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Week 14: ‘Bama, ND Set for Epic Title Game

18 Comments

By Jim Weber

The BCS title game to end all BCS title games is now officially upon us.

Alabama and Notre Dame are the two greatest college football programs with eight AP national titles apiece. The Crimson Tide has the most passionate fan base in America, the Irish have the most widespread. And the storyline can’t get any better: Alabama on the verge of a dynasty, going for its third BCS title in the last four years, while Notre Dame tries to wake up the echoes with its first title since 1988 after many down years.

The highest rated BCS title game of all time was the 2006 Rose Bowl between USC and Texas with a 21.7 Nielsen rating. The Alabama-Notre Dame game should crush that.

The build-up and hype to the game will be insufferable but this is a great moment for college football. All eyes in the sporting world will be on South Florida on Jan. 7 as the sport redeems itself from last season’s clunker of a title game between LSU and Alabama that drew a record low 13.8 Nielsen rating.

We can only hope the Alabama-Notre Dame game has half the excitement of the SEC Championship Game between ’Bama and Georgia.

OFF THE MARK: Georgia coach Mark Richt just can’t avoid scathing criticism. Despite an epic performance by his team that came up just short of a huge upset, a coach who perpetually finds himself on the coaching hot seat is getting torn to pieces again for a horrendous decision to not spike the football after getting a 1st-and-goal at the Alabama 8-yard line with 15 seconds left. Instead of spiking the ball and getting three cracks at the end zone, Georgia watched its national title dreams slip away with a weak three-yard pass that ran out the clock. It’s sad that such a great performance by his team is being overshadowed by such a horrible decision.

NORTHERN EXPOSURE: You might need to read this twice: Northern Illinois looks headed to the Orange Bowl. It appears they will finish in the Top 16 of the BCS standings, which gives them an automatic ticket to a BCS bowl. While there have been “BCS busters” in the past like Utah, Boise State and TCU, this is by far the most unexpected team to crash the BCS party. It’s a huge moment for the entire Mid-American Conference, which had a great year after long being regarded as a doormat.

DARK DAY FOR BLACKSHIRTS: Nebraska’s loss to Wisconsin was the Cornhuskers’  worst performance since the Bill Callahan Era. The Blackshirts defense was completely humiliated by allowing 640 yards of offense and 70 points to a Wisconsin team that finished the regular season 7-5. Head coach Bo Pelini apologized after the loss but no words can rectify that kind of a performance. Despite a season in which the Cornhuskers finished 10-3, there will be plenty of soul-searching this offseason for a defense that finished 56th (26.2 PPG) in scoring and allowed a combined 133 points to Wisconsin and Ohio State.

HORNS DOWN: Texas head coach Mack Brown isn’t going to be fired but it’s fair to wonder if he will retire for the betterment of the UT program after a brutal 42-24 loss to Kansas State to finish the regular season at 8-4. Since the 2009 season in which Texas played Alabama for the national title, the Longhorns are a combined 21-16. That’s completely unacceptable for a program whose job many consider the best in America. Getting embarrassed again by Oklahoma, losing to a TCU team without its star quarterback and getting blown out by Kansas State certainly indicates that Brown isn’t capable of ever getting the Longhorns back to where they were just three years ago.

RETURN OF GUS? After spanking Middle Tennessee State 45-0 to win the Sun Belt title, Arkansas State head coach and former Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn is a scorching hot coaching candidate for BCS jobs. If I’m Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs, I would do anything I could to bring Malzahn back to The Plains. It became painfully obvious this year during Auburn’s pitiful 3-9 season that Malzahn was the real mastermind behind the 2010 national title and should have been the Tigers’ head coach instead of Gene Chizik. Jacobs shouldn’t let Malzahn get away a second time.

http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/488101204_0571_Auburn_v_USC.gif

Jim Weber is the founder and president of LostLettermen.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JimMWeber and @LostLettermen.

Photo: John David Mercer/US Presswire

1:43 PM on 12/2/2012
  • UGApride

    Wow … Jim Weber … you are a total tool and obviously were not watching the SEC Championship … the final play was deflected straight into the hands of the UGA player and not a 3 yard … The play was intended to go to the back receiver until the tip  Try watching a game before you try to write about it … idiot

    • Turng41

      I am a huge Bama fan and I agree 100% Georgia did a great job. A deflected pass at the end was the difference.

  • Kindawarped

    Georgia played a great game!  

