Either the world has ended, or Barack Obama's message of change has taken on a brand new meaning in the annals of college football. I say it's a dead heat.
In this, the 2010 college football bowl season, a little-known conference in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (gee, that was a mouthful) has made skeptics out of believers.
Regardless of what happens in the laughably named GoDaddy.com Bowl between Miami (OH) and Middle Tennessee State, the Sun Belt Conference will finish its bowl season with a winning record.
In short, the Sun Belt Conference, long-considered the weakest of the weak, the doormat of all the mid-major conferences, the butt of every joke...is relevant.
The conference began to argue its case with flying colors at the New Orleans Superdome over a week ago, on Dec. 18, when the Troy Trojans took on the Ohio Bobcats in the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.
Surely Frank Solich had what it took to end the Bobcats' bowl hoodoo, right? After all, the Mid-American Conference was supposed to be stronger. After all, Northern Illinois took Fresno State to school, so you know the possibility was there.
Wrong.
Corey Robinson torched the Ohio defense with 387 yards passing and four touchdowns, while DuJuan Harris ran roughshod for 105 and a score. And it didn't help the likes of poor Boo Jackson to know that big and beefy Jonathan Massaquoi hounded him for 2.5 sacks in a Trojan ambush.
602 yards of total offense told the story as Troy flattened Ohio 48-21.
You know, I am accustomed to seeing the Trojans win bowl games—I associated those Trojans with a certain university from Los Angeles. Problem is, they are on probation because Reggie Bush disgraced his own kind a la Terrell Pryor...and some.
I did not expect these Trojans to win a bowl game, but they did and they deserve all the credit people give them. (And they did give Oklahoma State a test in their 41-38 defeat.)
But it didn't stop there. The Sun Belt's argument for relevancy continued.
Enter Sunday, Boxing Day, Dec. 26, 2010 and the hilariously-named Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (pizza! pizza!) featuring the Toledo Rockets, and the Florida International Golden Panthers.
FIU was making their first-ever trip to a bowl game. Granted, the name of this bowl makes you think of inferior cheese and gas explosions, but that's beside the point. Oh, digressions.
This was a Florida International team that stood tall against Rutgers and Texas A&M while testing Maryland.
An FIU squad that was a few years removed from an ill-fated scuffle against the University of Miami that resulted in an 0-12 season and Mario Cristobal taking the helm.
A Golden Panther squad that finished with a 6-2 conference record and a 6-6 regular season record this year in spite of losing to rivals Florida Atlantic and ending their conference season in disappointing fashion to the Blue Raiders.
The Rockets were expected to rout FIU and spare the now-disgraced Mid-American Conference of its blushes. They were unsuccessful, embarrassing the MAC and delivering the Sun Belt slices of oven-baked vindication in a 34-32 win for the Golden Panthers.
Toledo quarterback Terrance Owens had a nightmarish performance against Florida International, throwing for 131 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions. While tailback Adonis Thomas ran for 194 yards and two touchdowns, his efforts will go into Little Caesars Pizza Bowl history as mere footnotes.
Owens's counterpart, Wesley Carroll, a transfer out of Mississippi State, didn't fare any better—throwing for just 140 yards, and a touchdown and pick apiece—but at least he did one completion better (16/27, Owens was 15/27).
People watching this game probably now know who Darriet Perry and Kreg Bown are. Perry rushed for 131 yards and two touchdowns, while Brown helped himself to two of FIU's interceptions on the night.
And that T.Y. Hilton...man, can he run. Hilton had five kickoff returns for 174 yards, a new bowl record.
But this night belonged to Jack Griffin. Unlike Boise State's Kyle Brotzman, Griffin can actually convert field goals when the game is on the line.
His game-winning 34-yard attempt with time running out came off a successful hook-and-lateral play that just passed the first-down line at the Toledo 42...with some help from the Atlantic Coast Conference officials, who Toledo fans may have irreparable animosities towards.
Griffin may go down as the school's first great gridiron hero for his on-the-money kick. And because of his conversion, the Sun Belt Conference will end the 2010 college football bowl season with a winning record.
Now granted, these bowl matches the Sun Belt participate in all involve Mid-American teams. But the possibility that I bring here is that the Sun Belt may be better than people think.
As it continues to be successful in the postseason, the respect is going to keep coming. And more quality recruits will look to play in a conference like the Sun Belt. It becomes a viable alternative because it just knows how to win.
Obama was right. Change has indeed come to America. The Sun Belt Conference gaining relevancy is just one example of that.
2009 Toledo Rockets Predictions