CFP and Steelers Win

I decided midway through the afternoon yesterday  that the Monday Morning Blog Post would concentrate on the final bracket for this first ever 12 Team College Football Playoff.

Oh, I am not going to make a case as to whether or not a three loss Alabama or an 8-3 South Carolina, who beat Clemson, should be in there, nor do I care about who is seeded where.  Let the ESPN gasbags deal with all of that.  Rather, I want to speak to one of the unintended consequences, for this year at least, that this format hath wrought, and that is the complete and utter lack of drama that was Conference Championship Saturday in college football, or College Football, as Kirk Herbstreit might put it.

Think about it.  Of the twelve teams in the bracket, four of them (Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee, and Indiana) didn't even play on Saturday because they had failed to qualify for their conference title game, and three of the teams actually LOST in their title game but are still alive for the Championship.  Only one of the games was a win-or-go-home game, Clemson vs SMU, and that was only if Clemson lost.  SMU lost, but they are still alive for the CFP title.  The people who bitch about Notre Dame being an independent and not having to win a Conference Championship in order to qualify, should now shut up entirely, because, clearly, winning your conference championship doesn't matter (see Texas, Penn State, Ohio State, Tennessee, Indiana, and SMU).

Oh, the games themselves were terrific:  Georgia 22 - Texas 19 in OT, Oregon 45 - Penn State 38, and Clemson 34 - SMU 27 on a last play of the game field goal, but the question becomes, if these games don't matter, and clearly they do not when it comes to deciding a CFP Championship, then why play them at all?  And before you answer, I will tell you that I already know answer. When it comes to big time sports, the answer to ALL of your questions is MONEY.  These games will continue to be played as long as ESPN or some other TV sugar daddy will open the vaults to the universities in question.

All that said, I am really looking forward to the games that will be played and the sturm und drang  that will surround them.  In the opening round alone....

• Clemson vs Texas. Who doesn't want to watch this game and cheer for Dabo Swinney to get his Bible-thumping ass kicked? Hook 'em Horns, I say!
• Tennessee vs Ohio State.  After losing his fourth straight game to Michigan last month the question becomes, "Will Ryan Day lose his job if he goes out early in the CFP tourney?"
• SMU vs Penn State.  Can James Franklin win a game against a ranked team?  
• Indiana vs Notre Dame.  Well, it is Notre Dame, after all, and they are playing an in-state rival, and just how good is Indiana after all?

It's gonna be a lot of fun, I do believe.

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Oh, and I can't not mention something that always brings great joy to my football heart....

Steelers 27 - Browns 14

Yep, a Steelers win over this long time rival is always good news.  I thought I'd include a few highlights of yesterday's game for my Cleveland pals.

Browns kicker Dustin Hopkins on one

 of his two missed field goal attempts

Kadarius Toney muffs a point which was recovered 

by Steeler Ben Skowronek.  The game was 

pretty much over at that point anyway, 

but it put a nice bow on the Steelers victory.

The Steelers are now 10-3, have a two game lead over Baltimore in the AFC North, as they head into a brutal three game stretch of the schedule: @ Eagles, @ Ravens, Chiefs at home on Christmas.   Three playoff caliber teams as they gear up for the Playoffs.

What a Great NFL Weekend; And a Season End GPR

Everyone Steelers fan worth his or her Terrible Towel knew what was at stake entering Week 18 of the season.  The Steelers could make the post season if several things happened:

• First and foremost, the Steelers had to beat the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday afternoon, which they did, 17-10, behind the the quarterbacking of Mason Rudolph and the running off Najee Harris, plus some strong defense.

And on Sunday....

• Tennessee needed to beat Jacksonville, OR
• Miami needed to beat Buffalo, OR
• Miami and Buffalo could tie

Tennessee had nothing to play for.  They were not making the post-season regardless of the outcome, and all Jacksonville had to do was win, and they would make the playoffs, win the division, and get a home game in the playoffs.  The Titans, playing for nothing but pride and, one could argue, the integrity of the game, laid one on the Jags, 28-20, and eliminated them from the post-season.

This rendered the results of the Bills-Dolphins game moot, from a Steelers standpoint, except to determine who and where the Steelers will play this weekend.  In an absolutely terrific, albeit not totally artistic, game, the Bills defeated the Dolphins, 21-14, and secured the #2 seed in the AFC.  Thus, the Steelers will travel to Buffalo on Sunday for the 1:00 game.  And if they win, they will once again head to Baltimore to take on the Ravens in the Divisional Round, and how delicious would that be?  

One step at a time, though.

As everyone knows, the Ravens team that Steelers defeated was not the Ravens team that at the moment appears to be the best team in the AFC, if not the entire NFL.  With nothing to play for, QB and presumptive MVP Lamar Jackson was only one of several notables to sit out this one.  The Ravens were not unique in this regard.  The 49'ers sat Brock Purdy, and Joe Flacco did not play for the Browns, and there were others throughout the League.  By the time Jackson and Purdy play in the Divisional round, it will have been three weeks since they would have played any real football.  Time will tell if this proves to be the right decision for these players and teams.

I will save my ruminations on who I think will win and advance to the next round for later in the week, but until then, here are the Grandstander Power Rankings including all fourteen playoff teams.

1. Ravens 13-4 (Last week - 1)
2. 49'ers 12-5 (2)
3. Lions 12-5 (3)
4. Cowboys 12-5 (6)
5. Bills 11-6 (7)
6. Browns 11-6 (4)
7. Rams 10-7 (9)
8. Dolphins 11-6 (5)
9. Chiefs 11-6 (10)
10. Eagles 11-5 (8)
11. Steelers 10-7 (unranked)
12. Packers 9-8 (unranked)
13. Texans 10-7 (unranked)
14. Bucs 9-8 (unranked)

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I would be remiss if I didn't make mention of tonight's College Football Playoff Championship Game between the Universities of Michigan and Washington.

I am looking forward to watching this one and can only hope that it will be prove to be as entertaining and as competitive as the two semi-final games that produced this matchup.  For what it is worth, I put some money on Michigan at -5.5.  

In actuality, what has been rolling around in my cranium for the last several weeks has been a column on the state of college football, which served to produce a bowl season of stunningly mediocre, boring, and downright lousy and meaningless games except for the two CFP semi-final games, and, we hope, the title game this evening.  However, the busy-ness of the Holiday season, a brief two night vacation, and the NFL have served to allow whatever ire I had over the whole thing to dissipate and made me put this idea on the shelf.  Perhaps for another day.

Football News.....and the GPR

It is Wednesday, so I acknowledge that what I am writing now can be considered Old News, but I know you all have been waiting on the edge of your seats, so here goes.....

"The College Football Playoff"

Does any topic generate more hot air than the selection of the four teams that will comprise the College Football Playoff field, both in the weeks leading up to and in the days following the selection?  All of this intense debate and, it logically follows, intense interest will go away next year when the CFP expands to twelve teams.  Sadly, I guess that the bloviations of Mike Greenberg, Stephen A. Smith and their ilk will still be a part of the discussions over the fact that scrappy 11-2 East Overshoe University got overlooked for spot Number Twelve in favor Enormous State University, who went 10-3, but finished third in a much stronger conference.

Be that it as it may, I am delighted that Alabama got selected as one of the four teams.  They beat the team that had been undefeated and rated Number One all season, and well, THEY ARE ALABAMA!  You may get tired of them year after year, but they are always good - at least in the Nick Saban Era - and they are always  fun to watch.   Yeah, I feel bad for the Florida State players, but tough shit, kids.  Now is as good a time as any to learn that life ain't always fair.

By the way, I plunked down ten bucks on Alabama to win the whole thing at +200.

"Embarrassment at Acrisure, or Cardinals 24 - Steelers 10"

The less said about that enormous stink bomb that Steelers set off this past Sunday, the better.  At the time for the first weather delay, I made the comment that the refs should have ruled a TKO in favor of the Cardinals and sent everybody home. It was that bad. However, I will make two observations.

One, if anyone was going to take part in dismantling the Steelers that day, I'm glad that it was James Connor.

Two, how about Dionte Johnson "celebrating" his fourth quarter touchdown, you know, the one that cut the Arizona lead from 24-3 to 24-10.  This following the week when he quit on a play against Cincy and was forced him to make a locker room apology to his coaches and teammates.  Hope that Steelers part ways with this goof at the end of the season.  As friend of mine stated, "he's not even that good."

"The Grandstander Power Rankings - We Have A New Leader"

A convincing win over the Eagles have vaulted the San Francisco 49ers to Number one in the GPR.

1. 49ers 9-3 (Last week - 4)
2. Eagles 10-2 (10)
3. Ravens 9-3 (2)
4. Dolphins 9-3 (5)
5. Lions 9-3 (6)
6. Chiefs 8-4 (3)
7. Cowboys 9-3 (8)
8. Jaguars 8-4 (7)
9. Texans 7-5 (unranked)
10. Packers 6-6 (unranked)

Others receiving consideration: Bills, Browns, Colts.

Interesting games this week in terms of how it might affect the GPR.....Rams-Ravens,  Lions-Bears, Seahawks-49ers, Bills-Chiefs, and Eagles-Cowboys.

What A Football Weekend!

Well, you couldn't have closed out 2022 and begin 2023 in any better fashion, football-wise, that what we were treated to this past weekend.

Let's start with the College Football Playoff Semi-finals.

I can recall that in past years, like last year, these semi-final games have tended to be one sided and just not all that good.  Not so this year.

