2011 College Football, Week 1: Former Conference Rivals and Intriguing Matchups

I'm a conference curmudgeon. From my point of view, college football at the FBS level is leaving tradition behind in the pursuit of money. Teams that were long-standing rivals over decades—even over a century in some cases—are separating. Why? So the conference they move to can have a new TV market, and so they can have a guaranteed cut of that increased revenue.

It seems that for many of these programs, the grass is always greener in the other conference (even when it's not FieldTurf).

This weekend, I will select a list of games that present matchups between teams that once were conference rivals. What seems especially laughable to me is that these rivalries continue, but without the old and antiquated hassle of equal treatment. In almost every such matchup, it's clear which team is part of the "Haves" and which is part of the "Have-Nots."

Friday, Sep. 2: TCU (#14) at Baylor, 8pm EDT (ESPN, ESPN3)

Both of these teams once belonged to the Southwest Conference, which folded in 1995 when four teams (including Baylor) left to join the Big Eight, creating the Big XII Conference.

At the time, Baylor seemed to have stolen the big-conference goodies right from under TCU's feet. For its part, TCU ended up as a vagabond program, switching conferences from the Western Athletic Conference to Conference-USA, and then from C-USA to the Mountain West Conference.

Following a string of very successful seasons under Coach Gary Patterson, the Horned Frogs are poised to move again next season, from the Mountain West Conference to the Big East. Meanwhile, Baylor is one of the schools most likely to suffer if the Big XII—already down to ten teams—dissolves. The two programs will have essentially switched places, at least in terms of their football fortunes.

This year's matchup is at Baylor, so the Bears may want to give TCU a scare. The more likely outcome, however, is a TCU blowout.

Sat., Sep. 3: East Carolina vs. South Carolina (#12), 7:00pm EDT, ESPN3

This game takes place at a neutral field, Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC. While South Carolina and East Carolina were members of the Southern Conference at different times, both programs have a long history of playing ACC teams (South Carolina was actually a founding member of the ACC).

ECU, for its part, has shown it can run with the big boys (such as they are) in the ACC, beating North Carolina, North Carolina St. and Virginia Tech in recent years; they have also beaten West Virginia. If the ACC experiences any "shrinkage" as the result of possible SEC expansion, it could do worse than invite ECU to join.

The Gamecocks have had a rocky offseason, and need to be distraction-free when they meet ECU on the field. Otherwise, the Pirates may be able to put another big-program notch in their belts.

Sat., Sep. 3: Rice @ Texas, 8pm EDT, Longhorn Network

This rivalry is historic enough (if not exactly balanced: Texas leads the series 70-21-1) that it was referenced in John F. Kennedy's address at Rice University in which he set the American space program's goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s.

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"But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain. Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

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(source: http://webcast.rice.edu/speeches/19620912kennedy.html)

Texas won 28 games in a row from 1966-1993. Even though the Owls upset the Longhorns in 1994, for the most part Texas' dominance has continued. Rice was left behind when the Southwest Conference dissolved, and ended up in the Western Athletic Conference before moving to Conference-USA, where it remains today.

Sure, Texas is most likely going to win by at least three touchdowns. But why replace Rice as a conference opponent with, say, Iowa State? Or Washington State? Or Vanderbilt?

Or given the fact that this will be the first Longhorns game on their new network, is Texas going to be too big a fish for any pool from now on?

Sun., Sep. 4: Marshall @ West Virginia (#24), 3:30pm EDT, ESPN, ESPN3

You can always throw out the records when the West Virginia Mountaineers meet the Thundering Herd of Marshall in the "Friends of Coal Bowl." The teams have not played each other that much, and the rivalry only really intensified in the past five years or so. In the past two years, Marshall has held a lead over their cross-state rivals, only to end up losing the game.

West Virginia will be hosting this one, but in some ways that means Marshall won't feel the pressure from its home crowd as it did in 2010, when the crowd grew more tense and anxious as a 21-6 lead slipped away in the fourth quarter. The Mountaineers forced overtime, and won 24-21.

Sun., Sep. 4: Southern Methodist @ Texas A&M (#8), 7:30pm EDT, Fox Sports

As the Daily Oklahoman puts it: "The school that wants in the Big XII meets the school that wants out."

(source: http://newsok.com/big-12-pregame-texas-am-vs.-smu-welcome-to-the-irony-bowl/article/3600646)

The third of the five games in this list to match former Southwest Conference rivals, this game will likely be as lopsided as the Texas-Rice contest. Of course, SMU's death penalty in 1987-1988, in which its football program was shut down, likely foreshadowed the end of the Southwest Conference as the two giants (Texas and Texas A&M) sought to tie their fortunes to the much stronger Big Eight.

Hmmm... how did that work out?

The Aggies seem headed to the SEC, possibly along with Oklahoma. And then a new round of conference madness will ensue.

I'll be rooting for the Mustangs... to beat the spread.