College Football Thoughts

Some thoughts on the college football scene.....

• So it has come down to Clemson, Alabama, Michigan State, and Oklahoma.  After all the strum und drag that greeted the rankings each week, it seems to me that the Condoleezza Rice Committee got it right.  The titans of the Big Ten played each other to determine one entry, Alabama won the SEC, and Clemson remained undefeated.  the only question might be Oklahoma, whose conference has no championship play-in game, but they survived the cannibalism of the Big 12.  No problems with any of these.
• The only real drama that would have occurred would have been had North Carolina defeated Clemson in the ACC title game.  What would the Condoleezza Committee have then done with a 11-1 UNC team that had defeated an undefeated and number one ranked team?  We'll never know.
• I spent much of last night with the clicker switching among Clemson-UNC, Iowa-Michigan State, and Stanford-USC.   These are my thoughts on those games:

1. I have developed a big dislike for Dabo Swinney.  Yes, his punter made a dumb mistake, but Swinney's over the top and completely immature reaction to it put him squarely in the College Coaches Who are Easy to Dislike Club.  It is a very large Club, but he way.  All I can say now is, Go Oklahoma!
2. The final drive by Michigan State to win that game in the Big Ten was heroic, as was the goal line stand that Iowa put up that almost, but not quite, stopped the Spartans.  Fabulous finish.
3. The Pac-12 Championship game between USC and Stanford had no impact on the Playoff considerations, but it allowed me to watch a very good Stanford team for the second week in a row. While each of the four teams in the playoffs will be facing worthy opponents, I am sure there is a thought somewhere in the minds of those four coaches that says, "well, at least we don't have to play Stanford."
4. I am not sure what kind of pro potential Stanford's Kevin Hogan or Christian McCaffrey have, but, man, they are really terrific college players.  

• Both semi-final match-ups on New Years Eve look like they will be good games to watch, although it will be hard to top the theater that those Semi's were last year.
• As I sit here now, I am putting my rooting interests in the green and white of Michigan State.  I mean, who wants to root for Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney?  
• However, if I were to place a bet on it, I'd say that it will be those two surly guys on the sidelines in the Championship game, but I will save my official predictions for later.
• We also now await to see what Pitt's bowl fate will be.  As there was last year, some people are speculating as to the possibility of a Pinstripe Bowl match-up between Pitt and Penn State.  That would be fun, and it might make a lot of sense to make such a match-up, which is probably why it will never happen.
• Final question.  Should Clemson manage to win the whole ball of wax, will there be an entire generation of young men in South Carolina coming of age twenty or so years from now named "Dabo"?  One shudders at the thought.