One almost-fall Saturday

I know why college football is the best kind of football, and it's not because of this.

Really, Michigan State. Have some pride, for God's sake. You're a college football team, not a company bowling team. Or a company softball team. Or whoever else would be caught dead in those god-awful things.

No, sir. I know why college football is the best kind of football, Michigan State's fashion Chernobyl notwithstanding.

It's the best kind of football because of days like yesterday, which was a perfect autumn day no matter what the calendar said, with blue skies and cotton ball clouds and whispery little breezes with just a hint of cool to them. And, inside, Army damn near beating Michigan in the Big House.

College football is the best kind of football because of the way it can stop the hearts of 100,000-plus souls at once, the way it did as all those Michigan fans watched Army's potential game-winning field goal slide just ... a tad ... to the right.

College football is the best kind of football because you can turn on Nebraska-Colorado and watch two schools that have been playing each other since the 19th century. Or you can turn on Texas-LSU and watch the 'Horns get Hooked. Or watch Purdue's Elijah Sindelar throw for 509 yards and account for six touchdowns, and Rondale Moore catch 13 balls for 220 yards and a score, and wonder why you can't add them to your fantasy team.

College football is the best kind of football because it goes back farther than any American mainstay sport except baseball, and therefore its rivalries are real and bone-deep and historic. It's the best kind of football because you can turn on Cincinnati-Ohio State and see a graphic pop up referencing William McKinley, who was in the White House the last time the Bearcats beat the Buckeyes.

Then you turn on Nebraska-Colorado again, and realize that McKinley was also in the White House the first time those two schools played each other (1898).

One afternoon in September 2019, and William McKinley comes up twice. What's not great about that?