BCS Championship game: Texas 41 - USC 38
Wow, what a game! I guess I was a bit wrong predicting a USC victory, but I am quite happy with Texas winning. Vince Young was truly amazing. He pretty much put the team on his back on those last two drives and said "we're gonna win this thing." In the BCS-era, this game is right up there (but slightly behind) the 2003 Fiesta Bowl (OSU beating Miami in 2 OT). Any game that is decided in the final minutes is a classic. All in all, the 4 BCS games were probably the best 4 we've seen since the BCS's inception. All games were close (you could argue the Fiesta was closer then it should've been) at the end and each featured dramatic endings -- Pittman's TD run, the WV fake punt, the 3 OTs featuring multiple missed-kicks, then the Vince Young show. Kudos to the BCS this year. First time they got it completely right.
Some thoughts on the game itself -- I love teams deferring to the 2nd half. In the Fiesta Bowl OSU deferred...they scored towards the end of the 1st half and got the ball back to start the 2nd half -- this is one of my favorite "moral killers" in football. Same thing happened last night. Props to Mack Brown for having confidence in his defense to start the game. Reggie Bush -- what were you thinking on the option/lateral? I mean c'mon! This is the Championship game, no need to get fancy. Yes, Vince Young did the same thing shortly later, but he's a QB and his team was expecting it. After that Bush seemed to have mentally checked-out. I wonder if this might put some flags up on his draft status, or if it was just a one-time mistake? Speaking of the draft, Vince Young better come out for it. I doubt his stock will be higher next year then it is right now -- he could very well be the #1 pick over Reggie Bush. The Texans (sorry David Carr) or Saints would both be better off with him. I am one of the one's questioning Pete Carroll's going for it on 4th and 2. Being an OSU fan & having been drilled in the head with "field position and special teams wins games" philosophy of Tressel, a punt is the only thing to do in this situation. Although then I got thinking -- a punt would still be appropriate, but what Carroll should have really done is pull a page from WV and do the fake punt. That would have been exciting and sealed the game.
One more reason I liked Texas's win -- it put the whole kibosh on how the 2005 USC Trojans rank in football history and their run to a three-peat. First off, anyone who's watched ESPN in the past month knows they've been doing a series on how the 2005 incarceration of USC ranks among the all-time greats...finally coming in at #2. The problem was 1) USC hadn't won the title yet, and 2) they gave NOTHING to Texas. They pretty much assumed that USC would win and go on to their 3rd championship in a row. If they had won, the 3-peat would have only been in the AP poll. In the past 4 years USC has won the same number of BCS titles as Ohio State, LSU, and Texas -- ONE. 2 years ago there was a split title -- LSU won the BCS while USC was #1 on the AP poll. So even if USC had won, it would have been more like a 2.5-peat.
Anyway with Leinhart, Bush, and probably Lendale White going pro for USC and Vince Young for Texas, OSU could very well be #1 preseason next year. Of course that could be a curse (see 1998). We've got 7 months to wait and see. Now it's on to basketball season :) -- MSU at Illinois tonight. Should be a good game. Go Spartans.
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2 comments:
I would like for the record to state that USC did not win the national championship in 2003 LSU did.
Yeah I thought I made that clear. But if you want to get technical Ohio State won it in 2003, in 2004 there was a split championship -- LSU won the BCS, USC the AP poll, 2005 it was USC and in 2006 it was Texas. That is another problem -- D1 football is the ONLY sport that does not have a championship sponsored by the NCAA. Ridiculous.
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