This was originally supposed to post on November 25. I don't know what happened.
First things first: Michigan smoked aOSU (with the exception of a bit of fourth-quarter drama, it was a dominating performance from start to finish for the Wolverines), saving the BCS from the indignity of having a team with essentially no offense make it to the national championship game. On the other hand, news flash: Ohio State Discovers Forward Pass, Scores Three Touchdowns In One Game. So you never know. But let's assume aOSU had won. The major argument against the Buckeyes (yes, I'm calling them the Buckeyes in this hypothetical situation; after all, they would have earned it) was that they were ranked lower than both LSU and USC by the humans. Wasn't the BCS designed to not rely on the human polls? But I digress.
About that whole 'saving the BCS' thing. Sure, it looks like LSU or USC will end up in the Sooner slaughterhouse, but will they? Let's look at another set of hypotheticals (since my scenario for last Saturday played out so well):
- USC loses to 7-4 Oregon St. on December 6. Everything else hinges on this. A second loss would probably drop them below Michigan for both the humans and the computers.
- LSU loses to 8-3 Arkansas, and Ole Miss beats Mississippi State. This would put Eli & Co. in the SEC Championship game, where they would have to beat Georgia or Tennessee to help Michigan...
- ...but they wouldn't have to beat Florida. Actually, Florida winning the SEC title over LSU would work just as well for Michigan. The entire SEC East race is nuttier than Chinese chicken salad, anyway - check back next week.
Other thoughts:
- Answer the question, Lloyd: When Michigan took a knee to close out the first half, with good field position and all three time outs, and aOSU's defense still unable to solve them, ABC sideline reporter Todd Harris asked the logical question: 'Why?' Carr's response was less than diplomatic. To his credit, Carr apologized later, but I for one would have wanted to know the answer in the first place!
- Lots of little things that could have either turned the game around or made it even more of a blowout:
- Breaston's fumble on the punt just happened to bounce right to a teammate.
- Navarre's 30-yard third-down pass to Tyler Ecker would have been picked off if Donte Whitner had just turned his head.
- There were at least two more tipped balls that missed being aOSU interceptions by aboutthismuch.
- A stupendous 87-yard TD bomb to Edwards negated by an iffy holding penalty - which was just a couple of yards from being in the end zone, which would have been a safety.
- As far as I could tell, Nate Salley made at least two touchdown-saving tackles... but he couldn't wrap up Braylon Edwards, who broke loose for his first TD. (Salley reminds me of Antoine Winfield - he punches way above his weight. Too bad he's only a sophomore - I'd really like to not have to face him anymore.)
- I wasn't the only person to think maybe Keith Jackson has lost just a little bit of what made him the greatest football announcer of all time. Just for grins, watch any old game he did on ESPN Classic and compare it to any game he calls now - I swear his southern accent is thicker than it used to be.
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