Jovenitti: 10 reasons to be thankful for college football

Did you watch the Backyard Brawl on Friday? If so, I’m sorry.

For those of you who wasted… Did you watch the Backyard Brawl on Friday? If so, I’m sorry.

For those of you who wasted your time to take in Pitt’s pathetic performance against West Virginia over Thanksgiving, I’m sure you are finding it difficult to be thankful for football right now.

Not to mention the fact that the dream of having a non-BCS conference school make the National Championship Game officially died late Friday night when Boise State kicked away its dreams after Auburn pulled off an incredible comeback against Alabama.

But fear not! Tony’s Top 10 is here to make you feel better. This week, I bring you 10 things to be thankful for in college football.

10. Notre Dame is awful. Sure, Pitt had a pretty dismal season — but so did the Irish. And if there’s one thing that can cheer Pitt fans up, it’s seeing Notre Dame lose. The Irish lost to Tulsa. Who does that? (What’s that? Pitt lost to Notre Dame? Well, that brings me to No. 9).

9. Penn State is awfully mediocre. The Nittany Lions finished the season 7-5, and they will be headed to one of the better mediocre bowl games simply because they are Penn State. Nonetheless, PSU didn’t even kind of compete for the Big Ten title.

8. The Big East is a joke, so laugh. Yes, the Big East is awful. So instead of wallowing in pity, just cheer up and take in the worst conference in the history of the BCS. You’ll have a nice chuckle.

7. Pitt isn’t going to a BCS bowl. That’s right, Pitt fans. Be thankful that the Panthers won’t be playing in a BCS bowl (barring a crazy turn of events). If the Panthers headed to the Fiesta Bowl to play, say, Nebraska, they would get embarrassed. And Pitt already got embarrassed on national television five times this season.

6. Pitt couldn’t have underachieved more. I know, it sounds awful. But it just might be a good thing that Pitt stunk this year, because the coaching staff is coming under increased scrutiny. Maybe one day we will no longer have to deal with the screen passes on third and long or calling timeouts to punt late in games. And who knows, maybe Pitt will actually utilize its incredible talent soon under a new coaching staff.

5. A Pittsburgh team made the tournament — yes, a college football tournament. The Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA), has a tournament to decide its champion. Imagine that, a tournament to decide the best team. What a concept. Well, Robert Morris won the NEC championship, so they automatically qualified for the tournament. Sure, they lost, but they made it farther in a tournament than any BCS program from Pittsburgh will in the near future.

4. There have been some incredible games in recent weeks. We’re obviously not talking about the Backyard Brawl, but later that day, Auburn overcame a 24-point deficit to beat Alabama. Boise State lost to Nevada in overtime. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State played in what was perhaps the craziest game of the year, which featured the most incredible interception I’ve ever witnessed. So you might not see exciting Pitt games, but there is excitement all around college football — you just have to know where to look.

3. USC won’t be in a bowl game. The Trojans finished 7-5. Normally they would be headed to a premier bowl game with that kind of record, but thanks to Reggie Bush, they are ineligible for the postseason this year, as well as in 2011. So take a little bit of joy out of the fact that a (possibly) 6-6 Pitt team will make a bowl and 7-5 USC will not.

2. Cam Newton is simply fun to watch. If you forget about all the allegations surrounding Auburn’s star quarterback, then you will really enjoy watching him play. This kid is unbelievable. He should easily win the Heisman — let’s just hope the allegations that his father asked for money in exchange for signing with Mississippi don’t prove to be true, or the star quarterback likely won’t win said trophy.

1. We’ll have new teams in the BCS National Championship Game. Sure, it’s not quite what we wanted, as no BCS-buster team is likely to make the title game. Boise State blew its chance, and TCU is probably headed to the Rose Bowl. But it would be refreshing to see Oregon and Auburn in the title game. For the first time since 2005, neither Florida, Ohio State, Texas nor USC will participate.

And if that doesn’t cheer you up, remember that it’s basketball season, and the Pitt men are currently ranked No. 3 in the nation.