Saving the Best for Last

January 1st is historically known as the day set aside for the best of college football, and January 1, 2007 was no exception.

Most of the bowl games were exciting in there own right, but two of them stood out more than the others. The first, played at the Gator Bowl, between West Virginia and Georgia Tech had most of the scoring done before halftime, but the second half had its share of offensive fireworks. During one stretch of the game, Georgia Tech was up by 11, 35-24, early on in the third quarter. At this point, I had to step out and when I came back, perhaps 5 to 7 minutes later, West Virgina had erased that aforementioned 11-point deficit and now led 38-35! I thought this would be the most exciting game of the day... but, THE game of the day, would occur much later and would end, excitingly enough near midnight. I'll get to that game in a bit.

What turned out the be the most disappointing game of the lot was the much anticipated Rose Bowl match up between USC and Michigan. The last two Rose Bowls went down to the wire, with both games coming down to last second plays to decide the winner and perhaps, interestingly, both games were won by the University of Texas. This years' game, however, did not live up to the hype. I hate to say it, but it was a boring game. Yes, the game had its exciting moments, namely when Michigan cut the USC lead to 8, 19-11, but that was the closest the Wolverines got to the Trojans in the second half.

The game was decided in the first half, even though the teams exchanged fields goals, when the USC defense stifled the Michigan running game. Wolverine running back Mike Hart, finished well below his season average, which in turn, made Michigan rely on the pass(I lost how many times UM QB Chad Henne was sacked). What really irked me was the lack of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties called on USC star wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett, on two separate occasions. Jarrett blatantly showed up his defensie counterparts. The first occurred on his way into the endzone, and the second after an important third down conversion. Why wasn't he called for taunting on his way to his long 4th quarter touchdown? I guess pointing at your opponent on your way into the endzone is okay to do in southern California. Then a little bit later, after converting that third down pass play, the Jarrett handed the ball to the defender while he sat on the turf, in that "you-can't-cover-me" taunt. And I guess, showing up your opponent is not a penalty either.

[On a side note, I was given one of those Michigan wrist bands when a good friend of mine went up to Ann Arbor a couple months ago for the Michigan-Michigan State game. Well, I wore the wrist band to show my support of the Wolverines during the game, and as I took it off afterwards, the band snapped and broke. It's not big deal really, but it is telling because my friend and I are no longing on speaking terms.]

Anyway... the best game of the day, by far, took place in Glendale, Arizona at the Fiesta Bowl between Boise State and Oklahoma. And in my eyes, it was one of the best college games I've ever seen, second perhaps to last years National Championship game when Vince Young led Texas over USC in the Rose Bowl.

Boise State held a fairly substantial lead in the fourth quarter before Oklahoma mounted a comeback to tie the game with less than two minutes to go. I'll be honest with you, I seriously thought Oklahoma had the game in hand after that interception return for a touchdown. Once a team such as OU has been down and then gets the lead, one normally thinks that the momentum is now with them and the game is essentially over. Nope.

Boise State's QB Zabransky masterfully moved his team down the field with a quickly evaporating clock and thanks to a bit of trickery, the Broncos sent the game into overtime. Oklahoma scored first in extra time on Adrian Peterson's first down run. Boise State did not score as quickly or as easily as Oklahoma, but they did it with more style. On 4 and 2 on the Oklahoma 5 yard line, on a wide receiver option play, WR Vinny Perreta lobbed a touchdown pass into the endzone. And there was still one more trick to go. On the ensuing 2 point conversion, QB Zabransky acted out the "Statue of Liberty" play to perfection, when he faked a wide receiver screen pass to the right, while tailback Ian Johnson took the no-look handoff and ran into the endzone for the game winning two-point conversion!

It really doesn't get any better than that. Boise State showed the nation that an underdog, non-BCS program does deserve a shot at a BCS game. And being that they are undefeated, they should have a chance at playing for the national title.