First game, TCU 51 - Michigan 45.  Explosive offenses.  Tremendous quarterback play, and a game that went to the final minutes.  Plus, Jim Harbaugh gets beat.  At the end of the game, my thought was, "Top that game, Georgia and Ohio State."

Well, they did.  Georgia 42 - Ohio State 41.  Explosive offenses.  Tremendous quarterback play, and a game that went down to the final three seconds before it was decided.

Currently, Georgia is a 13.5 point favorite in the CFP Championship game.  The Over/Under is set at 62.5 (bet the OVER).  Regardless of the point spread, if you have no dog in the fight, how could you not be rooting for TCU against the SEC behemoth Georgia?   Should be a whale of a game, and I can't wait to see it.

Then came Week 17 of the NFL.  I confess to missing all of the afternoon games yesterday for various and sundry reasons.  I know that it featured an amazing Tom Brady Performance, an amazing Aaron Rodgers Performance, a crushing victory for Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars, and an OT win by the 49ers.  Would have loved to have seen them all, but I didn't, but I did see yet another classic in the epic drama that is Mike Tomlin's Steelers vs. John Harbaugh's Ravens.  This one won by the Steelers 16-13.

It was won with :54 remaining when Kenny Pickett passed...

...to Najee Harris in the end zone....

...for the game winner.  It was a tremendous throw as Pickett had to scramble to his left to avoid being sacked, and an even more tremendous catch by Harris.  It also marked the second week in a row where Pickett led the team on length-of-the-field drives in the closing minutes of the game to win it for the Steelers.

The Steelers playoff hopes, amazingly (remember that they were 2-6 at one point), are still alive.  They need to beat the Browns at home next week, but are dependent on two other games going their way, so it's a long shot at this point.  This season, it should be remembered, was not going to be about W's and L's or deep playoff runs.  It was to be about the replacement of an 18 year vet Hall of Fame quarterback and the development of first round pick Kenny Pickett into the QB of the Future.  That story has yet to be written, of course, but it seems to be trending, as Neal Huntington used to put it, upward.

One last comment on last night's game.  However, you may feel about Chris Collinsworth as an announcer  - I happen to like him, but I know that many consider him a football version of Tim McCarver - he does know football, and a couple of comments he made last night were noteworthy to me.  One, he made a number of favorable comments about LB Robert Spillane, two, he said that Pickett's TD pass to Harris was worthy of anything Patrick Mahomes does, and three, he compared Pat Freiermuth to Travis Kelce.  That is some pretty serious company.

Already looking forward to next week.

College Football and Its Coaches

So if you asked me back in July, "Who do you think is going to be in the College Football Playoff following the 2020 season?"  I wouldn't have had to do a whole lot of thinking (nor would anyone else) before answering...Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State.  I also would have said, cynically, if there is any way for the Committee, at the subtle urgings of ESPN, to get Notre Dame in because of the millions upon millions of eyeballs that they would bring to the party, i.e., TV sets,  then, I'll say, sure, go for the Irish.

And so it came to pass:

Are they the four best teams in the country? Probably.  Is it good for the overall state of College Football that it is so easy to predict the participants in this little scrum year after year?  That is another question, and after listening to a couple pf podcasts today and hearing some expert observers of the sport, the answer is, probably, yes.  This is the seventh year of this CFP format.  Alabama and Clemson have been in the Playoffs six times each, and this will be the fourth trip for Ohio State.  Sixteen of twenty-eight slots have been occupied by only three schools.  If you're a fan of those three schools, great, and as viewer, the quality of the games that those schools will give you is undeniably great, but what about the other one hundred and whatever number schools play D-I football, not to mention all of those schools in conferences outside of the Power Five?

This will become a problem if, and only if, the TV ratings take a dive over the years if the country as a whole tires of seeing Alabama play Clemson every year.  We shall see if that starts to happen.   I will also spare going into all of the arguments that have been stated ad nauseam over the last forty-eight hours over undefeated teams like Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina not even getting a sniff at a playoff berth.  That particular problem can be avoided by going to an eight team format, but there are arguments to be made against that, too.   Like I said, eventually, Television will decide what will happen down the road.

Now the subject of College Football Coaches.  In this aberrant year of 2020 (and I don't have to spell out the reasons for that, do I?), has any group as a whole demonstrated such a complete lack of awareness in regard to the issues that have faced the country and the sports landscapes, the COVID pandemic and social justice issues just to name two, than have college football coaches?  As conferences and individual schools weighed whether or not to even play football this year, people like Dabo Swinney and Mike Gundy made dumbass statements all summer long showing their lack of self-awareness on these matters.  And in these last few weeks, add remarks by Jumbo Fisher, Dan Mullen, and Swinney (again!).  

