The college football season is a long 13-week season and it is a great sport. You could see the crowds and the passion this week in rivalry week and some really good games comebacks and even some eggs laid as always. For me it is the end of a 4-month grind which is great, love the college football season, the pre-season the futures the making of power ratings , the early adjustments and on the one hand it passes too quickly on the other hand , it's a good thing and just time to finish. A few tough weeks and few really strong weeks, and the other say 8 weeks you look to win more than you lose and grind out a profit. That has happened after a nice stretch that ended last week and the regular season is done and it's a good thing. This phase of the CFB season is actually a different season altogether. Like the HS regular season is a different season from the play-off season.
The CBB regular season is different than the post season, " March Madness" etc. [NFL Post-season}. They are different handicaps and I separate them. CFB Reg. season is done. Pretty consistent year from many others, a few rougher weeks a few really strong weeks and wining a bit more than losing in a handful of weeks = a nice season. And it's now done and as always CBB takes a bigger priority, and the NFL season still has the stretch run. Quasi play-off games for many. New England lost their quasi-play-off game which was good for us as Minnesota was an obvious play at home off of a terrible blowout the week before, but the Patriots easily could have won the game and got the worse of it from the refs. These type of games will be featured the rest of the way through early January.
CFB is great but still archaic in a way. Only 4 teams get to play for a title? A real title? Not a Rose Bowl 'Championship or a Sugar bowl trophy they hoist over their heads as if it means much really. Winning is always better than losing of course is a tough sport like football especially, but it's well past the time to have a 8 or 12 team play-offs. OSU is usually judged at the end of the day from their 'worst" performance which of course wasn't a random night in West Lafeyette , or afternoon in Iowa City. It was in front of the whole college football world from 1210 to 4 O'clock Eastern time. They showed their talent, they showed their toughness at times and sold out to stop the run which they did spectacularly in the first half. They also gave up inexplicable big plays to take a tiny 3 point lead to the break. Then they gave up another few 'Big " plays that kept them from getting any control of the game, and they played nervous and scared the rest of the way. Dumb undisciplined penalties, the coaches coached scared, the player took their lead and basically more resembled nervous cats than confident alpha dogs. Those dogs were Michigan players who say they sensed this nervousness and lack of self confidence, a weakness that they could take advantage of.
It was as deflating a feeling as you could possibly have. Then the exclamation point was two runs totally 160 yards in total that was akin to a hoop team dunking on your sorry arse for the last 5 minutes of a game to not only push the final score out but a kind of mocking that reduces you to head down sighs of defeat. You shuffle off the field hanging your head adn no fan or coach bothers to bellow, '" Keep you head up" because they know it's too late for that. They are also culpable for the disaster.
Last year was a physical beating , death by soul crushing runs right at them and there wasn't much they could do about it. That wasn't the case this year , but they found another way to get out toughed, but this time it was more mental and a lack of a certain discipline in technique and attitude. Frustration that the game was slipping away, and a certain uncertainty in themselves, which even manifested itself in Day's decision to not go for a 4th and 5 after they started 1st and 35. They gained about 20 yards of field position because they didn't executed downing the punt inside the 10. This is now part of Day's initial legacy. Michigan goes back to Harbaugh's roots of a run and toughness identity and Day's high faulting, flyboys aren't running by them and beating them playing a similar modern spread game with his athletes simply being better.
OSU still has better athletes and more guys who will likely get that second contract at the NFL level, BUT it is now negated by a physical toughness that morphs into a mental edge that the Bucs can't match. This being said, a full blitz that results in a smart throw out on the sideline that should have gone for a first down going for a long score because the corner can't tackle, and there is no one else in good position to help isn't about toughness. A safety knowing, he had no help in the middle of the field getting completely spun around like a top by a pretty benign outside move giving up an easy long TD is flat out embarrassing but doesn't denote a lack of toughness. Two long runs by RB-2 who was being hailed as a war hero for playing with a sore hand added a rude insult to the injured psyche of Buc players and fans alike. A feeling of i can't believe I am watching this feeling. That was never Michigan all year but in the biggest game with their opponent taking away the run , they got everything they needed by simply making humongous, long TD plays as if they were playing UCONN early in the season.
New normal is giving up 40 plus to Michigan no matter what , playing scared, nervous and not to lose and inevitably losing to a less talented but more confident team that does what it takes to win. Harbaugh took a bit longer to build this version of Michigan than most thought and some thought it would never happen but it's here and now it's up to Ohio State to figure out how to better deal with it. Knowles did a great job helping improve the defense this season, no doubt about it. But his season's akin to a student improving his study habits and his grades from one semester to the next, but he failed the final because he studies the wrong things, didn't pay attention to some important things that he needed to know in the final exam. It just didn't show until the final in all its nervousness and importance.
I mean the Buckeyes couldn't even play well enough and finish the game well enough to make a case for their inclusion in the final four if some things break right. That went out the window right after Congressional medal of honor winner Edwards with a boo boo on his hand rumbled for a thousand yards with only a finger nail touching him as if this was Rice or FIU. Now it's time for the increasingly familiar , 'Well most programs would love to go to the Rose bowl talk as the disappointed fans look forward to beating a PAC-12 team they are better than but not as excited to be there. Rinse and repeat , until we get an 8 team or more play-off.