Week 12

A weekend of GREAT games has come to a close. My backspace button came apart earlier tonight, so typing all of this out is going to be pretty inconvenient.

I think I'm safe with criticizing the officials in Friday night's Cincinnati/West Virginia matchup since they werent from the SEC. The end result was close, but had the refs done their job diligently and opened their eyes to the fact that one of Cinci's touchdowns did NOT break the plane and was subsequently fumbled, the game would've at least resulted in OT. But, is it really any surprise that the refs screwed up the outcome of yet ANOTHER game? In any case, the Bearcats are still undefeated, and people will still proclaim that they are the greatest team in Ohio. Funny how some people seem to be reprimanding Ohio State for not putting Cincinnati on the schedule this season. (Approaching sarcasm.) Shame on the Buckeyes for not being able to look into the future and see that Cinci will actually go 10-0 and become a BCS contender. Instead, they scheduled Navy, who came into the season with the best rushing offense in the country, and USC, who is usually consistently loaded with talent. How weak! (End sarcasm.) Funny how when Ohio State DID schedule Cincinnati, it was considered a "cupcake" game. Ohio State has played Cinci 10 times, and has beaten them 10 times. The last time they faced each other was in 2006, and Ohio State defeated them 37-7. A likely scenario is that Cinci didnt want to play Ohio State again anytime soon.

Surprise, surprise. Texas beat up on yet another consistently bad team. Surprise, surprise that they had yet another cake walk against a team without their key players. *Yawn* I'm bored with them.

Sooo, I've been accused of being a bandwagoner and letting my admiration for Tebow blind me because I'm picking Florida to beat Alabama. Actually, it's called watching both team's games, observing their play, and determining for myself in that way who I think will win. Also, given both team's recent pasts, I'm not yet ready to give Bama the benefit of the doubt. I think last year's Alabama team is better than this year's, and well, we all know what happened to them last season. I still think Florida looks like the better team, and unless they lose to FIA or Florida State, I still believe they deserve to stay #1. South Carolina gave Florida a ball game, but I knew they'd eventually turn into the disappointing team we all know them to be. That reminds me. South Carolina players supposedly go on to work in gas stations, but apparently, Tennessee players go on to ROB those gas stations. If Lane Kiffin has any ounce of dignity left, he should kick those thugs off the team. These athletes who choose to commit crimes in their free time dont deserve the amazing opportunity they are given that most men would kill for. I would kick them off the team and make sure they are taking my order at Burger King for the rest of their lives.

Speaking of people who should have their jobs taken away from them, Notre Dame blew another one. I wonder what the hunchback of Notre Dame's excuses were for that loss. There has to be some underlying, legitimate reason as to why Notre Dame keeps losing that doesnt consist of them just being a bad team, having questionable coaches, and making horrible play calls. There is a conspiracy going on. After all, Weis is a genius. Geniuses have 1 good year their first year of head coaching, WITH THE PREVIOUS COACH'S RECRUITS, and are deserving of a 5-year extension. Their winning season was obviously all thanks to Charlie. ND has too much pride to ever recognize or admit when they are wrong and made a mistake. Charlie is Catholic and Irish, so he's amazing anyway. Let's just disregard the fact that most of ND's greatest coaches were neither Catholic nor Irish. Let's jump on the Weis bandwagon, anyway! I actually like Notre Dame, but I've been disappointed in the program as a whole ever since they hired Weis. They fired Willingham for undisclosed reasons, which I was a little upset about, and brought in a guy who is inexperienced at the college level and blames everyone and everything else for their losses. It's gotten so irritating. The bigwigs need to swallow their pride and arrogance and get back to being the Notre Dame team they should be. That starts with getting rid of Weis and WISELY choosing a new guy.

I love how USC was ranked so highly at the beginning of the season, and as always, they were projected to be in the national championship, but now that they have been showing their true, young-team colors, the excuses are flying. "They have a freshman qb, their defense is young, most of their coaches have gone to other schools to coach," BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH. Why didnt anyone find it significant to make mention of any of that at the beginning of the season? Oh, because USC always "reloads," and is usually the best thing the Pac10 has to offer, so there ya go. Ohio State was never given any freebie excuses last season when they had a freshman qb and some young, offensive guys.

Of course, the best and most exciting game of the day was Ohio State and Iowa's matchup. I should've known it wouldnt be easy. It was a true, BigTen title matchup and an instant classic. My heart was pumping, my hands were shaking, my blood pressure was probably through the roof, but it was all worth it in the end. My voice even sounds different from the screaming that escaped from my mouth due to a few, exciting, key plays. Those were easily the 2 best defenses in the BigTen conference. Iowa's freshman qb looked impressive, too. I think they have something good with him in the future years. When it comes to freshman qb's, it could go either way. You will either see a freshman who is nervous and makes mental errors, thus tarnishing his team's fate in any given game, orrrrr, you will see a freshman qb having a breakout game, which a lot of the time is due to the fact their opponent's defense doesnt have any film on the guy and thus doesnt know how to defend him. Well, the latter is basically what I had to experience tonight. In any case, we are Rose Bowl bound, and it was thanks to our own, inexperienced, freshman kicker that we are smelling those roses. The only criticism that I have is that Tressel is perfectly content with just not losing, as opposed to WANTING to win. He wont let our offense, which needs all the confidence they can get, attempt to make big plays. He is perfectly content with running up the middle on 1st and 2nd down, and sometimes even 3rd down, so as to play it safe and run the clock down. Well, when you're playing against a team that actually has a solid defense, YOU CANT CONSTANTLY RUN THE BALL UP THE MIDDLE. THE OPPOSING TEAM'S DEFENSE WILL SURELY GET THE MEMO AND STOP YOUR OFFENSE QUICKLY. If it's the 4th quarter and you're blowing out a team, that's different, but when you're only 1 score up on a team or tied, you have to play to WIN. Ohio State has most definitely gotten better, particularly after the heart-wrenching loss to Purdue. Oddly enough, though, USC has gotten worse. I dont think it makes us look any better to have lost to USC, who now looks no less than horrible. But anyway, I have concluded that Ohio State football will surely be the death of me. When I have my first heart attack, and the doctor runs some tests and tells me I need to eat right and exercise, I'll just say, "No, doctor. I just need to stop watching Ohio State games."