2009 Week 13
December 2, 2009
We're now winding down the regular season and I for one am glad. There's nothing like a crisp late December day, when I can stay inside, fire up the TV, and watch a bunch of muscular young men play around in a bowel.
There were some fine intersectional. Stanford outlasted Notre Dame in the annual "Battle for the #2 Pencil". Perhaps the biggest surprise was Oklahoma, closing out a disappointing season, shutting out a highly rated OSU team. The Bawkeyes have got to be hurting after that one.
There were a lot of great rivalry matchups. The Texas Aggies outlasted a game A&M squad 49-39. Nebraska prevailed in its season-ending showdown with Colorado. In other Big Eight action, Missouri knocked off Kansas. And we all enjoyed a memorable SEC North showdown between Alabama and Auburn, with Nick Satan walking off the field holding that greatest of medical inventions, the Iron Bowel.
But the result that shocked me the most was Western Virginia's victory over my Panthers in the annual Backdoor Brawl. The Mountain Men brought some pride back to the Thomas Jefferson State after the collapses by VPI and UVA.
I was saddened to see that those Canuckian boys from the Yukon beat Syracuse. Irish legend Ron Powlus's nephew Greg had a rough outing.
It's not easy to be related to another famous player. There are certainly cases where things go well, such as with the Manning family, Archie, Peyton, and Peyton Manning Junior. But we also saw some famous offspring play badly over the weekend.
Auburn quarterback Christiansen Todd had a poor second half vs Bama. Former BYU star Christiansen Todd Senior must have been devastated. On the other side of the field, the Tide's star running back also struggled. I'm sure Mark Ingram Junior heard words of encouragement from his father, one-time star Michigan State Fighting Chippewa wide receiver Andrew Rison.
Other offspring did well. South Carolina QB Stephen Garcia looked just like his Daddy Jeff out there. Jimmy Clausen certainly did his brothers Casey and Rick proud. Though I don't know why Jimmy would be looking to go to the NFL when he's got all that pickle money. For Stanford, their kick holder Bo McNally didn't mess up a single snap. He's the son of baseball legend Dave McNally and coach Bo Schnellenberger.
Speaking of families, I hope all your families had a great Thanksgiving. I enjoyed a pleasant weekend with mine. There's nothing I like better than stuffing a cold turkey. Again and again.