Your Week 14 College Football Scores
December 5, 2009 – 9:04 pm by McD
Record: 141-72, 98-112-3 AS
Friday, December 4, 2009. 8 pm ET
Mid-American Conference Championship
Ohio (9-3) at Central Michigan (10-2) (-13.5)
Pick: Central Michigan
Final: CMU 20 Ohio 10
The greatest quarterback in the history of the MAC and one of the best in the history of college football won his final conference game as a senior. The numbers weren’t amazing in this game, but there’s no way to put a cap on a career as productive as Dan LeFevour’s. The guy has been amazing since he became the starting quarterback a couple of years back. You’re the man, Dan LeFevour. And you can always be able to tell your kids you were better at doing what Tim Tebow did than Tim Tebow was. Respect.
Record: 142-72, 98-113-3 AS
Saturday, December 5, 2009
12 pm ET
Conference-USA Championship
Houston (10-2) at East Carolina (8-4) (+3)
Pick: Houston
Final: ECU 38 Houston 32
Ideally, Houston’s entire team will come back next year with a chip on its shoulder after the disappointments of 2009. Case Keenum was great, but they had a bad habit of going down early to teams they should be able to handle. It’s possible their throw-all-the-time offense just creates ball control issues for them, but they shouldn’t have lost any of the three games they dropped this year. They went from possible BCS buster to second place in Conference USA. Ouch.
Record: 142-73, 98-114-3 AS
12:30 pm ET
Fresno State (7-4) at Illinois (3-8) (-3)
Pick: Fresno State
Final: Fresno State 53 Illinois 52
Juice Williams had three losing seasons in four years as a starter. The other year, the Illini got into the Rose Bowl. What a completely depressing couple of years for him. Not because they were losing so much, but because somewhere along the line he had to have figured out that he was at Illinois, a school that has no hope of repeated success. Ron Zook’s issues aside, Illinois will never be a football school.
You know what would be nice? If Fresno State could help us all out and just win games. Every time they play a big game for them it’s either a close shootout loss, a blowout loss, or a close shootout win. They can’t just WIN, you know? I’m getting tired of their act.
Record: 143-73, 99-114-3 AS
West Virginia (8-3) at Rutgers (8-3) (+1.5)
Pick: West Virginia
Final: West Virginia 24 Rutgers 21
Did anyone not associated with either school care about this game? I didn’t think so.
Record: 144-73, 100-114-3 AS
Cincinnati (11-0) at Pittsburgh (9-2) (-2)
Pick: Cincinnati
Final: Cincinnati 45 Pitt 44
Anytime some one can mention the name Craig “Ironhead” Heyward’s name to me, it’s guaranteed to get a positive reaction. If you grew up watching football in the late 80′s and early 90′s, you know he’s one of the great players on that level just below the big-name guys.
Anyway, stop being so depressed, Pitt fans. Dion Lewis is coming back next year and you’re not going to suck. You may not be great, but hey, Wanny got you this far, didn’t he?
As for Cincinnati, this game is a perfect illustration as to why they don’t belong in the championship game over TCU. That is, should Texas lose. The Bearcats had an amazing season. Conference champs, undefeated, one of the more prolific offenses in the country and they didn’t even have Tony Pike the whole time. Great season.
Problem is, they still don’t play defense. Alabama would f*ck this team up and make the BCS that much less entertaining. Sure, Cincy won this game and went undefeated, but no one who has seen TCU and Cincy play would say Cincy is the better team. Besides, Brian Kelly is peacing out for Notre Dame anyway.
Record: 145-73, 100-115-3 AS
3 pm ET
New Mexico State (3-9) at Boise State (12-0) (-47.5)
Pick: Boise State
Final: BSU 42 NMSU 7
Oh sure, Boise, take your foot off the gas in the fourth quarter. Just great. I f*cking hate gambling.
Record: 146-73, 100-116-3 AS
3:30 pm ET
Arizona (7-4) at Southern California (8-3) (-7)
Pick: USC wins but doesn’t cover
Final: Arizona 21 USC 17
Let’s not pretend the sky is falling for USC. They’re going to be just fine, especially since this is the bottom end of success for them. But sweet Jesus did their offense suck this year. I’m pretty sure USC stopped actually gameplanning with their offense about two months ago. They still only run the ball and then run bootleg play-action passes off the run. That’s it. That’s all they do, and that’s all they’ve done since Matt Leinart left. They’re getting straight out-schemed by opposing defenses now and it needs fixed yesterday. Also, Matt Barkley is a true freshman, and there were going to be growing pains no matter what.
The most shocking part of this season was USC’s defense. They flat out sucked for most of the year. I can’t imagine why. I know there are depth issues and the fact that it’s hard to live up to being the follow-up to the best defense in college football history, but wow. And they STILL won eight games.
Record: 146-74, 101-116-3 AS
4 pm ET
Southeastern Conference Championship
Florida (12-0) at Alabama (12-0) (+5.5)
Pick: Florida
Final: Alabama 32 Florida 13
Well, that turned out well for Tim Tebow, didn’t it? Florida made it through the entire season with that crappy offense, and I didn’t think it would catch up to them tonight. Alabama’s offense sucked too. Don’t forget that. But the Tide played a perfect game today and that’ll pretty much get you past anyone.
Record: 146-74, 101-117-3 AS
8 pm ET
Atlantic Coast Conference Championship
Georgia Tech (10-2) at Clemson (8-4) (-1)
Pick: Georgia Tech
Final: Georgia Tech 39 Clemson 34
It’s crazy how some schools keep the same identity through different coaches and long stretches of years with little change. Clemson will always be the “close but not cigar” team of the ACC. That’s why it was so fitting that one of Bobby Bowden’s kids was the coach there. He was a good coach, but never as good as his daddy and his team was never as good as Florida State on a year to year basis.
Now, Georgia Tech, a school that has totally overhauled its football identity over the last two years, is in the BCS and Clemson still couldn’t quite make it. Tough, entertaining game. But now all is right with the world.
Record: 147-74, 102-117-3 AS
Big XII Championship Game
Texas (12-0) at Nebraska (9-3) (+14.5)
Pick: Nebraska
Final: Texas 13 Nebraska 12
I can’t believe Texas almost pulled an LSU at the end. I thought Mack Brown and Colt McCoy were better than that. The game wrap says McCoy was “dazed” from being sacked so many times by Nebraska’s defense, but that makes me wonder if he was concussed at some point in the game and stayed in anyway. Or, worse, did the coaches ignore the obvious signs? Why else would Colt McCoy blow that situation so egregiously? Interesting word choice by the AP and interesting timing if my theory is true, given the NFL’s recent issues with concussions.
The replay officials made the right call, giving Texas one last-chance shot, but damn that sucks. I half expected the official to say the BCS had called and insisted Texas get a field goal try, but he kept their little secret for the time being.
We almost had BCS chaos, people. We were this close to TCU and Cincinnati possibly getting a shot at the national championship. Damn.
Record after regular season: 147-75, 103-117-3 AS