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000192432021 Iamyour Huckleberry

      Mark Richt is a gret coach and a level headed man with character. this from an Auburn Fan.

      • Garyanderson

        We, at Arkansas will take him in a heartbeat!!

  • droopyyydog

    If the rumors are true and Jimbo decides to go to Auburn then FSU should bring Mark Richt home. I’ll take his type of play, coaching and class any day. The UGA fan base, actually the Atlanta press, are way off base. Not that I don’t like Jimbo but FSU has not been the same since Mark moved to Athens.

    • Broughton W. Rogers

      GEORGIA COACH IS A GREAT COACH!!!  ALABAMA IS JUST PLAIN LUCKY.  LOVE TO SEE COACH BACK IN ACC.  MARK MY WORDS IF THE ACC WILL STAY LOYAL TO IT AND NOT SELL THEIR SOUL TO GREED LIKE MARYLAND THE ACC WILL WHIP THE SEC IN JUST A FEW YEARS. 

  • Lmancil62

    I have news for all you Dawg haters in the media. Richt is the man, he’s put together a time tested winning program at UGA and he will be here for a long time to come. I’m not even sure this Jim Weber idiot even watched the game, it was probably the best college game played in years, by far the best SEC Championship game ever. Go write obits or something Jim.

  • Cfsnyder

    you are an idiot  

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/DB5PKXXWUM7MSN4F6XPB756WII Concerned

    Georgia had Alabama on their heels after driving 75 yards in about a minutes time.  The decision was to quickly throw a fade route into the corner of the endzone where the ball is either caught or goes out of bounds with time on the clock.  But an Alabama defender tipped the ball which led to the short receiver catching it.  Had that defender not made a great play – we would not be having this discussion.  Richt made a good call and Alabama made a great play and won the game.  They deserve to go to the national championship game – they are the best in the SEC.  No one gave Georgia a chance, now people are critizing Richt because they had a chance to win the game right down to the last play?   C’mon man!!!

  • HotDawgette85

    Jim Weber, you are a total moron. You have no idea what you are talking about and your comments disrespecting Coach Mark Richt demonstrate your abject lack of intelligence. Georgia played an outstanding game and the pass was deflected at the end. Alabama won a tough, hard fought game and deserve to crush Notre Dame in the BCS Championship game, but your ridiculous comments about a fantastic coach and team just highlights your stupidity and diminishes the best game played all season by two superior teams with amazing coaches.

  • warlaw42

     Obviously, the author of this overwhelmingly obtuse criticism of Mark Richt was a) not watching the game or the replays of the tipped pass that was deflected from its trajectory into the waiting arms of Malcolm Mitchell in the end-zone, having beaten Alabama’s corner-back or b) is so bereft of football knowledge that he missed the fact that a set play (“shout,” an end-zone fade route) had been signaled into Murray as they ran down the field to line up at the 8 yard line.  It is apparent the writer would rather go for a sensational, but unwarranted headline like the one he penned.  He should be ashamed and castigated by fans and others in the media.  Go away you foolish, petty man.

  • Joe Walton

    Jim, you really described an emotionally charged unbelievable game with a statement that seems to be more persoanal in nature…really?   Mark made the decision and his quarterback didn’t throw a 3 yard pass, he threw it to the corner and it was tipped.  You, an analyst, not being able to make the distinction of a pass makes your comments amatuerish at BEST…if I were your boss, I’d call you in for a discussion…and trust me, it wouldn’t last that long!!!

  • unc ga boy

    What a jerk to suggest such a thing.  Why try to ruin one of the greatest games of all times and especially the SEC title game.  You should be ashamed for your comments and no true GA fan will ever take anything you say serious again.  Go cover high school!!!

  • dawgs25

    you don’t have a clue……………

  • Tom

    WHAT GAME WERE YOU WATCHING?   UGA played a great game and it would have been a deserved win not a great upset.  If they judged writers with the same criteria as coaches, the closest you would come to newsprint is taking out the trash.  

  • Savannahdawg

    Jim, How many teams have you coached.  It is very easy for the idiots in the press to second guess anything after it is done. UGA showed it can stay in the game with anyone.  Mark Richt is not only a very good coach he is a great human being full of character something you obviously lack..  I have had tickets for over 30 years and Richt is the best coach UGA has ever had.  He is way ahead of Dooleys pace. 

  • KCNewmans

    How can you rip a coach for losing, when his team was an underdog going in and had a chance to win at the end? It looks like Richt had his team prepared and almost won at the end.

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