Blame Where It Belongs
I think we can all agree that the blame for a completely unwatchable BCS title game belongs squarely on the University of Oregon. (Not that the game had Oregon not choked against Stanford would have been better, exactly, but watching a PAC-12 team beat the living crap out of Notre Dame would be richly entertaining in its own way, while watching an SEC team do likewise is almost as bad as Notre Dame winning.)
…also, is Manti T’eo the most ridiculous overhype since Joba Chamberlain, or Charlie Weis?
Linnaeus:
January 7th, 2013 at 10:45 pm
I’d rather blame Stanford, because they didn’t beat Notre Dame and they’re, well, Stanford.
Robert Farley:
January 7th, 2013 at 10:45 pm
Sadly, I can’t disagree.
Erik Loomis:
January 7th, 2013 at 10:46 pm
Grumble.
Decrease Mather:
January 7th, 2013 at 10:59 pm
No post on the LGM Bowl Challenge?
Robert Farley:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:00 pm
Damn, forgot.
LosGatosCA:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:01 pm
I don’t think Kansas State is blameless here.
In fact, had they beaten Baylor this would have been just another BCS outrage.
However, Stanford is the guilty party. If Hogan had been the QB from early on, they beat Notre Dame in South Bend and they could very well have been playing Alabama tonight.
Erik Loomis:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:02 pm
Or if Pitt had sealed the deal. Or Notre Dame not been the luckiest team in the history of college football more generally.
Robert Farley:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:05 pm
Somebody named “Jimmy Chitwood” won. Are we sure we want to associate LGM with someone of that name?
gratuitous:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:06 pm
Now, I’m not saying Oregon would beat Alabama, but they sure as hell wouldn’t be 28 points behind. But since it’s an SEC team again, it will be another triumph for the BCS and its nonpareil work in bringing college football fans the Very Best Championship Game Ever year in and year out.
Seitz:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:07 pm
You can blame the Pac 12 refs, who called the ND-Stanford game and screwed Stanford out of a touchdown in OT. PAC 12 refs, in football and basketball, are notoriously incompetent and awful.
Norte Dame actually played what was on paper a pretty tough schedule. They just happened to do it in a freak year when U$C, Michigan, Michigan State, and Oklahoma were all much, much worse than advertised. Plus they got Stanford with Nunes, before Stanford figured out they could actually be pretty good. And they got $C with a backup, not that they were great with Barkley, but he was a lot better than Wittek. It’s one of the more ridiculously lucky seasons an undefeated team has ever had.
Erik Loomis:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:08 pm
Given that Hoosiers is such an overrated movie, no.
KLG:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:11 pm
As a double graduate from Georgia, even I have to say I am getting a kick out of this. Yeah, the Ducks would have killed this Irish team. But so would:
Georgia
South Carolina
Texas A&M
Stanford
Ohio State
No cable here, but following the game on ESPN. My favorite tweet, from Cecil Hurt:
Manti Teo’s had the same view of that touchdown as Michelangelo had of the Sistine Chapel for 20 years.
Seitz:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:12 pm
I will give Notes Dame credit. With all of the concern recently about concussions in football and their long term effects, ND’s defense is taking a brave stand by clearly advocating, in a national championship game no less, that college football change the rules from tackle to two hand touch.
charles pierce:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:16 pm
Guns or knives, Loomis?
charles pierce:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:16 pm
There is no obvious evidence that ND even scouted this team.
KLG:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:17 pm
Or as a friend emailed after Herbstreit mentioned he had never seen the ND defense miss so many tackles:
ND hasn’t had to handle RB’s like Eddie Lacy before. What? You mean just waving my arms at him doesn’t bring him down, like those Big Ten RB’s I bin use to tacklin’?
Are you that Seitz?
Linnaeus:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:19 pm
Can’t disagree with that, really.
Erik Loomis:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:19 pm
Sticks, obviously.
Linnaeus:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:22 pm
Not sure about South Carolina killing Notre Dame. Beaten them, yes, but I think it would have been much closer than this one.
Of course, if Lattimore were not hurt, then it’d be different.
Pooh:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:24 pm
Te’o's natural comparison is Jimmer.
M. Bouffant:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:24 pm
U$C? Please. Better spell it $tanford next time. (Or $tabford, as I first typoed.)
Seitz:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:24 pm
Am I what Seitz? I’m guessing probably not, as I’m no one of particular note.
