Football Finale

As we anxiously await the screw Penn State bowl selection process, here's a brief and irreverent (and more likely irrelevant) recap of Championship Saturday, which I guess technically began Friday night with the PAC-12 Championship game between UCLA and the Mutant Ninja Turtles of Eugene.

UCLA lost.  Oregon  outquacked them 49-31.  Neuheisal is now available for the Penn State position.  Wasn't he seen at the Tavern a few years ago?

Northern Illinois won the MAC Championship, defeating Ohio University 23-20.  Penn State opens with Ohio next season.  Maybe Frank Solich would want to be our next head coach? Wait a minute, Ohio was ahead 20-0 at the half.  I guess we can cross him off the list.  Not that he was ever on it.

My second favorite team, Boise State, beat New Mexico 45-0.  Go Broncos!  Man, I'd like to see what that coach could do with the facilities and tradition at Penn State.  But I guess some recent NCAA infractions at Boise and our own little off the field diversion have made that possibility a no-go.

Speaking of a No-Go. . . Houston . . .  we have a problem.  The Cougars went from BCS buster to bust in one game, losing to Southern Miss 49-28.  On the other hand, I've heard we might match up with Houston in the Nobody Else Wants You Toilet Bowl.

The Va Tech Chokies were in big game form, as the Clemson Tigers pounded them 38-10.  Don't be surprised if they still end ranked in the top 10.  The Chokies are almost as over-rated as Notre Dame.

Speaking of taking a pounding, Oklahoma was crushed by Oklahoma State 44-10.  Has Stoops been mentioned as a possible candidate for Penn State?  Who hasn't?  I was wondering how they could stage the Big XII championship on the same day that Texas played Baylor--granted, neither of the latter teams were in the running at this point, but you wouldn't have known that when the Texas game was scheduled.  But then I realized, the Big XII is really the Big X, and thus doesn't have enough teams to stage a championship.  My, how the tables have turned.

LSU looked mortal, falling behind Mark Richt's Bulldogs 10-0 (isn't Mark Richt on the list of potential head coaching candidates as well?), but then LSU woke up and scored 42 unanswered points to seal the SEC Title and the BCS Title game rematch with the red elephants.  The SEC is 7-0 in BCS Title games . . .they will lose one this year, since 8-1 is the best they can hope for.  Or, maybe the computers will suddenly hate Alabama.  Stranger things have happened, but I think ESPN has scheduled this rematch and nothing short of armageddon will stop it.  Go Bama . . . just for the hell of it!

And in the Big Ten's inaugural title game, the Badgers managed not to make the last mistake this time, and MSU cooperated with a running into the punter penalty that sealed their doom.  Mark Dantonio hates rematches.  I hate rematches.  I think LSU will hate them as well.  For that matter, Okie State probably loathes the rematch.  And, for what it's worth, Wisconsin won 42-39.  LSU and Bama played to a six six tie in regulation.  The Big Ten scores 81 points.  What is this world coming to?

And now we sit back and see how many teams with worse records get better bowls than Penn State.