Monday, December 8, 2008

Florida to play Oklahoma for National Championship

The SEC and Big 12 championships went just as I expected with Florida edging out number one Alabama despite Percy Harvin being sidelined and Oklahoma having yet another 60 point game while giving Mizzou a beating. Both Florida and Oklahoma have quarterbacks that are in contention for the Heisman Trophy.

Florida's quarterback Tim Tebow, despite not having the stats Sam Bradford has, is in my opinion more deserving of the award simply for his unselfishness and ability to lead his team. “I’ve had some great players, and I’ve got some great players on this team,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said. “But I’ve never had one like this. Tim’s got something special inside him. I’m not talking about throwing. I’m not talking about running. I’m talking about making everyone around him better. That fourth quarter was vintage Tim Tebow.” Even Alabama coach Nick Saban had nothing but praise for him after having their undefeated season ruined.

He’s a great competitor. He takes his teammates on his shoulders a lot. They have a lot of confidence he’s going to make plays, and they play that way. They scored two touchdowns where we had them covered about as well as we could cover them. Every time [Florida] needed to make a play, Tim Tebow made a play.
On the other hand, Sam Bradford has thrown 48 touchdown passes, more than any quarterback this season and led his team to five consecutive 60 point games a feat never seen before in NCAA football. The matchup of these two teams will most definitely be the biggest game of the season. I'm most certain the game will be a nightmare for defensive coordinators on both teams. Hopefully this game will be much better than the OU-Tech game, I'm sure if Tim Tebow has anything to do with it, Florida will put up quite a fight against Oklahoma.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Oklahoma to play Mizzou for Big 12 title

Oklahoma defeated state rival Oklahoma State Saturday 61-41, putting them ahead of Texas in the BCS standings and leading them to the Big 12 championship game against Mizzou. Despite Texas beating both Oklahoma and Mizzou, OU beat out Texas with a .9351 BCS average compared to Texas's .9223. Texas coach Mack Brown is unhappy with the situation, but understands the situation.

Going into the last couple of weeks, we knew that a good team was going to be left out of the Big 12 championship. Unfortunately, in this situation, it was us. It is what it is. We don’t like it, we don’t agree with it or think it’s fair, but, like anything else, we’ll handle it and move forward.
OU coach Bob Stoops finds the rating system fair after being ranked ahead of Texas. “They don’t have agendas, they don’t have loyalties, they don’t have opinions. They don’t have all the bias that everyone else does, and if you say no one else does, then I don’t think you’re really being truthful.” OU is favored to win the Big 12 championship and if they win, will go onto play the winner of the SEC championship game between undefeated Alabama and number 4 Florida. All the controversy this past month has put a strong emphasis on many people to put a playoff system in NCAA football. Though this has always been a controversial topic, this year seems to have more talk about it than ever but obviously with nothing changing.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Oklahoma routs Tech

Saturday's big game proved to be a blowout with Oklahoma beating Texas Tech 65-21. “I can’t remember a game where I even had near as much fun,” said Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford. In a game that was expected to be close, Oklahoma never gave Tech a chance. The win moved them up from number 5 to number 3 but still left them behind Big 12 South rival Texas.

Obviously, now we’re in the mix with everybody. With the way we played, you would think ahead. The logic of whether to put us in front of Texas? If you can’t do that because they beat us, then you’ve got to keep Texas Tech in front of Texas. What’s logical for one is logical for the other.

Oklahoma plays ranked Oklahoma State next week, where they have to win in order to keep a chance of making the Bowl Championship Game. With a three-way tie in the Big 12 South, next week's games are crucial and can shake up the rankings among them. The winner of the Big 12 south will go on to play Mizzou for the Big 12 championship.

Monday, November 17, 2008

U of H scores 10 times, trumps Tulsa

With six touchdowns under their belt at halftime, the University of Houston Cougars knew they were going to have an awesome game. Unranked Houston played number 25 Tulsa at home in a game they won't soon forget. Tulsa scored four times and put up 30 points but they failed to stop the Cougar offense allowing 10 touchdowns. “It was an embarrassing loss for us,” Tulsa coach Todd Graham said, but “as bad as it is, we’re still tied for first place.” Houston coach Kevin Sumlin was obviously happy with the win over the Conference USA leader.

Obviously, any team that is averaging 52 points per game, any time you can stop them, that is big, our defense really rose to the occasion. I thought we had a great plan on both sides of the ball and our kids executed it.

In a week where no top ranked teams were upset, there was little excitement in this weekend's college games. The only ranked teams that faced each other were number three Florida and twenty-four South Carolina with Florida annihilating them. Next week undefeated Texas Tech takes on number five Oklahoma, if Tech wins they have a clear shot at the championship but if the Sooner nation can pull off an upset Tech's chances will be all but gone.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Iowa upsets undefeated Penn State

Undefeated Penn State just couldn't seem to get it right Saturday against unranked Iowa. Coming into the game ranked 3rd in the nation behind two other undefeated teams, now Penn State's championship dreams have vanished. After leading 23-14 going into the fourth quarter, Penn St. could not hold on to their lead. Up 23-21 until the final seconds when Iowa's backup kicker, Daniel Murray, lifted a 31 yard field goal through the uprights to beat a top-five team for the first time since 1990.

“I’ve always dreamed about it,” said Murray. “I kept hoping and hoping I’d get my chance.”

Penn St. starting quarterback, Daryll Clark, played poorly in a game that should have gone the Nittany Lions direction.

I want to apologize to the whole Penn State nation for my game play today. I just keep having that turnover recurring in my head over and over. I can’t get it out of my mind.
Clark was injured in last week's big game against against Ohio State and backup quarterback Pat Devlin took over to help lead them to victory. Despite being inconsistent at times, perhaps it would have been best to put Devlin in after Clark's poor performance.

Longtime Penn St. head coach Joe Paterno is still optimistic about his team's season. “We need to keep our heads up. We can still have a heck of a year,” said Paterno.

Both Alabama and Texas Tech remained undefeated this week, but November is the month for upsets in college football. Tech obliterated Oklahoma state while Alabama beat LSU in a clinching overtime victory. Alabama's remaining schedule is against two unranked teams while Tech plays Oklahoma University Saturday in what will most definitely be the game of the week.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Red Raiders stun Longhorns

Up 33-32 with only a minute and a half to go, Texas thought they had turned a 19 point deficit into another win. Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell and wide receiver Michael Crabtree were not about to give up against the nation's top ranked team. The Tech offense was left too much time and used it almost perfectly. Harrell connected to Crabtree on a short pass that led him to the end zone with only a second remaining on the clock.

On the sideline, I kind of dreamed that I would catch a pass and go in the end zone for a game-winning score. I do that, like every game, but it happened. It kind of shocked me.

The crowd instantly charged the field in celebration and the underdog remained undefeated leading them to number two in the AP top 25 rankings.

Tech fans should enjoy this while it lasts as their remaining schedule is a tough one, playing ranked Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. If Tech does in fact have an undefeated season it would put them as a top contender for the BCS championship game but getting past Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will be quite a challenge for them. Hopefully this season will end with three undefeated teams, Penn State, Alabama and Texas Tech stirring up plenty of controversy over the championship game.

Monday, October 27, 2008

First

My name is Nick.

I created a blog.

That is all.