BCS Bowl Games 2009

For the title game it's #1 Bama v. #2 Texas. Texas barely beat Nebraska in a controversial, but hard fought game. With less than 2 minutes to go, Nebraska shoots itself by first kicking the ball out of bounds, putting UT on the 40 yard line. Then, in another very stupid move, Nebraska commits a personal file on a 19 yard pass reception. Granted, he would have ran for more if not for the penalty, but the penalty adds 15 yards and I'm not sure if he would gone that much farther. So, within seconds, Texas is in field goal range to win it.

That's when things got stupid. Time is running out, you're in field goal range, you have an unused time out, so what SHOULD you do? If you think you should run down the clock a little more, keep the ball safe, call a time out with about 2 to 5 seconds left to play... well in UT terms, you're wrong. Instead, they try running some plays, lose yardage, and with just a handful of seconds on the game clock... are trying to pass the ball. That's just stupid and it almost, and maybe should have, cost them game.

The controversy is that the game clock went to zero seconds, meaning game over, after their last play, the pass attempt that went out of bounds. Now, the time keeper did nothing wrong because a play isn't dead until the whistle blows. On the replay, I didn't hear a whistle until after the clock was at zero seconds. But, the officials did a review and decided to stop the clock at the instant when the ball hit out of bounds. I don't know if that should have been the case, how many other plays throughout all games do the officials rule on whether the ground crew blew the whistle as soon as a ball is thrown incomplete? I'm sure "none" is a pretty close, if not dead on answer.

But let's hear if for Nebraska, what an outstanding defensive effort that came up a second short on winning a big game for their team. Usually defensive battles are boring games, but both UT's and Nebraska's defenses made it enjoyable to watch, and got hearts beating.

That said, Texas won, and will now face Bama for the Title. It's actually good that Texas won in that the Big 12 will be present in the title game. If Texas had lost, then the Big would not have a chance to upset the best conference out there, the SEC. But if there's a Big 12 team that can do it, it's definitely UT. Just like a few years ago when nobody thought Texas could beat USC, with it's two Heisman winners, Texas won. Now, it's a matchup against the SEC's best. And considering Bama's domination over Florida, well, it should be interesting. Bama simply looks like it's getting better, and Texas looked pretty flat against Nebraska. But then, I think Nebraska could give any team's offense fits... so it's tough to say who's really better. Additionally, there's like a month's wait.

A month's wait. Yeah... to me, when the teams are close in talent, that means the it's up to the coach. The better coach will have his team better prepared, and inspired to play some great ball. Oddly enough, these two coaches are both really, really good. Bama is favored by three points, but that's only because they've been ranked higher all season and those same people aren't going to suddenly indicate that Texas will win.

So who knows, just root for Alabama if you like them more, or root for the underdog, giant-killers. I'm hoping for a Big 12 win because a Big 12 win would help take away that mystique of the SEC somewhat and maybe people wouldn't automatically rank SEC teams ahead of equally good Big 12 teams in the future. Strength of schedule, yeah, Big 12 has strength, Nebraska proved it for sure, as did A&M.

Oregon against Ohio State in the Rose Bowl - bleh. Ohio State always plays tough and have a lot of support wherever they go. They get invited to bowl games because of that, hard playing and lots of fans to buy tickets and spend money. I'm not a fan of the Rose Bowl because I really don't care much for the Pac or Big East.

Iowa against Georgia Tech in the Orange - bleh. I dunno, I like Tech. Not sure why, except that maybe while serving in Pensacola I watched them play a couple of times on TV. Of course the players I watched back then probably have their kids playing in this game.

Florida against Cincinnati in the Sugar - Stupid. Really, it is. Cincy barely wins games against unranked teams, and they get to play Florida? That's BS. TCU deserved to play Florida by its utter domination over teams. In fact, I predict that TCU would have beaten Florida. As it is, look for Cincy to get wiped all over the field.

TCU against Boise State in the Fiesta - This would appear to be a good game... but appearances can be deceiving. The only thing Boise State has going for it that maybe (along with the disappointment of not playing Florida) with all this time off that TCU has had, that they'll be overweight and sloppy come game time. Unless that happens, even though Boise State is a good team, look for TCU to dominate, again. No doubt, with a convincing performance even over Boise State, TCU may very well be considered, unofficially, the best team this year.

And then there's the Super Bowl... well, that's not collegiate and no teams have been scheduled yet to appear... but my prediction is that the Cowboys will not be there. Even if by some miracle they were to get into a playoff game, they'd find a way to lose it. Romo, Wade, or both need to get kicked out. Romo has sucked all season. He used to be inconsistent between games, not he's inconsistent even within games. Sorry, but rare flashes of good passing should not be good enough to keep your job as a QB within the NFL, and will definitely not get you to, much less win, a Superbowl.

Come on Jerry Jones, you're good at getting rid of coaches, what makes Wade worth hanging on to? Seriously, why? I don't see it. Is it something personal? The Cowboys need a stern coach, that's been proven. Landry, Johnson, Parcels... those are the types that made the Cowboys great. Notice I didn't include Switzer, he inherited a team that my dog, very smart dog I might add, could have coached to a championship. It'd be like taking credit for coaching MJ, Shak and Kobe to a NBA championship. Sorry, not going to happen.

Sorry, it's hard to not express my disappointment with the Cowboys while talking football.