Over And Out

The hangover

HOW AM I FEELING: Tired and mildly frustrated, but not in any way whatsoever apoplectic. Tired because the season is a long, soul-crushing grind that, inevitably and always, leaves me feeling like an emptied vessel by the time December rolls around. Mildly frustrated on behalf of My Beloved Penn State Nittany Lions, who drew the proverbial short straw in this year's bowl madness (more on this in a bit). But, unlike the rest of the nation, no, I am not feeling apoplectic about the supposed injustice done to Oklahoma State, who was passed over in favor of Alabama for the right to play LSU in the Mythical National Championship Game. Because they weren't actually passed over. They had their chance. They lost to Iowa State. Life goes on.

WHAT I AM DRINKING: Water. The 2011 TCFA Podcast Bar Tour tore through Northwest Philadelphia on Saturday. Which means, among many other things, that I am thoroughly dehydrated. Must remedy this situation.

WHAT I AM LISTENING TO: What else but A Charlie Brown Christmas, the greatest holiday album ever recorded, featuring the holiday stylings of the late great Vince Guilardi Trio. If you do not own this album and if you do not play it during The Festive Period, then you are doing The Aforementioned Festive Period wrong.

WHAT’S NEXT (FOR THE NITANY LIONS SPECIFICALLY, AND FOR THE GAME IN GENERAL): For the Nittany Lions, a showdown with Case Keenum and the Houston Cougars in something called The Ticket City Bowl. And for the game in general, well, most likely weeks and weeks of BCS-related bellyaching by a bunch of folks who aren't quite grasping The Bigger Picture and, all things considered, are probably just better off watching that dreck they play in the NFL (snore).

MY THOUGHTS ON THE WEEKEND

I assume that some of you, being the super-fans that you are, read both this site and the other one. And for those of you who fit this description, I'll apologize in advance for covering some of the same ground that I also touched on over yonder.

But it is ground I felt compelled to cover yet again, because in the maelstrom of whining that has followed in the wake of Sunday night's BCS announcement, I feel that something rather important has been lost in the discussion.

Lots of folks are talking about Alabama, debating whether the Tide really "deserve" that rematch against LSU.

Lots of folks are talking about Oklahoma State, and making the case that the it should be Cowboys, not the Tide, playing for all the proverbial marbles against Tigers.

But you know what too few folks seem to be talking about?

Well, LSU. That’s what.

Which is a shame, because the undeniable truth here is that the Tigers just wrapped up one of the most impressive regular seasons that we in college football nation have ever seen. The Tigers were beyond impressive way back in September, when they opened the year with a thorough thumping of eventual Pac-12 champion Oregon, and only grew more impressive as the season progressed. They never really seemed vulnerable. They never really seemed flawed. They never seemed, to be frank, to be anything except downright unbeatable.

Even during that alleged Game of the Century, when they were pushed to the limit by Nick Saban and the Tide, there was just something about these Tigers that evoked, I don't know, confidence. Confidence bordering on arrogance, actually.

This team was the best team in the field every single week of the season. And they knew it. So they went out and played like they knew it; the results, as we know, pretty much speak for themselves.

Today, at least, the debate over Alabama and Oklahoma State has taken center stage. The whining and complaining has reached epic proportions: State fans saying they've been screwed, Tide fans telling them to shut it, and myriad columnists and pundits decrying the sad state of our beloved game.

But it's all meaningless. It really is.

Because in the end, the only thing you really need to know is this: LSU is far, far better than every team in the nation.

Throw Alabama at them. Throw Oklahoma State at them. Throw whoever you want at them.

Doesn't matter.

LSU is your 2011 college football national champion.

Alabama just doesn't know it yet.

THREE YARDS AND A CLOUD OF DUST

THREE: OK, speaking of whining ... there has been much unrest in Happy Valley of late, and if you've seen the official 2011-2012 bowl lineup, you can probably guess why. Despite the fact that the Nittany Lions finished the year 9-3, tied for first in the Leaders Division, they were the eighth Big Ten team chosen for a bowl. Yes, eighth. Among the teams selected ahead of the Nits were Ohio State (who, yes, Penn State beat), Iowa (who, yes, Penn State beat) and Purdue (who, yes, Penn State beat). And because of this, well, the Nits fell all the down the bowl pecking order to the Ticket City Bowl, which is allegedly a real bowl game, but I can make no promises about that. On its face, of course, this is a great insult, and it certainly doesn’t seem fair that those (cowardly) bowl reps passed on this Penn State team because the actions of a man that none of them ever even played for. But here's the thing: In the end, the Nits got themselves a pretty good matchup. In Houston, they face a team that was just one win away from the BCS; beyond that, this alleged Ticket City Bowl will be played at noon on this year's version of Jan. 1 (Jan. 2, because the stupid NFL is playing its stupid boring games on Jan. 1). That's a solid time slot, folks. Very solid, indeed. No, this is not a great match-up for Penn State. Nobody would even pretend that it is. But it's certainly not a bad match-up. All things considered, this team could have done worse. A lot worse.

TWO: Season stats for Wisconsin tailback Montee Ball: 1,759 rushing yards, 6.4 yards per carry, 32 rushing touchdowns, 6 receiving touchdowns. Season stats for Alabama tailback Trent Richardson: 1,583 rushing yards, 6.0 yards per carry, 20 rushing touchdowns, 3 receiving touchdowns. Ball scored at least one touchdown in every game the Badgers played this season. Richardson did not; most notably, he was held to less than 100 yards rushing and went scoreless against LSU. Now, imagine just for a moment that Ball played for Alabama. Would anyone even consider voting Richardson No. 1 on their ballot? Answer: Resounding no.

ONE: That being said, my vote goes to Robert Griffin Jr., for the following reasons: 3,998 passing yards, 36 passing touchdowns, 6 interceptions, 644 rushing yards, 6 rushing touchdowns. Oh ... and he did this at Baylor.

TOUCHDOWN: The Army-Navy game is being played in Washington, D.C. this weekend. For the first time ever. And according to some, this is a great thing. Except it isn't a great thing, and here's why: The Army-Navy game is not actually being played in Washington, D.C. this weekend, because it is actually being played in Landover, Maryland, a soulless patch of turf (well, concrete) that essentially serves as one massive exit/parking lot off of the truly dreadful D.C. Beltway. Landover offers no atmosphere. No amenities. No nothing. And so it has no right to host this grand old rivalry. The Army-Navy game should be played in Philadelphia, or in Baltimore, and nowhere else, until the time comes that the Washington Redskins build themselves a proper stadium in the city they claim to call home. Thank you.

OVERTIME: Well, we've come to that point, folks. With the college football regular season now wrapped up (except for Army-Navy), we here at TCFA are about to revert to our off-season schedule. That means no more weekly Friday columns, and no more Monday morning editions of The Hangover. But don't fret: Mike and I will continue recording the TCFA Podcast on a weekly basis at least through the end of the bowl season. After that, we'll record every couple of weeks until the 2012 season kicks off. Before I say good-bye, however, I just wanted to say: Thanks, as always, for reading. It is an honor to publish this site, and an honor to share this great game with you, my (mostly) devoted readers. Enjoy the bowls. And in the meantime, feel free to follow us on Twitter or on Facebook. We may be taking a break. But we're not going anywhere.