SIDELINE
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale
One and Half Hours of Overtime October 7, 2007
3.30am... I was going to bed, resolved to check in for any upset in the morning.
The upset, of course, was perhaps going to be Florida dragging the LSU Tigers from
the ranks of the unbeaten.
On a whim, I flicked over the rolling scores, and in a flash, clicked through to the
Stanford audiocast in time for the go-ahead score, the final interception, the victory...
for the Cardinal. It's now 3.40am. Wow. What doesn't this college football have in store for us?
The poll voters are really going to have their work cut out for them this week. If Michigan
falls out of the 25 when it loses to Appalachian State, how far does ex-No.1 (or ex-No.2)
USC fall when they get beaten at home by Stanford? With Wisconsin losing to Illinois, is
South Florida really now a Top 5 team? Will AP voters really keep Boston College below USF
when they reshuffle the deck? And can everybody resist from leap-frogging Ohio State above
California for the No.1 spot if LSU falters?
3.50am. Florida has re-established their 10-point lead over the LSU tigers, and I'm tuned
back to Florida's radio network. I guess sleep will have to wait.
4.00am. I'm supposed to be getting up for the Chinese Grand prix in two hours, Hawaii hasn't even
kicked off yet, and I'm wondering how credible it is that by the NFL's night game tomorrow,
65 AP voters are going to have made an informed decision about the College Top 25 rather than a
wild guess based on final score lines and a handful of highlights.
4.10am. The news is filtering through the sports websites now, headline news on most news
services. The news has surely reached the field and the LSU players – will this be the spark
they need to take command against Tim Tebow's Gators (and they certainly ARE 'Tebow's Gators'
so far)? It seems like two days ago that I was watching Lee Corso and company prepping for
this game. Actually it WAS yesterday here in the UK.
4.20am. Interception by the Tigers! The Florida Gators were the first college team I ever
journeyed to see, but I have innumerable Cajun cousins, so my loyalties are swinging wildly.
(Touchdown, Tigers). Mostly, my loyalties are with whoever can put this game away most urgently,
and I've a nasty feeling this one's destined for overtime.
4.30am. Notre Dame is ahead of UCLA, 20-6 late in the 4th quarter, an upset I picked out
in this column back in September 16, by the way (forgive me, but the sound of my own trumpet
is the only thing keeping me awake). Poor Notre Dame, they finally get it going, and Stanford's
stolen their thunder. Expect the Irish to take that out on the Cardinal in their season finale
(yes, that's another prediction).
4.45am. First and Goal for LSU at the Florida 6 with two minutes to go. Mrs Football is making
dinner in the kitchen two hours before she's due to wake up, and I'm getting ready to go to bed.
No wonder we don't have any kids. Touchdown LSU. It's now a four-point game with one minute to
go – overtime may have been averted.
5.00am. Chalk one up for the AP poll – who had LSU at No.1 by a tiny margin last week – vs
USA Today, who had USC by a landslide. Tomorrow, it'll probably be unanimous. Oh wait,
it IS tomorrow. Zzzzzzz.
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale