After watching the title game last night, I have some thoughts on a few things I feel some of you may be talking about today. There’s no UK news here except that Micah will announce this afternoon his intentions regarding the NFL Draft.
First, Florida proved once again that defense wins championships and that the SEC is, for the third year in a row, the best in college football. Everyone after the game was talking about how Oklahoma’s defense played really well and that they were a bit suprised but the stars of the game were most definitely the Florida defense. Before the game, everyone expected a shootout between these two high powered offenses. It turned out to be a traditional SEC football game, a hard hitting, low scoring, knock down, drag out affair. That’s how football is supposed to be played. The greatest offense in the history of the game, as Thom Brennaman put it, was held to a measly 14 points. I guess the Big 12 isn’t as good as everyone thought, they just don’t play defense. Which brings me to my next point.
How does one go about getting hired to call the BCS National Championship game for FOX? I would like to find out and throw my name in there for next year because I think I can do a much better job than old Thommy boy. Brennaman may be the worst announcer in college football after listening to him last night. He should go back to calling baseball games on FSN or whatever network the Reds are on. I think he would not even have a job if his father wasn’t Marty Brennaman, legendary announcer for the Cincinnati Reds. He spent way to much time last night throwing kisses at Tim Tebow to actually know what was going on. Every time Florida was offense, it was a giant infomercial for how great of a person Tebow was, not about football. During one of Florida’s goalline stands in the first half, the normal viewer would have thought Oklahoma had five downs based on Brennaman’s comments. It was 3rd and 2 and Brennaman, along with Charles Davis, began discussing how they thought Oklahoma should go for it on the play thinking it was 4th down. They built the play up and exploded when the Gators stopped the Sooners, thinking Florida had held. Not until Sam Bradford stepped back under center on the real 4th down did either guy realize what they had done. Listening to his lack of attention to the game had me wanting Lou Holtz in the booth with John Madden as his play-by-play guy. What a duo that would make!
Another question I had from last night is aimed at the officials. What happen to emphasizing the horse-collar tackle this year? When Chris Rainey got yanked backwards by his collar and almost had two different pieces of his knee to pick up off the field, why wasn’t that called? The great announcers were led to believe that since Rainey was pulled down to the side that it was a legal tackle. I think the interpretation of the rule should be changed so that if a player tackles another by placing a hand across the name on the back of the jersey and grabs the collar and pulls him down, the player should be kicked out. Its a dirty play that I’ve seen twice this year end the seasons of two really good wide receivers due to knee injuries, Dicky Lyons Jr. being the other. If the rule is there to prtect the player, then protect the player, don’t give excuses for why it was legal.
As much as losing to Tim Tebow makes me not really like him during the season (I wish he would go pro just like everyone else), I enjoy watching him play the game. I thought it was great how he dominated the game last night. It just goes to show that you shouldn’t make statements that will fire him up even more than he always is. When the OU player said Tebow would probably be 4th best in the Big 12 in the QB ranks, I think Tebow decided he needed to prove him worng. And he did. And he got his two cents in at the end of the game when he gave his own version of the gator chomp to the OU defense that talked about him. Of course, he got penalized for it but the game was over and he knew it.
That’s all I have about last night’s game, but there was also a local story in Louisville that made me a little upset. Louisville’s sophomore safety Latarrius Thomas announced he was leaving the Cardinal football program yesterday because he wasn’t happy there. That’s fine , it just shows the status of the program. In what I thought was a punk move, UofL officials announced that Thomas would not be allowed to transfer to Eastern Michigan, the school where former Defensive Coordinator Ron English went to become head coach and Thomas’ first choice. After being denied there, Thomas asked to go to Arkansas to reunite with Bobby Petrino, the coach who recruited him to UofL, and once again was denied. I always thought a player chose a school based on their coaches and the style of play more than the school itself. I guess UofL is sending out a warning to future recruits that they better like their school more than the current coach because if he decides to leave, you can’t follow him. It just goes to show the lack of class the UofL program has.
That’s all I have, happy Friday to everyone!