Jim Lynch:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:27 pm
I’m not a fan of college football, but seem to recall reading that a collegiate playoff system was either a done deal, or was at least being seriously entertained. If only in the spirit of separating the wheat from chaff, tonight’s game makes a good case for new system.
LosGatosCA:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:27 pm
Ohio State this year ranks right up there.
52-49 over Indiana
29-22 at home vs Purdue (yeah, that Purdue – 14-58 losers to the other, other OSU)
KLG:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:27 pm
OK. Just thought I’d ask.
KLG:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:29 pm
It occurs to me to ask, since I can’t see it on my TV machine: Is Gerry Faust on the Notre Dame sideline?
Patrick Pine:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:29 pm
A huge Oregon fan….but watching this – and realizing that Texas A&M did beat Alabama – and seeing A&M demolish Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl – have to admit that Johnny Manziel probably did deserve the Heisman – but still would like to have seen Oregon vs. Alabama.
Linnaeus:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:33 pm
There will be a playoff after the 2014 season. 4 teams get in, and the major bowls will rotate the duties of hosting the semifinals and finals.
hylen:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:34 pm
hylen:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:35 pm
Well now, that didn’t work very well, did it? Let’s try again: Pierce
Linnaeus:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:41 pm
Journalist Melinda Henneberger has been on this story for a while. Not surprisingly, Lizzy Seeburg was just one of many over the years.
Anonymous:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:44 pm
Joba has a ring young Le’mu – unlike Weis (aka Pear Bryant) Or Te’o. Or Chip Kelley. That’s why CK went back to Phil Knight Technical College in Eugene.
Peter Grimes:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:44 pm
So the prize should go to second place. Peter Grimes is an OK name, right? Not as life-affirming, I suppose.
Pinko Punko:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:48 pm
Bingo.
Pinko Punko:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:55 pm
I have a warm place in my heart for this Seitz. ND is offensively poor, but I thought they might be a little better on defense. Given LSU’s talent it is not surprising how well they played Alabama, but Lacy is truly amazing. Why didn’t they run him more against A&M? Was he concussed as some claim against A&M? I’d love to see A&M vs. Oregon.
LosGatosCA:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:55 pm
The Purdue win was in OT, I believe
Jim Lynch:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:57 pm
Well, that’s good. It’s about time.
With all the money to be made, it’s shocking to me it took so long.
I’ve long thought a collegiate playoff system should coincide with the NFL playoffs.
That would mean a system in which 16 collegiate teams would be matched to play the Thursday and Friday before the NFL’s Wildcard Weekend; the next round (8 teams, 4 games) would be played the Thursday and Friday before the division playoffs; the next round (4 teams, 2 games) would be scheduled to play the Saturday before the NFL’s Conference Championships; and the collegiate championship game would be played the Saturday before the Super Bowl.
Bookies everywhere could then retire, and still afford to send their kids to Ivy League schools.
LosGatosCA:
January 7th, 2013 at 11:57 pm
It doesn’t even look like they prayed that much either.
Colin Day:
January 8th, 2013 at 12:12 am
So Weis doesn’t have a ring from the 2001 Patriots?
dp:
January 8th, 2013 at 12:30 am
Manti T’eo couldn’t carry Kevin Minter’s jock.
On behalf of LSU, I apologize for submitting the rest of the nation to another round of “Rammer Jammer.”
commie atheist:
January 8th, 2013 at 12:41 am
That sickened me. And those fucking self-righteous priests: “How dare you blind-side me here!” Fucking Catholic Church.
e julius drivingstorm:
January 8th, 2013 at 1:18 am
A word to the wise west coasters. The 3-4 defense does not work well against a powerful running game. You need DE’s that can drop into coverage so your LB’s can run-blitz from the 4-3. Alabama ran through Georgia’s 3-4 for some 350 yards. They are, after all, Alabama.
nonunique:
January 8th, 2013 at 1:35 am
That’s the same Georgia that played such a surprisingly good game against Nebraska not long ago, right?
Domino:
January 8th, 2013 at 1:36 am
Really odd choice for ND to continue to try and pick on an AP all-american DB. Guess they weren’t buying it?
As a Kansas State fan, I can’t help but wonder “what if…” if the defense had decided to show up in the game vs. Baylor. Probably would’ve been the easiest shot at a NT for the university ever.
