BOTR Game of the Week: 2013 Conference Championship Week

This time of the year is bittersweet. There's a whole lot at stake this weekend, with championships up for grabs in all but one of the major conferences (I'm counting the American for as long as we have an AQ, dammit!) Unfortunately, it also means the season is effectively over.

There are a few notable band matchups this weekend as well. Believe it or not, this year will be the first that the Big Ten championship game matches a pair of Sudler Trophy winners (thanks, Wisconsin). The SEC pits a stalwart pair of tigers against one another in the Auburn University Marching Band and the Marching Mizzou.The LSJUMB will make the trip down to Arizona to play on the Sun Devils' turf, and while I can make assumptions, I've never seen the DUMB live and look forward to seeing them in the ACC championship game.

Through all that, though, Houston's the place to be this weekend for the SWAC championship festivities. First, in something that I didn't realize until earlier this season, the SWAC invites all member bands to participate in a battle of the bands following the game, a 10 band affair that is numerically (and one could make the argument star-power-wise) larger than the Honda Battle of the Bands. What's more, the game itself will be a rematch of the BoomBox Classic, pitting Jackson State's Sonic Boom of the South against Southern's Human Jukebox. In case you missed it, this 5th transpired the last time they met:



I can't believe I somehow never put this up as an Amazing Happens Every Saturday. Southern's rendition of Holy Grail may be my top band moment this season, and I'm not particularly fond of the song outside of that context. These two getting to meet once again will be a treat.

If you can't say something nice...

I'm going to say a few nice things about things you don't normally hear me praise. You're welcome.

-Yes, I knew UCF would beat us. Didn't expect for it to go down how it did, but the outcome was a Knight victory. Now a cold hard truth: It's easy for us USF folk to point out that they're now 1-4 against us all time, but the inconvenient truth is that in matches when the two teams were on equal footing, UCF is 1-0. UCF has won the conference and is headed to the BCS, and we've never finished better than 3rd in this or any conference. Do better, Bulls.

-It's a foregone conclusion from nearly everyone that FSU will mop the floor (wipe the field?) with Duke in the ACC championship game. I'm only slightly less convinced - I have seen FSU lose to Wake Forest - but I hope it's a good deal closer, both because I'll be there and would like to see a reasonable game, but also because Duke doesn't deserve to be embarrassed. David Cutcliffe may be a damn wizard for taking Duke to 10 wins and an championship game berth. Some will point to this as evidence of a weak ACC - they're not necessarily wrong - but it doesn't change the fact that this Duke team is damn good. To ignore that fact because of the other 100+ years of Blue Devil football is to support the system that rewards/punishes teams based on their history and name, not on their current merit.

-I still don't have anything nice to say about Rutgers. Sorry/not sorry.

1 Second of Regulation

I really can't believe I just saw that.
— Curtis (@80mins) December 1, 2013

I'm confident that the end to the 2013 Iron Bowl will be one of college football's "where were you when..." moments. I write this as much for myself than I do for anyone reading; I need to capture the memory before it fades with time, and at least for now, it's as fresh as it was two nights ago.

So where was I? A hotel room in Staunton, VA.

My wife, daughter, and I were splitting up the trip from Thanksgiving in Baltimore back home to Greensboro and checked into our hotel as the game was in progress. I actually missed nearly all of what I hear was a great game all around; as we settled in, my wife tuned the TV to a movie that was somewhere deep in our Netflix I'll-get-to-it-eventually list, I had plugged in my laptop and was looking to get a lay of the land of the end of the 3:30 games/start of the evening games when Twitter's eruption at the tying play led me to CBSsports.com to watch the remainder of the Iron Bowl. I tuned in just in time. I saw the game almost end. I saw the countless angles, the review that seemed like it took forever, the one second returned to the clock, the audible disappointment from the Auburn faithful at Jordan-Hare.

And then I saw The Play. I don't know if the college football intelligentsia have named it yet, but there's no doubt a name is coming. I watched it all unfold completely incredulous at what I was watching transpire. I said something in utter disbelief, probably "Oh My God," which prompted my wife to ask what happened. There was a full beat before I could gather myself enough to break down what had just happened, and even longer before I could put into words what had happened, how it came into being, and what it meant. This is as close as I can probably come to a stream-of-consciousness of my experience with the game.

He didn't get out in time. We're going to overtime.

