2015 Week 12
December 2, 2015
Well, we had a fine long holiday weekend up here in the Great Beyond. I even got to stuff a turkey, but this time I just opened it up and put in regular stuffing. My good friend Lee Corso would be disappointed of course, he's probably looking forward to that new Leo DeCaprio movie where Leo gets stuffed by a bear.
This last weekend was rivalry weekend and it was remarkable how many intra-state rivalries were played. I took a quick look and there were state championship type games in North Carolina, Virginia (although Western Virginia wasn't involved), Mississippi, Oregon, Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Kansas, Washington, even Tennessee.
There were many cross state games too. In one of the classic rivalries, Ohio State had no trouble with Jack Harbaugh's Michigan team, winning 42-13. It sure is fun watching such a great matchup with iconic coaches like Woody and Bo. Woody kept on screaming for two point conversions after each touchdown and Bo just kind of sulked in his chair.
Elsewhere in the Big Ten cross-state matchups, the Michigan State Fighting Chippewas had a huge blowout win over Penn State to claim the Big Ten North title. They will meet Iowa, who got the Golden Corncob with their close win over Nebraska, for the Big Ten title. Wisconsin grabbed a hold of Paul Bunyan's Ass with their win over Minnesota. And Illinois beat their Hoosier neighbors from Evansville, Northwestern, at Solder Field.
There was some great Southwest Conference action as well. Texas Tech went into Austin and held off Texas, 45-42. The Techsters clinched the win on a fake kneel-down followed by a bootleg run, totally fooling the Aggie defense. Further north TCU defeated Baylor in the rain, in double overtime, 28-21. Now I'm still not sure about these overtime rules. Baylor was only allowed to go once, then TCU went twice and took the win. That doesn't seem fair.
In a major cross-sectional game featuring two top 10 teams, Stanford hit a late field goal to defeat Notre Dame 38-36. That pushes the Irish further down in the BS rankings and elevates Stanford, although neither team looks like they'll make the playoffs this year in either the AFC or the NFC.
My favorite game was played in Los Angeles, as USC beat crosstown rival UCLA 40-21 to claim possession of the Cheerleader Bowel.
Undefeated Clemson held off bitter rival South Carolina 37-32 to maintain their #1 ranking. They're closely followed by Alabama, who pulled away late to defeat Auburn in the Iron Bowel matchup. I must say I'm really interested in this iron bowel invention as I'm a man who's gone through many experiences with a leaky bowel.
Next weekend we have the conference championship games, with title games for numerous leagues including the SEC, the Big Ten, the Pac-8, the Mid-American, the anti-American, the Conference American, and the American Coast Conference. It should be another great full day of action and we're only two weeks away from the best part of the year, the bowel season, featuring some of the finest 5-7 teams around.