Also, Oklahoma could’ve won that game vs. ND if they just continued to throw the ball. Jones was carving up ND’s lackluster secondary pretty well before Stoops for some stupid reason decided to try and run it.
I’d also like to see an Oregon vs. Florida or Baylor/Oklahoma State vs. Alabama match-up.
Pittsburgh Lurker:
January 8th, 2013 at 2:09 am
My beloved University of Pittsburgh deserve some blame here, too. If they’d been able to hold onto that big lead, (or least attempted to run the ball a little in the 4th) perhaps that game could’ve been avoided. It’s not my line, wish it was, but someone on Twitter said: “Pitt, not content to screw over their own fans, screwed over all of college football.” Hail to
TT:
January 8th, 2013 at 5:26 am
I’d rather just get rid of virtually all current bowl games and go back to the way it was: four major bowls (Rose, Cotton, Sugar, Orange), plus the why-is-this-a-major-bowl? (Fiesta), and one second-tier bowl (Citrus) all on New Year’s Day. That way you could basically just spend from around noon to 1am eating, boozing, and watching at least a couple halfway-decent matchups. Plus, now that UPI’s basically dead there’d be no more split titles. (Either that or cut the season back to 11 or 10 games and have the top twelve AP teams do a four-week playoff, replete with byes for the top four teams, rotated among the different major bowls and culminating on New Year’s Day.)
bradP:
January 8th, 2013 at 6:52 am
I’ll go ahead and apologize for the six turnovers my beloved Wolverines gave ND in their 12-10 loss.
witless chum:
January 8th, 2013 at 8:16 am
The Buckeyes won in East Lansing 17-16 after an MSU DB recovered a Braxton Miller fumble along the sideline and headed toward the endzone with what looked like a sure TD. But the refs whistled the play dead. They gave MSU the ball on replay, but the drive only led to 3 points because MSU’s offense was a horror show, especially at that point in the year, and OSU ended up winning.
witless chum:
January 8th, 2013 at 8:17 am
No shit. Hoosiers and Beer League are the only sports movies that aren’t overrated.
befuggled:
January 8th, 2013 at 8:18 am
It was 13-6. My theory is that Denard had nerve problems in that arm all year long, but they just weren’t that obvious until Nebraska.
bradP:
January 8th, 2013 at 8:26 am
Of course. Silly me. Michigan’s abject offensive failures kinda blur together for me. 12-10 was the score of the MSU game.
And Denard’s interceptions were caused by his decision making, unfortunately. At least a couple of those interceptions were absolute headscratchers.
calling all toasters:
January 8th, 2013 at 8:34 am
Not Te’bow?
rea:
January 8th, 2013 at 8:40 am
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me
Deacon BluesNotre DameMT_in_WI:
January 8th, 2013 at 8:48 am
Where shall we send the one internets you have just won?
timb:
January 8th, 2013 at 8:52 am
Unfair. Hoosiers is okay; it’s Bobby plump who is/was the embarrassment
befuggled:
January 8th, 2013 at 8:59 am
HIs decision making was still a big part of it, but he seemed to have some trouble making some of the throws he’d made in previous years. His completion percentage also went down for the second straight year, which can’t be attributed to the change in offensive schemes.
mark f:
January 8th, 2013 at 9:10 am
Why don’t you just shove him through a trophy case?
mark f:
January 8th, 2013 at 9:11 am
Or “Grimey,” as he liked to be called.
Bill Murray:
January 8th, 2013 at 9:28 am
shouldn’t it be Crispus Attucks or Oscar Robertson, they came in second in Hoosiers
spencer:
January 8th, 2013 at 9:56 am
Marge, change the channel!
spencer:
January 8th, 2013 at 10:01 am
Based on the results of the Sugar Bowl, I’d like to see Oregon vs Florida too. There are few things I enjoy more than watching the Gators take a beatdown.
Cody:
January 8th, 2013 at 10:23 am
What makes you think ND plays against any good Big Ten RBs?
They didn’t play Wisconsin, the only good RB in the conference this year it seems.
CaptBackslap:
January 8th, 2013 at 10:24 am
College football was so damned unwatchable this year. I mean, there were some good games here and there, but mostly…man, it was bad.
bob_is_boring:
January 8th, 2013 at 10:24 am
Worst. Matchup. Ever.
jeer9:
January 8th, 2013 at 10:28 am
Yep. That was the real game.
mpowell:
January 8th, 2013 at 10:36 am
That’s the benefit of playing in the Big 10.
mpowell:
January 8th, 2013 at 10:39 am
Tebow was a great college QB. Totally different story.
