There are some close matchups this week between our gridiron combatants. In order to make more informed picks, let us consider the following:
Game 1 – Michigan vs. Rhodes
Rhodes is a liberal arts college of about 2,000 students nestled comfortably in Memphis, Tennessee, as if I had to tell you what state Memphis is in. In 2016, Princeton Review named Rhodes as the #1 Most Beautiful College Campus in America. That’s some serious beauty. Not a sizzling hot beauty. A classic beauty. Anyway, they play Michigan this week.
Game 2 – Tufts vs. Rutgers
Tufts is one of those schools that has pretty much everything, except an easily pronounceable name. It’s located a few miles outside of Boston, and their teams are the Jumbos, named after their official mascot, Jumbo the Elephant. Yes, that Jumbo the Elephant. In fact, the spirit of Jumbo is sort of revered there, which means this poor elephant’s miserable life in captivity wasn’t in total vain.
Game 3 – MIT vs. Kansas
In case you didn’t already know, MIT is one of the most highly regarded technical universities in the entire world. Everyone here is scary smart. In fact, just writing about them is terrifying. This extreme focus on academics is why I found it fascinating that they’re able to field an entire football team of 68 players, or frankly, any athletics team at all, if only because MIT does not endorse sleep.
Game 4 – Iowa vs. Grand Valley State
Grand Valley State is a liberal arts university located just off of Lake Michigan, the Michigan side. The Lakers compete in Division II. In college sports, there’s a thing called the Director’s Cup. It’s awarded to the top athletic program in each division based on the collective finishes of all its sports teams. For Division II, Grand Valley State has finished first or second every year since 2002. In other words, they’re no good at sports.
Let the games begin!
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