They're taking a look at it.

No, it looks like he did get out in time. But one second? It'll be an improbable Hail Mary, then probably overtime.

Field goal? Sure whatever. He'll make it, and Bama'll win, just like we thought, or, more likely, he'll miss and we'll see overtime.

Hey wait, there's a guy back there.

Ah well, they'll get him, and the game's going to overtime.

See there. He stepped out. Overtime.

Wait he didn't step out. He's still going. They've got nothing but big guys out there. He's going to... he just... HTRAFGROAHTEROGJA

That last big was my brain shorting out.

Of course, my wife wasn't nearly as enthused as I was, and I had to share the moment with someone. The tweet above and an accompanying Facebook post was all I could must at first, and frankly, the truth. Then the phone came out.

First text was to my friend James, a Florida State alum dating an Auburn alum. I'm headed to the ACC Championship game with James this weekend.

HOLY SHIT. Tell Julia I say War damn Eagle. Do we lose y'all to Atlanta or do we have a week to figure out how to get a tv to the tailgate?

Thankfully, Saturday's plans are intact. My next text was to my friend Kathleen, an Ohio State fan.

War. Damn. Eagle.

Her Buckeyes, of course, should be in the driver's seat to the national championship game with Bama out of the way. Turns out, she was working an event and hadn't even seen the outcome yet.

How amazing did I think it was? I was too in awe to even take note of the reverse Rammer Jammering I can only assume took place at the hand of the Auburn University Marching Band - unless they were on the field as well. I make no claim to be a sports historian, or even have a vast history behind me, but that has to be one of the top finishes of all time. It would have been amazing in a vacuum, but given that it also altered the course of the SEC and national championship races, it was all the more epic. Perhaps Buster Olney put it best:

Doug Flutie and the Stanford band, please welcome Chris Davis; he's joined you in college football history.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 1, 2013

Mild to Moderate Annoyance Week

It's the last week of the regular season in most conferences, and it's Thanksgiving weekend. In a lot of places, that means one thing: Hate week. The week your fanbase waits 51 weeks for, to get a crack at an archrival to vie for the only acceptable outcome: Victory, and the year of bragging rights that come with it.

Thing is, I'm a USF alumnus. We don't have a longtime anything in football, much less a permanent rival. We are matched up, appropriately, with UCF this week and probably analogous weeks in the future. The degree to which I believe it's a rivalry changes by the day, but I'm certain that even if it's not now, it will be.

If I may take a page from 8 Mile's B. Rabbit, yes, UCF will beat us this year. They're a better team, likely BCS bound, and at present, we're garbage. They've got every right to take numbers like 4-0 and 64-12 out of our collective hind end on the field come Friday. Call this a defense mechanism, an attempt at a reverse jinx, or simply an objective assessment - it's all three, really - but that's how I see it. And yet, as much as I'd love to give in to the dark arts of hate, I can muster little more than what I consider UCF more often than not: A mild to moderate annoyance.

Having said all that, the folks over at SB Nation's USF site, Voodoo Five, have all of your MMAW needs. Check 'em out.

B1G Saturday

This weekend, The Ohio State University Marching Band paid tribute to the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address (with a passing nod to the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination) with a Civil War-themed show. Perhaps it holds a bit more timely significance for the Buckeyes; after all, the perceived strength of their conference against their southern neighbors could spell the difference in Ohio State going to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl or the National Championship game. TBDBITL did get to toss some surreptitious support to a team that could help them in their quest: Battle Hymn of the Republic, featured in this field show, doubles as Glory Glory to old Auburn, a team that could punch the Bucks' ticket to the championship with an Iron Bowl victory.

Down in College Park, the Mighty Sound of Maryland commemorated their final ACC home game by forming ACC before morphing into B1G, their conference a year (and potentially $52 million) from now. While there is no homogenized ACC marching style, the Terps may have done well to accent the Big Ten tribute with a high step or a back bend. After all, the band stepping onto their new conference's Sudler-rich landscape may be one of the biggest challenges of their realignment. 

Forward Pass

I'm posting this one from the phone so I'll keep in brief: The Band of the Fighting Irish re-innovates the forward pass with their own version of Dorais to Rockne, a century later.

BOTR Game of the Week 2013 Week 13

Sometimes, the game of the week isn't the most competitive, or the highest profile, but the biggest story. This week, the Florida Classic will be a two band affair for the first time since the death of Robert Champion. The event will be significant, if not competitive, as the Marching 100 is far from full strength since their return earlier this year.

