Reading over that last paragraph, you may think I have no life. Or maybe you are incredibly jealous that I watched so much football. Regardless of your thinking, it’s a fact that Thanksgiving weekend is for the four F’s: family, friends, food and football. And I can look myself in the mirror tonight and tell myself that I checked off all four over the past few days. Anyways, I created a few awards to hand out from the wide variety of games. (And since there were so many games, I’ve supplied the second choices as well)
Best individual player- Chase Daniel
There were plenty of candidates for this award (Darren McFadden, Eric Ainge, Colt Brennan, Brett Favre), but I had to give it to Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel. The junior completed an insane 40 of 49 passes for 361 yards and three touchdowns. But more importantly, he never allowed the nerve of playing the biggest regular season game in school history to get the best of him. He was as cool and calm as a mid-November day in Columbia, Missouri, and that’s why the Tigers beat KU are a win in the Big XII title game away from playing for a National Title.
Runner Up-Devin Hester
Why do teams still kick to the Windy City Flyer? Not that I’m complaining, but the number one reason that the Broncos lost the game today to my beloved Bears was because twice in the third quarter, they chose to let #23 return a kick. And of course both times, Hester took it to the house. The first time, on a Denver punt, Mr. Ridiculous caught the ball on the Bears 25, leaned right, and then broke down the left sideline, leaving all eleven white jerseys in his rear view mirror, including punter Todd Sauerbrun, who got hurdled by Hester while lying on his stomach. Then, ten minutes of game time later, Denver tried to take the ball out of the Pro Bowlers hands by short kicking it. Too bad there short kick went a bit far, landing in Hester’s hands at the Chicago 12. 88 yards later, Hester was in the end zone again, this time un-touched down the right hash mark. I absolutely love this guy.
Best game-Arkansas 50, LSU 48, 3OT
This game had about everything you could want from a regular-season college football game. Star players all across the field on both sides, dramatic plays, and a shocking upset of the number one team in the country. Add the sub-plot of rumors of each sides coach coaching their final regular season game for their respective school, and lets just say the announcers had plenty to talk about. But the best part of the game was watching the Hogs offense work, pretty much without a quarterback. Darren McFadden took about half the snaps out of the shotgun and it proved to be smart, considering he ran for 206 yards and three TD’s and threw for one more. Just a great all around game.
Runner Up- Bears 37 Broncos 34, OT
To be honest, I have no clue how the Bears won this game. It doesn’t make any sense. They turned the ball over four times, didn’t really have any sort of consistent running game, they wiped away a touchdown and interception with stupid penalties and the defense was allowing big plays, something the Cover-2’s not supposed to do. Did I mention the offense scored their first touchdown with five minutes left in the fourth quarter? Yet because of Hester, the Bears stayed in the game till the very end. And then at the very end, Rex Grossman flashed the skills that I knew he had, leading the Bears down the field for the game tying score with 28 seconds left. An easy Robbie Gould field goal in OT later, the Bears were victors and some how, still alive in the playoff race in the NFC.
Best play-Bernard Berrian’s TD catch
Fourth and goal, 31 seconds left. 34-27 Denver. Bears on the three yard line. If the Bears don’t score a TD here, they lose. Rex drops back, pump fakes, and throws a strike to the right sideline. Bernard Berrian, who before this play had only made two catches all day, extends fully, somehow gets both hands on the ball and catches it while amazingly keeping both feet in bound. Truly a remarkable catch, especially considering he was being covered by All Pro corner Champ Bailey. After the refs met and reviewed the call for what seemed like 20 minutes (it was actually only two or three), the call was finally made…TOUCHDOWN. Great throw, great catch and a great comeback.
Runner Up- Tennessee from the 40
It’s rare for me to see something new in a football game. I’ve been watching the sport for a decade now, and I’ve probably viewed hundreds of thousands of snaps. Yet at the end of the third overtime period in the Tennessee/Kentucky game on Saturday, I did witness something new. At the conclusion of the period, after the Wildcat defense stopped a Vols 2-point conversion, one of the players on Tennessee threw the ball in disgust. This led to a 15 yard delay of game/taunting penalty, but since it was the end of the OT period, I figured the penalty would be wiped away. (At the end of the second overtime, a Kentucky personal foul wasn’t enforced because the period had ended.) But no. The refs still enforced the penalty, giving the Vols the ball on the Kentucky 40 instead of the 25- yard line. I didn’t know that was possible. Anyways, I figured this would give the Wildcats the spark they needed to make a stop and get the stop they needed for a victory. But Tennessee came back and scored on the very first play, a 40 yard strike that killed all the UK momentum.
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