Chaos!

 

Just when you thought the world was normal, Florida loses, 18-16, on a South Florida field goal as time expires.

Now, I'm a Georgia Bulldog fan so by definition I hate the Florida Gators, just like I hate the New York Yankees by virtue of being a Boston Red Sox fan. So why am I so shook about Florida losing a Week 2 game?

Because the loss makes the South Florida Bulls the lineal college football champions. In some sports, such as boxing, rather than have a playoff or a complex balloting method, the champion is deemed to be the competitor who defeated the preceding champion. The very first college football game ever played was a November 6, 1869 game between Rutgers and Princeton. Rutgers won, 6-4 (the rules were a lot different back then) and would have been given the belt if championship belts were awarded like heavyweight boxers after a bout. 

Some people was far more time on their hands than I have followed that imaginary belt's progress from game to game over the years. It went to Princeton the very next week, and then to Yale seven years later. In the century and a half since then, the belt has gone all around the country and from conference to conference. The Georgia Bulldogs won it away from Texas last October 19, but then lost it on November 9 to Ole Miss. Ole Miss lost it two weeks after that to the Florida Gators, who've had it since then, that is, until today.

I would like to see Georgia get the belt back, just like I imagine everyone would like to see their team win the belt. Georgia plays Florida later this season in the annual rivalry game, and had Florida not lost the belt, that would have been the chance for the Bulldogs to reclaim the belt. But although I had little confidence in Florida going undefeated until that game, I felt confident that if they lost it to an SEC team, we would still have had a chance to win it.

But no, now the South Florida Bulls of the Atlantic Athletic Conference have the precious belt. The Bulldogs don't play the Bulls this season (or ever as far as I know) and the Bulls are very, very unlikely to go to the CFP (despite how some of their fans are probably feeling right now after their big win). They're also unlikely to go undefeated all season and keep the belt, but we don't play any of the teams on their schedule, should one of those teams win the championship belt from the Bulls. 

The Miami Hurricanes play the Bulls next weekend and will take the belt away (the point spread doesn't matter in the lineal championship). The only SEC team (and chance for Georgia to get a shot at the belt this season) that Miami plays this season is Florida the week after the South Florida game, and wouldn't it be ironic (and unlikely) for Florida to win the belt right back so they could bring it to the Georgia game after all? 

If that doesn't happen (I wouldn't bet on it), our next best shot is to hope Miami goes undefeated and keeps the belt, and we get to play them in the playoffs. But even if both Georgia and Miami make it to the playoffs, it's not at all a sure bet that we'd get the chance to play each other, but wouldn't it be something for Miami QB Carson Beck to face his old team for the 2025 National Championship and with the lineal championship belt on the line? 

Anyway, it's crazy-pants chaos out there right now. The South Georgia Bulls are the college football lineal champions! Who'd a thunk it?