Conference Championships Recap

BCS Stage is Set

 

       There were some great games on Saturday and then there were some not so great games. No matter what, though, we now know who is playing who in the BCS Title Game. Lets run through a quick recap of what happened on Saturday.

 

       

       I won't drag this out..... Alabama

squeezed by Georgia. It was a classic SEC Championship. I hope that fans will give Georgia a little more respect now. It seemed as though more people were surprised by how well they played against Bama. Many fans don't realize this is how Georgia has played for most of the season. And I still stand by my previous statements; Alabama is not the team they were a year ago, or even two years ago. It was a great game that came down to the final play, and Alabama survived. Their defense didn't hold, they didn't make some miraculous play to end the game.....they simply survived.

 

       Big Ten Championship. Wow! Anybody see this one coming? 70-31? Really? Wisconsin just destroyed Nebraska. I wouldn't spend much time on this one, but I have to bring up something that has a little irony to it. Wisconsin was 7-5 coming into the game; much like Georgia Tech was 6-6 going into the ACC title game. Before anybody checks out for this.....both teams had a lot in common. Both were the THIRD best team in their division. Both got the chance to play in their conference championship because of post season bans on the two better teams. Both were facing 10-2 teams. Just imagine if Georgia Tech had been playing Nebraska..... sounds crazy but Georgia Tech might have had 700 yards rushing on that defense. ANYWAYS, Wisconsin (8-5) gets to represent the B1G TEN in the Rose Bowl. That couldn't be a bigger black-eye for the B1G TEN.

 

      Moving on........

 

      ACC Championship. FSU survives a late push by Georgia Tech and won its first ACC Title since 2005. Make fun of FSU all you want....give them all the criticism you want. Call out their weak schedule if you want to; but guess what? FSU is right where so many predicted them to be. FSU was picked to win the Atlantic Division. They did that. FSU was picked to win the ACC. They did that. How many times has this team been picked to do that since their last ACC Title? Your right, nearly every year, but this time the predictions proved to be right. In a season where there were higher expectations within the program, the Noles finally captured what had been missing for the last six seasons. It has to start somewhere......and three or four season down the road people aren't going to look back on the negative things that happened to this team in 2012..... they are going to look back and be able to point a finger and say "it started in 2012."

 

 

      PAC-12 Championship. Stanford took down UCLA for the second time this season (in back-to-back weeks actually). But it wasn't as easy as the previous week. I have to give UCLA a lot of credit. They had a great season and deserved to be in that game. Stanford did better than many expected. While most thought the PAC-12  Title was already in the Ducks' trophy case, The Cardinal had different plans.  Now they have their sites on the Rose Bowl against an 8-5 B1G TEN team (yes I went there again).

 

 

 

      BIG 12. Congrats to Kansas State, and honorable mention to Oklahoma. Kansas State took care of Texas on Saturday, which gave the Wild Cats their conference title. Great season for the Wild Cats and Collin Klein. He should be in the Heisman discussion. And now we will get to see that matchup that almost ended up being the BCS Title Game...... Kansas State vs Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl. Should be a fun game to watch for sure....

 

 

      That's it for the big games.....I have one honorable mention to a team that has sparked more controversy in the BCS than any other team...... Northern Illinois is the 2012 BCS Buster. They are 12-1 and made it high enough in the rankings that they get a bid into a BCS game.... Which one? They will face Florida State in the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day...... I will leave the BCS argument for tomorrow's post.

 

      Check back tomorrow for the BCS bashing party. Send me your questions and comments. (jeremy.cf2d@yahoo.com) Check us out on Facebook as well, www.facebook.com/collegefootball2day