The guy who might take the cake for brass, though, was Brian Kelly of Notre Dame.  Days before his conference championship game was to be played, Kelly made his statement about maybe bypassing the playoff entirely if the parents of the players weren't allowed to attend.  First of all, no school is going to bypass the financial windfall that going to the CFP would give them.  Who is he trying to kid here?  Was he speaking for ND prexy Fr. John Jenkins when he made this grandiose statement of university policy?  Arrogance personified.  Then again, the CFP bowed to his wishes and moved the playoff game out of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and into JerryWorld in Dallas, so who really is running the show at these schools?  I also understand that the game will still be called the "Rose Bowl", because, well, why in hell not?

And how can I write a college football post without commenting on Dabo Swinney, the personification of pius, pontificating, arrogant and clueless college football coaches.  Oh, he can coach, no question about that, but he's still a horse's ass on many fronts, including his sideline behavior.  I've written enough about that in the past so I won't go into it again, but I will mention what he tolerates in the behavior of his staff, particularly defensive coordinator Brent Venables.  The TV cameras love to focus on Venables on the sidelines because of his completely out-of-control actions during the course of a game. He might even be a bigger horse's ass than his boss, Swinney.  Just imagine if you went into a bank to apply for a home mortgage, or an insurance agency to purchase life insurance, and encountered employees in those establishments who comported themselves like these guys do.  You'd run for the exits as fast as you could to get way from idiots like that.

Which leads me to another observation.  Who among this fraternity of coaches DOESN'T act like that?  Who seems to remain calm on the sidelines throughout the games?  Who doesn't go off on the media and rant incoherently?  Who doesn't make stupid statements in public all the time?  Who doesn't rip his players a new one on the sidelines in full view of packed stadiums and TV cameras?  The answer to those questions:

Yep, it's Nick Saban, arguably the best coach of all of them.  Now I am sure that examples can be found and cited of Saban doing exactly those things over the years that I just said he doesn't do, but, by and large, he is not like any of these other dopes that I have already mentioned in this post.

As for the upcoming games themselves, more on them as we approach January 1, but at this point I can't see anything other Alabama meeting Clemson for the fourth time in the Final Game (and fifth time overall) in the seven year history of the CFP.  Such a match-up will certainly make for the best game, even if we've seen it many times before.

NFL Playoffs and the New GCR

Once again, the National Football League delivered the goods to its fans this past weekend in the Divisional round of the Playoffs.

• 49'ers over Vikings.  This is the one game that I missed die to other obligations.  It seems that this was the most pro forma of the four games this weekend, so if I had to miss one, that was probably the one to miss.
• Titans over Ravens.  This was easily the most stunning result of the weekend as sixth seeded Tennessee ousted the 14-2 Ravens.  The numbers show that presumptive league MVP Lamar Jackson had a big night with over 100 yards rushing and 400+ yards passing.  However, he also had two interceptions and a lost fumble, all at critical times, and at points when it could have made a real difference in the ball game, he failed to convert two different fourth-and-one opportunities.  Jackson is a marvelous player, fun to watch, and as a Steelers fan, I dread having to face him twice a year for the next decade or so, but he came up short on Saturday, despite the 500 yards of offense.
• Chiefs over Texans.  After falling behind 24-0 early in the second quarter, the Chiefs scored touchdowns the next seven times they had the ball and won in a blowout, 51-31.  This was stunning in a whole different way than the Titans win was, and it proved that Patrick Mahomes and not Lamar Jackson (not yet, anyway) is still the New Sheriff in town.
• Packers over Seahawks.  It was a valiant comeback effort by Seattle at Lambeau Field, but Aaron Rodgers and the Packers held on and won 28-23.  Russell Wilson certainly made it exciting, but Rodgers is letting the world know that he ain't done yet.

This all sets up one of my favorite sports days of the year - NFL Championship Sunday when the Super Bowl participants will be determined.  To me, the Super Bowl itself is often anti-climactic after this doubleheader.  Anyway, that leads us to the revised Grandstander Confidence Rankings after this weekend:

1. Chiefs (#2 last week)
2. 49'ers (#3)
3. Packers (#4)
4. Titans (#8)

Can't wait to see what the betting lines will be when I toddle on down to the Rivers Casino later this week.

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Meanwhile, another football game will be played tonight to settle the National Champion of College Football.

The match-up of two undefeated teams, LSU and Clemson, and their marvelous quarterbacks, Joe Burrow and Brooks Lawrence, should be terrific and a fun game to watch.  My only question is...why wasn't this game played last Monday night instead of tonight, sixteen days after the semi-final match-ups on December 28?  It lends the game an air of "anti-climax" after such a long delay. 

My prediction, and my money, is on LSU (at -5.5) to win the game.  Can't wait to hear the mellifluous tones of Ed Orgeron.

