Then there was college football. I was hoping that Texas A & M would upset the Longhorns, while Oklahoma would lose to Oklahoma State on Saturday, giving Mizzou the easier opponent of Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship game. By easier, I mean that Missouri would stand a chance. They've actually beaten Tech under Gary Pinkel (AKA Bob Stoops' bitch in this picture), as opposed to Texas and Oklahoma. And sure, Mizzou was ranked number one in the country last year, which shows us that history doesn't necessarily mean much in today's match ups. However, even us Mizzou fans with the shortest of memories who can forget blowing that regular season game in Norman last year, will certainly remember the shellackings that the Tigers took in the Big 12 Championship game from OU (38-17) and the regular season showdown this year with Texas(56-31). The truly sad thing, is that Texas score is closer than the game really was.
Well, A & M didn't beat Texas as most of you know. They weren't close, losing 49-9. I personally blame my Aunt Sherry. A little known fact in the sporting world, is that my Aunt has single-handedly altered more games than the Black Sox, point shavers, and the Patriots' camera guy (you know the one I mean and so does T.O., but more on that later). All it takes is that she looks at the TV screen. Whoever is going from left to right, wins automatically. As soon as she looks at the game, they needn't play another down. It's over. This works for every sport that has a this pattern, so at least baseball is spared. A team can be down by 21 with two minutes remaining, but if they're going left to right the first time she looks at the game, prep yourself for a miracle comeback. It'll happen. Texas was going from left to right in the first quarter. My aunt was talking to me and not paying attention to the TV. Then, with about a minute left in the first, she looks at the TV, and asks,"Hey, who's going left to right?" I yelled something along the lines of,"AAAHHH, you couldn't have waited one more minute." After that, I suggested we went back to to The Incredibles or play a game. We ended up doing a little of both, and I would only find out later how badly my aunt beat the Aggies.
Friday night, I watched Boise State go from a tight game with Fresno State to a blowout in what seemed like a matter of seconds. That blue turf is magical stuff. Fresno was right in it, down 13-10 at the half. Ten minutes into the third quarter, it was 41-10. Forty-one! They went on to beat them 61-10 to finish the year undefeated. Ian Johnson tied Marshall Faulk for the most rushing touchdowns in the history of the WAC. The reason why they had to pour it on, was to give them some chance of a BCS berth. The BCS is so flawed, that many of ESPN's college football experts believe that there's a good shot that a two loss Ohio State team will get into a BCS game ahead of an undefeated Boise State team. I just hope the committee remembers what happens when the respective teams are given big games. OSU shows up in the literal since and gets pounced on, typically by a much faster and much more talented team from the SEC (LSU and Florida in the last two years). Boise, however, shows up to play their best football. They shocked the world two years ago by upsetting Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl 43-42 in overtime, which gave us this great moment with Ian Johnson. The BCS runs off of TV. So the committee just needs to ask themselves, "What is better TV?" OSU getting blown out of the water buy a much superior team, or the fearless Boise State Broncos who will take on anyone anywhere, any time, and make a game of it. That's a no-brainer.
This brings us to Saturday. Mizzou apparently thought that they were OU or Texas, because those teams don't need to play their best to beat Kansas. The Tigers came out flat and it showed. The Jayhawks took advantage of it and built a sizable lead. A 48-yard field goal from senior kicker Jeff Wolfert with 23 seconds left in the first half got the Tigers to within nine, which was well within striking distance for such an efficient offensive team. Unfortunately, when you're nine down, you can't afford to trade touchdowns with an opponent, but that's essentially what the Tigers did in the second half. At one point, they scored two straight to get on top by four, but they went back to the exchange, which worked out about as well as the U.S. dollar is these days.
