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College Football Internet
Challenge (Update) The only way you will ever get any information concerning these teams, and the games they, play is over the Internet. But luckily, everything you need to become a fan of a new team is just a few mouse clicks away. You can find player rosters, photos, scores, game highlights and articles, conference standings and much, much more. Every school has a web site and the same goes for every athletic conference. A link to a local on-line newspaper that is located near your new team could provide you with additional coverage on the team’s games, activities and history. It only takes a little effort on your part, but it will open up a whole new world of college football for you to enjoy right on your computer screen. You just have to know where to look. My Challenge-My Team Now I couldn’t very well issue a challenge and then not participate in it myself, could I? Therefore, I chose to adopt the Snow College Badgers, a junior college football team in Ephraim, Utah, as my own Internet team, just because I liked the school’s name. (Go figure!) Snow has an enrollment of about 3,000 students. The school’s athletic web site is very professional looking and it has many useful and informative features. Radio broadcasts of Badger games were available live via streaming audio on the web site. The broadcasts have also been archived and are still available through a link on the site. The web site also contains a page that proudly lists the names of several former Snow College players who went on to play in the NFL. The Badgers are members of the Western States Football League and were ranked eighth in the nation in a preseason NJCAA poll. In 2004, the Badgers posted a 6-4 record and defeated the Rochester (Minnesota) Yellow Jackets 45-7 in the inaugural Zions Bank Top of the Mountains Bowl Classic played in Salt Lake City. This year, Snow College had another great football season and it began with a six game winning streak. In September, the Badgers opened the season on the road and defeated a team from the Air Force Academy prep school in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Then they defeated the Georgia Military College and Arizona Western College, both at home. They finished September by traveling to Arizona and defeating Phoenix College. The winning continued in October as the Badgers took care of Eastern Arizona College and Mesa Community College, both at home. The Badgers suffered their first loss of the season on October 15 when they traveled to Dixie State College in Utah. The following week, Snow got back on the winning track as they traveled to Arizona once again and beat Scottsdale Community College. Snow’s last home game of the season was on October 29. It was Homecoming for the Badgers and they didn’t disappoint their fans as they defeated the New Mexico Military Academy. In November, the Badgers lost for just the second time when they traveled to Arizona one last time and lost to Glendale Community College. The loss dropped the Badgers from the sixth spot in the NJCAA Top 20 Poll to number thirteen. Glendale retained its number one ranking in the poll. The final game of the season was supposed to be at home against Pima College on November 12, but Pima forfeited the final four games of the season due to a lack of players on their active roster. Technically, that goes in the books as a win for Snow College and gave them a record of 9-2 on the season. Snow College then went on to play for the second year in a row in the Top of the Mountains Bowl Classic in Salt Lake City on December 3. The game was once again played at Rice-Eccles Stadium on the campus of the University of Utah. It is the home stadium of the Mountain West Conference Utah Utes. This year, the Badgers took on the Butler County Community College Grizzlies from Kansas. Going into the game, Butler was ranked sixth and Snow was ranked thirteenth in the NJCAA. In the Top of the Mountains Bowl, both teams scored once in the first half and the game was ties 7-7 at halftime. By the end of the third quarter, however, Butler was holding on to a 14-10 lead. Snow scored a touchdown and took the lead for the first time in the game with about eleven minutes to play in the fourth quarter and the Badgers held on to win, 17-14. Snow College finished the season with a 10-2 record and was ranked eighth in the nation in the final NJCAA Top 20 Poll. Butler finished 9-2 and was ranked tenth. In another NJCAA bowl game that was also played on December 3, the Grand Rapids Community College Raiders, who are located about an hour north of where I live here in Michigan, lost to the Glendale Community College Gauchos 50-48 in the Valley of the Sun Bowl played in Glendale, Arizona. Grand Rapids finished the season with a 9-2 record and was ranked fourth in the final NJCAA Top 20 Poll. Glendale finished the season 11-0 and was ranked number one in the nation. Although I have not traveled west of the Mississippi in several years, I was still able to sit at home in Michigan and read about the exploits of "my team" in Utah all season long. In the process, I learned a few things about junior college football, all through the miracle of the Internet. All the information anyone needs to become a fan of a team anywhere in the country is as close as your home computer. Who knows, maybe I’ll actually go out to Utah and see the Badgers play someday. Did you take up my challenge this year? If you did, let me know which team you followed, why you chose that particular team and how they did. I’d also like to know where you are and where is the team you adopted. Hopefully, the connection you made with your "Internet team from afar" this year will continue for many years to come. I know mine will. 2005 Snow College Badgers Schedule/Results
Top of the Mountains Bowl Classic
Links Tope of the Mountains Bowl web site - www.topofthemountainsbowl.com
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