Connelly: Stop the judging and enjoy the games

I’m not sure when it exactly started (maybe after the Southeastern Conference won seven consecutive BCS national championships), but college football bowl games have become an indictment of entire conferences.

I don’t know about you, but I, for one, have thoroughly enjoyed this year’s BCS bowl games with the biggest of them all still to be played tonight.

And I think I know why.

I’m not watching each game as one conference’s reputation on the line versus another’s. I’m watching two great teams go head-to-head for the right to be the winner on that given night. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.

What I mean is that just because Michigan State’s suffocating defense stymied Stanford’s phone-booth rushing attack doesn’t mean the Big 10 is a better conference than the Pac 12.

But it does mean that on Jan. 1, in Pasadena, Calif., the Spartans were better than the Cardinal. Not by a lot, but who cares. Mark Dantonio’s team finished the season with back-to-back impressive wins and should be a serious contender next year, despite what conference they play in.

Later that night, in the Fiesta Bowl, two teams combined for 1,106 yards of total offense. To the non-partisan fan, Central Florida’s win over Baylor was a wildly entertaining game between a pair of high-powered offenses.

But hold on a minute — does that mean the Big 12 is a weaker league than we thought it was since Baylor lost to a team out of the measly American Conference? It must, right?

Well Oklahoma quickly shut that notion up on the next night with its thunderous win over the previous kings of college football, Alabama.

See, I knew the SEC was down this year. Look at Alabama, they can’t even win the Sugar Bowl!

Alabama still won 11 games this year and I’m pretty sure every college (and many professional) teams would take Nick Saban as their coach in a heartbeat. One loss, to a very good and determined Oklahoma team, does not discredit what the Crimson Tide have done over the past five years.

And then there was last Friday. Now just as a disclaimer, I graduated from an SEC school and am very proud of the tradition of football the schools in that conference have built of late. But before anyone questions a hidden agenda, let it be known that my alma mater has finished near the bottom of the conference since my arrival on campus and has been the whipping boy of the league’s top teams for some time now.

However I do find it slightly amusing that after Michigan State’s Rose Bowl win, Big 10 fans were all excited to go 2-0 in BCS games and finally prove to the country they weren’t as bad as people said they were all season. That was until Clemson showed they had something to prove of their own and gave Ohio State speed to match on both sides of the football.

Yet what I found most entertaining was the actual game itself. Go figure.

Two great teams, that played similar competition throughout the regular season, played a game that went down to the final minute. And now it doesn’t mean the entire Big 10 stinks or that the entire ACC is superior to every other conference.

All it means is that Urban Meyer is 0-2 against top-15 opponents and the Buckeyes still can’t win a big game ... (I only kid).

Bottom line is Clemson was five points better than Ohio State that day. Just like Oklahoma was 10 points better than Alabama, UCF was 10 points better than Baylor and Michigan State was four points better than Stanford.

So for tonight, I offer you a challenge. The BCS National Championship Game between Florida State and Auburn will be made out to be the SEC against everybody else. And yeah, sure, it’s easy to hate whoever’s been at the top.

But try watching the final game of a fantastic college football season for what it is: one team coming off a 3-9 season that runs a military school offense with five-star athletes against another team that’s dominated its competition all year led by the best college quarterback in the country.

Believe me, you’ll have more fun that way.

Kevin Connelly is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at kconnelly@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Connelly_Vindy.