Cool (albeit meaningless) tidbit about the CFP this year: The NCG will also be for the Lineal Championship
As we attempt to get through these last couple weeks before the Holidays and approach the Rose Bowl, I found a pretty cool tidbit that will occur once we beat Alabama and play for the National Championship.
I am a huge boxing fan and have always looked to The Ring magazine as the true champion of the world. While The Ring doesn't always 100% adhere to the Lineal Championship, it is the best measure in my opinion of who the one true champion is (for the record it still is Tyson Fury despite Olexander Usyk holding more belts). The idea of the "Lineal Champion" is that in order to be the champion, you have beat the champ ("the guy who beat the guy").
Hatch Rankings has the all-time Lineal National Championship dating back to Rutgers victory in 1869 over Princeton all the way to present time. The current Lineal Champion is Washington and they have defended that title since beating Oregon last November.
With Texas playing Washington in the Sugar Bowl, the winner of that game will be holding the lineal championship when they face the Rose Bowl champion. This will be the first time since 2020 that the National Championship Game will coincide with the Lineal Championship; and it will be Michigan's first time holding the belt since 2003 when we beat Purdue and held onto it until the Rose Bowl vs #1 USC that year.
December 14th, 2023 at 12:56 PM ^
This is revelatory and life-changing.
December 14th, 2023 at 12:57 PM ^
This is the plot for It Follows...I like it
December 14th, 2023 at 1:20 PM ^
I wonder if they take into account Rutgers played FA rules soccer in 1869, and it in no way evolved into our modern game. Harvard won the first gridiron football game in 1874. They later tried to find more schools to play, but rejected all the other teams playing the Rutgers and Princton style game, as it was a completely different sport.
December 15th, 2023 at 2:36 PM ^
At a glance, looks like Pasadena, i.e., the Rose Bowl, is the most common place for the lineal championship to change hands, as well (22 times). That's pretty cool. Miami (Orange Bowl) next with 19.