The 1998 CU v USC popped into my Youtube feed this weekend. I watched the first half Sunday night and the second half last night. To refresh your memories, this was Tommy West's last game as the Tigers' head coach. Our win in the game put the Gamecocks at a glorious 1-10 and sent Brad Scott packing his bags in Columbia as well.
Just to wax nostalgic, it was fun to watch the game for a number of reasons. Mostly because so much has changed in college football in 25 years.
Change is a part of life. Small changes happen and we accept them. However I'm not sure the sum of all the changes to the college game has made the sport better over the last 25 years. Just interesting and seeing the game then versus the corporate production its become now.
PS: Tommy West handled the whole situation with a lot of class.
Just to wax nostalgic, it was fun to watch the game for a number of reasons. Mostly because so much has changed in college football in 25 years.
- DV has sure changed. No West End Zone.
- The TV commercials were left in the game broadcast. I watched many of them for. Man, technology and sales pitch have changed over 25 years. (no Taco Bell or Dr Pepper ads)
- I timed the commercial breaks. Commercial breaks were only 2 minutes long. They are now 3:16
- It was still an 11 game season. We still played every ACC team.
- The game was still played before Thanksgiving. Many other Rivalry Game weekend games were played after Thanksgiving.
- No conference championships for the commentators talk about. Just the BCS standings. Bowls were held in high regard.
- There were ZERO official replays AND none needed. (Though there was a bad call during the game...it went our way.)
- Very few injuries.
- I saw several, what we would call today "Targeting" calls......no one cared. No one was hurt.
- I saw two horse collar tackles. No one cared. No one was hurt.
- Kickoffs from the 30 yard line. Kick returns, or the muffing of them, were relevant to the game.
- Lots of old names that were stars back then but are largely forgotten now. Some exceptions: Rod Garner, Travis Zachery (fr), Brandon Streeter.
- The announcers were amazed we ran the ball from the shotgun.
- Fans mobbed the field and torn down the goalposts after our third win of the season.
Change is a part of life. Small changes happen and we accept them. However I'm not sure the sum of all the changes to the college game has made the sport better over the last 25 years. Just interesting and seeing the game then versus the corporate production its become now.
PS: Tommy West handled the whole situation with a lot of class.
