2012-12-03 13:40

The regular season is (almost, next week Navy - Army, I will write about that ...) done and the dust has settled.

There were some surprises and off cause some jobs became open, once the last game was played.

But let's do first the recaps.

The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 14

#17 Kent State vs #21 Northern Illinois
The MAC Championship game was great.
NIU was almost champion beginning of the forth quarter, leading 27-13.
Then Kent State did score twice and tied the game, NIU did respond and went ahead and Kent State did counter that and send the game in OT!
Kent State did score first a FG, NIU did tie up and went in second OT ahead with a TD.
Kent State did came to the 9 yard line and was intercepted on 4th and 8 at the endzone.
Game over.
The surprising reward for NIU was, they did sneak into BCS position #15 and because of Louisville NOT ahead of them in the rankings, they did get a spot in the Orange Bowl!
The press is not amused, but rules are rules.
37-44 -> Jacks Score: 46-23

#16 UCLA @ #8 Stanford
The PAC 12 Championship game was also a close one and Stanford was on the edge of losing.
However, the did score 10 unanswered points in the fourth and did win.
UCLA did win two in a row in two weeks against Stanford.
Stanford did earn that way a Rose Bowl spot.
24-27 -> Jacks Score: 47-23

UCF @ Tulsa
The Conference USA Championship game did turn out to be very nice.
UCF had a nice third quarter and went up front, but Tulsa was able to tie the game with a nice special team play.
UCF did punt and the punt was so long, that it went deeper than the returner expected.
The ball did bounce around and did bounce back in favour for Tulsa.
A UCF player did bat the ball back and 2-3 UCF players then tried to secure the area around the ball which did roll on the field.
A Tulsa player did came behind their backs, picked up the ball and ran 54 yards for a TD.
Game tied.
The XP was BLOCKED and saved UCF from a defeat.
They went in OT and there did the UCF kicker miss a FG and Tulsa did score a TD.
Game over.
27-33 -> Jacks Score: 48-23

#2 Alabama @ #3 Georgia
The SEC Championship game was very good!
No score in the first quarter and 10-7 to the half.
UGA then was able to go ahead with 10-21, but Alabama did came back and took the lead with 25-21 beginning of the fourth quarter!
Georgia did respond with another TD and Alabama was able to counter that AGAIN.
Then it came down to the last Georgia drive 1:08 in the game.
32-28, a FG not enough.
Pass after Pass did bring the Bulldogs from their own 15 to the opponents 8 yard line.
With only seconds to play, UGA did NOT spike the ball, but did a short pass, which was caught and the carrier was tackled inside the field.
Time ran out and the game was over.
Alabama will play in the BCS Final and will try to repeat after last year win in the Finals.
32-28 -> Jacks Score: 49-23

#13 Florida State vs Georgia Tech
The ACC Championship game was exüected to be boring and ... it almost was.
FSU did lead to the half 21-6.
But GT did not stop fighting and did score and even better they did prevent FSU from scoring!
But at the end, all efforts were not enough and they lost.
FSU did earn the Orange Bowl spot (against NIU).
21-15 -> Jacks Score: 50-23

#18 Texas @ #6 Kansas State
This was open until the end of the third quarter.
Then did Texas just not respond good enough and KSU did basically play on a different level.
The Wildcats are in the Fiesta Bowl as Big 12 Champion with the better results.
24-42 -> Jacks Score: 51-23

#12 Nebraska vs Wisconsin
The Big Ten Championship game was the biggest stunner of the day.
I did expect a very clear win of Nebraska, but what we saw was a Badgers team playing like the play an FCS team.
Nebraska was not able to prevent them from scoring and did allow 70!!!! points!
So the 8-5 Badgers from Wisconsin will play in the Rose Bowl against Stanford.
With two team ahead of them in their own division!
Strange world.
31-70 -> Jacks Score: 51-24

Some games of interest:

- as written already, Louisville did win against Rutgers and became the leading Big East Champion (sharing with three other teams).
They will play in the Sugar Bowl against Florida.

- Baylor did win agaist the ranked Oklahoma State.

- Oklahoma did win a close one against TCU, but because of NIU's BCS spot, Oklahoma will not play in and BCS Bowl.

- West Virginia did slaughter Kansas. How long will Charlie Weis exist as Kansas HC?

- Arkansas State did win against Middle Tennessee 45-0 and that way back-to-back Championship of the SBC.
Some say the HC Gus Malzahn is a leading candidate for one of the already existing openings and maybe the reason for Auburns Championship two seasons ago, since their former HC did not deliver, once Malzahn was gone.

- Boise State did win against Nevada.

- FBS Newcomer Texas State did win against New Mexico State by a Mile!

- Pitt did win against South Florida.
The Bulls did fire their HC, Skip Holtz, one year after they gave him an extension.

What's next?

So now comes the Bowl Season and I will some stuff on that.
There are 35 Bowls coming up until beginning of Januar and some are very nice.

Remember, there were already 71 eligible teams and Pitt did qualify in addition with their win this weekend.
So .. 72 teams for 70 spots?
Who was left out?

Middle Tennessee did not receive an invitation with an 8-4 record in the SBC, but Western Kentucky from the same conference with a 7-5 record did.
The second team is Louisiana Tech with a 9-3 record.
But that is self-inflicted.
The athletic director of Louisiana Tech did get an ivitation for the Independence Bowl to play against Louisiana Monroe.
That Bowl is worth 1,1 mio for the program and the conference.
The AD did asked them to wait, since the Bulldogs are also in consideration for the Liberty Bowl.
The Independence Bowl Organisation did not wait and took Ohio instead of LT and the Liberty Bowl did pick Iowa State and Tulsa.
LT did basically gamble, because they wanted the better paid Bowl spot.
Better paid means instead of 1,1 mio ... 1,35 mio! 250.000$ more for Program and Conference.
That's nothing in todays college Football world.
This AD is a fool!
I could understand this, if the one Bowl would be the New Orleans Bowl (500.000) and the other would be a big one like the Cotton Bowl (worth 3,65 mio) but 250.000$ difference?
And they would have played in Louisiana instead of Tennessee, means less traveling cost and so on.
In fact the game would have been 60 miles from home, so NO big costs at all!

And with such unprofessional behaviour I close for now.

‘Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

Tags: Block of Granite