Rivalry Weekend/Showdown Saturday is routinely the best weekend of the year, and it was no different in 2012.
Ohio State vs. Michigan
The 2012 edition of The Game, a 21-26 Ohio State Buckeyes win, wasn't the most memorable that's ever been played - not as exciting as last year's shootout in Ann Arbor, and nowhere near as thrilling as the 2006 edition in Columbus - but it will be remembered thanks to Ohio State's 26-21 victory over their arch rival, and the conclusion of a 12-0 season that, because of NCAA sanctions that came as a result of the infractions that forced the school to fire long-time head coach Jim Tressel before the 2011 season, will go no further. The Buckeyes, who could have self-imposed a one year Bowl ban during last year's mediocre season, didn't, thinking that the NCAA would be lenient. They weren't, imposing the one-year ban themselves, so this 12-0 season is all for naught.
Still, for the 100,000+ in Ohio Stadium, it didn't seem to matter all that much. As if often said, the head coaches on either side are judged - by the fans and by the media - on what they do in this game. Bowl ban spoiling an undefeated season aside, Urban Meyer's debut season as head coach of OSU will be determined a success, for he presided over a win against 'that team from up north.'
The ball went back and forth in the first half, with Michigan's senior QB Denard Robinson taking snaps from the shotgun - he didn't attempt to throw the ball - and getting the football from the running back spot, and, at times, cutting the Buckeye defense to shreds. Yet, once the second half began, the Wolverines offense went missing. They didn't score in the final two quarters, instead turning the football over when they weren't giving it up on fourth down thanks to some questionable play calls.
Credit to the Buckeyes defense. Half-time adjustments really stopped the Wolverines effectiveness. Even Robinson, gulity of a fumble in the second half - as was stand-in QB Devin Gardner - looked a shadow of his first half self when the game resumed. Even without star DE John Simon, the Buckeyes D looked as good as they had all season, taking over the game when it counted. Particularly in short yardage situations, the team in silver helmets looked nearly unstoppable. Into that storm, the Michigan offense stuttered and, ultimately, failed. Penalties and turnovers doomed them. So did plays where Robinson stood on the sideline when he should perhaps have figured in Michigan's offense. They barely crossed the fifty yard line in the second half.
Ohio State vs. Michigan
The 2012 edition of The Game, a 21-26 Ohio State Buckeyes win, wasn't the most memorable that's ever been played - not as exciting as last year's shootout in Ann Arbor, and nowhere near as thrilling as the 2006 edition in Columbus - but it will be remembered thanks to Ohio State's 26-21 victory over their arch rival, and the conclusion of a 12-0 season that, because of NCAA sanctions that came as a result of the infractions that forced the school to fire long-time head coach Jim Tressel before the 2011 season, will go no further. The Buckeyes, who could have self-imposed a one year Bowl ban during last year's mediocre season, didn't, thinking that the NCAA would be lenient. They weren't, imposing the one-year ban themselves, so this 12-0 season is all for naught.
Still, for the 100,000+ in Ohio Stadium, it didn't seem to matter all that much. As if often said, the head coaches on either side are judged - by the fans and by the media - on what they do in this game. Bowl ban spoiling an undefeated season aside, Urban Meyer's debut season as head coach of OSU will be determined a success, for he presided over a win against 'that team from up north.'
The ball went back and forth in the first half, with Michigan's senior QB Denard Robinson taking snaps from the shotgun - he didn't attempt to throw the ball - and getting the football from the running back spot, and, at times, cutting the Buckeye defense to shreds. Yet, once the second half began, the Wolverines offense went missing. They didn't score in the final two quarters, instead turning the football over when they weren't giving it up on fourth down thanks to some questionable play calls.
