Title Game Thoughts

Auburn vs. Oregon
The game itself was atrocious for a number of reasons. First of all, you can’t give two teams that thrive on rhythm and repetition 40 days between games and expect them to come out and jump right back into their well-oiled-machine ways. Second, there’s so much hype around title games and so much to play for that there’s almost no way for a rational, emotional human being to sufficiently calm down after running out of the tunnel in front of 90,000 maniacal fans for at least a quarter. I was so pumped after the teams ran on the field I felt like I could have chased down Onterio McCaleb from behind, how do you think those guys felt?

The better team won. It pains me to say that because Cam Newton makes me want to bathe in hot oil but Auburn was just better. Destiny, Family, All In — whatever you want to call it, they were a better team than Oregon. The drama in the last 5 minutes saved it from being one of the all time worst BCS title games, up there with the 13-2 baseball game OU and Florida State played.

Also, what was up with the field. I thought about tweeting a BP/slick field joke but I didn’t want to get unfollowed by anybody, a wise decision by me since I only have 15 followers right now. Seriously though, this isn’t BC Nevada in San Fran, this is for the national title, how do you not have the field in pristine condition. Maybe John Junker should have to give back some of that $592,000 he pulled in.

What it means for OSU
Pokelahoma mentioned it last night and he’s right, OSU isn’t that far away. Tramel even wrote about it in the Oklahoman yesterday. Basically, the formula for winning a title over the last decade has been having a big playmaker on offense (check…for now), an athletic tw0-deep defense that makes huge plays (almost there), a quarterback who controls the game (check) and a defensive front that harasses the opposing quarterback (ehh). The defensive front thing is killing OSU right now. Games like the Nebraska one prove it too. I can promise you Nick Fairley does not let Taylor Martinez throw for 5 TDs and 300+ yards.

Last year, Auburn went 8-5 and beat Northwestern in the Outback Bowl. They haven’t lost since then. I’m not saying OSU is going to run the table next year, that would be foolish considering its schedule, but I am saying that the program Gundy has built (and is building) is something of note. We all know the stats: 5 straight bowls, 29 wins in the last 3 years, co-South champs but I would argue the numbers don’t reveal the true story:

Oklahoma State is on the verge of something great, something possibly historic. Mike Gundy, say what you want about him (and I have) is positioning this program to roll with Texas and OU for the next decade and I can’t wait to see how it plays out.