A weekend of Football

So many things to blog about, so little time. The best place to start might be with football. Anyone will tell you how much I dislike the Patriots and that has never been more true than now. I will admit that they are by far the best team, but I would love nothing more than to see them lose. They are defiantly beatable (as has been apparent over the last few weeks) and I believe the Giants are the team with the best shot. Why the Giants might you ask? Well it is simple, match-up problems. The Giants have one of the fastest defensive teams and their front four were able to get good pressure on Brett Farve (something few other have done this year). The cornerbacks provide a good battle against the good receivers of the Patriots. Finally, I believe they have a good enough running game to control the ball on offense. Maybe the most important aspect of all is how successful Eli Manning has been over the last 4 games. The Superbowl winning team is not always the best team, but can be the hottest team. There is no team hotter than the Giants (they are coming off a better game especially Manning).
On a related note, what a NFC championship game! It wasn't that it was a close game, it was just an awesome game, back and forth leaving it all on the field kinda game. Brett Farve was not at his best, but the Packers defense kept them in the game. You know it is a strange game when the kicker misses two field goals of 40 yards and less, but then is able to make a 47 yard kick to give the Giants the game. Where are all the Manning haters now? Now, Manning is the best thing to happen to the Giants in years. I have never understood how one family can be criticized so much for a lack of success. First it was Peyton who couldn't "win the big one" (even though he was not even 30 and was growing each year) and then it was Eli who many wondered if he would ever pan out to be a good quarterback. I would argue that making it the Superbowl (in the face of great adversity) in your fourth year as a starter is pretty good. I would not call myself a Giants fan, but they certainly have a great story this year and one that would be a storybook ending if they can slay the the egotistical Patriots.

BCS? WHAT A JOKE!

Ah, tis the season to start bowl bashing! While it is true that the bowls are not complete, enough of them are to begin the thrashing. This year has proved to be especially great...oh wait I mean especially BAD! I believe this picture does the best justice to describe what we have seen this year. I must admit I love a good football game. Even if it is two teams I despise, if the game is exciting I am watching. I found myself tuning in this year with a bit of curiosity. Is Hawaii going to play like they belong, or are they going to prove why even an average team can go undefeated in college football. How good can Illinois be against a hot USC team? Will the special seasons of some of the schools (ASU, Boston College, or others) end in a thrilling fashion or will they fold under pressure. Not to mention some of the more interesting bowl games Florida vs. Michigan (two powerhouse teams), Oklahoma vs. West Virginia (two teams that were oh so close to the title game) and well my favorite BYU vs. UCLA (the Rematch, yes I am biased). What I quickly found was that nothing would prepare me for what would happen.

Can some one tell me what happened to Hawaii? All that talk about how awesome their offense was proved to be futile when matched up against a defensive juggernaut of Georgia. The Sugar bowl only affirmed my belief of how much Hawaii was overrated. The hardest games they played all season were all home games. While the offense did pretty good in these games, there defense did not, giving up 30, 27, and 28 in their last three home games. Does this sound like the kind of team that should be in a BCS game. You can argue that they went undefeated, fine they went undefeated, but I fully believe it is possible for an average team to go undefeated in college football. No I am not saying an average SEC or PAC-10 team could go undefeated, but I team from the WAC, or any other lower conference who only plays ONE national ranked (or even decently ranked) team and gets to play that game at home can go undefeated. That same team can get a BCS bid and get blown out of the water, just like was witnessed.

This was not the only team to get blown out on the big stage. Illinois had the chance to show everyone how "great" they were and failed miserably. I understand they were playing one of the hottest teams in college football, but that is what you wanted! There is absolutely no reason why one of the premiere bowl games should have a blowout final score. This game also shows how flawed Ohio State is. They lost to a team that got blown out and yet Ohio State is still getting a shot at the title game (or the so called title game).

Yes I could go on and on about the many blowouts (Texas manhandling ASU, West Virginia stomping OU, or Oregon destroying South Florida) but what would be the fun of that. There were two games that I did find intriguing and that lived up to bowl worthy. The first was Michigan vs. Florida. Both of these teams were relatively disappointing in the regular season, and yet they provided one of the best game (ironically it was not a BCS game). What a way for Llyod Carr to go out. While I do not call myself a fan of either team (and in fact I am anti-Florida), I could not stop from watching the back and forth action all the way to the end. If only the BCS could get match-ups like this in their bowls.

The last game I found interesting was the BYU vs. UCLA game. Yes i am biased since I am a BYU student, but come on, tell me you didn't love the blocked field goal to win the game. How could you write a better story book ending than that. Well my time is short for now, I will follow-up on this post after all the bowl games are done.