Wow. It’s about 16 hours after the Ohio State-Florida game has ended. I’ve watched SportsCenter and College Gameday, read about 25 articles and columns about the game and been listening to sports talk radio all day long. And all I can say is wow. Never in a million years did I think the game would turn out that way. 41-14 Gators, and it could have been a lot uglier then that. Because it seemed liked everything worked perfectly for Florida. Chris Leak played brilliantly, the best I’ve ever seen him perform. Tim Tebow was a great change-of-pace, doing all the things he did to help the team during the regular season. The running game, inconsistent all year long, did a tremendous job keeping the OSU linebacker honest. The receivers, which never went deep trying to test the Buckeye secondary, just tried to find seams in the zone defense, turned out to be a great strategy. The Florida secondary played outstanding, limiting Troy Smith to only 35 passing yards. And the defensive line, led by ends Jarvis Moss and Derrick Harvey, were Rick James to Smith’s Charlie Murphy, because they just kept smacking him around. Even kicker Chris Hetland, who was horrible all season, came through with two big kicks. Just a tremendous performance. But the biggest praise has to go to head coach Urban Meyer, offensive coordinator Dan Mullen and co defensive coordinators Charlie Strong and Greg Mattison. Yeah, Florida had more speed then Ohio State. They played harder, seemed to be more motivated to take the title back to Gainesville. Maybe having two weeks less rest then the Buckeyes did worked to Florida’s advantage. But more then anything else, Ohio State was out-coached. For all the hype and acclaim thrown on Buckeye head coach Jim Tressel, the most memorable decision he made in this title game was going for it on fourth-and-one from the Ohio State 29 yard line in the middle of the second quarter. I haven’t figured out yet what Tressel was trying to say more, that he had absolutely no trust in his defense or that his team was so flat playing in a national title game that he had to do something extreme to wake them up. Whatever it was, it didn’t work. Chris Wells got stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey and gave the ball back to the Florida offense that had been flawless up to that point.
Even without that one poor decision, there was still no way the sweater vest and his staff were going to out-smart the Urban legend. On offense, Meyer and Mullen decided that they were going to use everything their 2,000-page playbook had to offer, from plays where the Gators had both Leak and Tebow in the backfield to sets where neither of them were back there. Plays where Tebow faked run and threw (Touchdown) and plays where Leak faked throw and instead ran the option (Also a touchdown). They decided they weren’t going to stretch the field, instead finding space in the OSU zone defense where they could move the chains. And it all worked perfectly. On the other side of the ball, Strong and Mattison knew that their crew was faster and more athletic then the Buckeyes. So their plan of rushing only four or five a play and having everyone else drop back into coverage, which worked because the Florida D-line could easily get past he OSU blockers, caused Smith to rush his throws and make poor choices with the ball. (It helped that A)Buckeye star WR Ted Ginn Jr got hurt celebrating his opening kickoff return and B)The Gator D only had to be on the field for 37 plays.) The strategy also allowed linebackers Brandon Siler, Brian Crum and Earl Everett to focus completely on shutting down the run game, which took away everything Tressel’s team wanted to do.
While I’m most happy that my team won the national title for the second time in my lifetime, I also find pleasure in knowing that I was correct all season long. Since the entire BCS controversy began back in October, when the so-called experts started hyping up the Michigan-Ohio State game and the subsequent re-match, I have been saying, both on this blog and just in everyday discussions, that Florida deserved their shot if they finished the season with only one loss. I kind of waffled a bit after Southern Cal beat Oregon, California and Note Dame in back-to-back-to-back weeks, but then when the Trojans lost to
UCLA in the last week of the season, I was back hyping up the Gators. My three points were strong and simple: 1)What would a Michigan versus Ohio State rematch in the title game prove, other then finding the best team in the Big Ten? 2)How can the BCS claim strength of schedule is an important factor and then toss aside the school that has the toughest schedule in the nation while only losing one game? and 3)Why are the Gators penalized for not playing great offense but not rewarded for playing great D? And as it turns out, all three questions where answered on Monday night. The Gators showed that while the Buckeyes may be the top team in the Big Ten, the SEC is the superior conference. They showed that they have played top of the line opponents all year and that they weren’t fazed at all by anything Ohio State did. And they showed that when both the Gator offense and defense play great, Florida is obviously America’s top team. That’s why they are champions of the 2006-07 college football world. And all I have to say about that is WOW. TEN QUICK OBSERVATIONS ON THE FIRST ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS
10---Can somebody please explain to me why Bears coach Lovie Smith was at the Chiefs/Colts game? I understand his friends where coaching against each other, but doesn’t Lovie realize that he has a team that needs to be about 300% better then they were on new years eve to win in the playoffs?