Credit to the Buckeyes defense. Half-time adjustments really stopped the Wolverines effectiveness. Even Robinson, gulity of a fumble in the second half - as was stand-in QB Devin Gardner - looked a shadow of his first half self when the game resumed. Even without star DE John Simon, the Buckeyes D looked as good as they had all season, taking over the game when it counted. Particularly in short yardage situations, the team in silver helmets looked nearly unstoppable. Into that storm, the Michigan offense stuttered and, ultimately, failed. Penalties and turnovers doomed them. So did plays where Robinson stood on the sideline when he should perhaps have figured in Michigan's offense. They barely crossed the fifty yard line in the second half.
Offensively, QB Braxton Miller, unsteady and ineffective last week vs. Wisconsin, looked solid, passng his total yardage from last week before the first quarter of this game was done. His consistency is still an issue - one that Urban Meyer admits - and next season, as junior, there will be pressure on him to play well every week, especially with the bowl ban lifted.
In 2013, Ohio State figure to be Big Ten contenders. I mean, Meyer crafted an undefeated season with players who, as a unit, went 6-7 last year. Imagine what he can do with his own recruiting class and a maturing Miller? In 2012, the Buckeyes faithful will settle for OSU-Michigan bragging rights for three hundred and sixty-five days.
USC vs. Notre Dame
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are headed to the BCS National Championship Game in Miami after a 22-13 victory over arch rivals USC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The team that everyone thought had been left behind by modern day college football - it's been an awfully long time since Lou Holtz in 1988 - is right back in the midst of it, thanks to head coach Brian Kelly. Once more, it was third year's a charm for Kelly. At Central Michigan and Cincinnati, his previous two coaching stops, it took him three years to right a listing program. And it's happened again in South Bend, with spectacular results.
Tonight's win, gritty and tough and not all that pretty - like all the Notre Dame wins this season, really - was made possible by a goal-line stand that Irish fans will be talking about for ages. After a long reception by USC WR Marqise Lee and two PI flags in a row, the Irish defense stood tall, stoning USC running backs three times running, then breaking up a pass attempt to a freshman fullback on the critical fourth down. From there, it was game over, and the Irish could begin to look ahead to Miami - and to, likely, a date with the champion of the SEC to play for all the marbles.
Yet Notre Dame's defensive stand should perhaps, at least partly, be attributed to USC head coach Lane Kiffin. Anyone who has seen even just a handful of Irish highlights in 2012 knows one thing: that defensive front is strong, undoubtedly one of the strongest in the country. It's like a brick wall. And Kiffin, for reasons known only to himself, ran straight at it three times, once as a quarterback sneak, and once, on third down, for negative yards.
What occurred on the Irish goal line was confounding, frustrating and almost unbelievable. Certainly, those calls defied belief. USC had a chance to score quickly, and have the best part of four minutes to get one more defensive stop - really, the USC defense had been pretty good for most of the night - and give their ball to the offense, with a chance to drive down the field for the game-winning score and break Irish hearts. It didn't happen. Time and time outs were wasted, and Notre Dame's strong defensive line took care of the rest.
For first-time starter freshman QB Max Wittek, in for injured QB Matt Barkley, it was an uneven debut. The kid was put in a tough position, as Mitch Mustain was two years ago, but showed enough to suggest that he'll be a reliable signal-caller for USC over the next few seasons. But tonight, he was outplayed by Irish QB Everett Golson and RB Theo Riddick, and the incredible rise of Notre Dame, unranked in the pre-season, to within sixty minutes of college football immortality continues.
As USC ponder changes to their coaching staff for 2013 and what went wrong in 2012, Notre Dame prepare for a tilt with either Alabama or Georgia. It will be very interesting to see how the Irish, who have played a rather soft schedule compared - lots of Big Ten games in a year where the Big Ten has been weak had the unbeaten Irish well behind fellow unbeatens Kansas State and Oregon and Alabama for most of the season before those teams all lost - will go against a battle-hardened SEC team. You get the feeling that the fearsome Irish defense will be okay, but what will the offense do in the face of such a quick, well-drilled defense like, say, Alabama's. We'll find out January 7, 2013.
