Back with some notes on this late Thursday night:
So, Ohio State breezed by Oregon as it turned out, 42-20 and now stands above all of us as the undisputed college football kings of the nation. Ohio State fan is standing over us all and will be reminding the rest of us of that for an entire year.
Know what the scary part about that game is? They could have beat Oregon by even worse because they were -4 in turnovers and still beat the crap out of them. Oregon has once again been proven to be a paper tiger, just as I figured they were all along. I actually picked them to lose to Michigan State at the start of the year but they somehow survived that, Stanford and the defending champs but when they got to Ohio State they were finally exposed as the frauds they are.
Bottom line is, Oregon can have all of their seven million uniform combinations and all the Phil Knight money they want, but until they figure out how to get physical at the line of scrimmage in a big game, they will never grab that championship glory no matter how much Phil Knight can cheat to get it. Ohio State mauled them at the line of scrimmage, just as Stanford did in the past, just as LSU did to them in 2011 and just as Auburn did in the national title game a few years back. In my opinion, the real national title game was Ohio State vs Alabama; that game Monday night was nothing more than a Buckeye coronation.
One thing I did not touch on when I talked about the national semifinals; I do not think four teams is enough. It's better than two but it's still not enough. TCU had a team that could have beat anybody in the country and deserved a shot to play for a championship as they showed against Ole Miss.
The ideal scenario for me is this; eight teams, and here's the real kicker, with the first round games AT THE HOME CAMPUSES. People talk about the regular season meaning nothing with a playoff, well top that. If you get the first round games at home, that's a hell of a lot to play for in the regular season. The system we've got now is most definitely better than the BCS though.
The big news of the day from college football also involves Ohio State, with Cardale Jones deciding to come back to school. The decision surprises me, simply because he's a rising prospect that may not even start next year because he'll have to beat out J.T. Barrett. It also surprises me because Cardale Jones has a new baby girl and I could certainly have understood him taking the money and going to the NFL. He's a good prospect, but like I said he will have his work cut out to earn his starting position.
It is with great regret that I did not get to the NFL games from this past weekend because I was talking about the championship game Monday, so let me backtrack and do that. On Baltimore/New England, I read that John Harbaugh was crying about the Patriots formations. Harbaugh simply needs to shut up and sit down because those formations have been run in other games and they are perfectly legal. It's sour grapes from a coach that lost a tough game. Yes, Bill Belichick will do anything to win. No crap.
I like watching Cam Newton play, but he needs better players around him. Until he gets that, Carolina will not be able to take that next step. Seattle won big, as I expected they would.
On the Dez Bryant play, I can't really say I feel that bad for Cowboy fans. Did they get jammed? Probably. The Calvin Johnson rule, as it is aptly known, is one of the stupidest rules in the book, no doubt. Technically, the refs got the call right. But it's a bad rule. It's sort of like the tuck rule that jammed the Raiders in the 2002 playoffs.
That said, as I mentioned I don't really feel badly for the Cowboys because they shouldn't have been in the game to begin with. To me that was "ball don't lie" and the football spirits correcting their mistake from last week. Also, even if the Cowboys score there, Rodgers gets the ball back with plenty of time left and there's a good chance Green Bay still wins.
Speaking of the Cowboys, Jerry Jones has already said they won't be able to keep Murray AND Bryant? Are you kidding me? You're just going to let go one of your top playmakers?
As far as the Broncos game, I know a lot of Broncos fans and let me address them by saying this: Guys, it's time for Peyton to go. He just can't do it anymore. You saw how he was in the last month of the season, and yes I know, Broncos fans, he was hurt. That's exactly the point though. At his age, he just can't do what he used to do anymore and him being out there makes him more vulnerable to injuries. He also doesn't have a dynamic running game or defense like Elway had in 1997 or 1998, which kind of fell in their laps anyways with Terrell Davis.
As far as the weekend goes, in the AFC game the Patriots should win that unless something catastrophic happens to Gronk. I thought that last week's tilt with the Ravens was their best shot to lose before the Super Bowl and I stand by that. Compared to that game, this game should be a much easier game for the Pats to handle; Luck is not ready to win a game of this magnitude yet, and beating a banged up Peyton in Denver doesn't count all that much.
In the NFC game, obviously the Packers' chances hinge with Rodgers. If he is able to play and play effectively, Green Bay has a chance.
Couple of final notes:
San Diego gets the 2016 MLB All-Star game, the first time Petco Park has ever hosted the event. Big win for San Diego to get that game.
Good win by the Rockets tonight after that humiliation in Orlando. They could still use a point guard upgrade, but nice win. I expected a good effort tonight; they're professionals and when you get humiliated like that, it ticks you off.
As far as Nebrasketball? Still can pick up some wins, but have a long, long way to come.
Until next time....
No comments:
Post a Comment