Blanket Coverage: Texas' War of '13-12'

Good luck finding a bowl game that is as compelling and dramatic, as satisfying, as last Saturday's Big 12 Championship game. Texas versus Nebraska had all the elements of a classic: virtuoso performances, bizarre plays (e.g., Colt McCoy accounted for more punts than touchdowns) and a controversial climax. Add to that the two schools' iconic records and the fact that the Longhorns and Nebraska are Nos. 2 and 4, respectively, in all-time wins, and this one was :01-derful.

Seriously, did Texas once more come down to the final tick of the clock to determine their BCS Championship game fate? The oddity of it all is that if Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh-4 1/2 sacks in the most dominant defensive tackle performance we've seen in ages- had applied less pressure on the final play from scrimmage, Colt McCoy may have waited that extra moment to pass the ball. And had that happened, McCoy and head coach Mack Brown would have been equally responsible for the most imponderable blunder in college football history.

The Fiasco Bowl? Not quite

I never thought I'd write this, but a BCS bowl did something yesterday that made me less cynical (I know!).

Hey, I wanted to see Boise State and TCU play anyone but one another, too. Who needs a dance-mix version of the 2008 Poinsettia Bowl, anyway? And, besides, how else to shatter that grass ceiling mid-majors face when the BCS titans refuse to play them in September than by pitting them against BCS schools in bowl games (see Sugar '09 and Fiesta '07)?

This, however, was the Fiesta Bowl's dilemma. Given the first choice after the Sugar Bowl selected Florida, the Fiesta had three options: A) take the highest-ranked team available, No. 3 Cincinnati, thereby costing itself money in lost hotel room revenue (every bowl's motto is the same: "No Vacancy") B) take the lowest-ranked but best-traveling team available, Iowa, or C) take the best team available, TCU.

Cincinnati versus Boise State would have been a terrific game between two unbeatens but in many ways Cincy, though technically a BCS program, is more closely aligned with TCU and Boise State. Iowa versus Boise State might have been more fruitful, but how could the Fiesta have defended itself by taking a 10-2 team first with three 12-0 teams on the board?

"We had an opportunity to take a highly ranked, undefeated team and weren't going to bypass that," says Fiesta Bowl media relations director Tony Alba.

If any bowl should be fielding questions today, it is the Orange, which with its first selection took the Hawkeyes when the 12-0 Bearcats and Broncos were still available. Had the Orange done so, all three bowls (Fiesta, Orange, Sugar) would have had at least one undefeated team. Instead, the four teams in the Fiesta and Sugar have fewer combined losses (1, and to the nation's No. 1 team) than either Sugar Bowl representative (Georgia Tech and Iowa each have two losses).

What about Courteney Cox?

Sign held by East Carolina student during the Pirates' Conference USA championship game against Houston: (with arrow pointing to his buddy) "HIS MOM IS THE ONLY COUGAR I LIKE".

Urban Decay

Florida coach Urban Meyer was briefly hospitalized following the Gators' 32-13 loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship game due to severe dehydration (this is what wearing a windbreaker indoors will do to you). Did anyone else have both Tim Tebow and Meyer being hospitalized following UF games this season?

Speaking of dehydration, leg cramps felled Alabama's Mark Ingram on the field immediately after the game finished. CBS cameras showed the Tide tailback being attended to by an Alabama staffer and -- yes -- the school's elephant mascot. Fortunately, trunk-to-mouth resuscitation was not needed.


The Pony was Hoarse

Craig James was part of ESPN's three-man crew for Thursday's Civil War in Eugene. Two days later his voice had yet to return, which was evident to anyone listening to the opening minutes of ABC's telecast of the Arizona-USC game.

By the end of the first quarter ABC subbed in Brock Huard, who was at the Los Angeles Coliseum doing ESPN's radio broadcast, for James ("The Odd Couple" once did an entire episode on this, where Oscar found himself paired with Howard Cosell). Anyway, the day was not an entire loss for James. Hours later his alma mater, SMU, where James was part of the famed "Pony Express" backfield with Eric Dickerson, qualified for its first bowl berth since 1984.

Blount Force

Can we get an "excessive desecration" flag on ESPN for the number of times it replayed tailback LeGarrette Blount's punch, which took place three months earlier, during the Civil War? Show it once for context, sure, especially when the troubled tailback makes his return after a 10-game suspension. But there was almost something prurient about the number of times ESPN aired that shot, and Lord knows that if you are going to sink to prurient interests when televising an Oregon game, you should be giving us low-angles shots of the Duck cheer squad.

