cheapseats

I know that with a simple look at the calendar will tell you that I am writing about the Friday games on Saturday and I’m sorry. Here are my excuses in the order in which they happened.

1. The Bears game was on Thursday night: This one got me to thinking: I had to watch a stream of this game on line, which is technically stealing. But is it really stealing if you don’t get the NFL network to begin with? I say no. I think I’m going to be okay here. On a side note with that stream, I’d like to thank that first degenerate that gave me a bum link to the game. I was treated to swinging man junk on my work laptop. I’m not kidding. Now normally I would say shocking an unsuspecting party with tube steak flying around to the beat of “You Spin me Right ‘Round” by Dead or Alive would be rather amusing…but if this stunt makes me a full-time $1 per post, .01 per 5 hit blogger, I’ll find you with my last quarter tank of gas and punch you in the face.
2. I didn’t have power for most of yesterday. No crap here. Check the news. Ice storm in Albany, NY. Northeastern U.S. winter weather. Catch the fever!

On to the games…

For the Friday games, Fox had to take an approach similar to the one that CBS takes for the basketball tournament in March: Staggered starts. They wanted to keep them all separate, but that would’ve prompted either a 3 p.m. Friday start or a 12:30 a.m. Saturday start. Fox wisely opted for the staggered start and moving the less competitive game to FX because even Joe Buck needs to get some sleep.

(1) Florida v. (16) Troy:

Fox’s reasoning behind making this the 7 p.m. start was a simple one. It could get moved to FX without much fuss because it realistically wouldn’t be competitive by the start of the 8:15 game…

…and they were right.

It was a match up between the winners of arguably the best conference in the country against the consensus worst conference. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how this one panned out. There was even talk that Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin would spend the entire game with one leg tied to each other like a three legged race to make it a bit more evenly matched. Unfortunately, the resulting illegal formation penalties would’ve made such a move impossible.

Instead, Tebow, Harvin, and the rest of the Gators just put it on Troy, taking a 38-0 lead at the half. It could’ve been 42-0 but Urban Meyer took mercy at the half and kicked a field goal and second and goal from the 2.

Troy was at the game. They played and they tried their best. But RB DuJuan Harris never stood a chance against a defense that was just twice his size and twice as fast. He had 19 yards on 22 carries.

Tebow didn’t finish the game. He was benched halfway through the third with a 48-0 lead. He was seen reading Kurt Vonnegut on the sidelines like Johnny Moxon from Varsity Blues.

Florida began taking a knee in the fourth quarter and mercy killed Troy 51-7.

(8) Utah v. (9) Boise State:

Many viewed putting the two teams with the best chance of an upset over some of the old guard BCS powers against each other was a travesty. Truth be told, it wasn’t on purpose. Rankings are rankings and this is just how it panned out. The result was an absolute classic.

Side note: Since this game was played in Utah is it too easy and classless to say that the player’s wife section took up more than half the stadium?….nahhh.

Many thought this game would go to Utah since Boise was playing away from the Smurf Turf. Head coach Chris Peterson had other ways to motivate his team, though. The pregame look-in on the Broncos locker room showed him screaming “Utah almost lost to Michigan to open the season! They almost lost to Michigan!”

That in itself appeared to be enough to get the Broncos out on the right foot. Ian Johnson uncorked a 43 yard touchdown run, and directly served divorce papers to the same cheerleader he asked to marry him after the Oklahoma upset. Boise and Utah traded field goals to close out the half 10-3, Broncos.

Defense was the name of the game in the second half with each team keeping the other scoreless until the final 1:45 in the fourth quarter.  Senior quarterback Brian Johnson led an Elway-like 2 minute drill that resulted in a game tying touchdown pass to Brent Casteel with :18 left.

Each team matched touchdowns in the first overtime and field goals in the second to keep the game knotted at 20. Boise wasted no time in the third overtime with Ian Johnson scoring on the exact same Statue of Liberty play that netted them the Oklahoma upset. In a move that etched his place in history, Johnson tore up the divorce papers. Boise nailed the mandatory two point conversion.

Utah wasted no time getting back into the end zone, scoring on the first play with an end around to Freddie Brown. Then, when Brown found himself wide open in the back left corner of the end zone for the tying two point play, he inexplicably dropped a Brian Johnson pass that hit him between the numbers.

Boise State ran of the field to celebrate their 28-26 triple overtime win while Utah was left standing in utter disbelief.

(5) USC v. (12) Cincinnati:

Trojans! Bear Cats! 11:00 p.m. Kickoff! Is anybody watching?? 

After Boise State’s thriller, this game took on the feel of a side-stage band trying to keep fans interested during Led Zeppelin’s first intermission.  It rarely works out well.

But the game was played. Cincinnati wasn’t used to playing meaningful football games, period.  USC wasn’t used to playing a non-Big Ten team in Pasadena this late in the year. It was dark territory for both squads.

Each team had honorary captains for the coin-toss. USC had Reggie Bush, Marcus Allen, Carson Palmer, and a completely blank mannequin wearing a #32 jersey…for that great running back that nobody wants to mention. The Bearcats had Kenyon Martin… because they’ve never had a relevant football player.

It was argued by some analysts that USC was the best team in the country and only had one bad loss to a team that was better than most people thought. It sure looked that way in the first half with Mark “don’t call me dirty” Sanchez connecting for two touchdowns with running back Stafon Johnson. Cincinnati could only muster a field goal while working their two minute offense before the half to keep it at a reasonable 17-3.

In the second half, it looked as though Brian Kelly’s Bearcats would make a game of it when Tony Pike hooked up with Marshwan Gilyard to make it 17-10. A Damian Williams fumble led to a Bearcat field goal that closed the gap to 4.

From there, the Trojans defense locked it up and allowed the offense to run Cincinnati into the ground. USC slowly pulled away to win 27-13 as the sun began to rise on the east coast.

Later today: The Saturday triple header!

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