Quick Screens
The new Texas Thanksgiving rivalry gave us a glimpse of the TCU defense that we've come to know and last during the Gary Patterson era. The Horned Frogs had their first signature Big XII win at Austin against No. 16 Texas, thanks largely to their defense, which harassed Longhorns QB David Ash - and then his replacement, Case McCoy - all night long. They forced Ash into three turnovers, a number of bad decisions and at least a dozen bad throws, many of which deserved to be intercepted. Texas got their ineffective offense going late in the fourth, but the a late McCoy interception ensured, and the Horned Frogs held on for a big win that eliminates the Longhorns from contention to feature in a BCS bowl in January. Four Texas turnovers were the difference in an otherwise tight game.
My Heisman frontrunner, Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel, had another spectacular game in the final SEC game of the Aggies' debut season in that conference. The final result was a 59-29 victory over Missouri in College Station. Manziel threw for 372 yards and 2 TDs and added 67 yards and 2 TDs on the ground in the game between the two SEC debutantes. Missouri's defensive ineptness might have just handed the Heisman to Johnny Football.
In record-setting QB Landry Jones' final game as a Sooner, Bedlam became all about the ground game, which Oklahoma rode to a memorable51-48 OT victory against fierce rivals Oklahoma State in Norman. The Sooners, who fell behind early and then fought back thanks to Jones' arm, then got a short-yardage, last-second game-tying TD from Blake Bell - AKA The Belldozer - and then a rumbling jaunt from RB Brennan Clay in OT after Oklahoma State could manage only a field goal with their possession. Much maligned and often criticised, Jones leaves Norman with a swag of records and a win against their in-state rivals.
In Tuscaloosa Saturday afternoon, Alabama did what everyone expected they would do, pummeling the hapless Auburn Tigers to the tune of 49-0. Revenge for the last Iron Bowl game in Tuscaloosa, where Cam Newton did work. The embarrassing defeat will surely - SURELY - bring about the end of the Gene Chizik era. Consider this, Chizik and the Tigers won the National Championship with Cam Newton running the show in January of 2011, just a handful of weeks after the amazing second-half comeback vs. Alabama. Newton left after the BCS title game. The Tigers endured a sub-par season last year. This year, it was just plain horrible, with zero SEC wins to speak of. Two years after holding the crystal football aloft, Chizik is gone. And there may be some NCAA sanctions looming as a result of the Yahoo! Sports investigation that surfaced earlier this week. Not a good week for the Tigers.
Major win for Washington State, getting their rival Washington 31-28 in OT to claim the Apple Cup. It was a dramatic end for the Cougars, scoring 21 unanswered points - 18 in the fourth quarter and 3 in OT - in a game that Steve Sarkisian's Huskies could well have one, were it not for some bad and ill-timed errors. Big win, for WSU's Mike Leach, whose team hasn't had quite the season people envisaged. At least it ended on a good note.
After being 5-0 then 5-5, the West Virginia Mountaineers are bowl-eligible, and sitting at 6-5 after beating Iowa State 31-24 on Friday. Even with the win, snapping a truly horrendous losing streak, the WVU defense gave up 396 yards to a team that hasn't exactly been rolling up huge numbers. An Iowa State fumble into the end zone that was recovered by the Mountaineers sealed the game, and a much-needed win for Dana Holgerson's squad.
Nebraska will represent the Big Ten's Legends Division after a tough 13-7 victory against Iowa in Iowa City. The Huskers star RB Rex Burkhead returned to the line-up after five weeks out with a knee injury, and scored the go-ahead touchdown from 3 yards out in the third quarter. Next week, Big Red heads to Indianapolis to play Wisconsin for the Big Ten Championship and a place in the Rose Bowl Game on New Year's Day.
A last second field goal for Virginia Tech saw them beat rivals Virginia and barely - BARELY - squeak into Bowl season. If there's been a bigger disappointment in 2012 than Frank Beamer's perennial ACC contending Hokies, I don't know who it is. Some of their losses have been absolutely horrendous. There may be some pressure on Beamer as winter becomes spring.
