Schedules have been confirmed for post-season games in January. The following matches will be live on NASN-UK:
1 Jan: Outback (4pm) Orlando (7.30pm, second half only) Rose (9.30pm) 2 Jan: Sugar (1am) 3 Jan: Fiesta (12.30am) 4 Jan: Orange (12.30am) 8 Jan: BCS (1am)
There will be taped coverage of the following matches:
Humanitarian (1/1, 7am) Georgia (1/1, 10am) Cotton (2/1, 11am) Gator (2/1, 2pm) Rebellion (3/1, 10.30am) Music City (3/1, 1.30pm) International (6/1, 3pm) Mobile (7/1, 5pm)
The first half of the Orlando bowl will not be shown at all, the only post-season action not to be shown.
In comments a couple of weeks ago, Mr. Pokery proposed that there was no obvious second choice for a Top-2 game alongside OHIST. We fully agree: SCALF is only a 52% favourite to beat LSU, and any of the next three sides - OKLAH, VTECH, GRGIA - would also start with at least a 40% chance of winning. Those six sides, plus unbeaten HAWII and nearlymen WVIRG or KANSS should be playing against each other to determine anything up to four sides that can reasonably claim to be in with a shout of being the best.
Instead, we have to put up with SCALF -v- ILLNS, a game that will only teach us something if ILLNS can pull off a remarkable upset. The game cannot advance SCALF's claim far. GRGIA -v- HAWII will certainly give a valid title contender, but OKLAH -v- WVIRG and VTECH -v- KANSS will tell us less than an OKLAH -v- VTECH game.
All of this will be for nought if LSU loses to OHIST. But if OHIST buggers up the BCS title game for the second year in a row, LSU will have beaten OHIST, GRGIA or HAWII would have beaten the other, OKLAH or VTECH would have beaten the other, and SCALF's claim cannot be ignored. Four possible champions, with no self-evident winner. Does there have to be a single best side? We say not, and point to the tie for first we awarded between SCALF and TEXAS two years ago.
Is it right that both OKLAH and VTECH are to be denied a legitimate claim to the title because of scheduling? Has tradition risen up and bitten both of these sides in the backside? We'll have to see, but the tie-in tradition deserves to suffer if OHIST loses. Actually, the tie-in tradition deserves to suffer, it'll just be easier if OHIST loses.
And does there really have to be such a huge gap between OHIST's last game, on 17 November, and their next, on 8 January?
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