HOW ‘BOUT THEM BUCKEYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Scarlet and Gray rolled the Tide in a game for the ages.
Here is my question for the readers today:
Who deserves the Sugar Bowl MVP?
The answer for me is obvious. Let’s see how you do.
Candidate A:
it’s gotta be Ezekiel Elliot, who galloped for a Sugar Bowl record 230 yards against the defensive genius Nick Saban and his vaunted Alabama defense. Zeke’s 4th quarter 85-yard touchdown run will be shown during Ohio State Bowl games 50 years from now.
But if you guessed #15, you would be wrong.
So it’s gotta be Candidate B:
Five weeks ago, Cardale Jones was was a second string nobody quarterback whose football future looked non-existent. Now he is a star quarterback heading to a national championship game. His MVP performance in the 59-0 demolition of Wisconsin was surprising, but far from improbable. Ohio State’s speed and athleticism was vastly superior to the Badgers, which set-up Jones for good chance for success. And he made the most of it, using his strong arm to carve up the Wisconsin secondary.
The Sugar Bowl looked to be a whole other story. Alabama was widely considered the better team, and giving Nick Saban three weeks to prepare for a rookie quarterback seemed just unfair. Many of us pictured Jones struggling greatly with Bama’s blitzing pressure and disguised pass coverages.
But someone forgot to tell that to Cardale. He stayed poised all night, minimizing his mistakes while standing tall in the pocket and making big plays against that Alabama pressure. Pretty much the complete opposite of recent performance of this guy…
To be honest, if Jones has a solid performance vs. Oregon, I think he should head straight for the NFL. When it comes to the draft, it seems like less is more. As in the more you play, the more flaws the talent evaluators can find in you, and the less you are worth. If Jones stays at OSU, he is likely back on the bench behind J.T. Barrett and/or Braxton Miller. But when it comes to NFL potential, his size and arm strength make him the best of the trio. And the poise he has shown so far shows that he could play on Sunday afternoons.
But this QB is not my Sugar Bowl MVP.
Those of you that think outside the box see the obvious answer in Candidate C:
Coach Meyer slayed coaching rival Nick Saban, mighty Alabama, and the evil SEC!!!! His record in bowl games: 8 wins and 2 losses. 8-2!!!! He is one January 12th win away from being carved into Ohio State’s Mount Rushmore along side his coaching hero, Woody Hayes.
His troops outplayed the top-ranked Crimson Tide dynasty while starting a 3rd string quarterback. And this youthful team is widely considered to be a year away from reaching their full potential. He’s gotta get the MVP award!
Sorry, Urban.
Who’s left. Joey Bosa? He looked mortal and tired last night. Devin Smith? He caught his usual long TD pass, but it’s not him. Alabama’s punter? He better have eyes in the back of his head, because some small nation is gonna kidnap him and install him as a missile defense system the way he launches balls off his foot. His seven punts averaged 55 yards, with 5 of them being downed inside the 20 yard line.
Speaking of punts, can the Browns and Buckeyes join together for a bake sale to raise some $ to hire a punt return coach? It’s real simple. If the ball is going to land outside the 10 yard line, you catch it. CATCH IT!!! Don’t let it land and roll 20 yards! And if it is gonna land inside the 10, LET IT GO! Here is one more suggestion for our Ohio coaches: try going old school and put two guys back there. You are not getting any return yards, anyways, so at least you can prevent those rolls!
Time to end the mystery to this MVP case. The winner is………………
Larry Culpepper.
Larry Culpepper? Who? Did he have an interception? Did he make a big special teams hit?
No and No.
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words…
LARRY CULPEPPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This Dr. Pepper vendor is the genius who invented the College Football Playoff!!!!!!
I am a math teacher, and here are a few equations I know:
1 + 1 = 2
Length x Width = Area
COLLEGE FOOTBALL + PLAYOFFS = AWESOME
Let’s face it, the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) of the last two decades weakened college football. The magic of the New Year’s tradition of bowl games had lost much of its luster. Pre-BCS, all of the big games seemed to have some meaning. Once the BCS and the championship came to be, the other bowls became pretty meaningless. For example, the last time the OSU was in the Sugar Bowl was 2011. The Buckeyes, led by Tyrelle Pryor, courageously held off Arkansas to win an exciting and tension-filled game. That victory ended an 0-10 bowl record for Ohio State vs. SEC teams. I was pumped. The next morning, I turned on ESPN radio on my half hour drive to work to hear them talk about this great game. To my surprise, hardly a word of the game was even mentioned.
But the BCS was created to produce a true champion, right? But even that championship game was a buzz kill. There extended time off between the regular season and the championship game (up to 50 days) deflated the hype that a national championship game deserves. I noticed this during my morning commutes. Early January talk was all NFL play-offs until the morning of the BCS championship game, when the radio hosts would seem to go, ‘Oh yeah, we need to talk about this BCS game.’ And that extra time off also tended to cause for sluggish play by one or both teams.
Now this new-fangled playoff system that Mr. Culpepper brought to the masses is a completely different story. The Rose and Sugar Bowl television ratings were both up over 50% from last year. 50%! That is a huge jump! And I am guessing New Year’s Day football parties were up by at least 50% as well.
And the three-week off period between the regular season and the semi-final games was just the right length to rest, but not rust, the four teams, while allowing ESPN and their media friends to ramp up the hype machine. These next 11 days until the championship game should be the perfect amount of time to get fans into a frenzy.
So let’s give Larry Culpepper his due credit. The intricate, beautiful, perfect play-off plan that he drew on a napkin (if you don’t know what I am talking about, quit skipping all the commercials on your DVR) has revolutionized the sports world. What can we give him to show our appreciation? How about giving him some time to spend with his one true love…
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