Thoughts from the Valley

The Hangover

How I am feeling: Confused. Can somebody remind me why the Big Ten stops playing football about three months before the rest of the country? Is this another of Jim Delaney's bright ideas? All I know is that I spent all day yesterday enjoying some great college football games; unfortunately, none of them involved the Big Ten. This has to change.

What I am drinking: Victory Brewing Company Hop Wallop Ale. Almost too hoppy even for Your Editor, this is a special occasion beer that costs way too much. Still, I purchased a case last week in honor of Your Editor's Impending Move to a New TCFA Headquarters. We move in three days, folks. Can't get here fast enough.

What I am listening to: Mark Knopfler & EmmyLou Harris, All The Road Running. A couple years back, Knopfler (of Dire Straits fame) and Harris (a country legend) released this unlikley collaboration--a collection of mid-tempo, country-tinged pop songs that perfectly show off both Knopfler's incredible guitar playing and Harris' near-perfect voice. In the year and a half that I've owned this album, it has been among the Top 5 Most Played Records in Your Editor's CD player. I could be wrong, but this is one of those records that everyone--no matter their tastes--can enjoy. It's just good.

My thoughts on the weekend: So what did I tell you last week, folks?

Well, if you have forgotten, let me remind you what I told you: I told you that, someway, somehow, Ohio State--the team the entire South loves to hate--was going to end up playing for the Mythical National Championship.

And guess what? It appears that's exactly what is going to happen.

Thanks to another wacky upset (LSU losing to Arkansas--at home?) in a truly wacky college football season, the Buckeyes are just one loss from getting back to the championship game. Specifically, a Missouri loss. If the Tigers stumble next week in the Big XII Championship Game against Oklahoma (who has already beaten Missouri once this year, by the way), the Buckeyes are in. It will be Ohio State vs. West Virginia (who need only beat a bad Pitt team to earn their berth) for the title.

If this should happen--and I believe it will--we should all prepare ourselves for a collective pity party enimating from SEC country. Yes, we'll once more be subjected a month-long barrage of columnists/coaches/fans complaining that a Big East/Big Ten national championship game isn't really a championship at all. They'll moan and whine about how much tougher the SEC is. They'll say that Ohio State is a creation of the Big Ten-loving media.

But you know what? I don't want to hear it.

Fact is, LSU had a chance to punch its ticket to the title game and blew it. Twice.

Losing to Arkansas at home? When you know a win gets you one step closer to Your Dream? Sorry. That's a bad loss.

Georgia, who will certainly begin making their case for a title berth in the days to come, also can't complain. Two losses (including one to an average South Carolina team) are two losses. And that overtime win over 'Bama that looked so good at the time? Well, the Tide lost to Louisiana-Monroe last week and finished the year 6-6. Georgia is a good team, no doubt. But more deserving than one-loss Ohio State? No. Call me crazy, but I think a team should have to win its conference if it wants to play for the national championship. And Georgia didn't even win its division.

Let me be clear here: Ohio State is not a great team. Nor is West Virginia, for that matter.

But in a college football year in which one thing is abundantly clear--that thing?; there is no great team--the Buckeyes and 'Eers are more deserving than anyone.

Three Yards and a Cloud of Dust

Three ...: I have long proposed that, in college football, a team's mental state has a much more significant impact on actual on-the-field results than in That Other Brand of Football (snore). Talent is important, sure. But once a college team begins to win regularly, they start to expect to win, and so they make plays. I really believe that. But it also it works the other way. Even elite teams with above-average talent can get into losing ruts that make them mentally, and therefore physically, incapable of winning. And no team has embodied this phenomenon more than the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who this year became one of the worst football teams I've ever seen. After suffering an ego-crushing defeat against USC early in the year, the Huskers lost faith. They gave up. And they went 5-7, surrendered 70-plus to Kansas State and, on Friday, ended their season with a horrendous 65-51 loss to an average Colorado team. In announcing the firing of coach Bill Callahan the very next day, Nebraska athletic director and former coaching legend Tom Osborne said: "We used to be a team people hated to play, because they felt it for two or three weeks." If the 'Huskers ever want to get back to that, they have a lot of work to do. Most importantly in their own heads.

 

Two ...: Coaching rumors grow like weeds this time of year, and there's been quite a few popping up in State College of late. Here are two that may be of interest to y'all: 1) Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Tom Bradley--widely considered the best coach and recruiter on staff--could end up being a target for Syracuse, which may be ready to give up on the Greg Robinson era (if there's enough money in the coffers to buy Robinson out, at least); 2) Penn State linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden, who served as defensive coordinator at Northwestern under Gary Barnett during The Purple Glory Years and more recently has helped develop Paul Poslusnzy Dan Connor and Sean Lee in Happy Valey, is rumored to be a top candidate to take on the defensive coordinator's job Michigan, should Les Miles take over for Lloyd Carr. My guess? Bradley, a 28-year veteran in State College, won't leave, simply because he believes he's the top candidate to replace Saint Joe Paterno. But Vanderlinden--who has Michigan connections--may well pack his bags.

One ...: Remember back in September, when Alabama was in the middle of the Mythical National Championship hunt? Well, they aren't now. After paying Nick Saban approximately $18 billion to lead the Tide back to glory, Alabama instead this season ended up pretty much where they've been for the better part of the past decade: In the middle of the SEC pack. The Tide lost 17-10 to Auburn on Saturday, finished 6-6, and may not even get a bowl bid. Not exactly great ROI for that $18 billlion. Said Saban: "The most disappointing thing is that we didn't finish. We have made a lot of progress throughout the season. I didn't know how many wins we would get."

Touchdown ...: One of the more encouraging trends in sports television over the past couple years, folks, is the increasing presence of high school football broadcasts by national networks over Thanksgiving weekend. Last year, ESPN kickstarted things by showing the classic Easton (Pa.)-Phillipsburg (N.J.) game on Thanksgiving morning. This year, it was more of the same: When I flipped on my television on Thursday and Friday, I was greeted with a cornucopia of top high school games from around the nation (for the record, I have the Direct TV SportsPack, which for just $10 a month gets me just about every sports channel in the universe), which helped Your Editor fill those annoying gaps between college games. I probably saw bits and pieces of three or four games in total, but just one performance stood out: That of Jeannette (Pa.) High School quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who led his No. 1-ranked Jayhawks to an absolutely dominating 61-12 win over No. 2-ranked Beaver Falls in the WPIAL Championship Game at Heinz Field. You may remember me mentioning Pryor a few weeks back, as he is considered by many to be the No. 1 high school player in the country. But I had not seen him play until Friday. And, folks, let me tell you: He is incredible. The Vince Young comparisons are not off base. As Pittsburgh Tribune-Review columnist Mike Prisuta wrote on Saturday: "Outlined against a blue, gray November sky, the Four Horsemen weren't necessary. Terrelle Pryor had it covered."