The weekend got kicked off Thanksgiving night with a great Lonestar State showdown. Texas won on a last second FG, capping another A&M second half collapse. It was exciting, though, and great way to say goodbye to the rivalry...at least for a while. I don't see this one getting shelved for too long; it's too important to the people in the state and it's too great of a rivalry for the sport as a whole to lose.
This is just cruel: according to Pete Thamel's twitter, "Akron Coach Rob Ianello got the call he was fired while driving to NY for his mother's funeral." Christ, that's awful.
I was wrong about the Tulsa upset of Houston. Very wrong. The Cougs rocked the Hurricane, 48-16. That's more impressive than Oklahoma's, Oklahoma State's, and Boise's wins over Tulsa. I know they don't really play 'anyone', but they dispatch these guys with as much - if not more - ruthless efficiency than the big boys. If they do it again in the CUSA CG, I'll be fine with them getting their BCS bid. Hell, I think they're more qualified than whoever's going to come out of the dumpster fire that is the Big East.
After Clean, Old-Fashined Hate (Go Dawgs!), I tuned in for the end of The Game. I checked in early, and Michigan looked like they were going to cruise. But then they were down by one at half and it seemed the Buckeyes were going to steal this one. The last few minutes were fun to watch, at least for someone who's not a big fan of either team, as Denard and Co. had a shot to put it away, had a TD called back, had to settle for a FG and a six-point lead, and give their rival the ball with a minute-and-a-half left. Miller sailed a sure TD on first down, spiked the ball for some reason that's still unclear, and then threw a pick to seal it. Miller says the coaches' told him to kill it on second down, but after an incompletion, there was nothing to kill. Terrible way to lose a down in a game like that. Maybe it is time for some Urban renewal in Columbus.
Kentucky finally beat Tennessee. It was an U-G-L-Y game all around, the 'Cats edging the Vols, 10-7. Neither team will qualify for a bowl, but, hey, at least they're not Ole Miss. Vandy, on the other hand, locked up a bowl by routing Wake Forrest. I'll feel a little bit better when James Franklin's gone on to greener pastures.
Florida State and Florida hate offensive football. Don't let the final score fool you, nothing offensive happened in this game. if you didn't see any of it, really get in there and explore the box-score. It's horrific.
In other ACC-SEC action, South Carolina stuck it to Clemson. Quote of the weekend: "We aren't LSU, and we aren't Alabama. But we sure ain't Clemson." - Steve Spurrier.
There were a few crazy minutes to end the first half in the Baylor-Texas Tech game. Tuberville got into it with some officials, RGIII took a brutal hit, and there was a little skirmishing on the field. We found out later that Griffin actually suffered a concussion, but not before he checked back in and scored a TD on a keeper up the middle. He didn't pay in the second half. The medical team wouldn't clear him after, as Coach Briles said, "We got in at halftime, he had a little trouble remembering what was going on." So that last TD was just some concussed read-optioning. Christ, that's impressive. The Bears did go on to win 147-132...or something like that.
To the Pac-12:
Is it just me, or has Stanford not looked that impressive the last few weeks. Luck looks good - maybe not Heisman-level impressive - but, overall, they're not helping their case to edge out the other one-loss teams. That Notre Dame team is not very good and the Cardinal should have crushed them.
You know who has looked Heisman caliber the last few weeks? Matt Barkley. He went for 423 yards and 6 TD's last night, as the Trojans completely thrashed UCLA, 50-0. USC, due to all the infinite wisdom of the NCAA, cannot play in the post-season, including the Pac-12 CG. So, the Bruins were already a lock to face Oregon heading into last night's game. Wow. What an inaugural championship game the NCAA has blessed this conference with. A USC-Oregon rematch would have been amazing.
Final Note:
I've been against the idea of a 'Bama-LSU rematch, but I'm starting to think there's no better option. Alabama stated their case yesterday, throttling Auburn on the Plains. And I'll say having one overtime loss to the number one team in the country makes you a better team than one who lost at Iowa State. I mean, how do you, in all honesty, compare losses to Iowa State and LSU and decide the ISU one is more forgivable? If the system is set up to match-up the two highest ranked teams. the best teams, then that's what it should do, whether or not it's the game I want to see. And that's what we forget, it's not about what we want, but what the system decides. And I hope the system, with all its algorithms and computer polls, is smart enough to tell the difference between losing to LSU and losing to Iowa State, because I imagine most humans will drop the ball on this one if OSU wins Bedlam. Even if LSU loses to Georgia, they'd deserve to play in the Title game. They'd have one-loss to a top-15 team, and that's still better than losing to Iowa State. Would that rematch be what I want? Probably not. Would it be what's right? Probably so.
No comments:
Post a Comment