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Congratulations to Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns. They did the impossible. On Wednesday, January 4th, Texas defeated USC in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to win the College Football National Championship. They ruined USC’s attempt at a 3-peat and 34 game win streak stretching out to the 2004 season. And above all, Vince Young and Texas made believers of all of us (yes, even me).

I have to give credit where credit is due. Vince Young had an amazing game – probably one of the most amazing single game performances by a player at the college football level. I’ve never been a Vince Young fan – I thought he was another Vick want to-be, all the physical ability but not much talent. His arrogance drove me crazy. His followers were worse (I’m not big on Texas fans – 90% of you have no affiliation with the University, let alone have never even been to Texas!). After watching the game and hear the commentators say he was doing the Heisman pose in the end zone and screaming things like “Who’s the real Heisman?” I thought I’d never hear the end of it. But after the game, a time he had to gloat and tell everyone “I told you so”; he finally let his playing on the field do the talking and was very respectful. Kudos to you Vince Young.

But I have to ask – what was USC thinking?! While Texas played its hearts out and deserved to won, USC equally deserved to win. I won’t harp on the offensive side of the ball – yea, the 4th down plays were a bit iffy and Reggie Bush’s lateral was straight up ridiculous – but I’m going to focus on the defensive front. I’m seeking advice from knowledgeable football people – because I’m baffled. It’s 4th down and 5 inside the USC 10 – Texas has had the biggest success with Vince Young running the ball – HOW DO YOU NOT PREVENT VINCE YOUNG FROM RUNNING THE BALL? I don’t understand it. Even my dad and I were talking before the play, “He’s just going to run it in!” Any player who has played Madden for a game console (specifically 2004) can explain to you the importance of spying fast quarterbacks. I play Beau frequently, and he always plays as Michael Vick. What does Beau do (much like Vince) when there are no receivers open? RUNS THE BALL. To amateur players, Beau will run all over them. But over time you find plays that work – be it a double DE spy, maybe two LB spies, or even a safety spy. So why couldn’t USC figure this out? In a game where Young never proved he could throw the deep ball – and the USC secondary was making the big plays – why did USC allow so much short yardage? Most of Young’s pass plays were 5-15 yards, and his runs were mainly broken plays. Why not leave your receivers one on one, stack the box and make Young beat you in the air (which he never proved he could throw the deep ball).

That’s my rant – and I’ve yet to read anything which tells me satisfying in solution. I’m not a football guru by any means – I have plenty to learn about the game. I just didn’t understand how USC couldn’t do more to prevent the obvious. Anyhow, congratulations Texas – you made all your fans so happy. Unfortunately, now, I have to wait 7 months for more college football.

Uva accepted a bid to a bowl today.. we will be playing in the MPC Computer Bowl in Boise, Idaho! We get to travel to the smurf blue field to play a MAC opponent (likely Fresno St.). It’s disappointing that only a week ago, we had hopes for the Peach Bowl, or (even though less likely) the Sugar Bowl… and now we’re here. We are the highest rank team, #18 in the nation, to ever play in this bowl, and likely will remain the highest ranked team to have ever played in the bowl.

So, who wants to go? I heard Idaho is amazing mid-December..

VT beat UVA.. plain and simple. I won’t even make excused. Tech came out beat us in the second half.

I was really pleased at half time. While we missed a few key scoring opportunities, we held VT to under 100 yards, and were moving the ball. UVA definitley should have been up at halftime.

But UVA even came out strong in the third quarter, forcing a VT special teams turnover (rare) and converting on a 3rd and long for a TD (even rarer). But then Tech responded, and never looked back. Blah blah blah.

Unlike many wahoos (i.e. my girlfriend), I’m not bitter towards Tech. I thought they played a good, hard fought game. In my opinion, UVA lost the game for itself. I thought a lot of the coaching calls were awful, we didn’t convert twice within the redzone, our secondary gave up too many big plays, and we had stupid costly penalties. We had a few opportunities to take a strong lead, and yet we failed to convert and let Tech stay in the game. And give it to Randall and the VT D – they played well.

Overall, talent-wise, I think UVA had the better team this year. We were more prepared then any other year. But in the big picture, I think this game showed the UVA football is still a few years behind Tech’s program, and we have a ways to go. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not being a pessimist by ANY means. I’m the biggest UVA football supporter, and still so after today. But I think a lot of our expectations may be too high, and we need to realize that Groh is building what hopes to be a powerhouse program.

Now we only hope that Ahmad Brooks, Darryl Blackstock, and Heath Miller stick around for next year. We hope our recruiting class gets even stronger. And we hope for a great offseason. And oh yea, a bowl win, wherever that may be.

The new BCS (Bowl Championship Series) ratings came out today, and thanks to the Florida upset over Florida State, we are ranked one spot ahead Florida State. Miamia is ranked 8th, VTech is 14th, while Virginia is 17th and FSU 18th. This opens up the possibility that UVA can win the ACC and earn a BCS bowl berth. Note, it’s a slim possibility. But it’s possible. Here’s what needs to happen:

1. UVA pulls off the insane upset in Blacksburg and defeats Virginia Tech.
2. Virginia Tech, angry about their loss to instate rival UVA, defeats Miami in Coral Gables.
3. With Virginia Tech and Miami losing, UVA moves up to the top ACC team in the BCS rankings.

This would cause a three way tie in the ACC between FSU, Virginia Tech, and UVA. Since all three teams have not played eachother, the tie breaker would be the highest ranked team in the BCS. If all went as planned, that’d be UVA.

I pray that this happens, although I’m skeptical it will. Only time will tell. But please, PLEASE let’s not let Vtech win it’s next two games and win the ACC title outright.. that just can’t happen..