11 Lessons Learned: We waited a whole season for this?
From the Blount punch in Week 1 to the blunt punch the weak postseason gives us college football fans, this has been a memorable season for good and bad. But like it or hate it, the end of the regular season is here, other than the Army-Navy game next Saturday. Time for the satisfying regular season to come to an end and the aggravating, Chamber of Commerce-laden postseason to begin.
|
|
| TCU and coach Gary Patterson deserve better than a matchup against Boise State. (US Presswire) |
Lesson 1: This is SO frustrating. But we learned that the BCS could actually reach an all-new low.
Boise State vs. TCU in the Fiesta Bowl? Really? That's just bad on so many levels.
1. Obviously, the BCS didn't want two mid-majors playing against big-money conference teams. Lord knows, they didn't want non-qualifying teams going 2-0 in BCS games.
2. You'd think the Fiesta would want a "name" team to pull in viewers and more revenue.
3. These two already played each other last season. Been there, done that.
4. This matchup would eliminate one undefeated team with a claim to the title. We want as much chaos as possible.
Lesson 2: Cowboys Stadium ... a whole lotta not-so-good.
I spent Saturday night covering the Big 12 title game in Jerry's Big House in Arlington. State-of-the-art? Sure. Ultra-modern? Of course. Expensive-lookin'? Naturally. But here are five things not to like about the game experience there.
1. Parking. Anywhere from $50 to $75. Even the media parking was $30 for a pass.
2. Suites. Just when you're excited that you've got a ground-level suite, you come to find it's behind the benches and you can't see over the hordes of players and photographers. Great.
3. Music. The piped-in music during timeouts and breaks is annoyingly loud, even eliciting some boos from the crowd.
4. Press box. Jerry made sure the big-money boys got the best suites as the press box is pushed way down into the corner of the end zone, instead of between the 30s.
5. Configuration of the stadium. My buddy had seats on the first level of the stadium, but to get to his seats from his entry gate, had to go up to the fourth level of the stadium and back down to Level 1 to get to his seat. And, there were no bathrooms for the first-level fans either.
Lesson 3: We learned that "December Madness" would be really, really good this year.
If you thought Championship Saturday was unpredictable, just think what this kind of eight-team playoff bracket would produce:
1. Alabama
8. Ohio State
4. Cincinnati
5. Florida
3. TCU
6. Boise State
7. Oregon
2. Texas
(OK, I'll quit dreamin' now.)
Lesson 4: Give me a second and I'll tell you why Texas doesn't deserve to go to the national title.
They needed an extra second put back on the clock to beat THAT Big 12 North team? With the win, Texas will have beaten only one ranked team, Oklahoma State. And we saw how bad the Cowboys are after getting pummeled 27-0 by a 6-5 Oklahoma team.
Meanwhile, TCU and Cincinnati have played more ranked teams and gone unbeaten and Boise State, unlike the rest, has at least beaten a top 10 team. Yet, this Texas team gets the BCS title game slot? Not good.
And if you're gonna start that whole "they are more talented or play in a tougher conference" thing, don't bother. They didn't play very well this season, no matter how you slice it.
Lesson 5: Now, Alabama ... there's a team that deserves its shot.
New rule, if you make God cry, you deserve to play in the national championship game.
I won't lie, Alabama had its moments this year when it didn't deserve its lofty ranking (the escapes against Tennessee and Auburn), but when it counted and the big lights were on the Tide, they delivered. Delivered like an Ali knockout punch. You could just tell in the shell-shocked looks on the faces of the Gators that came up early in the game. They really didn't know what hit them. On the other sideline, and in just three short years, Nick Saban has burned his way to another title game faster than some of the bridges he's burned in his past.
Lesson 6: The biggest candidate for the sour grapes reaction to a bowl game is ... Florida.
Remember Alabama last year? They were unbeaten and No. 1 in the country, before losing the SEC Championship Game by double digits. The resulting Sugar Bowl showed them less than enthusiastic about playing Utah. We all remember the result of that game. Don't be surprised if you get a lackluster Gator performance in January. Those SEC title games are rally killers.
Lesson 7: Speaking of deserving things, we learned who the best football player in the country is.
Ndamukong Suh.
The Heisman is becoming more of a farce than the BCS. And yeah, McCoy will probably win it, especially when you have media honks like Lou Holtz saying, "He's going to win because he's had such a great career..." (Nice logic dude), but I think we saw who the best player is, regardless of position. Twelve tackles, 4.5 sacks, seven tackles for loss and just generally throwing Colt around like a rag doll ... we understand now.
My Heisman Top Three:
1. Ndamukong Suh. Again, best player regardless of position, bias or ridiculousness.
2. Toby Gerhart. If you HAVE to give it to a skill player, here's the best this season.
3. C.J. Spiller As far as overall talent and difference-making ability, he's worthy.
Lesson 8: We've seen some cruel endings this season, but nothing beat what happened this weekend.
Toughest pills to swallow:
3. Nebraska celebrates, then gets kicked in the gut. Texas 13, Nebraska 12.
2. Pitt has a bad snap on an extra point, loses by one. Cincy 45, Pitt 44.
1. Illinois sees an O-tackle catch a deflection and rumble in for game-winning two-pointer. Fresno 53, Illinois 52.
*Special kudos to Fresno State's Devan Cunningham for making the catch and giving college football its best Hollywood ending of the season. Put this guy in a Sandra Bullock movie.
Lesson 9: We learned that Paul Johnson proved you CAN play BCS-level football by running an option offense.
Johnson leads the Jackets to their first conference championship in 19 years, improving to 11-2 with a late rally to beat Clemson 39-34. It was the second time this season that they had pasted the Tigers, despite all the damage that C.J. Spiller had done to them. The most telling stat of the game: The Rambling Wreck went 11 for 18 in third-down efficiency. That's an offense that gets things done.
My Coach of the Year Top Three:
1. Al Golden, Temple. Nine wins, at Temple? Forget Annie Sullivan, THAT'S a miracle worker.
2. Gary Patterson, TCU. The difference between the Frogs, Cincy, Texas and Boise? TCU is a more complete team and didn't take a week off in any game.
3. Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech Proves that you can win with any kind of offense, as long as you have the right players running it.
Lesson 10: We discovered the winner of the Put A Bag Over Your Head bowl matchup goes to ... the Insight Bowl.
Minnesota (6-6) vs. Iowa State (6-6).
The embarrassing showdown of .500 teams. The Gophers earned their way to the postseason by beating South Dakota State by three points. The Cyclones earned their way by having a ... whaddya' know, a non-losing season. Ugh.
Lesson 11: Sometimes the lovable losers just lose so un-lovably.
Western Kentucky, mired in a winless season and playing with a lame-duck coach in David Elson, who was "fired" on Nov. 9, looked to be on its way to its first win of the season on Thursday night against Arkansas State. But after leading the entire game, the Hilltoppers gave up two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, the second of which was on a fumble return by ASU's Alex Carrington with less than four minutes remaining. WKU loses 24-20, ending its season at 0-12.
