Congratulations to the Florida Gators. They certainly shut everyone up who was saying they didn't deserve a shot (myself included) and that Michigan (who imploded against USC) was the better team. They didn't beat the same Ohio State team that people were accustomed to seeing all year long, but you can hardly hold that against Florida. Their execution was nearly perfect, the defense was rock solid, and the offense converted big plays and was able to drive the field to eat up clock when needed. There should be no question that the Gators are the best 1-loss team in the country at the end of the season, and since that's when it matters most, they get to be the National Champions. My favorite part is that you can hardly tell the
box score for the BCS Championship Game apart from Florida's
dismantling of Western Carolina. Seriously. The Heisman winner goes 4-14 for 35 yards, which is practically negated by his -29 yard rushing stat? Only 1 of OSU's meager 8 first downs came on a play other than 1st or 2nd down? Less than 100 yards rushing, even without Troy Smith's sacks taken into account? Embarassing. Payback is a bitch, and I suppose this is just karma realliging itself for OSU's upset of Miami a couple years ago in a game that Miami should have won hands down. But just like last night, the underdog came prepared and the favorite crumbled. I gave credit where credit was due back then to what had otherwise been an underwhelming and lucky Ohio State team for getting their act together, and I have to give Florida the same credit today. Last night, they were the vastly superior team. Congrats Gators! It's been a good year for Florida athletics.
In other news, who called the Big East bowl sweep? That's right, me. Tales of the Big East's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Even former Big East teams came up with wins (except VT). I may be 22-10 with my picks below, but I'll take solace in the few things I got right. ;) The WAC was only a botched 2-point conversion by Nevada away from going undefeated as well. Big year for the little guy. A few underclassmen have been busy declaring themselves for the NFL draft, mostly to no one's surprise. After his huge game in the loss to WVU, Calvin Johnson's potential has never been higher. Although Taylor Bennett showed he could get him the ball on a regular basis, there's too many unknowns next seasn, especially with the Dolphins courting GT head coach Chan Gailey to fill liar Nick Saban's vacancy. I just hope Calvin doesn't end up in hapless Oakland...
Anyway, sometime today I hope to be able to crunch the final ranking numbers, and I'll get those posted when they're done. I think Boise is probably going to be #1. Florida will move ahead of Michigan, but I don't know if they'll jump OSU as well. It will be interesting to see how far the Buckeyes fall after their abyssmal performance. You will also see the gaps closing between teams like Louisville, West Virginia, LSU, BYU, Wisconsin, and TCU, who all won their bowl games, most quite handily. Check back later for the final rankings.
