BCS National Championship

Alas another victory for the accursed SEC. This game was very strange, starting out with several turnovers on either side. Oregon was the first team able to drive on the other but they managed to avoid scoring for the most part despite having 450 yards total offense. Despite having the nation's leading rusher they failed to rush effectively against Auburn and paid the price for it. While Devin Thomas recovered from 2 early interceptions to post decent numbers Oregon's inability to score right up until the last drive kept this game disinteresting. I imagine if Oregon won the head coach wouldn't have said War Eagle every other word either, a shame. "War Eagle, praise God, War Eagle, our guys worked their rear ends off, War Eagle and uh War Eagle, thank you very much," said the esteemed Auburn head coach.

The score sat at 19-11 for over 17 minutes gametime so the game appeared firmly in Auburn's grasp. While Auburn was unable to keep the ball out of Oregon's hands they still prevented them from scoring up until that last drive, so while the final 22-19 score looks intense and interesting it really wasn't. Oregon finally did succeed in their final drive but Auburn had a few fortunate plays afterward and kicked the game winning field goal to end it. I still haven't seen a comparable college game to either the Texas vs. USC national championship or the Texas vs. Ohio State 1 vs 2 game which were 6 or 7 years ago, aside from perhaps the Boise State Oklahoma Statue of Liberty game.

This game was okay I suppose but there weren't any particularly energizing players except the mighty tall white receiver for Oregon (Maehl) who kept making miraculous plays to keep Oregon drives going until they ultimately faltered. No Reggie Bush, no Vince Young, Cam Newton kinda sucked against the Oregon defense as well. I would have liked to see an offensive based games where they'd trade TDs but both defenses played much better than their corresponding offense and so we had a slow paced game instead. The dual goal line stands that forced the loss of ball on downs on either side were a pretty rare sight, as was the safety but the game still managed to retain a lack of excitement despite all the strange events.

Musberger called a pretty terrible game, saying exclusively obvious stuff the entire time. I hadn't noticed that he was like McCarver and Buck but evidently he seems to follow the John Madden School of thought "that guy right there when he runs he goes faster!" 3rd and 1, that's 1 yard needed for the first down. He even ghost called a Touchdown before a player made it in the endzone (pretty sure that drive ended up with a turnover on downs on the goal line). I'd be surprised if they kept him for next year's championship but oh well. Ultimately the objective of announcers seems to be to be unremarkable compared to the game but I feel a certain excitement or interest enhances the experience. Gus Johnson makes any terrible game watchable just to hear him yell out Stokley! or something. Collinsworth is also pretty good at making good points, as is Al Michaels, but the vast majority of announcers just say what they're spoonfed in a monotonous dry tone, alas.

So ends the College Football season, Michigan State's finest season in 30 some years, as defined by their 49-7 loss at Alabama, sealing their legacy as a legendary team in Big 10 history, achieving what some thought was impossible: scoring on the SEC. TCU can still rightfully claim themselves as national champions, as they should, and Auburn can War Eagle go back to War Eagle losing for another War Eagle 50 years.