Texas and Texas A&M Might Play Each Other...in the Quidditch World Cup Final
By Ty Duffy
The International Quidditch Association exists, and it is hosting the Quidditch World Cup this weekend in Kissimmee, Fla. Texas A&M and Texas, the two arch-rivals who no longer face each other in football, enter as the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the world respectively. UCLA, Maryland and Boston University round out the top five.
The sport seems to be catching on in the Lone Star state, as Baylor is ranked No. 6 and Texas State is also in the Top 15. Perhaps they are getting a leg up for when this inevitably replaces college football for liability reasons. The rest of the SEC is currently shut out of the Top 25 – highest ranked teams are LSU (28) and Arkansas (31) – but just wait until the boosters get involved.
Quidditch includes, but is not limited to, American college teams. The World Cup will also feature squads from Mexico, Canada and France. The snitch, alas, is human. A squirrel would have been way funnier.
The IQA rankings formula is mathematical, open source and accounts for both strength of schedule and margin of victory. Is that really so hard, college football?
[Photo via Getty]