Black Friday to be Great for College Football

The term “Black Friday,” when associated with the day after Thanksgiving, is a day when the Christmas shopping season begins in earnest. If you’re willing to get up early enough (or now, willing to stay up late enough) and brave the crowds, you can find some great deals and steals.

College football fans will experience their own Black Friday this week, as a bevy of wonderful football action can be had simply for the cost of time spent away from the family and the crazy shoppers and plopped in front of the TV, at a sports bar or in a man cave somewhere.

Now that I think about it, the Black Friday analogy may not be the best descriptor for the bounty we can expect on Friday. Perhaps it would make more sense to refer to this Friday’s slate as “Thanksgiving 2: Cornucopia’s Revenge.”

There’s the crudités platter of MAC action, with division titles on the line if Northern Illinois can beat Eastern Michigan and Ohio can take out Kent State. Much like the celery/bell pepper/carrot platter, they will largely be ignored. Louisville/Rutgers and West Virginia/Pitt serve as the pre-dinner cocktails (because you will need some semblance of alcohol to get through those games).

Of course, all roads lead to the main event of Friday, the Iron Bowl. This is the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy of the day. Full of drama, intrigue and the chance of something crazy happening—just like the archetypal meal taking place on Thursday afternoon for most families. Last year, it was Auburn taking the Tide down to the wire; this year, Alabama gets to try and derail a championship run for the Tigers. Add in Cam Newton playing on the road against a hated rival while still under investigation, and it will be a wild scene in Tuscaloosa.

Filling in for the sweet potato/pumpkin pie in our football games as meal analogy, we have Arizona traveling to the Autzen Zoo to face Oregon. And for those who need a late night snack after gorging on food most of the day, we have the late kickoff of Boise State at Nevada.

When the light dawns on Saturday, there could be complete and utter chaos in the BCS, or the status quo could be set in relatively firm stone. I will say this though: it should be a helluva Black Friday.