9---Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison are the best receiver duo in the league, and its not even close. Watching them carve up the Chiefs secondary was beautiful to watch, that is until Peyton Manning started to throw the ball to the guys wearing the red, gold and white.
8---Everybody is blaming Tony Romo for the Cowboys loss, and with good reason, but lets not completely forget about putting some of this loss on the Dallas defense. Remember after the botched field goal Seattle had the ball on their own two with about 1:30 left. Dallas, which had all three timeouts, could have stuffed Sean Alexander three strait times and forced the ‘Hawks to punt. Instead they allow a 25-yard run and give Seattle room to operate. Season over.7---What a gutsy effort by the Seattle defense. After losing their top three cornerbacks, the Seahawks sign a couple guys off the street to go up against Terry Glenn, Jason Witten and T.O. Considering Dallas passed for less then 200 yards, I would say they played pretty well for the circumstances.
6---Everybody is wondering if Jerry Jones is going to bring back T.O. and/or Bill Parcells. I’m guessing T.O. does return, but the Tuna doesn’t. But as we’ve seen recently, coaches will tend to work wherever they can collect a solid paycheck.
5---Even though they lost, I was impressed with the Jets. All year I claimed they were just recipients of a weak schedule, and while that’s still true, this team can really play. If they get a couple more offensive weapons, they could compete for the AFC East crown next season.
4---It’s not fair having Tom Brady in a playoff game. He knows exactly what he’s doing, always stays calm, and never makes mistakes. Combine that with the defensive tactics of Bill Bellicheck and its easy to see why the Patriots are 11-1 in playoff games with those two in charge.
3---Just like I love to say when I predicted something correct, I have to say when I got something wrong. And I got the Philadelphia Eagles wrong. At the start of the year, I claimed that, “The Eagles have a great defense of their own, but not enough weapons surrounding Donovan McNabb.” (September 3). Then a few weeks ago, after Mr. Chunky Soup got hurt again, I said, “With him, Philadelphia was a borderline playoff contender. Without him, they have no chance.” (November 29) Oops. It looks like I have to give Andy Reid, Jeff Garcia, Brian Westbrook and the entire Philly D their props for being the hottest NFC team out there right now.
2---Was it just me, or did Tiki Barber look happy after that David Akers field goal sent the G-Men home from the playoffs and Tiki to ‘Good Morning America’?
1---Even though the Dallas-Seattle game was fun and the Giants-Eagles game was thrilling from beginning to end, I thought the Wild Card round was a bit of a disappointment. But taking one look at the matchups for this weekend and it’s pretty obvious that were in for some great football on Saturday and Sunday.
So much for any team pulling off the feat the Steelers did last year and winning three strait road games before taking the Super Bowl. All the home teams won last weekend (Just as I predicted), and now we have the eight division winners left. This round provides a great matchup of offense versus defense, the two hottest teams in the NFC squaring off, a chance for Rex Grossman to get some serious confidence, and last but not least, Ladanian Tomlinson versus Tom Brady. Time to make picks.
Indianapolis at Baltimore---I really want to pick the Colts. Peyton Manning is a great player, Marvin Harrison is the best receiver I’ve ever seen and Tony Dungy deserves to win a Super Bowl. But I just don’t see how the Colts are going to be able to score enough points against this aggressive Baltimore D while also slowing down Steve McNair and Jamal Lewis. Ravens 17-14
Philadelphia at New Orleans---The key to this game is the Eagles defense. Without Pro Bowl cornerback Lito Sheppard, a great cover corner, will Philly be able to apply pressure while also containing Reggie Bush, Deuce McAllister, Joe Horn and the rest of the Saints high powered attack? I think that this one could be a shootout on the fast Superdome turf. Saints 38-30
Seattle at Chicago---I could write a completely separate 1,500-word column about why I am scared to death about this game for the Bears, but I will spare you all. Instead, I’ll just say this: If the Bears can’t establish a big-time running game early on, this one will be a dogfight. Rex has to avoid mistakes, the defense can’t allow huge plays like they did a year ago versus Carolina and the special teams has to play like they did all year long. Bears 21-10
New England at San Diego---A very intriguing game for about 500 different reasons, which is why I have gone back and forth on who I’m picking about 30 times. Even with the games best offensive player, LDT, I just can’t take a team lead by a QB with no playoff experience and Marty Schottenheimer as head coach to beat Brady and Bellicheck. Patriots 28-27
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