Hokie stones, one for each of the victims killed in the tragic on-campus massacre earlier this year. The upper level holds a plaque with the refrain from the poem that professor Nikki Giovanni read at that first convocation after the shootings. "We will prevail," it reads. "We are Virginia Tech."

L-S-Who?
LSU, that's who!

That's who scored two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter to win Saban Bowl I 41-34 Saturday night in Tuscaloosa.

That's who was penalized 14 times for 130 yards and still managed to prevail over a more disciplined, but less talented Tide team. (Alabama only had 2 penalties for 15 yards.)

That's who leads the SEC's wild West Division and stands to play for the National Championship if they win the rest of their games.

No Place Like Home
I'm holding in my hand a very expensive ticket to the Florida-Georgia football game that I bought on eBay from a guy named Thomas. Boy, was that ever an exciting game! I should know. I watched it on television.

Yep. Saturday was one of those "best laid plans" kinda days. I intended to spend the day at the World's Largest Cocktail Party*. I've wanted to go for years, and 2007 was the year I was finally going to fulfill that dream. But it was a long week, and there was the matter of the faulty alarm clock (and the exhausted writer who failed to set it). Needless to say, I never made it to Jacksonville, and I'd like to invite anyone who was there to tell us what we missed.

The Hoddy Toddy Cocktail Party

It was a Saturday made for football—cloudless blue skies, highs in the low 80s, a gusty breeze with a just a hint of a fall chill. There were some fine games played, too. Unfortunately, the one I choose to attend—Arkansas at Ole Miss—wasn't one of them. The Hogs squealed into Oxford and beat the socks off the Rebels 44-8, much to the dismay of the fan behind me who grew so agitated that his wife and child ordered him to leave after the first quarter.

But let's be honest here. I didn't really go to Oxford to see a football game (though it would have been nice considering that I paid face value for my tickets). I went to experience tailgating in The Grove, what some consider to be one of the best parties in the South.

Theatre of Dreams

They called it "Blockbuster Saturday," and what a day it was! LSU escaped the Gators, Oklahoma thwarted Texas, and Phil Fulmer was freed from the doghouse by his Volunteers, who posted a 35-14 win over Georgia. There's only one problem. I didn't get to see any of it. I am in England attending a professional meeting and was reduced to watching for box scores and game summaries on the Internet. I went to bed before the late games even started.

On Sunday morning, my fellow Americans and I shared the bits and pieces of information we had gathered from family e-mails and the Web, but we seemed oddly out of step with our English hosts. They were excited about Manchester United's 4-0 drubbing of neighboring Wigan, and England's thrilling 12-10 defeat of Australia in the World Cup semifinals.

Theatre of Dreams

They called it "Blockbuster Saturday," and what a day it was! LSU escaped the Gators, Oklahoma thwarted Texas, and Phil Fulmer was freed from the doghouse by his Volunteers, who posted a 35-14 win over Georgia. There's only one problem. I didn't get to see any of it. I am in England attending a professional meeting and was reduced to watching for box scores and game summaries on the Internet. I went to bed before the late games even started.

On Sunday morning, my fellow Americans and I shared the bits and pieces of information we had gathered from family e-mails and the Web, but we seemed oddly out of step with our English hosts. They were excited about Manchester United's 4-0 drubbing of neighboring Wigan, and England's thrilling 12-10 defeat of Australia in the World Cup semifinals.

Anchors Aweigh!
With 6 of the top 13 teams suffering unexpected losses this past week, you won't see the Air Force-Navy game featured in the highlight reels on ESPN. Neither team ranks in the Top 25, and neither plays in an elite conference.

Still, there's something special about the service academy rivalries.

There's the pomp and circumstance for one thing. Before every home game, the Naval Academy's entire Brigade of Midshipmen assembles at The Yard in downtown Annapolis and marches to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. There, they take the field, saluting fans and opponents alike, then file into the stands to cheer on their team.

The Numbers Game
I sat in my hotel room Saturday night with the remote control and stirred the alphabet soup of college football—ABC, CBS, ESPN. All had great games going, so I surfed the channels, hoping to catch the high points (or the replays of the high points) of the day's action.

While I watched the Bulldogs, Badgers, and Boilermakers roll to victory, something began to simmer in my mind. There were a lot of people at those games. Not only that, it took a lot more people to get ready for and to clean up after the 56 Division I-A games played on Saturday.

I know you chamber of commerce types are snickering at my naïveté, but to be honest, I've never considered the "numbers game" before.

Saturday night's game had all the makings of a classic Southern rivalry: two high-octane offenses, six lead changes, and not one, but two, Hail Mary passes with less than 60 seconds left in the game--one a beautiful 57-yard spiral caught and run in for a touchdown, the other stopped just 11 yards short of the goal line.

After press passes for the Tennessee game fell through, I almost sat this one out and watched at home. But, by the grace of God (and an enterprising Kentucky fan), I ended up on the front row of Commonwealth Stadium for the Governor's Cup game between bitter in-state rivals University of Louisville and University of Kentucky.