College Football Championship Weekend and the CFP

It was Conference Championship Weekend in College Football Friday and yesterday, and great works of gridiron art were NOT produced.  Of the five Power Five  championship games, only one of them can be termed an exciting contest:  Oklahoma's 30-23 overtime victory over Baylor.

The Big Ten game held promise of an exciting upset when Wisconsin led Ohio state 21-7 at halftime, but the Buckeyes then got serious and scored 27 unanswered points in the second half to win 34-21, and the game turned into a yawner right after OSU scored within two minutes to open the half.

The other three games featured scores of 37-15, 37-10, and 62-17 (a comment on that one a bit later).  Let's hope that the  semi-final and final CFP games that will be played will all be more competitive and exciting than what we witnessed this weekend.

As I type this at 10:25 on Sunday morning, here's how I see the rankings coming down later today:

1. LSU
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Oklahoma

The committee could flip-flop Clemson and Ohio State, but since #2 plays #3 on a neutral field in the semis, that ranking is, essentially, meaningless.

As for Clemson, this is the team that I will definitely be rooting against  as the Playoffs unfold.  I switched over from the Ohio State game late last night to see how the ACC game was going.  What I saw was Clemson with the ball inside the Virginia five yard line with less than minute and a half to play, and leading 55-17.  Most coaches, even Bill Bellichick, would have taken a knee right there and let the clock run out.  Not sanctimonious Dabo Swinney, though.  He chose to run it up the gut and win 62-17.  After the game, Dabo, who loves to invoke the Jesus' name when talking about his sacred football program, probably cited a passage in the Bible to justify that play call.  

I can find reasons to root for any of the other three teams, but, like I say, I know what team I DON'T want to see win in the CFP.

Speaking of lopsided scores, did you notice that a team won the PIAA Class 2A state championship on Friday by beating another team 74-7.  The coach, whose name and school I am not going to mention, was quoted in the paper about what a "great victory" this was for his "program."  I mean, honestly, how proud could this coach be of watching his 15, 16, and 17 year old kids beating up on another school's 15,16, and 17 year old kids?

Hey, if an NFL team runs up a score like that on an opponent,  I say "tough shit" to the losing team.  You're pros, so start playing better.  I can even be a little more tolerant of elite NCAA schools doing it, although I still don't like it, as my comment about Swinney above attests.  However, it just ain't right that this happens in a high school game.  I don't know if this coach cleaned his bench in the second quarter and was playing his fifth stringers in the fourth quarter and did nothing but run plays straight into the line.  Maybe he did, or maybe he really tried to run it up like that, but in any event, a 74-7 win is nothing to be proud of.

And this is purely a personal pet peeve, but I have a problem with high schools who talk about their football and basketball "programs."  When I was in high school, my school's football coaches were an algebra teacher and a history teacher.  Neither of them thought that they were Vince Lombardi or Tom Landry, to name the two top coaches of that era.  I believe that they perceived that they were coaching an extracurricular activity, and I am guessing that they thought a "football program" was the booklet sold before the game that listed the players numbers.

College Football Playoff Thoughts

As I begin typing this blog entry, we are a little over an hour away from hearing the announcement from Oracle From On High, aka the College Football Playoff Committee, of the four teams that will comprise the College Football Playoffs for the 2017 season.  Three of those teams will no doubt be Clemson, Georgia, and Oklahoma.  The fourth will be either Ohio State or Alabama, and this debate is no doubt taking place even as I write this.

One thing is certain, and that is that for once, college sports did something right when they instituted this formal four team playoff format a few years ago.  Think about it.  Each season - I believe that this is the fourth year for the CFP - the Committee makes the announcement of its rankings along about the last weekend of October, updates it each subsequent weekend, and then endless debate and discussion takes place over whether or not this team can crack the Top Four, what has to happen for Giant State University to remain in the Top Four, what does Enormous Tech University have to do to crack the Top Four, and, wait, there is still a chance that East Overshoe University can make it if these six dominoes fall in exactly this order.  

It is mechanism that is sheer genius in that it (a) gins up awareness and heated conversation about College Football for six consecutive weeks, and (b) when the season culminates with the various conference championship  games, the system works itself out so that the four teams that make the CFP field are the teams who pretty much deserve to be there.  There are some anomalies, of course.  Last year, a two loss Penn State team won the Big Ten championship, and were left out, while Ohio State, who did not play in the Big Ten Championship, and who lost to Penn State, did.  This year, it is  two loss Ohio State who is the Big Ten champ.  Will they make the CFP despite the precedent that was set last year?  If they do, you will no doubt be hearing the screams of anguish from Happy Valley, i.e. tweets from James Franklin, along about 12:05 this afternoon. However, even if that fourth team pick - 'Bama or the Buckeyes - generates controversy, it is still great for the college game in that people will continue to talk about it, and talk and talk and talk, incessantly.

