WOW

Wow.

What a way to end a season. Days like yesterday are the reason you love college football.

First you had Cincinnati spotting Pittsburgh a 31-10 lead before storming back to win by one in the final minute because Pitt had just missed an extra point. Tony Pike. Dion Lewis. Jonathan Baldwin. Mardy Gilyard. So many playmakers and so many big plays. Cinci just made the last. Undefeated season preserved (until getting mauled by Florida in the Sugar Bowl).

Then you had the SEC Championship game between the #1 and #2 teams in the country. What the game lacked in drama was made up for by the continual disgust of Urban Meyer ripping off his handset, the "vaunted" Florida D getting shredded, and Tebow crying. I've been saying on this site for the past 2 months that Florida has been a bit overrated and it showed yesterday. They don't have the playmakers on offense of last years champs and their defense sorely missed Carlos Dunlap. Before last night the only offense they'd faced inside the top 50 in the country was a Florida State team playing without the QB who gave them that ranking. And thus ends the Tebow "Dynasty". I will admit as much as I got sick of the tireless media fawning over the guy, I still felt for him after the game. It'll be a bit anticlimactic to see him finishing his career against the Bearcats in N'Orleans.

Which brings us to the nightcap. When Hunter Lawrence's field goal barely slipped through the left upright (I am not a religious man but how badass is it Shipley whispered into the kickers ear "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord" right before the kick?), I lost consciousness briefly. Embarrassingly, it was the closest thing to an orgasm I've had in a few months. And it isn't as much that I have liked Texas and McCoy all year after they got screwed over last season as it was the thought of Cincinnati, which has been given up 40 points to the likes of Connecticut and Pittsburgh, slipping into Pasadena against Alabama. Make no mistake about it, Texas vs. Alabama is going to be a great title game with two very deserving teams. I don't want to hear it from people who think this is somewhat of a mismatch just because of the performances yesterday. Texas, while looking far from pretty, found a way to win against a 9-3 Nebraska team with a words cannot describe defensive performance.

Don't laugh when I say this, but Nebraska's defense is the best in the country. While they are only 9th in Total Defense, they have played almost 200 more plays than top ranked TCU (904 to 729). The next closest team in front of them is Texas with only 855. They have only allowed 16 touchdowns in a league perennially known for offense. In Scoring Defense they are second behind Alabama only because they have allowed more field goals (146 to 143). They have also played 130 more plays than the Tide in the same amount of games. They also have Ndamukong Suh who is by-God the best defensive college football player I have ever seen. There is a reason this guy might be drafted first overall next spring and it was showcased in his tour de force against Texas. He had 4.5 sacks and 7 tackles for loss. At one point, he stopped McCoys progress with one arm and flung him down like a rag doll. I was literally just stunned the entire game against how great this guy was. And this isn't even to mention that this defense has won 9(!) games with that petty excuse for an offense. Could you imagine if they had someone like Ingram or Tebow or an offense like Texas to keep them off the field as much as they have been and then readjust their already great stats? 2009 Nebraska was a waste of one the best and extremely underappreciated defenses in college football history because of an offense that would struggle to score against Texas high schools.

What an end to a season that has otherwise lacked some of the drama of years past. Now we have a great a title matchup between two great defenses (no running back has rushed for 100 yards against Texas this year) and two sure to be Heisman finalists in Ingram and McCoy. I don't know about y'all but I am extremely pumped for the bowl season. Giddy up.