No real surprises this week (we've had a truck-load of those the last two weeks). But Showdown Saturday or Rivalry Week lived up to it's annual hype as teams that have been bragging or hurting for 365 days had a chance for payback.
W E E K L Y W R A P
When it comes to Rivalry Week I always throw out the record and the stats and the star players and the injured players because those things do not come into play in these games. It is just a coin toss, a crap shoot, and the annual reminder that anything can happen in college football on any given Saturday and most of all that shear passion often outweighs talent.
W E E K L Y W H I N E
I won't belabor the point that has been made so often in this blog but once again I must whine about the BCS rules. Here we go again: the ACC will send their conference champ to a BCS bowl as will the Big East. It could be a deserving 10-2 FSU or the 6-6 GaTech. The Big Least will likely send 9-2 Rutgers. Neither of these teams show in the Top 10. And the PAC-12, even with 1-loss Oregon will likely send a 2- or 3-loss team to a BCS bowl. Didn't the BCS masterminds recognize the possibility of such a scenario when they set up this money based system? Didn't anyone stand up and say, "Wait! What if one of these power conferences sucks one year?" ? When will they learn...?
E N D Z O N E
I know I whined about Manziel last week (really it was his coach I was whining about). But does Johnny deserve the Heisman? IMHO - yes. I have always understood that the bronze statue was to go to the year's most exciting player. There are some great athletes this year and they all have loads of talent. But I must say that Johnny has brought more excitement and water-cooler chat than all the others. Ignore his age and his rookie-ness and send the trophy home with this year's most exciting player - Johnny Football Manziel.
W E E K L Y W R A P
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| Happy players. Real happy fans. |
- ND and USC: The Irish did not look as strong as I expected, winning with mostly field goals over a known-to-be defenseless USC. Nonetheless, bring on the SEC Champ for the title match.
- Bama and Auburn: No surprise. Auburn is hurting; Chizik is out. I never really liked the guy anyway. There was just too much fishy-ness following him around.
- UGA and Tech: The Dawgs brought it all, start to finish. Bring on the Tide.
- Florida and FSU: Those Gators are the comeback team in the SEC (too bad it didn't work with UGA). Florida has three wins over Top 10 teams...but will not play in the SEC Championship. Great record, but still aching from the one that got away...
- UW and WSU: Wow...I think UW overlooked this game.
- UO and OSU: A defenseless shootout but Oklahoma was the last man standing.
- UO and OSU: Oregon bounced back from last week's shocker...but still no PAC-12 title game.
- SCar and Clemson: The last of the SEC - ACC match-ups for the day and it turned out like the first two with SCar taking home the Palmetto Trophy.
- UM and OSU: This was the bowl game for Meyer and the Buckeyes...and they pulled it off. An undefeated season and nothing to show for it. too bad that Meyer inherited such talent from a staff that cared more about winning at all costs than the players and their bowl memories.
- And... Stanford and UCLA play again in six days for the PAC-12 title. UCLA will have a chance for payback within a week and will not have to wait a year.
- Oh yea...and BYU coaches found a good, consistent QB. (Yes - he was playing against a 1-win team). But too bad it was the last regular season game, too bad he is a senior, and too bad the coaches didn't listen to fans earlier in the season.
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| Rambo says "That ball is mine." |
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| Not again. That's four in a row! |
W E E K L Y W H I N E
I won't belabor the point that has been made so often in this blog but once again I must whine about the BCS rules. Here we go again: the ACC will send their conference champ to a BCS bowl as will the Big East. It could be a deserving 10-2 FSU or the 6-6 GaTech. The Big Least will likely send 9-2 Rutgers. Neither of these teams show in the Top 10. And the PAC-12, even with 1-loss Oregon will likely send a 2- or 3-loss team to a BCS bowl. Didn't the BCS masterminds recognize the possibility of such a scenario when they set up this money based system? Didn't anyone stand up and say, "Wait! What if one of these power conferences sucks one year?" ? When will they learn...?
E N D Z O N E
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| Johnny just finds a way to get things done. That's what Heisman winners do. |