FAMU:


Bethune-Cookman:

...and Sometimes Thursday

When I stated that Amazing Happens Every Saturday, there was no slight intended or implied at Thursday games (or Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday, for that matter). Here, Clemson's Band that Shakes the Southland gives us a little 8-bit on a Thursday night:


A few states north, we get a first-person view on Saturday afternoon in the Penn State Blue Band. Well, that is, if the first person were tiny and mounted on a bass drum facing the drummer:

Home Stretch

Seasons seem to come and go so quickly, and we're down to just two weeks remaining in most conferences' regular seasons. In the midst of a national picture that seems sewn up, should each of the leaders keep winning, there are some interesting conference races out there.

American
Yes, Central Florida leads and will probably look to take 64-12 out of USF's hide come Thanksgiving weekend. Frankly, I'd say they could stand to be ranked higher than their current #17, especially if they win out with their sole loss coming by 3 to South Carolina. Even one loss will likely send them to the BCS - they own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Louisville, and with the next tiebreaker being BCS ranking, they'd probably be fine over unranked Cincinnati, who they don't play this season, should it come to that.

ACC
Florida State has already emphatically clinched the Atlantic division, but things are a good deal more interesting in the Coastal. As much as a five-way tie is still not only possible, but not entirely far-fetched. I have a few thoughts about this race, and they're all entirely selfish. As much as I hate Duke, I almost - ALMOST - want to see them win the division, in that rooting-for-the-underdog sort of way. Still, I'm going to the ACC Championship game, and the thought of being in amongst a critical mass of Dookies nauseates me. Miami would bring about the matchup the ACC football championship was created for, and could send my friend Josh up this way. I have no desire for Georgia Tech, as it would mean a rematch of last year's championship. The five way tie would send Virginia Tech down here, and I wouldn't mind seeing the Marching Virginians in action. Still, with the human element remaining in the BCS standings, while FSU's title bid seems unquestionable, you'd have to wonder what voters may do if FSU should somehow struggle with a four loss VT or GT if Ohio State should cruise past a one loss Michigan State in the Big Ten title game. Which leads me to...

Big Ten
I can't bring myself to be bothered by the fact that Ohio State could go 25-0 over two seasons and still miss the national championship game. After all, had they self-imposed a bowl ban after Tattoogate and forgone the Gator Bowl appearance, they may have played Notre Dame for the title last year. Meanwhile, while the Spartans are still in the driver's seat to win the division, it only takes a slip-up from them this weekend for Minnesota to have a shot at the Legends division crown when they face Michigan State. If Ohio State and Michigan State both hold serve, however, we'll see a dual Sudler matchup for the first time in the history of the Big Ten championship game.

Big 12
The two teams ahead of Baylor on the schedule are the two teams behind them in the league standings. If they beat Oklahoma State, they can revert their focus to whatever shot they have at the national title hunt. Lose there, and the Cowboys hold tiebreakers over Baylor and Texas as long as they themselves can survive Bedlam.

Pac-12
With Stanford's loss this past weekend, Oregon is back in the North division driver's seat, though if they drive to Pasadena, it'll be a week earlier than they may have liked, barring mass disruption ahead of them in the BCS. In the South, Arizona State can make it easy, but UCLA still controls its destiny with the Sun Devils and Trojans remaining on the schedule.

SEC
Done with their conference slate, South Carolina has become Aggie and/or Rebel fans, as they need for Mizzou to slip up. If they lose either of those games though, the Gamecocks take it in the tiebreaker. Out west, another set of Tigers licks their chops, as the Iron Bowl gives them the chance both to knock off their archrival and punch their ticket to Atlanta. In perhaps the most suburban dad move ever, I saw the end of their game against UGA on the TV in an Ikea, but that win keeps hope alive on the Plains.

I hate that the season's this close to the end, but there's still plenty of excitement to be had between now and bowl season.

BOTR Game of the Week 2013 Week 12

The pickin's are quite slim for this week of football, with only four verified Band on the Road matchups on the docket. I'm going to give the nod this week to a game with Big Ten Legends division implications, as the Spartan Marching Band from Michigan State makes the trip out to Lincoln to take on Nebraska.

Michigan State:


Nebraska: