By Charlie Stanton

We live in America, therefore I think now would be a good time to discuss college football. We also live in Minnesota. That being said, as much as I would love to write about the Golden Gophers, this is about all the article space they will receive. There are better teams to talk about and I don’t see a large number of Mac students salivating every Saturday at the Maroon and Gold. There are, however, many Mac students that hail from Oregon, California, Michigan and other states with universities that are home to football teams with big, strong, fast men that win (or should win) games. I’m going to write about that. Before we discuss the teams that interest you, let me begin by saying that none of your favorite teams will win the BCS National Championship game. Unless you are from Alabama or Louisiana (I’m confident that not many of you are from either state), then your favorite team will not be crowned NCAA champions this season. The 2012 season has brought surprises. The Big Ten has been bad, Notre Dame might be making a resurgence and USC (then #1 in the country) lost to Stanford. There are also the usual suspects. Alabama and LSU are the greatest teams under the sun. They do it right in the South. Alabama is extraordinary. Alabama is the only college team in the country that could be placed on a NFL field and not embarrass themselves. Alabama is the only team with three running backs that will all play in the NFL. Alabama is the only team capable of dominating another team so badly that the op­posing team’s fans, like my roommate, cowered in his dorm room for two days straight. Yes, that happened. I’m referring to Alabama as a team because it has yet to be confirmed if their players actually attend classes. We can be sure that they are all students of Nick Saban, their coach. Louisiana State is the next best team and is similar to Alabama in that they are probably better than everyone else. So I won’t discuss them because ba­sically none of you are from Louisiana and LSU is just a little bit less good than Alabama. There is hope for those of us who don’t live in the South. The only realistic hope are the Oregon Ducks, who might, giv­en the time and place, have a chance of upsetting the SEC pow­ers. The Ducks are really, really fast. The boys from Eugene are led by two running backs: Kenjon Barner and De’Anthony Thomas. Oregon has a tough schedule remaining with games against Washington, Stanford, Oregon State and USC. If Or­egon fails in one of those contests, they should still make the Rose Bowl. If they win them all, count the Ducks in for the new BCS playoff. But USC started the year as number one in the country, so don’t be shocked if they upset Oregon and make the playoff. After the top three, I’d say that the rest is up for grabs. Florida State, Notre Dame and West Virginia all look very strong. Florida State doesn’t have a killer schedule, but has a great quarterback in E.J. Manuel and a defensive line that is out for blood. Notre Dame hasn’t shown much flash, but lineback­er Manti Te’o and their defense are carrying the Irish though a formidable schedule. And West Virginia’s offense is filthy. The Mountaineers score roughly 2 bijillion points a game and their quarterback, Geno Smith, is quickly becoming a Heisman favorite. To the surprise of many, the Big Ten has been sub-par thus far. Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska and Michigan State have shown little consistency, which is unfortunate for all of us Midwesterners. However, don’t be surprised if Michigan re­bounds and marches on to the Rose Bowl. Denard Robinson, their quarterback, is a dazzlingly fast man and wants to put the Wolverines on his back. Do it Denard! It’s been a riveting year and it will continue to be lots of fun through November and into December. It just sucks for all of us (or nearly all of us) because we don’t come from Alabama. Alas. refresh –>