Seitz:
January 8th, 2013 at 10:56 am
Back atcha, big guy.
JKTHs:
January 8th, 2013 at 11:14 am
You’re forgetting Jeremy Lin, Cam Newton, this year’s Lakers, the 2011 Eagles, Tim Tebow…
JKTHs:
January 8th, 2013 at 11:16 am
FTFY
Njorl:
January 8th, 2013 at 11:55 am
I remember watching Marcus Allen’s last bowl game and thinking there was no way he’d ever start in the NFL.
Njorl:
January 8th, 2013 at 12:01 pm
“Slap Shot” is under-rated.
I recommend anyone jonesing for some hockey watch it on Netflix streaming.
Auguste:
January 8th, 2013 at 12:08 pm
+3 Hansen Brothers
Bill Murray:
January 8th, 2013 at 12:12 pm
I’m with TT’s first part. Plus, 4-team playoff (or really an any team number) isn’t going to be any better than the crappy system we have now and at least the old system didn’t have the pretense of being a real championship determiner.
socraticsilence:
January 8th, 2013 at 12:39 pm
At least Newton and Tebow were dominant in College, Te’o was a joke who looked great against inferior talent.
morganducks:
January 8th, 2013 at 1:03 pm
SECond chances. That’s what burns me. Is Bama’s loss to A&M better than Oregon’s loss to Stanford? Why does the SEC get a default spot in the title game with one loss? And playing only 8 conference games? Imagine if the Ducks could have avoided Stanford this year, just as the Tide avoided FLA or SC?
And yeah, about those Pac 12 refs. Oregon was the 13th most-penalized team in the nation this season. Penalties in the Fiesta Bowl? Five. ACC referees. And don’t forget the Pac 12 replay crew that OVERTURNED A RULING ON THE FIELD, for no real reason, to give Stanford its final and tying touchdown in the win against the Ducks.
Pac 12 Conference has to stop taking itself out of contention.
elm:
January 8th, 2013 at 1:29 pm
Right. It is possible that Te’o had a bad game and that what he looked like up until yesterday was the real Te’o (an excellent linebacker who wasn’t any more overhyped than any other good ND player is, which is already a good deal of hype.)
But even if the Te’o from yesterday is the real Te’o, is he any more overhyped than Brady Quinn was a few years ago? I mean, really, at least Te’o was dominant against inferior competition. Quinn couldn’t even say that.
BobS:
January 8th, 2013 at 3:18 pm
The Dave Zirin article mentions in passing the sexual assault of a young woman in Steubenville Ohio that Amy Goodman had a segment on yesterday. She was described as a 16 year old West Virginia resident. The DN! segment made it seem as if state and local authorities were being less aggressive than they could be, making me wonder if any federal laws were violated being that a minor was brought across state borders. Anybody know?
rea:
January 8th, 2013 at 3:21 pm
Old Peter Grimes made fishing his employ,
His wife he cabined with him and his boy,
And seemed that life laborious to enjoy:
To town came quiet Peter with his fish,
And had of all a civil word and wish.
He left his trade upon the Sabbath day,
And took young Peter in his hand to pray;
But soon the stubborn boy from care broke loose,
At first refused, then added his abuse;
His father’s love he scorned, his power defied,
But, being drunk, wept sorely when he died.
Cody:
January 8th, 2013 at 3:40 pm
Well, Te’o certainly didn’t play a great game. I’m pretty hesitant to judge a player by one game, let alone a defensive one. He was in the action pretty much all the time – just blocked. Your defensive linemen can’t be letting the offensive line get to the second level every play. No LB is going to take an All-American left-tackle to task on a run play.
jkay:
January 8th, 2013 at 3:52 pm
But you’re all wrong – it’s clearly Coach Mack Brown’s fault, for totally screwing up our head coach sitution forever, meaning the Longhorns aren’t there to fo the BCS right, as we always have. It’s crystal clear as my head.
Actually, to get too serious, I really blame BCS, no not for existing, for it clearly rules, but for taking TOO LONG between season and most title matches, enough of a problem that the the quality of that game’s gone way down, IMHO.