In Praise of USA Today's New College Football Encyclopedia

It was pretty heavyweight, but it came across my door and I'm very grateful for it...The USA Today College Football Encyclopedia.

The last time I read a college football encyclopedia was ESPN's one. Don't get me wrong, ESPN's one is pretty good. The consistent per-season scores are pretty darned good things to read. No, Penn State's record against Michigan to 2007 doesn't look any better. Nor does Michigan's recent one against Ohio State.

But USA Today's book is a piece of genius. Why? It's USA Today—you have a sporting history's worth of games. It seems that Mssrs. Bob Boyles and Paul Guido (the authors) seem to choose the lot.

Don't get me wrong, there isn't every Division I-A school in the record books of this encylopedia—sorry Tulsa, Utah, and Boise State—just 70 of them: the big schools and big-time programs.

This—weirdly—makes Boise State's win over Oklahoma (and just in case you STILL can't believe it, that game DID happen) even better, even funnier, and ever wilder. If you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, check this below:



If you like game recaps, there are over 7,000 of them (I didn't count, but I read it off the cover). I've read their take on Penn State's horrific loss at Michigan in 2005, and it still doesn't make it any easier.

Anyways, it's something that's worth reading. There you go.