College Football’s Wild Weekends: #1 Vs. #2

Columns, Top Story

In reality, there was only one game that mattered this past weekend.

 

Yes it was another week where football fans had no shortage of excitement and intrigue as weather and human error combined with it being that time of the year to produce a weekend that saw many teams dodge bullets and others begin to countdown the days until the season ends. Joe Flacco and Eli Manning were heroes in games against quarterbacks who have a more profound hero reputation with Flacco’s 26-yard touchdown pass—matched with an equally great catch—putting a stake in rival Pittsburgh and Manning’s late TD pass putting the Giants over the Patriots in their first meeting since Super Bowl XLII. Quick sidenote: there were a lot of people who wanted to point out the similarities between Sunday’s game and that Super Sunday years ago. So I’d like to point out how this game wasn’t even close to being like the Super Bowl these two played against each other despite a few big plays that re-created those images in people’s heads: the teams are both very different, the stakes were MUCH smaller in this one, they weren’t at a neutral location, and one of the Giants receivers from that game is playing for the other team in New York now. There was chaos all around the Big-10 with Nebraska getting shocked at home, Michigan St. barely pulling out a win against Minnesota (who took Iowa down last week), Iowa upsetting Michigan thanks to four incomplete passes by Denard Robinson inside the Iowa 5-yard line in the final moments (with a missed pass interference call on the final play), Wisconsin getting back on its feet with a blowout of Purdue, and Indiana hanging with Ohio St. until the final quarter when the Buckeyes finally pulled away. And yet there were some very familiar things this weekend with the most familiar being great offenses playing great offense and bad defenses playing bad defense while playing good defense. Confusing? I know, but the defense comment is the only reasonable way to describe the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. Aaron Rodgers doing his thing and putting up a lot of points has become commonplace. But the Packer D making the big plays? You’d think the last two seasons for Green Bay had merged together, but that’s what took place as Phillip Rivers may have lead a great fourth quarter comeback, but it came up short due to a late INT to Charlie Peprah. But Peprah also returned an earlier interception for a touchdown and Tramon Williams also got a return touchdown early to keep the Chargers far enough behind throughout. And of course there was plenty of bad defense to go around when Oklahoma State and Kansas State butted heads. However, in this case the only good play would be on the offensive side, as the game’s 52-45 score would indicate. The Cowboys got the win as Bill Snyder’s group lost their best chance at an earthshaking upset for this season. With OK-State at #2 in the BCS, it’s very likely that Bedlam will decide the fate of the Big-12 as the in-state Sooners still have an outside shot at getting to the title game.

 

And sandwiched between all of that was the only kind of game where the moniker “Game of the Century” can be used each time due to the expectations.

 

A one versus two regular season college football game is quite the rarity. In the 75 years of the AP poll, this past Saturday marked the 25th time this game has taken place. History is written with the help of these games as the eventual national champion has won 13 of these games, including two of the last three national champions. So many great players, great teams, great rivalries, and great moments have come in this game. It was the “Mr. Outside/Mr. Inside” tandem of Doc Blanchard (Inside) and Glenn Davis (Outside) that first dominated this game winning three and tying one in their four one versus two games. Johnny Rodgers would help clinch Nebraska’s second straight national championship with a punt return in the 1972 Orange Bowl (itself a #1 Vs. #2 game), but it was his return in the one versus two game that preceded it that would make his legend. On Thanksgiving Day 1971, Rodgers took an Oklahoma punt for the game’s first touchdown in one of college football’s most legendary moments. And then there was Melvin Bratton & Co. and their early morning phone calls to Brian Bodsworth and Jamelle Holieway that set the tone hours before Miami and Oklahoma met in 1986, not to mention the most badass coin toss in football history. With The U in mind, I couldn’t forget Wide Right I. Miami and Florida St. both came into their November 1991 meeting undefeated with aspirations of a national title (FSU coach Bobby Bowden still hunting his first). Miami had pulled ahead 17-16 and it all ended up coming down to a single play: Gerry Thomas’ 34-yard field-goal attempt. The name the game has received should let you know how the play went. Bowden would eventually get his national title, but would also have to suffer two more losses to Miami via wide right field-goals, and a wide-left loss to Miami as well. When you think college football rivalries, there are some games that instantly come to mind. Interestingly enough, the rivalries that seem to stand the highest all have one thing in common: at least one of their meetings have been an AP one versus two game. Such rivalries are: Oklahoma/Texas, Notre Dame/Michigan, Florida/Florida St., Oklahoma/Nebraska, Notre Dame/USC, Florida/Alabama, and of course Michigan/Ohio St.

