Football Recap (Part I)

I watched a ton of football this past weekend and with my wife being sick in bed on Friday and Saturday, I think I might have hooked my two-month old daughter on football as well. That or she just enjoys the moving shapes and colors, but I would rather think I am turning her into a football fan! All of that football watching left me with a ton of thoughts on the past weekend in both the college ranks and the pros. For the sake of space and time, we will break the recap down into two parts with my college notes coming today and the NFL tomorrow.

· What a fantastic game between Auburn and Alabama Friday afternoon. It also goes to show you that sometimes it is just a team’s year. Alabama, at least in my eyes, was clearly the superior team and should probably have had a 30 plus point lead in the first half. However, Mark Ingram’s crazy fumble that led to a touchback for Auburn shifted the momentum of the game and you could feel as the second half went along that Auburn was going to pull another one out. At this point, the Oregon verses Auburn National Championship should be as exciting as any I can remember in recent history.

· By the way, what is the over-under going to be in that one? Has to be in the mid 70s, pretty crazy for a National Championship game. The Texas-USC match-up in 2005 had an over-under of 69.5, this game would have to exceed that I would think. Coincidentally, the last time the Heisman winner and the runner-up played in the championship was that USC-Texas game with Reggie Bush (who has since vacated his Heisman) and Vince Young. I am thinking Auburn-Oregon would feature the winner in Cam Newton and the runner-up in LaMichael James. Although Stanford QB Andrew Luck could sneak by James for the runner up position.

· Dave Wannstedt is taking a beating by both the Pittsburgh media and the Panthers’ fan base for Pitt’s terrible performance at home with the Big East Conference on the line. I have consistently beat Wannstedt up here in the blog for his conservative style and his “playing not to lose” instead of playing to win mentality. But I have to stick up for him in this instance. I loved Pitt’s gameplan on Saturday. They came out attacking both offensively and defensively and really dominated the first half, probably even the first three quarters of the game, statistically. It is not Wannstedt’s fault that two of his best players in Dion Lewis and Ray Graham fumbled, or that Tino Sunseri threw a terrible interception to set up West Virginia’s lone first half touchdown as Pitt was moving down the field on their opening drive. Sometimes the loss has to fall squarely on the shoulders of the players, and Pitt’s loss in the Backyard Brawl is clearly one of those times.

· That being said, it became another instance of this Pitt program under Dave Wannstedt failing to win a big game and more importantly, failing to win the Big East Conference despite a great opportunity. I still believe though, that Wannstedt should not be fired after this year. The program is in fantastic shape both on and off the field as a result of his tenure and I am not so sure that Pitt could bring in a guy that would elevate the program further. I have said numerous times that it is a shame that Pitt cannot just make Wannstedt the figurehead for the program and allow someone else to run the game operations but I think it’s obvious that Wannstedt would not go for that. It is time, however, that Pitt put an ultimatum on him that it is Big East Champion or bust for him next year, unless he will become that figurehead.

· I told you right here last Thursday or Friday that both Oregon and Boise State would have their hands full Friday and I was certainly right. Oregon trailed at halftime to Arizona before pulling away late while Boise lost to rival Nevada in what was a fantastic game. The funny thing to me is reading all of the columns denouncing Boise State as unworthy of national championship contender after their kicker missed a 26-yard field goal that would have won the game. Many of these same writers would be clamoring for the little guy to have a shot if they would have won the game. So you are telling me there is a difference in that team if the kicker makes or misses that kick? Come on now…this was an extremely good Boise State team that fell just a bit short against a very good Nevada squad.

· The wonderfully meaningful college football season has approximately 20-25 games this weekend that mean very little with most of the BCS games being set. Upsets could change the team names in the BCS Bowls, but for the most part we know the general landscape of what the games will look like. Sure, the championship games should be exciting and there could be upsets but how much more fun and entertaining would they be if a shot at the playoffs and a chance to play for the national title were at stake.

· Sorry, I just cannot write about college football without lamenting about the lack of a playoff. Even in a year where it is pretty clear that the two teams who have had the best season will be playing for the National Title, I still can’t but wonder how great a playoff would be. I will be back tomorrow with a look back at the weekend that was in the NFL and a look forward at what should be another great week coming up.