GLENDALE, Ariz. — With the College Football Playoff title game in town, that “2016” logo with the football in the middle is as ubiquitous in the Valley of the Sun as saguaro cactus and Gila monsters. Media shuttles get the VIP treatment, with a police escort to University of Phoenix Stadium. Everything is draped in national championship bunting. Even hours before kickoff, with both locker rooms and 63,400 seats still empty, this feels like a very big deal.
So, this is how the other half lives. After a covering a turbulent South Carolina football season, complete with the program’s first losing record in over a decade and a coaching change, parachuting into the national championship game as a sidebar guy feels like being dropped onto a different planet.