 

While it may seem obvious to note that a game with a 9-6 final score came down to field-goals, but LSU’s victory last Saturday wasn’t because of converted field-goals, but because of missed field-goals. Alabama had no answer early on for its failure to convert field-goals, missing their first three attempts of the game and giving LSU hope in the first half that their offense’s ineffectiveness hadn’t done them in. The first miss was the worst of the three. Cade Foster’s first attempt was a 44-yard kick to the right; it went wide right. The next attempt was a 50-yard kick, which had me scratching my head as to why you would go for a longer kick on the possession following a miss. Foster had the distance, but not the direction on his first kick and repeated things the second time around as try #2 had the distance (just barely), but not the direction. Jeremy Shelley was brought into handle the Tide’s kicking duties after Foster’s first quarter misses, but his first try barely got off the ground as it was blocked by LSU. Shelley would make his next attempt, but by then LSU knew that their defense would bail them out of this one. Foster would return in overtime, but would miss another long one (this time from 52 yards) as the Bama offense once again failed to give its kicker less distance to have to cover.

 

A 9-6 final does indicate a defensive game, and while this one was defensive, Trent Richardson’s performance for Bama shows that the offenses were still working somewhat in this game. Richardson had 169 total yards on 28 touches helping Bama with his runs and catches equally. It was sophomore QB A.J. McCarron’s swing pass to Richardson that LSU decided to just let happen throughout the night. Whether it was running or receiving, it was Richardson who helped Bama get into LSU territory far more often than vice versa. But that’s always when things ran cold for that offense. It was always when LSU’s defense had their backs closer to the wall that they stiffened up and made the necessary stops to force field-goal attempt after field-goal attempt from Bama.

 

And it had to be LSU’s defense that made the team’s biggest plays because for the majority of the game, LSU couldn’t figure out what to do on offense. They tried Jarrett Lee at quarterback and more passing; he was intercepted twice, once in each half. They tried Jordan Jefferson at the same position and a more running approach; it helped get them their points during the game, but also did nothing to help them distance themselves from the opposition.

 

The game itself was both compelling and disappointing at the same time. I think the opinion of the game is likely split among people feeling those two very different feelings while all of them watched the same game. Any time you have this kind of game you are going to get extravagant hype building up to it. In this case, both teams had their bye weeks at the same time, and right before their meeting. So when they fell one and two in the polls, that meant there was two weeks instead of just one to get people into a fury over this game. In Louisiana, Alabama, and probably the entire southern United States, no motivation was needed for football fans to get pumped for this one. Football, specifically SEC football, is part of the social fabric of each state that houses a member of that conference. And in case you don’t believe me, watch the Auburn/Alabama documentary and see how that game has divided an entire state because the SEC has two teams from Alabama within the conference. Games like LSU/Bama and Bama/Auburn and Florida/Georgia are almost holidays to fans and general observers alike because the rivalries stretch back generations and also house championship memories for those who cheer for a team that may not be in the running this year, but was at a time before. Plus, when you add the magic words (number one versus number two), the game does become a holiday if its being played in the SEC. Stubhub had tickets ranging from $350-$1200 dollars for the game. Weddings all over Alabama and Louisiana had to be moved around to coincide with the start of the game due to CBS’ moving of the game from afternoon to primetime during both team’s bye weeks. The game may come once every three years by average, but in reality it is rarer than that. If you cancel out the two SEC title games in the last three years that have been one versus two, the last regular season game like this was the Michigan/Ohio St. game five years ago. Before that and OSU/Texas the same year, it had been ten years since a one versus two game took place in the regular season. That’s why people get into an uproar over this game, that’s why the game receives the extra hype it does: because it is a treat for college football fans that has never been spoiled due to its rarity and because the games usually match up college football’s most iconic.

 

When it comes to southern football, the two most iconic met this past Saturday in the most iconic type of game. They would put on a game that was at the same time a tribute to the defensive struggles this game has produced in the past and an example of what SEC football used to see more of.

 

And one final treat…

 

TOP FIVE #1 VS. #2 REGULAR SEASON GAMES EVER

1. Ohio St./Michigan, November 19, 2006

2. Nebraska/Oklahoma, November 25, 1971

3. Miami (Fla.)/Florida St., November 16, 1991

4. Florida/Alabama, December 6, 2008

5. Texas/Arkansas, December 6, 1969

 

TOP FIVE #1 VS. #2 BOWL GAMES EVER

1. Texas/USC, 2006 Rose Bowl

2. Ohio St./Miami (Fla.), 2003 Fiesta Bowl

3. Penn St./Miami (Fla.), 1987 Fiesta Bowl

4. Penn St./Alabama, 1979 Sugar Bowl

5. Florida St./Virginia Tech, 2000 Sugar bowl