Of course, inevitably, this great mechanism will no doubt succumb to political and financial pressures, and the four team CFP will become an eight team CFP.  Will debate about  whether the eighth, ninth, or tenth best team deserves to be in the playoff be as interesting as the discussions of the fourth, fifth, or sixth teams are? Would Conference Championship Saturday be anywhere near as compelling if you knew that, hey, even the teams that lose will still make the CFP?  I certainly don't think so, so I hope that the four team format endures, but we all know that money and, in particular, television money, will talk and integrity (to the extent that it exists at all in collegiate athletics) will walk.

Now, as to this season's Conference Championship Saturday, "compelling" was not exactly the word that I would use to describe those games.  Three of the four games that mattered yesterday had final scores of 41-17, 28-7, and 38-3.  The fourth game, Ohio State and Wisconsin, ended with a close score of 27-21, but if you watched it, you had no sense that Wisconsin was ever in that game at all.  All of those games were really disappointing, and I bailed and went to bed last night midway through the third quarters of the ACC and Big Ten games.  What a letdown.  By contrast, the PAC-12 game, USC 31 - Stanford 28, played on Friday night, was a tremendously exciting game, but because of the way those previously mentioned dominoes fell throughout the season, it had no relevance to the CFP machinations.

We can only hope that the CFP games themselves, the semi-finals will be in the Rose and Sugar Bowls on New Year's Day, will be better and more entertaining than what we saw yesterday.

Okay, it is now 11:24 as I am about to wrap up this piece.  I will call it now....the fourth team in the CFP will be.....the Crimson Tide of Alabama.

As always, watch but don't bet.

Penn State and the CFP

While the Pitt-Syracuse game of two weeks ago may have been the most entertaining football game of the year to watch, the BEST game of he year my well have been the Big Ten Championship game between Penn State and Wisconsin.  Anyone who says they saw a Big Ten Championship after their 2-2 start, which included an 39 point loss to Michigan, is a liar.  Not even the most optimistic bleeds-blue-and-white Penn State fan would have said that.  They were too busy at the time trying to figure out who would replace James Franklin, who would surely be fired at the end of the season.

You know, James Franklin, right?  He's the guy who was just named the Big Ten Coach of the Year.

So the four teams for the College Football Playoff have been set, and has ANY subject been talked to death more that this one was in the days leading up to the announcement?  I'm not going to add to it other than to say this.  All the conversation centered Washington, Penn State, and Michigan as to who would be the fourth team in the CFP.  I have two thoughts: (1) When Michigan lost two of its final three games, they should no longer have been in the discussion.  You simply can't lose two games in November.  (2) Why was the inclusion of Ohio State a fait accompli  all along?  They did not win their conference championship, and their one loss was to the team that DID win the conference championship.

Going forward, please spare us the eyewash about how important it is to win your conference championship because, clearly, it is not.

In spite of all that, however, a trip to the Rose Bowl is a pretty nice consolation prize for Penn State.  The alternative, as U-Dub will soon find out, was the opportunity to get drubbed by Alabama.

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.

Bleary-Eyed Reflections On The First CFP

After seven and one-half hours of watching the College Football Playoffs, I offer these bleary-eyed and dead-assed observations.....

• Like many, I was delighted to see the Florida State Seminoles and their overly entitled miscreant (allegedly) of a QB not only get beat, but get their heads handed to them on a platter by Oregon.
• Oregon sure is a fun team to watch.
• Did you catch Nike Punjab Phil Knight standing on the sideline with the Oregon team? Guess he just wants the world to know who REALLY runs the show up there in Eugene.
• How about Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit pimping for Oregon coach Mark Helfrich to get a big raise, since he made so much less money than the other three coaches in the CFP?
• Speaking of Herbstreit, I genuinely respect his knowledge of the game, and I believe that he does a great job as an analyst, but his constant use of the term "true freshman" absolutely drives me up the wall.  STOP IT ALREADY!!!!
• Besides, at this point in the season, those players were playing in their thirteenth game of the year.  Their freshman status should be irrelevant at this point.
• I am guessing that Jameis Winston will announce that he is leaving Florida State to enter the NFL Draft by midnight Sunday, if he hasn't already.  And if he has ever actually been inside a Florida State classroom, I am sure he will never be inside another one ever again.
• When Alabama went up 21-6 early on, I figured that I'd be in bed by halftime.
• Not sure how Ohio State QB Cardale Jones got it done, he looked clumsy and awkward at times, but get it done he did.
• That Alabama-Ohio State game was a terrific one, but both teams showed unbelievably poor clock management in the closing minutes of the game.
• Wonder what all of the SEC fanatics and apologists will be saying today in light of Alabama losing to a team in a (supposedly) inferior conference who (allegedly) did not belong in the four team playoff in the first place?  They are no doubt weeping all across the Confederacy as we speak.
• How much do you think Urban Meyer is paid by Gatorade?  I mean, he has to have some sort of deal with them what with the way he was chugging that bottle of holding up that towel during his post-game interview.
• I like Todd Blackledge as an analyst, but I missed the bit they do during the season where he goes to local bars and restaurants and loads up on local food dishes.  New Orleans would have been perfect for that particular bit of schtick.