Congratulations to Wisconsin RB Montee Ball, whose 17-yard run to the right side of the Badger formation in the first quarter against Penn State - a game the Nittany Lions ended up winning narrowly in OT - was his 79th career score, which is the all-time NCAA record.
My Heisman frontrunner, Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel, had another spectacular game in the final SEC game of the Aggies' debut season in that conference. The final result was a 59-29 victory over Missouri in College Station. Manziel threw for 372 yards and 2 TDs and added 67 yards and 2 TDs on the ground in the game between the two SEC debutantes. Missouri's defensive ineptness might have just handed the Heisman to Johnny Football.
In record-setting QB Landry Jones' final game as a Sooner, Bedlam became all about the ground game, which Oklahoma rode to a memorable51-48 OT victory against fierce rivals Oklahoma State in Norman. The Sooners, who fell behind early and then fought back thanks to Jones' arm, then got a short-yardage, last-second game-tying TD from Blake Bell - AKA The Belldozer - and then a rumbling jaunt from RB Brennan Clay in OT after Oklahoma State could manage only a field goal with their possession. Much maligned and often criticised, Jones leaves Norman with a swag of records and a win against their in-state rivals.
In Tuscaloosa Saturday afternoon, Alabama did what everyone expected they would do, pummeling the hapless Auburn Tigers to the tune of 49-0. Revenge for the last Iron Bowl game in Tuscaloosa, where Cam Newton did work. The embarrassing defeat will surely - SURELY - bring about the end of the Gene Chizik era. Consider this, Chizik and the Tigers won the National Championship with Cam Newton running the show in January of 2011, just a handful of weeks after the amazing second-half comeback vs. Alabama. Newton left after the BCS title game. The Tigers endured a sub-par season last year. This year, it was just plain horrible, with zero SEC wins to speak of. Two years after holding the crystal football aloft, Chizik is gone. And there may be some NCAA sanctions looming as a result of the Yahoo! Sports investigation that surfaced earlier this week. Not a good week for the Tigers.
Major win for Washington State, getting their rival Washington 31-28 in OT to claim the Apple Cup. It was a dramatic end for the Cougars, scoring 21 unanswered points - 18 in the fourth quarter and 3 in OT - in a game that Steve Sarkisian's Huskies could well have one, were it not for some bad and ill-timed errors. Big win, for WSU's Mike Leach, whose team hasn't had quite the season people envisaged. At least it ended on a good note.
After being 5-0 then 5-5, the West Virginia Mountaineers are bowl-eligible, and sitting at 6-5 after beating Iowa State 31-24 on Friday. Even with the win, snapping a truly horrendous losing streak, the WVU defense gave up 396 yards to a team that hasn't exactly been rolling up huge numbers. An Iowa State fumble into the end zone that was recovered by the Mountaineers sealed the game, and a much-needed win for Dana Holgerson's squad.
Nebraska will represent the Big Ten's Legends Division after a tough 13-7 victory against Iowa in Iowa City. The Huskers star RB Rex Burkhead returned to the line-up after five weeks out with a knee injury, and scored the go-ahead touchdown from 3 yards out in the third quarter. Next week, Big Red heads to Indianapolis to play Wisconsin for the Big Ten Championship and a place in the Rose Bowl Game on New Year's Day.
A last second field goal for Virginia Tech saw them beat rivals Virginia and barely - BARELY - squeak into Bowl season. If there's been a bigger disappointment in 2012 than Frank Beamer's perennial ACC contending Hokies, I don't know who it is. Some of their losses have been absolutely horrendous. There may be some pressure on Beamer as winter becomes spring.
Congratulations to Wisconsin RB Montee Ball, whose 17-yard run to the right side of the Badger formation in the first quarter against Penn State - a game the Nittany Lions ended up winning narrowly in OT - was his 79th career score, which is the all-time NCAA record.
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