So I don't think last night was the game we were all expecting. Well maybe the outcome but the final score was far from what many NCAA football fans were expecting, especially those from Oregon and Auburn. Between my group of friends we were very split between these two teams. The SEC crew were not foiled that the Ducks would beat the Tigers, however there were many others who believed that Oregon's fast paced play was going to get the best of Auburn's defense. Last night's game is the reason why I love watching college football. It came down to the final seconds, there wasn't a purely dominant team, which to me displays that the right teams were chosen for the national championship game. While it can be argued that Stanford or TCU may have deserved it as well, we can't dwell on what could have been and just accept what was.
Leading up to the game like every year experts across the nation were trying to figure out what each teams game plan would be, how exactly they were going to win. Oregon during the season was purely dominant in the run game, averaging 300 yds per game, and their quick offense wore defenses down before the 1st quarter could even come to a close. Not to mention their "fancy" trick plays with shovel passes and reverses that confuse many teams in the NCAA kept their offense near impossible to read thus resulting in high scores. However, Auburn is from the SEC conference. A dominant conference in NCAA football. The SEC is known for already fast paced games so the fast paced Oregon offense wasn't going to be that shocking to Auburn. Not to mention Auburn does have the (controversial) Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton. How was Oregon going to stop him? Not only can he throw the ball but he's a phenomenal runner and knows how to make plays.
The game started last night Oregon won the toss and elected to receive the opening kick off. Majority of the sports world expected this to be a game of offense. Some sort of score on every offensive drive. If each offense would have been on their game last night it could have easily been a 53-50 final score. After the 1st quarter ended it was still 0-0. Something no one expected. Each team had an INT in the 1st quarter, but no results from either turnover. Something that both teams throughout the regular season were successful with. The 2nd quarter began and that's where we finally started to see the teams settle into their usual game. Oregon went up 3-0. Then Auburn scored, 7-3. Almost immediately Oregon reciprocated but then also faked the FG and scored the 2-pt conversion, 11-7. Auburn safety, 11-9. Auburn TD, 16-11. This was the kind of game people were expecting. Fast offensive drives and scoring going back and forth. Going into the half with the lead Auburn was pumped up, but Oregon wasn't going to go down without a fight.
Only 4 minutes into the half Auburn scored a field goal to make it 19-11. A lot of football fans, not really rooting for either team, at this point started to believe that Auburn was going to run away with the game. They had the lead at the half and came out to score first in the 3rd quarter. It seemed as though Oregon was beat. The rest of the 3rd quarter despite turnovers, big 3rd down plays and a few defensive plays by both teams, the score remained 19-11 going into the final 15 minutes of the game. Running down the clock in the 4th quarter Auburn was still up by 8. Oregon needed a touchdown with a 2-pt conversion to just tie the game. And that's exactly what they got, with 2:33 left in the game. After Casey Matthews forced Newton to fumble the ball (a phenomenal play) Oregon marched into the endzone with 2 perfectly executed plays. 1st the 2-yd pass from Thomas to LaMichael James for the TD and then the pass to Jeff Maehl for the 2pt conversion. Game tied 19 all. From that point on however, it was Auburn's ball.
Using the last 2:30 on the clock marching down the field. All they needed was a FG to win. After a poor tackle by Oregon that resulted in a 37-yd run from Auburn (runner was never down on the play and continued to run) Auburn was set up to win the game with a TD. However down at the 1 they were forced to figure out a new game plan to not allow Oregon to even have another chance for a hail mary kickoff return to win the game. As unlikely as that would be, we've seen crazier plays to win a game. Auburn with 10 seconds left went back on the field, spiked the ball and used one of their remaining timeouts with 2 seconds left. Just enough time to kick the winning field goal and leave Oregon no time to rebuttal. Auburn became the 2011 BCS National Championship with a final score of 22-19. A significantly lower score than expected by the entire NCAA nation, but it came down to the final seconds literally, and Auburn prevailed.
As a general college football fan I just wanted to see a good game, and that's exactly what I got, but I openly cheered for Oregon. While it was a near even spread I wanted to see the "underdog" prevail. The SEC is very clearly the most dominant conference in college football but to see that a team from the PAC-10 held it's own was refreshing. A friend posted on Facebook: "Stanford could have beaten either one of those teams" and while that may be true, we'll never actually know. For the first time in a long time, I think I am happy with the entire game. There were no really bad calls against either team, maybe a few holding calls here and there overlooked, but the officiating crew did a fantastic job at making the right calls on both teams.
One thing that made me believe that there is still good in this sport, in the coaches and players, was Gene Chizik. Defensive linemen Fairley, dominant throughout the entire game was called twice on personal fouls during the game. One when he pushed Jones' back into the ground after a tackle and pretty much near kneed him in the face as well as he pushed his helmet into the ground later in the game. I am not condoning his actions by any means, and neither did Chizik. As the head official was announcing the penalty the cameras zoomed to Chizik screaming at Fairley for what he did. Seeing Fairley being scolded for his actions was a breath of fresh air. No player should ever play like that, in any sport.
Now that the 2010-2011 college football season is over I can focus my full attention to UConn bball and the Packers playoff push. This year was an interesting year to say the least. The Big Ten usually dominant in bowl games was shut out, Boise State was denied what they thought was their chance at the BCS title game when they lost to Nevada. Teams like Wisconsin who dominated with more than 160 points in their last 3 games of the reg season, lost in the Rose Bowl to TCU, prove that there should be a playoff system because at the end of the regular season there was no team that could have beaten the Badgers. I look forward to the next season but it shall be interesting first to see who is going to go into the draft and change their college teams game plan for the upcoming season.
Congrats again to Auburn on the national championship, y'all earned it. War Eagle!
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