Good reasons to be watching the Natty
The SEC is measured by National Championships, so this wasn’t a great season. We weren’t helped by an overstacking of the deck (meaning Oklahoma played Alabama and Ole Miss played Georgia, therefore knocking out 2 SEC teams in quick succession). Oh, and Alabama was crappy anyway.
But there still a few reasons to be watching the National Championship game.
- It’s the last game of college football we’ll see until August. Even when it’s a blowout, I always make a point of watching the National Championship Game to the end. Why? Because it’s the last I’ll see of a game until late August/early September.
- We can do the whole ‘this team wouldn’t have won crap in the SEC!’ thing. Although Miami beat a SEC team in Florida (although was Florida even a SEC team this year?) and Texas A&M on the road, Indiana didn’t beat a SEC team (C’mon! It’s Indiana, man!), then we can be certain that they would have been ‘evened out’ by our schedule.
- We can make fun of Carson Beck if he does something dumb. If you go by Reddit, Beck was not liked in Athens (we are annoyed that no-one has mentioned the fact that he looks like ‘comedian’ Pete Davidson, but that’s neither here nor there). But he’s going to do something stupid, and this WILL be the game. It has to be, right? And if he screws up, we can resurrect with the whole “Miami paid $3m for him to come play for THAT team?’.
- We can make fun of Fernando Mendoza if he does something dumb. It’s easy. If Mendoza screws up, we can go with the whole “Pavia was better”, and reignite the whole argument once again. Then we get to compare Pavia to Johnny Manziel, and throw out highlights of both players to our heart’s content.
- It’s transfer scouting time! The portal will have closed by the time the game’s on, but you can still scout for transfer portal 2027, but you make comments to your buddies like: “Yeah, but he won’t be there after 2026”. Then you can Whatsapp your friends moaning / praising the AD about the team’s current crop of portal players, and talk again about the future.
- The atmosphere’s going to be off the hook. Miami’s back and Indiana’s never been there before. It’s going to be loud. Rather like LSU at night or The Swamp or [add any SEC game too right here].
- It’s great betting fodder. Indiana’s a 7.5 favourite with a O/U of 47.5, but Malachi Toney’s a great player, and it’s not hard to think he’ll go for 100+ yards and a TD. There’s some good parlays out there. Personally, we’ll take Indiana by 15, the O/U go over 48, and Toney to get his.
- You still worship Nick Saban. Look up the connection between Cignetti and Cristobal, and get smug about the SEC and coaching trees once again.
- You get to see the Ginger-Haired Dude. You’re there for the inevitable ESPN video of him standing there, and listen to the reaction of him. We’re going for 60:40 boos/cheers. Bonus points will be given for conspiracy theories.
REASONS NOT TO WATCH
- You don’t have another game in you. Look, you’ve already put your feet up all weekend watching the NFL on Saturday and Sunday. For me, I can’t watch the NFL when I’ve watched a ton of games on regular season Saturdays. So this is the opposite way around. Gimme beer and a movie anytime!
- You can’t deal with any more ads. F**k Fansville. F*** State Farm. F*** The Mayhem Dude. F** the Lizard. F**k the school ads that insist that they are about schoolwork and school spirit, instead of being party schools.
- You don’t bet. Ignore No.7 on the ‘Reasons to Watch’ list.
- There’s no SEC team there. Because football ain’t s**t without a SEC team in it.
- It’s going to be a blowout. We’ll throw it out there, but Indy’s -7.5 two win it, which means they’ll probably win it by 21. It means that the atmosphere’s going to be crappy by halftime, because Miami fans tend to leave when the team’s not doing well.
- Fowler and Herbstreit. Having watched them all year on ESPN, you’re kinda done with them now, as well as a conversation around Herbie’s dog.
- You are a jealous person. You hate to see any other team or person win.