Week 12 Post

I hope this was the last of the slow weekends, because things are getting pretty dull right about now. The introductory Rivaly Week was pretty okay, but it lacked a lot of spice. Things should pick up this week, but I'm not counting on it. Anyway, let's get to the games.

Oregon over Arizona

And so, it all comes down to the Civil War. Arizona had every opportunity to win that game, but could not make the plays at the end. Particularly the defensive stops they needed; it seems so long since the Desert Swarm. And I could not figure out their play-calling in overtime. Nick Foles has good numbers for the season, but I was not all that impressed with his arm or his accuracy. Meanwhile, they were gashing Oregon's defense with the ground game... why go away from that? But I'm still a proponent of the art of the basic handoff, so I suppose I am more than a little out-of-date.

But that assessment is being unfair to Oregon, who held it together when things were falling apart, and pulled out a very hard win on the road. Jeremiah Masoli in particular was very, very impressive at the end of that game. He was making all the right throws and all the right decisions to get Oregon down the field, setting up the state of Oregon as the place to be a week from Thursday.

However, we should also give credit to Arizona for battling so hard when it was clearly not likely to be their night. The ball was literally bouncing Oregon's way all night, as it seemed like the ball was constantly being fumbled, and it kept ending up under a Duck. Those are the sorts of things that make coaches go gray, because careers can be made or lost on the way an oddly-shaped ball rolls in those situations.

Cal over Stanford

See what I get for listening to that nagging little voice in my head? Admittedly, it did not play out in the way that I expected it should have played out for Cal to win, but they still got the W. When Stanford jumped out to the early lead, I figured they would be able to keep piling on the points to put away the Bears. But then the number next to Cal kept getting larger and Stanford's just kept staying the same. It looked like it was pretty intense game; I wish I would have seen it more than just on highlights.

Ohio State over Michigan

It's a rare thing when the Ohio State-Michigan game fails to make a splash nationally. But with Michigan's fade over the last two-thirds of the season, The Game was something less than epic this year. Don't tell that to the guys on the field, though, because that was a very hard-fought game. Particularly by Brandon Graham, who lived up to everything everyone has said about him. Ohio State was working hard to ensure that he absolutely got blocked, and they still couldn't keep him out of the backfield. However, Ohio State was simply too much for the Wolverines to handle for four quarters. Michigan could move the ball, but their offense needed a big play that counted for points, and they never got it.

I know that Rich Rodriguez is under fire for missing a bowl game again. And I will admit that I am not all that sanguine on his chances in the long term. But it is not at all the time to fire him. Everyone expected some bumps in the road as Michigan transitioned to his brand of football, and it is too early to give him the heave-ho. Especially when all the players he needs for his brand of football are in uniform, but are still freshmen. For instance, Tate Forcier is decidedly talented, but he is still learning how to run the offense, and he is now making all those freshmen mistakes that everyone was expecting anyway. He has much to learn; and if he learns it, he's going to be very, very good.

But enough about that for now, let's talk about Ohio State. Ohio State isn't always pretty, but they just keep getting the job done. Terrelle Pryor was making good decisions with the football (even the intentional grounding throw was, honestly, the right decision in that situation), the running game has taken off, and the defense is better than anyone had the right to expect or even hope. For all the trouble that they had with finding players and figuring out the offense through much of the season, they managed to finish the season as outright Big Ten champs, with the Rose Bowl berth that attends that honor. Meanwhile, they extended their winning streak over Michigan, their consecutive Big Ten championship streak, their consecutive 10-win season streak, and their BCS bowl game streak to 5 seasons. And they get to infuriate non-Ohio State college football fans for another year with their ability to slide through the schedule, dodging all manner of traps and dangers as they worked their way, play by play, into a BCS bowl yet again.

And while I do enjoy the regular season and the games played by my particular team (whose identity I have made no attempt to conceal—despite my best efforts, I know that it colors my judgments), I do rather enjoy the earlier end to the season. It means I can relax on Thanksgiving weekend and watch the games without worrying about my own team's game.

By the way, there was an awful lot of scarlet in those stands. Those aerial views made it look like a solid 30% or more. I know that Michigan was making a push some time ago to deemphasize football at the university, but I don't think that was quite the result they were looking for.

TCU over Wyoming

As it turns out, that feeling in my gut was nothing on this one too. I'm never quite sure when to listen to that nagging voice, and when to ignore it. I suppose that I never will, but I have learned that it is wise to at least give it heed.

Mississippi over LSU

Honestly, there is nothing that happened in this game that wasn't already a known issue with Les Miles' coaching. Even before he won his national title, people talked about his abysmal clock management at the end of games. And he has always made stupid decisions, it's just that, in 2007, all of them worked out in the end. The only difference between it being called "a stupid decision" or "a bit of brilliant play-calling" is whether it works. In this case, so many of these bad tendencies came together at the same time that it spelled another loss; which was not an altogether unexpected event anyway, considering how banged-up LSU is these days. In fact, the loss itself would not seem so bad except for the way it happened. But it certainly happened in the worst possible manner.

This loss only makes things that much harder for Les Miles, as his relationship with LSU is tenuous anyway. Les Miles' was always kind of a disappointment to LSU, since he is not Nick Saban. LSU wants Saban back, but Saban is happy elsewhere. So LSU has someone that they could be pretty happy with, except it's not who they really want. Meanwhile, who they really want is doing just fine with someone else, and that someone else is someone who always gets who they want, and now they are more than happy to talk about just how good things are for them. Which means that LSU is sabotaging their relationship with Les Miles because they are upset about getting jilted by someone else. It's quite the soap opera down on the bayou, isn't it?

Connecticut over Notre Dame

I think I have made it plain that I am not the sort of person to call for coaches' heads as soon as they hit a rough patch. All teams hit a bad spell where the ball doesn't bounce their way, or a key offensive lineman gets hurt, or the quarterback's girlfriend breaks up with him before a big game, or any number of weird things that can happen to mess up a season. And with all the player turnover teams face every year, teams are going to have different dynamics every year, no matter what the recruiting rankings say. But I think that we can call the Charlie Weis era officially a disaster at Notre Dame. I admit that I had some doubts about him early on, but I was willing to put them aside and see if he could prove me wrong. He didn't. If he gets another shot, then I'll be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for another year; but I don't foresee that happening. And I would be the only one giving him the benefit of the doubt next year, so I don't see how my small voice would help anyone on either side of the debate.

Sorry Charlie, you really seem like a good guy, and I know this is your dream job, but that is no consolation for the Irish faithful on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, your best win was a close loss to USC in 2005, and you never had a bigger one after that.