Blount, by the way, knocked down yet another opponent -- Oregon State linebacker Keaton Kristick -- on Thursday, but this time with his shoulder pads. A few plays later he scored on a 12-yard burst in the Ducks' 37-33 win.

'Toppers hit bottom

Western Kentucky culminated a winless season with a wrenching 24-20 loss to Arkansas State. The Hilltoppers led 14-0 after one quarter and 20-10 entering the fourth, but lost the game when Ark. State's Alex Carrington recovered a fumble and returned it 27 yards for the winning score with less than four minutes remaining.

Missed Opportunity

From my man Stewart Mandel of SI.com, regarding what ESPN should have done immediately after Oregon clinched its berth to Pasadena. "Should have had Jesse Palmer (former star of "The Bachelor") ask Chip Kelly, 'Will you accept this Rose?"

Point-After Polarization

Nobody feels better about a point-after play this week than Fresno State offensive lineman Devan Cunningham. With the Bulldogs trailing Illinois 52-51 on the game's final play, the 6-foot6, 350-pound junior caught a deflected two-point conversion pass (the toss itself was a prayer as Fresno State QB Ryan Colburn was being sacked when he let fly) at the two yard-line and barreled in for the game-winning points.



Nobody feels worse about a point-after play this week than Pittsburgh's Andrew Janocko, who muffed a perfect snap on the kick that would have put the Panthers up 45-38 with 1:44 to play. Instead, Cincinnati was able to score in the remaining time, kick the go-ahead PAT, win the Big East championship, and demote Pitt from a BCS bowl to the Meineke Who Cares Bowl. Holding, it's not a snap.

Malibu Pete?

Bizarre theory out of South Bend is that Charlie Weis knew exactly what he was doing when he floated that off-the-record comment about Pete Carroll. It isn't as if the ex-Irish coach has to face the Trojans or recruit against Carroll anymore, they were not exchanging Christmas cards anyway and, hey, now that Pandora's Box is opene...

In the TMZ world in which we live, there will eventually come a time when the worldwide reserves of Tiger tarts are depleted. And when that time comes, well, someone in South Bend just put a giant target on the back of the coach who has owned Notre Dame this decade. Whether Weis' accusation is groundless is not pertinent here; what is is that a lot more people are going to be watching Carroll whenever he steps off campus.

LeFevour Pitch

Central Michigan quarterback Dan LeFevour became the all-time FBS touchdown titan on Friday night when he threw for two touchdowns in the Chippewas' 20-10, MAC championship game victory over Ohio. LeFevour now has accounted for 148 touchdowns (101 tossing, 46 rushing and one receiving), breaking the record of 146 jointly held by quarterbacks Graham Harrell (Texas Tech) and Colt Brennan (Hawaii).

The only active player close to LeFevour is Tim Tebow, who has accounted for 141 career touchdowns. Both LeFevour and Tebow have one bowl game remaining in their careers.

Also on Friday Chippewa wide receiver Bryan Anderson extended his NCAA record of consecutive games with at least one catch to 53. Considering that the maximum number any school could currently play in four seasons is 56 games (unless it is a school with a conference championship game that also plays at Hawaii), Anderson's record is fairly safe, especially if he stretches it to 54 in the GMAC Bowl.

Bowl Fun

There will be plenty of time to discuss bowls in the coming weeks, but the Armed Forces Bowl poses the most intriguing contrast, pitting the nation's most prolific passing attack, Houston, against the nation's No. 1 pass defense, Air Force (you sleep easier knowing Air Force is tops in aerial defense, don't you?).

Consider that on Saturday Cougar quarterback Case Keenum was 56 of 75 for 527 yards and five touchdowns. The Falcons, meanwhile, completed just 11 more passes for three more touchdowns all season (Navy, in fact, had fewer completions [46] and passing touchdowns [4] on the season than Keenum had on Saturday).

And Finally...

Tim Tebow did not have the worst passing day by a Florida student in the Georgia Dome. At halftime of the SEC Championship game, Florida Atlantic undergrad Daniel Margil lost a passing contest (the Scholarship Throw for Dough) to Alabama alum and University of Southern Alabama medical student Sarah Beth Hill.

Each contestant was given 10 footballs to throw through a cut-out in a giant soft-drink can. Margil, operating an unnecessary hurry-up offense, completed eight. Hill, working more methodically, completed nine.

Afterward CBS announcer Gary Danielson quipped, "To the race goes the turtle." We know what you meant, Gary.