All upsets not so shocking
As the final seconds ticked off the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum scoreboard Oct. 6, my cell phone began vibrating across my desktop.
"Is this really happening?" a former teammate asked via text message.
"Can you believe this?" another text read.
"Did Stanford really beat USC?" one astonished friend inquired, convinced news outlets around the country had organized an elaborate hoax.
Yes, the lowly Cardinal - a 41-point underdog, and losers of 16 of its previous 18 games - had just sealed an epic upset over the big, bad Trojans. And yes, I believed it.
This isn't to say I predicted the outcome, or that I wasn't surprised. But I certainly believed it.
I believed it because I was in Los Angeles on Sept. 29, 2001, when the Men of Troy last fell at home. I was a junior offensive lineman at Stanford, and I had no idea USC was about to return to glory.
The visitors' locker room was host to a modest celebration that night; one tempered by sighs of relief and a collective resolve to finish games stronger. We had just let a 21-0 halftime lead deteriorate to 21-16, barely escaping L.A. with a victory.
Topping the Trojans wasn't so special back then. It was the third straight year we'd done so, and the loss dropped USC to 1-3 in Pete Carroll's first season. Meanwhile, we had improved to 3-0 in coach Tyrone Willingham's last fall on The Farm after throttling Boston College and Arizona State to begin the season.
It was no upset. We were simply the better team; an amicable assembly of talent headed to a 9-2 regular season.
Later that season we marched into the disorienting confines of Autzen Stadium and shocked Joey Harrington and fifth-ranked Oregon, 49-42, snapping the nation's longest winning streak at 23. The Ducks and their deafening fans were surprised; we were merely pleased.
During pre-game warm-ups an Oregon player joked that we would rather be on Wall Street than the gridiron. The truth is, our athletes weren't much different from theirs. We, too, had elite playmakers, and the Ducks had many classy, cerebral student-athletes capable of mastering Oregon's exotic schemes.
Why the history lesson? Because it's time people realize college football is a cyclical beast, and the shocking, unthinkable upsets we've witnessed this fall aren't so stunning to the cute, little underdogs that come out on top.
Upsets are inspiring. They instill faith that every once in a while a little engine can, in fact, climb the steepest hill.
But upsets typically are matters of perception, and perception is often influenced by ratings-hungry sensationalists.
Hapless squads do occasionally transform for 60 magical minutes, toppling genetically superior but apathetic frontrunners. But more often than not, those seemingly stunning upsets aren't so remarkable.
Good football teams are good football teams, and great players are great players, regardless of pedigree, tradition or conference affiliation.
According to an article on ESPN.com, No. 17 Kentucky "stunned" No. 1 LSU on Saturday. Though the Wildcats' victory was a milestone accomplishment against one of the nation's finest programs, there shouldn't be much shock value when one immensely talented SEC team edges another, especially in front of 71,000 fans in its home stadium.
Line 230-pound, rocket-armed Kentucky quarterback Andre' Woodson across from impossibly nimble LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey and tell me which athlete is the underdog.
A recent Associated Press story proclaimed "Navy upset Pittsburgh" in double overtime. You don't say? The Midshipmen (4-2) - bowl game participants the past four seasons - dethroned the mighty Panthers (2-4)?
Football fans everywhere - outside the Sooner State, anyway - got warm and fuzzy watching Boise State beat Oklahoma in January. While the Fiesta Bowl was amazingly entertaining, people quickly forgot that the Cinderella Broncos were ranked ninth prior to the game. And guess what: The Broncos have 85 scholarship players, too.
The difference between a Big 12 thoroughbred and a WAC scrapper often is 1 to 2 inches and 10 to 20 pounds. Sometimes it's the inevitable outcome of an imperfect science.
Recruiting is the foundation of all programs, yet scholarship offers typically are tendered when prospects are high-school juniors. Coaches have little indication of which 315-pound linemen will blossom and which will develop into round mounds of dead weight.
Not all 18- to 22-year-old student-athletes handle discipline, pressure and emotions the same way. A freshman quarterback sulking about a recent breakup is a four-turnover game waiting to happen. A sophomore cornerback worried about passing economics is an opposing receiver's best friend.
Adolescents are far from predictable, yet we expect collegiate athletes to replicate the same performances over and over, as if they were void of nerves, mistakes or talented opposition.
Back to that cyclical beast: Those Boston College Eagles and Arizona State Sun Devils are now ranked third and 12th, respectively, while USC has come back to earth, dropping to No. 13. Few programs are capable of sustained greatness anymore, just as few are prone to extended ineptitude.
The drop-off between college football's traditional haves and have-nots isn't what it once was. The talent pool is too deep, and the number of programs too vast, for the big boys to hog every blue chipper.
Potential upsets are what get me out of bed by the crack of noon each fall Saturday. But inspiring surprises are often diluted when broadcasters go nuts each time a middling BCS conference team loses to a superior squad from, say, the Mountain West.
It's time to reexamine what constitutes an upset.
My first college football game took place on a 110-degree morning in Austin, Texas. We were in town to face the Longhorns, who were led by quarterback Major Applewhite and a host of frightening defenders.
Nobody gave us a chance, but we believed. And following an inspiring pre-game speech, we sauntered onto the field - and lost 69-17 in an unsightly debacle that wasn't nearly as close as the score. Needless to say, we found the outcome upsetting.
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Greg Schindler is a sports reporter for the Daily Inter Lake. He can be reached by e-mail at gschindler@dailyinterlake.com or by calling 758-4463