Getting away from the actual football, here are some other observations made from sitting in front of the boob tube for close to eight straight hours.....

• I busied myself by "Live Facebooking" throughout both games.  I did this on both my regular FB news feed and the outstanding Western Pennsylvania Football Huddle Chat Page.  This is a fun way to watch an event, and it was almost as if folks like Tim Baker, Joe Risacher, Sean McCormick, Matthew Algeo and numerous other friends were sitting in the living room with me watching. Thanks to all.
• Since Marilyn had the iPad, I was using the web browser on my Kindle Fire HD tablet to Facebook.  The auto-correct feature on the Kindle drove me nuts.  It did not allow me to type out such words as "Jameis", "Bo" (as in Jackson), "NFL", and "trickeration" (although thank God for that, I suppose).  It was quite frustrating.
• Commercials I liked: The commercials that featured Doug Flutie, Joe Montana, Herschel Walker, and Bo Jackson (think it was for some kind of phone network; AT&T?), any AT&T  commercial featuring Lily, any Viagra commercial with the hot chicks on them.
• Commercials I disliked: Those Allstate "mayhem" commercials (sorry about that, Dave Glass), Matthew McConaughey car commercials, the ones where the dudes rub their pits and snap their fingers after spraying on deodorant, and the one about the Garcias getting a new Buick.
• No commercials are more fun and/or cringe worthy than those for local automobile dealerships, and two come to mind immediately.  The first is the one with Susan Baierl and the odd way in which she has her head turned to her right, showing only the left side of her face.  Why does she do that?  She appears to be a very attractive woman. Why doesn't she face the camera head on?  (I made a post on Facebook  about this and received over a dozen responses, so I am not the only person who has noticed this.)  The second such commercial is any one with Rob Cochran.  Exactly how much time does he spend getting his hair to look exactly like that?

As you can no doubt tell, I am pretty much footballed out after last night, and I will probably even skip all or part of today's Pitt game (although I may give it the "FF" treatment via the DVR later) in order to be fresh for the Steelers-Ravens tomorrow night.  Instead, a trip to the Meadows Casino looms in our plans for this day, although it will never be as much fun as the trip to the FGE Casino this past Tuesday evening!

College Football Playoff

Like most football fans, I look forward to the inaugural College Football Playoffs, the semi-finals of which will be staged today in the Rose and Sugar Bowls.  It is the culmination of what people have wanted, seemingly, forever.

So, short and sweet, the always anticipated Grandstander predictions:


Rose Bowl

The Oregon Nike Ducks take on the Florida State "We Strictly Enforce the Student Code of Conduct" Seminoles.  A battle of the last two Heisman Trophy winners.  The defending champ FSU has been pushed to the limit many times this season and has seemed to have to pull games out of their collective butts week after week, but led by their controversial but talented quarterback, they have done it, and remain undefeated, the only such team in the country.  I think that ends today, and the best team that Phil Knight can buy prevails.

Sugar Bowl

Has there ever been a game of such importance where two more warm, friendly, and lovable coaches such as Urban Meyer and Nick Saban have faced off against each other?  Man, I sure can't remember it if it has.

Ohio State has an inexplicable early season loss to Virginia Tech (who lost to Pitt, I remind you) on its schedule, and the Big Ten did not garner a lot of respect throughout the season, but if you go by the highly cliched "eye test", the Buckeyes may have been playing the best football of any team by the time the season ended.  However, Alabama ruled the powerful SEC once again, and they are, after all, Alabama, so I am saying The Tide Rolls.

Should be two great games and they will lead to an Oregon - Alabama match-up in Dallas eleven days from now.

As always, watch but don't bet!

The First College Football Playoff

There hype and feeding frenzy over which teams would comprise the final four for the first ever College Football Playoff culminated this past Sunday with the announcement that The Committee That Condoleezza Rice Is On had selected, in order, Alabama, Oregon, Ohio State, and Florida State.  Left out in then cold were the Big 12 (which has nine teams, btw) powers Texas Christian and Baylor.

You can argue - and many have - that (a) Baylor for screwed, (b) TCU got screwed, (c) the Big 12 got screwed because they don't play a conference championship game, (d) Ohio State doesn't belong because the Big 10 stinks, and (e) the whole thing was orchestrated to include the teams that ESPN wants in the Playoff.  Well, I am not here to argue any of that, and in my opinion, for what that is worth, I think that The Committee got it right with the four teams that they chose.

