Post #250

Roll Tide vs. Luck of the Irish: Winner-Take-All

- After weeks of increasingly high-caliber bowl games, the NCAA season finally reaches the one game that has any bearing beyond this season: The BCS Title Game.  By now you know that #1 undefeated Notre Dame is playing #2 Alabama, but for all intents and purposes, those rankings might as well be switched. 
- Notre Dame comes in as a massive (by Title Game standards) 9.5 point underdog.  Alabama blistered their competition this season, winning all but 5 of their games by 29+ points while Notre Dame won 5 games by 7 points or less and 2 in overtime.  Alabama has one of the best offenses in the country while Notre Dame's is middle-of-the-road, and QB Everett Golson only has 11 passing TD's (less than half of what Alabama's AJ Mccarron has).  Possibly the most telling stat of all is that Alabama has won two national titles in the last three years while Notre Dame has won 2 bowl games in the past 18 years. 
- However, you'd be foolish to count Notre Dame out before taking note of a few more facts:  Notre Dame has the #1 defense in all of college football and and only gave up more than 14 points twice all year, despite playing a stout schedule.  Arguably, no one on Alabama's roster or in the entire NCAA has the combination of talent and drive that Notre Dame LB Manti Te'o has, and after being absolutely robbed of the Heisman Trophy by a voting group that won't give the award to a defensive player, he'll be hungry.  And last but not least, let's not forget to mention that famous Notre Dame coaches Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz all won their first national championships in their third seasons as coach of the Fighting Irish, while Knute Rockne finished his second straight undefeated season. The combined record of the five in their third season: 50-2-1. 
- For coach Brian Kelly (in his third year as well) whose Irish started the season unranked and an afterthought but are now on the precipice of an undefeated season and national title, perhaps just a little more luck is required to make the third time a charm once again for college football's most storied team.


NHL sets tentative agreement

- After a lengthy lockout that many thought would cancel the entire season, similar to the one 6 years ago, the NHL players and owners have come to a tentative agreement that will be voted on Wednesday and it looks like hockey will happen this season after all.
- The new CBA is set to be 10 years in length with mutual opt-out clauses beforehand and contains language concerning revenue sharing, contract length, salary cap and other issues.  More details of the agreement can be found here, but the important thing is that if agreed upon, the season will start either next Tuesday or Friday and will consist of either 48 or 50 games in the regular season.  (It's worth noting that the 1994-95 NHL season was 48 games, while.the 1998-1999 lockout shortened NBA season was 50 games long).  Then the postseason would likely stretch until late June. 
- Although it might throw off the typical calendars of the hockey world, the fact that the season is (probably) going to happen is a giant relief for everyone involved, making today a great day for hockey.


NFL Playoffs kick off

- The NFL Playoffs began over the weekend with a troupe of thrilling matchups, although none of them really came down to the wire. 
- It began on Saturday with the Houston Texans holding off a hot Cincinnati Bengals team 19-13.  The Bengals scored a TD on a interception return by Leon Hall to give them a 7-6 lead early in the game but their offense couldn't help out their suddenly stifling defense and Houston moved on. 
- In the late game, Adrian Peterson couldn't carry the Vikings by himself and QB Joe Webb, an emergency fill-in who hadn't thrown a pass all season long simply wasn't ready to face the Packers defense.  Green Bay strolled to a 24-10 victory that was not as close as the score indicated.
- On Sunday, one of the greatest (if not the greatest) defensive players in NFL history played his final home game as Ray Lewis led his Baltimore Ravens to a 24-9 win over the Indianapolis Colts.  Lewis, who is injured, dropped an easy interception early in the game but still made 13 tackles and provided an emotional spark for his team who was fortunate enough to draw a young Colts team who actually gave up more points than they scored this season despite their 11-5 record.
- In the final game, potential Rookies of the Year RG3 and Russell Wilson faced off and while RG3's Redskins got off to a fast start, taking a 14-0 lead, his injury and the Seahawks tenacious style of play enabled them to get back into the game, dominating the game after the first quarter and winning 24-14.  And as for the Rookie of the Year, it can probably be summed up by this, a downfield block by a rookie quarterback that is a microcosm of all the things that the Seahawks and Russell Wilson are doing correctly.  The Seahawks are the lowest seed left in the playoffs but the #1 seed Atlanta Falcons are next up and they had better watch out.