To Be Continued

The stars were aligned for the state of Ohio Saturday night. Even some lucky Ohio guy made out alright. All in all it was a game that actually lived up to its billing, and it was quite a billing. As a Michigan fan, I couldn’t ask for much more (other than a victory of course). Losing by three points to the #1 team in the country, at their place, while putting up 39 points on them. I’ll take that in a loss any day. I will give them the credit they deserve however. Troy Smith was the difference. That pass interference call was bad, but so was the helmet to helmet / late hit call. It came down to a couple of big plays and we didn’t get it done.

Now we have to sit and wait for the other teams to beat each other up. From what I can gather, USC has the only shot at leap-frogging us to get to the Championship. But they have to win out, and that includes a game against the Fighting Irish. I’m picking up my Notre Dame hat later this week.

With that said… Jim, Owen, Paul, Jess, Suzy, and any other OSU fans, congratulations… for now.

To Be Continued.

Filed under: College Football, Michigan, Rematches, The Game

The Game

After returning a punt for 93 yards and a touchdown against Ohio State in the last regular season game of his college career at Michigan, Desmond Howard struck a Heisman Trophy pose for photographers and cameramen. It was prophetic. He did indeed win the Heisman that year. He was one of only three wide receivers ever to win the award. Although he played for a team that emphasized the run, Howard caught 19 touchdown passes in 11 games as a senior and had 30 touchdowns in 33 career games.

That right there would be my favorite Michigan player of all time in my favorite Michigan/Ohio State game memory. It just doesn’t get any better than that. I’ve been relatively silent leading up to this game, but don’t take my silence as reserved judgement. I foresee a Michigan victory in historic fashion.

I was going to post a lot of Michigan/Ohio State game facts, but I found a few very nice websites that have done all the leg work for me.

Wikipedia.org/Michigan-Ohio_State_Rivalry »
USAToday.com – Numbers Tell The Story »
ESPN 360 »

Filed under: College Football, Desmond Howard, Michigan, The Game

College Football

Over the weekend I saw two of the best football games of my life, in probably my favorite college football season ever. It’s not just a special season because of the game coming up in 5 days, although that enhances it tremendously. It’s just that so many teams are so good and I must be paying more attention. Nobody is a shoe in for anything. Just this weekend four top ten BCS teams lost (Louisville, Texas, Auburn, Cal).

The Rutgers win over Louisville and the Kansas State win over Texas were amazing, and I’m not really a fan of any of those teams. There’s just something to say about a good underdog story and a close, well-played game in prime time.

I think the greatest part of this College Football Season is that it isn’t even close to over. There are still teams ranked in the BCS top 10 that have yet to play each other. Of course we have the game of the century, the greatest rivalry in sports, Ohio State playing Michigan, ranked 1 and 2 respectively, on Saturday for all the marbles—the first time that has ever happened. We also have yet to see Rutgers (6) play West Virginia (8), USC (3) plays Cal (15) and Notre Dame (5), and it looks like Arkansas (7) and Florida (4) will be playing each other in the SEC title game.

It’s been great, and it’s only getting better. You can stop by my house this Saturday for some hot wings if you’d like. You can even have a spot on the couch. Just don’t trying calling me because my phone will be off the hook.

As a parting note, check out the current BCS Standings. Please note who the computers have ranked #1 and #2. Also, here is a great summary of what we have left this season over at danshanoff.blogspot.com.

Filed under: College Football, Sports, The Game