2012 Week 12
November 29, 2012
Sorry about the delay this week. Turns out that up here we don't do regular Thanksgiving. We get a full week of Thanksgiving with turkey and all the fixins. So I've been feeling a bit bloated and out of it. At least I no longer have to watch my good friend Chris Berman when he'd announce that he was going to stuff the turkey, then proceed to do some unmentionable things. I still have nightmares about that.
The most important game last week took place in the Coliseum, as Notre Dame hung onto its #1 ranking with an exciting win over Southern Cal. First, I wanted to correct a mis-impression. We do not get X-Ray Spex up here, we are NOT able to see through the sweaters of the Song Girls. Some of the guys and I are going to file a complaint about that with the Big Guy.
We do get satellite radio though. I was listening to my good friend Paul Finebaum's show and they were discussing the Notre Dame vs. USC game. One of the callers was talking about Notre Dame's linebacker, Manatee Teow. I don't know what the hell Coach B Kelly is thinking about, recruiting animals to play the games. Maybe that explains Alabama's elephant logo. Then again, perhaps Nick Satan is practicing some of his black magic.
Now regarding that ND/USC clash, I'm still a bit confused about these overtime rules. Lots of teams, in their spring practices, don't have enough players to do a full two roster game. So they award points to the offense for first downs and scoring, then they award points to the defense for stops. So when this Notre Dame vs. Southern Cal game went to overtime, apparently they used one of these systems. Because USC had the ball at the 2, then Notre Dame kept on stopping them on the goal line and Notre Dame suddenly had 22 points to take the lead. I'm not sure what the NCCA is thinking here.
Notre Dame vs. USC is a storied rivalry, with each school often ruining the other's season. My favorite moment wasn't in football though, but in basketball when Notre Dame ended USC's 98-game winning streak.
Of course there was plenty of other action on what ESPN called "Shutdown Saturday".
On Thanksgiving evening TCU took it to Texas right there in Austin. The Aggies didn't know what hit them and I think they're now out of the Southwest Conference race.
In the Big Ten Ohio State, behind R Ban Meyer, knocked off Michigan 26-21, completing a perfect season as the Buckeyes, apparently inspired by their 1961 team, will turn down any bowel bids. Elsewhere new Big Ten member Nebraska defeated Iowa 13-7 to take home possession of the latest Big Ten rivalry trophy, the Golden Corncob.
In the South, LSU won in Fayetteville, then nearly lost their coach to the Hogs. Coach Miles would have been very entertaining in discussing R Kansas every day.
There were some big in-state rivalry games. Oregon gashed the Oregon State Ducks. Oklahoma held on to defeat Oklahoma State in a shootout. And Florida outlasted Florida State 37-26. The Noles are supposedly considering moving to a new conference, which distresses me. If FSU is not good enough to win the SEC South, then get better. Don't chicken out and run off to another league.
Of course the big rivalry game was Alabama's enema-ization of Auburn in the Iron Bowel, 49-0.
There was also some movement on the conference realignment front. The ACC and Big East executed a trade, with the St. Louisville Cardinals joining the Tobacco Road schools and the Big East receiving some minor league talent, Tulane and expansion state East Carolina. It's bad enough to have a baseball team playing football, now we're seeing conferences make trades just like baseball teams.
This weekend is Conference Championship weekend. There are going to be a lot of great showdowns, so I'll be talking to you soon.