Bozzlife: It's how you finish
This weekend was a bit of a whirlwind in terms of sports. Especially Saturday right around noon. I had been out running some errands with my wife and it was shortly before 12 that we finally got home. I quickly occupied my spot on the couch and began to frantically switch back and forth between what I thought would be the two most interesting games of the day.
Imagine my conundrum when I realized that not only were there two basketball games on, but the Big 10 football championship was also on at noon. I eventually found myself bouncing back and forth between the three channels.
Sadly, it didn't last...
This entire weekend (at least for me) was basically a seminar in how important it is for a team to finish the game and actually play the full 60 minutes (or however long the contest lasts).
Let's get some Friday basketball out of the way first.
We had one game cancelled, then we had a big upset by BYU over San Diego State. If you read my post last week, you should remember me saying that was a possibility. It might be one of the only times I was actually right, so I am glad it is recorded in the blockchain for posterity.
Saturday as I mentioned was much more exciting.
We had two games that were not played, one cancelled and the other merely postponed.
UCF with the upset over #15 Florida State is probably the game I should have watched. Instead, I tuned in to the Wisconsin/Louisville game and the Gonzaga/Iowa game.
I really expected both of these games to be closer. I was looking for a real contest, something that would come right down to the wire and take my breath away.
That just wasn't the case. Wisconsin totally destroyed the Cardinals, I barely watched any of that game because it was so one-sided. The only time I like seeing such a one-sided victory is when it is my Michigan State Spartans.
Likewise, the Gonzaga/Iowa game started out pretty promising. Sadly, the wheels came off and it became fairly obvious that despite not having played for close to two weeks, Gonzaga was going to walk away with the victory. Their three point shooting was pretty impressive.
Do I still think they deserve to be number 1? No. Not until they actually get a couple more actual games behind them, yet here we are.
The Big 10 Football Championship game was just about as bad. Northwestern did a really great job of keeping things close right up until about the last quarter of the game. I really don't think the final score is a good indication of just how close the game was.
I also think there were some questionable calls that absolutely went in the Buckeyes favor simply because they are the Buckeyes. Do I think Ohio State deserves the Big 10 title? Yeah, they probably do. Do I think they deserve to be in the College Football playoffs? No, not really. The only reason they made it to the Big 10 title game is because they whined and the conference caved. Additionally, they were basically matched play for play by a #14 ranked team for most of the game.
That should be clearly undeserving of a shot for the national title.
Finally, Sunday gave us another horrible outing by the Lions. Stafford did what he could, but Tennessee is a really great team this year. On top of that, there were once again some questionable calls by the officials that continue to prove their overall bias against Detroit. Had it been the Packers, Saints, or Chiefs, those calls would have easily went the other way.
#9 Creighton beat unranked UConn, but it should be noted that it went into overtime and they only one by one basket. I think that should be remembered moving forward. The #19 Rutgers team took down #13 Illinois in Big 10 conference play.
Finally, my Michigan State Spartans put up a giant turd of a game against the Wildcats of Northwestern. I don't even want to talk about it really. It was horrible showing with hardly anything falling for them. I knew it was bound to happen at some point that they would lose, but I was hoping it would be in a less spectacular fashion.
This will probably drop them down into the #10 spot or something like that. Hopefully they can recover from this because the Big 10 conference is tough this year and they are going to need some big games to stay at the top.
Cumon, man. Gonzaga has beaten two #3 ranked teams (Kansas and Iowa), #15, and #16. Handily. What one loss team are you going to put ahead of them?
My Cougs played their last game just after GU was done with Iowa. The put it on Utah 28-7 in the first half and lost 45-28. At one point the coach had to call time out to give an O lineman a quick primer on playing D line because he didn't have a one left.
The Cards won a really closely contested game with the Eagles. I can tell you for a fact that Jalen Hurt is the real deal. Getting him with a second round choice is going to go down in history as a draft day steal like getting TB12 in the 6th.
The CFP is a serious joke. Ahahahahaha. I'm not laughing. It's full tilt bullshit. Why not an 8 team tourney? Play the first round the week after the league championship games, the second round on New Years Day and the championship game about the 15th of January.
Look at how long it took us to even get the CFP. I guess we need to keep that in mind and just hope that they will make adjustments to it over time. We know in the end it all comes down to money. I don't really know who I would put ahead of Gonzaga. I just don't see how any team can hold their ranking when they don't play for two weeks while most everyone else is. I'd feel the same way if it were my Spartans. You have to earn that spot and if you aren't playing you aren't earning.
So. OK. You take Gonzaga out, you've got to take Baylor out because they've been down the same amount of time. What one loss team do you put in the #1 spot? Who do you have that one of the two haven't beaten? I'd guess you could put 3 loss Duke in there. That would be ordinary, though.
Maybe Harvard? They haven't lost a game. Haven't played one, either.
Remember that you only have to play 10 games to qualify for the tournament this year. They took some precautions for covid disruptions.