Did we talk about the National Championship game? I don’t think we did. Yes, on Monday night, January 20th, it was the Ohio State Buckeyes vs the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for all the marbles. I thought it was going to be a good game, and it did turn out to be OK, but at the end of the day, it was the end of the Irish, and the end of quite possibly the most exciting College Football season ever.
I had Notre Dame +9.5; you can see my dismay at the last minute, practically last second, FG by Ohio State to make the difference 11. Just a few seconds earlier, I was thrilled when ND got the 2 point conversion to make it an 8 point game; just a bit earlier, I was pissed when their kicker hit the post… They had them in a 3rd and long situation, and honestly, anything other than that long pass they gave up down the field, would have been better, even if they allowed him to score. But… it was only a small investment; I actually recovered some of that taking the Irish +20.5 in-game. I knew they wouldn’t just roll over and die. They gave it their all, for sure, but after a game opening drive all the way down the field, it was quite apparent that the Buckeyes had them out-talented on the field; that’s what millions of dollars can do for a football program… haha. It was the battle of 2 transfer QBs in Riley Leonard and Will Howard. I didn’t see a lot of the middle of the game, but online, I saw a whole lot of 3 and outs from ND after that first TD, and a whole lot of scoring drives from the Buckeyes. Still, they had a chance up until the very end, when that kick went through the uprights. Certainly nothing for the Irish to hang their heads about, and yes, Ohio State can celebrate all they want; they deserve it. Although, from some folks’ points of view, they still lost to Michigan in that last game of the regular season…
It was a heck of a College Football season. I enjoyed the 12 team playoff, although there were still a lot of the main culprits involved in it. I guess you get what you pay for. Those schools who are going to pay a lot for their roster will most certainly have an advantage over time, over the “medium-little guys”… that’s part of the reason there is a salary cap in place in the NFL, although that doesn’t seem to really lead to different teams standing at the end either. I was hoping one of the smaller schools would make a run, like Boise State; maybe next year. Maybe next year we can get a school that hasn’t won a title in a long time to make a serious run. ND fit that bill this year, regardless of their history; they hadn’t won since 1988.
The college football season is over, and we can take a breath, unless you’re already keeping track of the transfer portal, along with the guys returning for each team. Football never truly sleeps.
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