My point, Gregg (apparently two "Gs" were enough for Greg Brady but not enough for Doyel's momma, but I digress), was not anything along the lines of "Indiana is terrible" or anything like that.
My point has been demonstrated time and time and time again - that's all I was saying.
Despite columnists wanting to believe that "The Bad News Bears" movie myth of "team that is awful becomes champions" can happen in college football, it doesn't. (And what's funny is that it didn't even happen in the movie, either; the Bad News Bears LOST to the Yankees and then acted like sore losers by telling them to shove their trophy, but this part never is considered by the fantasy enactors).
And Indiana isn't an "awful team." But for the first time in their existence, they are going to take the field as the number one team, the sole unbeaten, and they are in a "win or go home" game at which Alabama more often than not has prevailed over the last 17 years. Indiana should absolutely be favored, they have had a year that even if they lose the Rose Bowl they should be proud of, and they have an excellent coach who has done something never done there previously.
However, college football has not had a "first time" national champion since 1996 for a reason: it's because the insurmountable pressure on teams holding that spot cannot be measured or described. Go back and look at the most recent teams to win their first national championship: Florida WAS NOT NUMBER ONE when they began the Sugar Bowl rematch with Florida State. Those same Seminoles WERE NOT NUMBER ONE in 1993 when they finally didn't miss the field goal to win the big game in toppling #1 Nebraska. The Washington Huskies (1991) were not ranked #1 until the last coaches poll before the Rose Bowl, likely an outcome of Miami ducking Florida in the Sugar Bowl that year. And I'm sure you'll cite Colorado in 1990, but Colorado had been #1 for the first time entering the 1990 Orange Bowl - and if you recall the first half of that game, their nervousness left 17 points on the field in the first half.
Go back no further than 2012 - yes, another year Alabama won the national championship - and see WHY it happened. Alabama took over #1 from USC after the Trojans' first game and held that spot until a crushing 29-25 loss to Texas A/M in the game that won Johnny Manziel the Heisman. Alabama then dropped to #4 and the top two teams were Kansas State (#1 in the BCS) and Oregon (#1 in the AP, #2 BCS). Do you remember what happened, Gregg? Kansas State - a team NEVER RANKED #1 until that week - went out against a Baylor team with one of the worst defenses in the country and got sandblasted, 52-24. K-State had a Heisman candidate at QB, and Baylor scored as many points in the third quarter as K-State did in the game. "I don't think we handled the situation as well as we should have been able to," Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said.
And Oregon lost that night to USC, too, their 50 ppg offense held to 14 points in four quarters plus an overtime. Why? Because IT AIN'T THE SAME, Gregg. We could multiply bad performances - even those that resulted in a win - over and over with teams who have "never been here" before, and it's obvious that more often than not, the team experiencing first-time stellar success has trouble handling it.
Everybody remembers the topsy-turvy wild season that was 2007. Kansas got to #2, higher than any other ranking in their history. The moment they did, they lost. That was the year teams like Cal, Boston College, and USF reached #2 - and lost almost immediately. This was capped by West Virginia rising to #2 (for the only week in their history) needing merely to beat a 28.5 point underdog by ONE POINT - AT HOME - and couldn't.
Or look at Mississippi State in 2014. They rose to #1 and then played eventual 5-7 Kentucky - and led by only 7 points with 13 minutes left in the game. The next week, they faced another 2-6 in the SEC team, Arkansas, and never led until the 4th quarter at home. The following week, they got blown off the field and stuck it out for a cosmetically close loss to Alabama.
That is the only point I was making, Gregg. Teams who have never been here suddenly find the fulcrum of pressure pushes down on them DURING THE GAME in ways they never imagined during the run-up to the game. Indiana is being praised (deservedly) and toasted, and believe it or not, Indiana has played better than Alabama and is in all probability - regardless of the outcome of the game - the better team this year.
I'm not saying that Indiana can't win or even won't win. But I am saying that team after team arrives at these games having heard of how good they are for weeks - and we're talking 17-22 year old young men, Gregg.
Do you remember how bad the New England Patriots looked in both games before they succumbed to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII? They won and they were 18-0 - and this is a team with three recent Super Bowl wins - but the pressure is there.
My point stands: going into the Rose Bowl "must win" game as #1 with the Heisman winner and the nation's only unbeaten "ain't the same" pressure as running through the regular season.
PS You're welcome, Gregg, for me serving as your inspiration today.
