Curator & Coach - Week 13

Curator's Game of the Week
Iron Bowl - Alabama @ Auburn

This game, taken on face value, is not very promising as a good match up. Alabama is an obvious favorite. Auburn really needs the amazing Bo Nix who who shows up in some games to set an offensive tone for the Tigers. The broken ankle he played on during the Mississippi State game will understandably keep him out of the Bama game. 

Sports writers and commentators will try to hype this game with the aging "Kick Six" narrative. But this rivalry goes back much further than that. To really appreciate this game, you need to live in Alabama and take in his cultural event. The game usually takes top billing on the front pages of newspapers in Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery, and Mobile on Monday of game week. The game history is filled with names like Paul "Bear" Bryant, Shug Jordan, Gene Stallings, Pat Dye, Joe Namath, Bo Jackson, I could go on like this forever. 

You know at some point during the broadcast that you're going to hear Lynyrd Skynyrd singing "Sweet Home." People who are normally mild mannered, reasonable adults will lose their minds. For a few hours, people who usually hate each other will become friends and friends will become sworn enemies - all depending on where loyalties lie. The whole state will come to a stop at kickoff and won't resume until after the final gun. This is not just a game in Alabama. 

You can throw out the records on The Plains today. What is going to happen at Jordan-Hare, and all over the state, is going to be much bigger than a game. Today, it is life itself.

Coach's (Saturday) Game of the Week
Ohio State @ Michigan

Every letter M on any sign in Columbus, OH is crossed out. Harbaugh’s khakis are steamed and creased. The RV’s have arrived in Ann Arbor. Soon, the big house will be rocking for the 117th meeting of the Ohio State Buckeyes and what legendary coach Woody Hayes coined as “the team up north”. The rivalry has not been kind to Harbaugh who has yet to beat the Buckeyes in 6 tries and the Ohio State streak stands at 8. These are two of the most storied programs in all of college football. They share a combined 19 claimed National Titles, 98 bowl appearances, 35 Rose Bowl appearances, an astonishing 81 Big 10 titles, 173 consensus All-Americans and 10 Heisman trophies. There are few rivalries in the country that can boast those numbers. Ohio State has absolutely dominated the series in the last 2 decades having won 17 of the last 20 meetings dating back to 2000. Some will tell you that, because of that, the game has lost some of its appeal or that it doesn’t quite mean what it used to. Let me tell you who it does matter to. It matters to their prodigal son Jim Harbaugh. It matters to die hard Wolverine fans and, most of all, it matters to those young men who run out of that tunnel and jump to reach the sign proclaiming the support of the M club. Forget college football. There are few rivalries in all of American sports that can stack up to the level of this one. Parents and siblings split down the middle, Marriages put on hold for 3-4 hours a year to watch the game in separate rooms, 364 days worth of office water cooler superiority on the line. Michigan has certainly been playing above expectations this season, but can Harbs finally get over the hump in the biggest of big games for the Maize and Blue? This will be fun! ​

Curator's Game of Interest
Georgia @ Georgia Tech 

This game is sure to get ugly fast, This is probably the most lopsided rivalry in America right now. Dawg fans are already focused on Alabama, Tech fans are already focused on basketball (or that upcoming physics final, depending on who you ask.)

So is this even still a rivalry? 

Georgia offensive lineman emeritus, Matt Stinchcomb said it best: "You let us lose this game once and then you'll know if it's still a rivalry."

I'm guessing Kirby shouldn't experiment with that idea today.

Curator's Picks

MICHIGAN OVER OHIO STATE
OKLAHOMA STATE OVER OKLAHOMA
ALABAMA OVER AUBURN
TEXAS A&M OVER LSU

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Coach's Picks

OHIO STATE OVER MICHIGAN
OKLAHOMA STATE OVER OKLAHOMA
ALABAMA OVER AUBURN
TEXAS A&M OVER LSU

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