The Week That Were: 12.05.09

We’ve officially reached the final TWTW of the year; I’m not covering the Army/Navy game, as important as it is and as much debt we owe to our servicemen and women. Continuing with our holiday theme, today’s soundtrack has two phenomenal options- Christmas and Chanukah

So, there were four conference championships this past weekend, and we’ll get to them, but we’ve got other games to talk about as well.

The week started on Thursday, where we discovered that Ducks and Bucks both love Roses.  Who knew? We’ll obviously be talking about this matchup a ton in the coming weeks, so let’s move along…

On Friday, this guy’s Heisman favorite continued his record setting career, as #25 Central Michigan defeated Ohio to win the MAC Championship. In the game, QB Dan LeFevour was responsible for his 147th TD, an NCAA record. He also threw his 101 TD pass, a MAC record previously held by Chad Pennington.  Final career numbers: 12,501 passing yards, 101 passing TDs, 1295 rushing yards, 14 rushing TDs, 1 receiving TD. Tell me he doesn’t deserve at least an invite to New York.

On Saturday, there was fun for the whole family to be had over in the Pac 10. First, Cal completed their annual end of season collapse by falling to the Huskies in Seattle. Well, the good news is that at least people didn’t have to sit on the hill and watch it for free.

Speaking of things that shouldn’t have happened- U$C lost their second conference home game for the first time in as long as people can remember. I’m guessing that the Trojan athletes won’t be getting their Christmas bonus checks this year. When you talk about bandwagon fans, please remember the empty seats during this game- 5-4 in conference just isn’t interesting enough for people to put down their lattes and head to the game.  And this wasn’t even the biggest U$C story this weekend… That honor falls to whatever In N Out’s best customer said about Surfer Pete. Look, I lived in Malibu (hence the name), and never saw Carroll there. Although, I wasn’t a grad student, FWIW.

Our daily dose of schadenfreude comes at the expense of our friends the Fighting Zooks. Yes, the Illini fought valiantly to outscore Fresno State, and put 52 points on the board against the Bulldogs. But, it wasn’t enough as FSU scored in the final seconds, and went for two to win. The rest, as they say, is fat guy history:

Love to see the linemen celebrate.

Ok, now to the “championships”. Over in the ACC, Georgia Tech managed to hold off Clemson and CJ Spiller to win the conference title game and a berth in the Orange Bowl (more on that later). Good things happen to teams in their coach’s second season… well, not always.

Over in the Big LEast Amount of Defense I’ve Seen In A While, the River City Rivalry was a shootout that came down to the last minute. Sure, some of the glory was off the game since the Wannstache and friends dropped one the week before against WVa. Nonetheless, the Bearcats from UChickFilA were looking to finish their season undefeated and at a chance at a national championship bid. When the Panthers scored with less than two minutes to play, many assumed that the game was over. Yes, the home team had seen a 21 point lead collapse, and yes, they had missed an extra point, and yes, they had given up a kickoff return for a TD. But surely, the momentum had swung, hadn’t it? Welcome to the UC version of Holy Buckeye (or “Holy bUCkeye“, if you’re inclined. And stupid.)

So now, the BearCats sit and wait… and at first, they had their prayers answered.

#2 Alabama got revenge for the SEC championship last year, and defeated #1 Florida and Tim Tebow. Several observations: First, why would the Gators mess with karma and wear their “special” helmets for this game? Is this something they’ve done before? Just seems like it’s not a good idea. Second, Florida’s offense has been suspect all year, the Tide just proved that to the rest of the world. What was surprising was how well Alabama moved the ball against Florida’s defense… I wonder if the suspension of Carlos Dunlap had anything to do with this? Third, speaking of drinking, this game took it’s toll on more than just the athletes- Urban was treated for dehydration after the game. We’re glad he’s feeling better, and would advise him not to listen to Dr. Lou (end of clip).

Finally, Alabama won with two things: Ball control running offense and Lights out defense. Given that Saban is a defensive coach, this isn’t that surprising. However, it sounds very familiar…

Which brings us to the game that everyone’s still talking about- the Big 12 Championship between Texas and Nebraska. The story of the game (not the last few seconds) was the Blackshirt defense. Any hopes that Colt McCoy had of this being this Heisman Moment were destroyed by the schemes that former Buckeye Bo Pelini and his team created to address Texas and win this game. Again, defense wins championships- Nebraska had zero offensive success, and yet almost pulled off the upset of the “championship season”. It was an amazing performance by all of the Nebraska players, but may have actually created a Heisman Moment for Suh, who also made a ton of money for himself over the past few weeks.

