by Wally
Well, it’s Friday again (seems to come around every week quite quickly these days). So we’re on the cusp of cementing the teams that will be included in the CFB Div 1 playoffs … that is, the ONE game playoff with a few other glorified exhibition games preceding it in a rather annoying and unsatisfying two week period. This of course is also known as the crappy BCS system. Nonetheless, it seems fitting that two teams previously burned by the system during this decade … Oregon and Auburn … control their own destiny and can see the path to the title game. All they have to do is win Saturday. “That’s all”. 🙂 So let’s take a look at the games that have an impact on the BCS bowls:
— Rutgers at #24 West Virginia: WVU needs a win over the Scarlet Knights combined with a UConn loss to South Florida later in the day to gain the conference’s berth to a BCS bowl. It’s been a “long, bad night” for the Knights all season and this won’t be any different. WVU wins by 24.
— UConn at South Florida: It’s win-and-in to the BCS for the Huskies. But it won’t happen! The Bulls will again be led by Michael Jordan scoring double figures (oops … wrong Bulls), but nonetheless, Skip Hotz’s team will win a close one and play spoiler.
— Utah State at #11 Boise State: Okay … I admit it, this game doesn’t have BCS implications. But I wanted to point out that the Broncos were summarily buried in the polls after a one point give away loss (the infamous missed FGs) on the road to a very good team in OT. Sure … that deserves a demotion of 10 spots in the human polls …. NOT!!! Get real people and show some respect to a class organization. Ok … Broncos may take out their frustration by placekicking Utah State players through the uprights. Boise by a bunch to finish 11-1. vNot sure what that gets ’em in terms of bowls, but I’ll salute ’em for a GREAT run over the past two seasons!
— #1 Oregon at Oregon State: The annual Civil War game is intriguing only because it’s on the Beavers home turf in Corvallis. But the Ducks must punch this ticket to get into the title game and their rival OSU would love nothing more at this point than to end Oregon’s dreams. I see this as a close one through the first half, but Oregon gradually and convincingly pulling away in the second half as they’ve done so many times this season. Ducks 37 Beavers 20.
— #1 Auburn vs #19 South Carolina (Atlanta): It’s the SEC title game and anything can happen. Now that Cam Newton is eligible (at the moment) per the NCAA (Really???), maybe the Tigers will play with clear heads and not struggle for 2/3 of the game as they have many times recently. Can Spurrier & Co play a complete game like they did vs Alabama??? The Gamecocks are a wildly inconsistent team and cannot afford a poor half of football. Hope I’m wrong, but I think, yet again, we’ll see Cam Newton’s second half magic lead the Tigers to a win and a berth opposite Oregon in the BCS title game. Auburn 34 SCarolina 24. (But I would love to see Auburn lose to pave the way for TCU to get a title shot … for all the little schools that never made it). ok … that was borrowed from Hoosiers.
— #9 Oklahoma vs #13 Nebraska (Big 12 Championship game): Winner, of course, goes to a BCS Bowl. I kinda like the Huskers in this one. Sooners might have spent most of their energy just trying to get here because the had to beat OK State in a barnburner last week to do so. Bo Pellini’s squad has a chip on their shoulder … still fuming over losses to A&M and Texas. I like Nebraska’s D vs OU’s O slightly, and also kinda favor Husker’s O vs Sooners D. So that settles it … Nebraska wins a tight one 27-24.
— #21 Florida State vs #15 Virginia Tech (ACC Chan’ship): Similar to that very last bowl game on New Year’s Day which usually features a collosal mismatch, I’m not sure anyone will care about this one by the time it rolls around. Still, I’m gonna make a pick … based purely on emotion … because I still have great disdain for Florida State … yes, because of 1993, which still bumfuzzles me . Anyway, FSU could be playing New Mexico and I’d still pick against them. Va Tech wins 24-23 …. which isn’t too far fetched.
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Before signing off, we should have a moment of silence to salute the life of Ron Santo. The former Cub great 3rd baseman and beloved radio broadcaster passed away at age 70 after battling several illnesses and recently cancer. Santo never witnessed his longtime goal of election to the Baseball Hall of Fame despite career numbers that mark him as one of baseball’s all-time great third basemen. He finished with a .277 average over 15 major league seasons, with 342 home runs and 1,331 RBIs. At the very least, Ron Santo is firmly in Chicago’s heart and it’s own HoF. If Ernie Banks is “Mr. Cub”, then Ron Santo must be his twin brother. We’ll miss ya Ronnie!
Disappointing, I guess. He was thought of as too small, wasn’t he? So, he wasn’t anywhere close to a #1 pick like Ricky Bell, right, despite the two Heismans?
I’ll tell ya how Archie Griffin won two Heismans … or how anyone who could walk and chew gum would’ve been awarded two Heismans if they ran the ball for t OSU back in the ’70’s.
Here was their typical non-conference schedule:
Bowling Green, Kent State, Toledo, Akron. Then after you combine that roadkill with the fact that the ONLY other Big 10 team that was any good during that era was Michigan, the Buckeyes were a slam dunk guaranteed 10-1 record for sure, and all they had to do was snap the ball and hand to a RB … they would get a guaranteed 350 yds rushing per game … unless it was the Michigan game … then only 175.
My mother coulda won a Heisman with tOSU back then. Don’t laugh … you shoulda seen her chase me with the butt whacker. Her speed was deceptive.
You’re really trying to get under Casey’s skin now, aren’t you, Wally?
Nope … I’m already in his head.
Seriously … Archie Griffin was mentioned and it struck a nerve with me b/c I remember thinking as a kid that he just didn’t seem to be “anything special”. Of course, that is evidenced by his “pro career”. Anyway, I also remember thinking/wondering … “geez, you can win championships without good QBs?” Well, no … you can win “Big 10 Championships” without good QBs. Seemed like Bo and Woody woulda rather punted on 3rd and long rather than pass the ball. I look back at the Big 10 of my youth and realize that it was quite mediocre, yet overrated and overhyped. Just like Archie Griffin.
Is it Open Thread Thursday yet?
Chas.. Yes please.. I am itching to comment on the 6/$120 million that the Yankees offered Lee AND they might go after Crawford as well??
The State of New York is borderline broke!!
C’mon Smitty! You can’t blame that on da Bronx Bomahs. All dah tryin’ to do is pump some cash back into the economy.
Smitty, I’ve never seen a comment become such a moot point in such a short period of time.
Hahahaha