The Arkansas-Missouri football game today airs during a time slot that CBS, before it became "America's Most Watched Network," once carried afternoon dramas better known as soap operas.
Change the names of Oakdale and Springfield to Baton Rouge, Athens and Columbia for some idea of how the world turns in the Southeastern Conference on Thanksgiving weekend.
Both LSU and Georgia might conduct a search for tomorrow without long-standing coaches Les Miles and Mark Richt, respectively, after unexpected collapses. South Carolina, meanwhile, without Steve Spurrier, is literally at the edge of night, losing to in-state foe The Citadel at home last week and playing top-ranked Clemson, a bitter rival from the Palmetto State, at home Saturday.
Two years after playing for the BCS championship in Gus Malzahn's first season as head coach, Auburn is in another world. The Tigers can't escape the SEC West cellar even if they beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium, which Las Vegas oddsmakers consider unlikely. Auburn is merely bowl eligible in a season that began with a top-10 ranking and championship talk rife.
The days of our lives are quite unusual when neither an LSU-Texas A&M nor Georgia-Georgia Tech game produces a ranked team. Or when the SEC Eastern Division champion, Florida, is an underdog to a run-of-the-mill Florida State squad whose coach, Jimbo Fisher, is linked with an LSU opening that may or may not arise.
This was the college football season, remember, that began on Labor Day weekend with defending national champion Ohio State looking invincible. The Buckeyes were so deep at quarterback that the 2014 preseason Heisman Trophy favorite (Braxton Miller) was moved to wide receiver. Surely, Urban Meyer could win with either J.T. Barrett or Cordale Jones, the scene-stealing hero of the previous season's postseason sweep, under center.
Talk about the young and the restless. A 17-14 home loss to Michigan State came with finger-pointing from star running back Ezekiel Elliott, who effectively turned pro in the same postgame press conference that he ripped his coaches for not giving him enough carries. Turns out that former offensive coordinator and 2014 Broyles Award winner Tom Herman, now head coach at Houston, might have been the one irreplaceable component from the championship team.
Ohio State's in-house turmoil is overshadowing the first meeting Saturday in Ann Arbor between Meyer and Jim Harbaugh, the Michigan man now coaching Michigan after taking the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl. Michigan State beat both teams, Ohio State with a field goal and Michigan thanks to a botched Wolverine punt, but to its astonishment is looking up to Iowa in the Big Ten standings and national rankings.
What else? Charlie Strong, in his second year at Texas, keeps denying that he's a candidate for the vacant Miami job while Longhorn fans continue to squawk about the coach and his 4-6 team. Austin is still a great place to visit but no longer the nerve center of Big 12 football; neither of the league's biggest games of the week is in town: Baylor plays at TCU tonight and Oklahoma at Oklahoma State (Bedlam, it's called locally) on Saturday night.
Back to the SEC, where the Iron Bowl may not be the best game of the weekend.
Ole Miss goes to Mississippi State for the Egg Bowl Saturday night, the Rebels finding their quarterback in Chad Kelly and beating Alabama on the road but in an 8-3 season slightly out of focus. Mississippi State, as it proved in a 51-50 shootout with Arkansas, is a dangerous team with Dak Prescott at quarterback. Prescott or Alabama running back Derrick Henry could bring home the Heisman Trophy to the SEC in a season that the league's underbelly is bigger and softer than usual.
Which brings us to 6-5 Arkansas against 5-6 Missouri, a matchup in which the Razorbacks are favored by two touchdowns and should win unless a hangover from Mississippi State is present. Missouri struggles to score but plays exceptional defense -- much better than Arkansas does, although neither team could handle Prescott and Mississippi State on its home field, the Hogs in bitter cold and the Tigers in the rain.
Missouri has experienced an emotional roller-coaster in recent weeks with on-campus strife and then the shocking news that its popular coach, Gary Pinkel, is stepping down for health reasons. In what will be Pinkel's last game if Missouri loses, expect the Tigers to play with fanatical effort. CBS isn't exactly getting a showcase game on Black Friday but not all afternoon dramas are soap operas.
Sports on 11/27/2015