The blackshirt defense put the Huskers in a position to win, and then the last two minutes happened. As you may know, Nebraska’s lead started to fall away when the kickoff went out of bounds and Texas was given the 40 yard line as a starting point for the final drive. Then, a “horsecollar” penalty added even more yardage, and the ‘Horns were in field goal range.  Let the chaos begin:

“I don’t think Bo agreed with that clock decision at the end…” Yeah, that’s an understatement.

According to the Omaha World-Herald, there was a lot of ‘splaining to do afterwards-

…he went back toward the locker room, where he saw Marc Boehm, NU assistant athletic director.

“Marc, I want to see (Big 12 head of officiating) Walt Anderson in there right (expletive) now!” Pelini shouted.

“BCS!” Pelini said as he entered the locker room. “That’s why they make that call!”

The refs hold that it wasn’t controversial. But of course they do.

Here’s my problem… It was the right call, but it’s never EVER made. Watch games this bowl season; how many “lost” seconds are there- after a TD, on an out of bounds play, even on a kickoff. And there’s never anything done to  make that right. So to do so in this case seems, well, like shenanigans.

Especially when one of the BCS “Dream Match” already lost earlier in the day. A Nebraska win would have meant a UC/TCU bid to play Alabama, and very few, I imagine want that. Ironically, Texas also hosed the Big 12 with their win- a Nebraska victory would mean that the Big 12 would have two teams in the BCS, for twice the conference payday.

Again, let’s look at Nebraska’s success in this game: Defense. When you compare storied programs who are looking to restore and rebuild, you can’t help but notice that the Alabama and the Husker coaches have come in to change the defensive attitude at these programs. And, two years later, they have success. Stoops saw the same results, as did Meyer (I’m convinced that 41-14 happens because the Gator D makes tOSU change their gameplan). Up north, they decided to bring in a “flashy” coach who needed to put points on the board and needed players to do that.  Like I’ve said before, Mich1gAAn made a mistake.

I agree with others who also point to this being a positive sign for Ohio State in their preparation for the Rose Bowl against an powerful Oregon offense. Defense wins championships.

Small schools: Tuskegee’s Golden Tigers won the Pioneer bowl, defeating Elizabeth City State 21-7.  Mount Union also continued to roll, beating Albright 55-3. They have outscored their opponents 625-100 this season.

So now, here we are. Bowl season. Hoorah. I’m sorry I can’t get any more excited, but it’s like looking at Adam Sandler’s career. Sure, there’s “Happy Gilmore” and “Spanglish”, but there’s a whole lot of “Click” and “Mr Deeds” and “Little Nickey” too. And, it seems like the post-season has turned into Lake Wobegon; where, according to Garrison Keillor, “all the children are above average“.

Look at it this way- There are 120 NCAA Division 1/NCAA FBS schools. There are 34 bowls. That means that there are 68 teams playing in bowl opportunities: 57% of teams get to go.  In 1973, after a 10-10 tie, Ohio State went to the Rose Bowl and co-champ Mich1gAAn went home. This year, 6-6 MAChigan State gets to play in the postseason. Mich1gAAn? Let’s just say that they’re honoring the ’73 team… sounds better that way.

This may be one of the few moments this season where Notre Ame has taken the high ground- They have voted to decline any invitation given them for bowl play. While this may be as a result of a great ethical discussion, there’s a part of me that thinks that there may be other reasons (“unique circumstances” as it were):

1. They didn’t want to risk the embarrassment of losing another game; making their re-build all the more difficult in regards to attracting recruits.
2. They didn’t want to have to pay Charlie and staff to coach another game; his exit is already costing the University about $20 million.
3. They didn’t want their new coach (more than likely at a BCS program) to have to try to coach their bowl game and also recruit for ND. Although, if memory serves me, it worked out OK for Pelini.
4. It doesn’t really matter- they still get a one million dollar payout from the BCS even if they don’t play.
5. Finally, and I think this is the real reason; they wanted to continue their three year streak of being undefeated in bowl games.

I’ve got lots and lots of thoughts about bowls, and starting this week we’ll be looking at the history and reality of these post-season realities. ‘Cause really, what else do I have to rant about?

But first, let me also say that I’m excited about the BCS games this year. Alabama/Texas is the best match up of the five undefeated teams, we get to see two others square off in the Fiesta (like I’ve been asking for), Iowa and Georgia Tech match up well, and UC gets a chance to prove whether or not it’s an elite program.

And, of course, we’ve got Bucks and Ducks. And Roses.  Life is good.

It’s probably no surprise to anyone that I’m a big fan of the “Trillion Man March”, and love OSU guard Mark Titus. However, his recent work to raise funds for A Kid Again really impress me. So, we’ll close with two things- First, give the links a click and go make a difference (or just enjoy the hilarity). Second, here: