*With its impressive rout of Florida on Saturday, Alabama won the de facto national championship. Now it must defend it against Texas, a team that unimpressively edged Nebraska in the last second.
*For USF, the script remains the same. The Bulls are the only BCS program to start 5-0 the last three years. Then they lose more than they win, finish as a Big East also-ran and accept an invite to one of the myriad minor bowls out there. This year it’s the Jan. 2 International Bowl in Toronto against Northern Illinois. USF is not likely to have many fans plan their holiday around the International Bowl, but the Bulls are still responsible for 10,000 tickets (at $40 a pop). Unsold tickets are part of the price of “going bowling” after another disappointing season. That scenario plus a pricey travel tab will keep USF from realizing anything but a marginal profit.
*Nice to see that an unfamiliar face — that of non-football factory Northwestern — will be one of the participants at this year’s Outback Bowl. The other is Auburn. The Wildcats, whose wins this season include Iowa and Wisconsin, still recruit legitimate student-athletes. Hope it works at the gate. Bowl games are so often about how teams “travel” (do they bring a lot of party-down fans to stay in local hotels, dine in restaurants and imbibe in bars?). NW’s home attendance averaged less than 25,000…
*Now that FSU has, however clumsily and classlessly, finally settled the Bobby Bowden retirement issue, it moved expeditiously on that “other” high-profile succession issue: the search for university President T.K. Wetherell’s replacement. National Center for Atmospheric Research Director Eric Barron, who was not a “president-in-waiting,” was unanimously selected by trustees. He’s also an FSU alum.
*The Brandon High wrestling team, top-ranked in Florida and number four in the country, routinely routs most local competition. But what happened at the recent Swamp Challenge Duals in Land O’Lakes was way beyond rout, even for the high-flying Eagles. Brandon won every match in its five duals. It beat Wesley Chapel, 81-0; Land O’Lakes (81-0); Sebring (79-0); Zephyrhills (78-0); and Pasco (84-0).