Todd Reesing completed a 26-yard pass for the winning touchdown with 27 seconds remaining on fourth down and seven. This is completely inexcusable. Not because Kansas scored or won. But because the receiver got behind Mizzou's secondary when the Jayhawks were down by four, needing a touchdown to win. If the Tigers had given up an 8-yard completion for the first down, that wouldn't have been great, but it wouldn't have made their chances slim to none. The Jayhawks still would have had to make at least one more play with time getting short. If the Tigers' secondary couldn't stop the Jayhawks, OU's going to give them hell. OU went on to beat Oklahoma State by 20 (it was a closer game than that, the Sooners just ran it up at the end again) and essentially knocked Tech out of the picture. The BCS rankings the next day decided that OU, not Texas, would be the identity of Mizzou's executioner, even though Texas beat OU on a neutral field by 10. The Big 12's tie-breaking system needs about as much work as the BCS itself. Texas should get to kill Mizzou twice this year. They beat Oklahoma and besides, the Sooners got to beat Mizzou twice last year. It's only fair.
So, do I really believe that a Mizzou team that ranks 116th in passing defense out of 119 and just lost to Kansas can stop an OU team that has put up 60+ points in the last four weeks? I don't think anyone's that much of a homer. That said, Sam Bradford does reportedly have a wrist problem in his throwing arm. If that is the beginning of a Murphy's Law scenario, then the Tigers have a chance. Other than that, they can only hope to be spared by Bob Stoops' "run of the score so I can get more votes" mentality. I hope Stoops knows that he's in the BCS Championship game as long as he wins this game and doesn't make it anymore embarrassing for the Tigers.
Sunday, I watched very little football. I had made plans to hang out with my Uncle Bruce and my girlfriend, so I saw the beginning of the Rams game, but that was it other than highlights later that night. I attempted to Tivo the Steelers and Patriots game, but for whatever reason it didn't record. So when I went to my computer to check the score since I disappointingly couldn't watch the game as I had planned, after avoiding it all day (it was on at the bar at Cheesecake factory where we went to dinner), I was just hoping we didn't get creamed like we did at Foxboro last year. Well, apparently I wasn't the only one having recording issues that day, as we smoked the Pats 33-10. The last time we beat New England in the regular season, we won the Super Bowl. So that's a good sign. So is the fact that offenses are offenses should dread playing us. Just ask Wes Welker if he would be comfortable going against the Steelers again. That hit wasn't even cheap, because the ball was tipped before Ryan Clark layed him out. Throwing a flag on this is like calling a penalty on Scott Stevens. Was the hit necessary? Of course not. But was it clean? By all means. These refs need to remember that their not officiating baseball. Football is a violent, contact sport by nature. There's a reason why the players wear helmets and lots of padding. Welker didn't complain about the hit that I'm aware of. He's a football player, and once he remembered where he was, I'm sure he agreed the hit wasn't cheap.
All in all, it was a good weekend. My team that is really relevant in the NFL improved to 9-3 and the Rams improved in the standings for number one overall by only kicking field goals against the Dolphins. I'm officially tanking on the Rams again and have been since the Jets blowout. I don't have much hope that we can catch the Lions, which is depressing because I think that the Lions could beat the Rams. Perhaps the Lions, Rams, Chiefs, Bengals, and Seahawks can just forfeit their remaining games and have a tournament to decide the number one pick instead. This includes every team with two losses or fewer (sorry Al Davis), and would be much more entertaining. Also, unlike the BCS or NFL's overtime system, it would decide something extremely important on the field. Scheduling wouldn't even be that difficult, as the Bengals are already scheduled to play the Chiefs, as are the Rams against the Seahawks. And with this amount of teams, the 20 games would all fit into the NFL's last four weeks of the regular season. This might not be the best system, especially with how it could affect the teams still in the playoff hunt, but it would beat the coin toss that occasionally acts as a tie-breaker (This was how the Falcons and Raiders draft position was decided last season).
Since I'm on football, I'm going to finish with picks for my teams for the upcoming weekend.
Cardinals 42 Rams 15 (five field goals this week!)
Steelers 31 Cowboys 17
Oklahoma 58 (the 8 can also act as the infite symbol if you rotate it) Mizzou 33
Keywords: Mizzou, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh Steelers, St. Louis Rams, Texas Longhorns