Be all that as it may, one thing cannot be argued:  The Playoff format and the weekly rankings issued by The Committee was a rousing success for this simple reason - it has gotten the sports world talking and thinking about College Football and then upcoming Playoff to a degree that no one probably envisioned.  The Sugar and Rose Bowls on New Year's Day will become must see television to a degree never seen before.

On Pardon the Interruption yesterday, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon got into a discussion centered around "should the Playoff include eight teams" so as to avoid situations such as Baylor and TCU this year.  Wilbon put forth the interesting premise that it was better to have only four teams so as to have seemingly deserving teams still standing once the music stops.  This way conversation, controversy, and argument can still be ginned up even after the results were in.  With eight teams in the party, there would have been no such conversation as the Baylor/TCU/Ohio State arguments that led up to last weekend.  

I tend to agree with them, but I also face the inevitable conclusion that Mike Wilbon came to:  The Playoff will go to eight teams whenever ESPN decides that it SHOULD be eight teams.

Steelers 42 - Bengals 21, and Other Football Thoughts

There are very few absolutes in life - the sun will rise in the east, the Pope will always pray for peace, the Yankees will always spend vast amounts of money.  That's about it, but there is another one that you can take to the bank with as close to absolute certainty as there is in professional sports, and that is this: with rare, very rare, exceptions, the Cincinnati Bengals will almost always revert to being, well, the Cincinnati Bengals.

Facing the a home game against the Steelers wherein a victory would just about put a death knell on the Steelers playoff aspirations, and increase their own playoff possibilities, the Bengals took a 21-17 lead into the fourth quarter and proceeded to allow the Steelers to score 25 straight points in the space of about nine minutes.  That ain't easy, but if any team has shown a historical propensity for such happenings, it is the Bengals.  I don't want to sell the Steelers short here.  They thoroughly earned this victory in what, for three quarters anyway, was a close, hard fought, and pretty good football game.

The Steelers are a flawed team, especially on the defensive side of the ball.  They give up too many long plays, often for scores  - it happened twice today - but the offensive unit sure seems to be peaking at the right time of the season.  Ben Roethlisberger continues having one of his best seasons ever (despite some inexplicably bad games this season), Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown are having Pro Bowl seasons, and the offensive line appears to be among the best in the league.  Can they make a deep run in the NFL Playoffs?  Given the weaknesses of the defense, probably not, but the trick is to get into the Playoffs.  To do that they will need to win at least two of their remaining three games, with one of those wins coming in the season finale against the Bengals.  Once you get into the Playoffs, anything can happen, as the KayCee Royals can tell you.  I know, I know, different sport, but still a good analogy.

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Because Marilyn and I went to a play this afternoon, I only watched the Steelers game via my DVR recording, beginning at around 4:45.  Did you realize that you can watch an entire NFL game in about ninety minutes or so this way?  Terrific.

Anyway, this circumstance meant that we listened to the radio broadcast of the game for the twenty or so real time minutes of the fourth quarter that transpired during our drive home.  It would take a writer much, much, MUCH better than I to describe just how incredibly bad the radio team of Bill Hillgrove, Tunch Ilkin, and, yes, Craig Wolfley is.   On the long incompletion  that Andy Dalton threw to A.J. Green with Cincy down 28-21, Hilgrove described it as, and I may not have it exactly here, but the gist is correct: "A guy came and knocked the ball away, pushed Green out of bounds and another guy almost intercepted the ball."  The two "guys" in question were, I might add, Steelers with whom, presumably, Hillgrove is familiar and should be able to identify by name.  I might also add that Tunch made no effort to step in a identify who those two Steelers defenders were.

Awful, and the Steelers and their broadcast partners should really move onto some fresh blood next season.  The glory days of "turn down the TV sound and listen to Fleming and Cope on the radio" are long gone.

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I see that the college football playoff committee has settled on Alabama, Oregon, Florida State, and Ohio State as the first ever college football final four.  I think it's a just line-up.  All the pre-weekend hype centered on whether or not TCU should be ranked ahead of Baylor if all teams held serve over the weekend.  All teams did hold serve, and all but still undefeated FSU won in blowouts, including fifth ranked Ohio State.  It seems to me, and to some knowledgeable football people out there, that as the season progressed, it became apparent that Ohio State, despite playing in a weak Big Ten, was certainly among the four best teams in the country, and maybe even the best team.  The advanced metrics crowd will surely argue that this is not the case, but they passed the "eye test" to me, and, apparently, the twelve person committee, so I like the line-up.

I also like that Alabama and Ohio State will be matched up in one of the semi-final games.  With two such cheerful, outgoing, and likable coaches like Nick Saban and Urban Meyer going head to head, gosh it's going to be tough to decide which guy you would like to win more.