New Year, Same SEC Scenario

As much as I want to say TCU will beat Georgia in the College Football National Championship, I will believe it when I see it. It was great to have two playoff games be actually competitive. Both of the games were very entertaining and made for good New Year’s Eve entertainment, far better then whatever was being rolled out by Ryan Seacrest, et all. Haven’t we all had enough of seeing drunk donks milling about Times Square? Unlike the previous season’s playoff blowouts, all four team showed up, mostly. Michigan was a bit late, but eventually the real Wolverines arrived. It was strange to see TCU try to hold a lead when all they did this year was comeback in almost every game they played. Except, notably, the game I saw them in at Colorado where they steamrolled the Buffs. While TCU deserves to be in the championship, I would not blame the Michigan faithful feeling a bit cheated. I have seen some bad calls in my day, but the video reversal of the Wolverine endzone catch by Roman Wilson was atrocious. It should never have been overturned. I have less of an issue with the lack of a targeting call on final play of the game, but you see similar hits of that nature get called a targeting every week during the regular season. Hard to say what impact either of these calls would have on the result of the game, but suffice it to say they wouldn’t have been positive for TCU. The Horned Frogs earned the right to play for the national title, but it feels like Michigan was the better team, if only ever so slightly.

Thankfully, there was no such controversary with the second game. It was non-stop action at the Peach Bowl. When Georgia went ahead with 54 seconds, I thought they scored too soon. It looked that way when the Buckeyes made it inside the Bulldog forty in short order. The Ohio State offense either stalled or the coaches got conservative with their play calling, settling instead for kicking the field goal for the win. Unfortunately, the kick was pulled left from the start and the SEC has another team in the championship game again. It isn’t though the Bulldogs don’t deserve it, but ugh, I am really tired of the SEC winning the championship.

As for the other bowl games, it was generally feast or famine. There were either great games / upsets or massive blow outs. For me, having a man cave with multiple tv’s is critical to optimizing the experience. We were in the process of moving and I didn’t get my temporary man cave fully up and running until right before New Years Eve. To my dismay, my current rendition only has two TVs. (Yes, my life is one of very small grievances – first world problems indeed). Unfortunately, I missed most of the bowl season. Luckily, I was up and running for FBS playoff games and did manage to catch Tulane’s amazing upset of USC in the Cotton Bowl. It was a great reminder of why I love college football. Let’s hope the national championship game continues to reinforce that sentiment.

TCU gets warm welcome from the Colorado students

A note interesting only to me:

My wife says to me “Who’s in the national championship again?”

Me: “Georgia and Texas Christian University – TCU”

Wife: “Hey, I saw them, didn’t I? Where was that again?”

“Colorado” I answered, realizing that my wife has about one tenth of one percent of the interest I have in college football.

Lastly, I would be remiss in not recognizing the plight of Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills DB who collapsed on the field after making a tackle on a kick return. My brother’s heart stopped in a similar fashion while he was exercising and was, thankfully, revived by the fortuitous chance coincidence of paramedics being very nearby. After a stint in intensive care, including a drug induced coma, he made a full recovery and with a special pacemaker in place, continues to workout every day. While my brother’s forty time pales in comparison to Hamlin’s, I am hopeful that Damar makes a similar recovery.

That’s all I got – enjoy that national championship.

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