A closer look

What a thriller.

Ya know... I'm sorry. I won't let the sarcasm go past there.

I mean, the "Good Hands Play of the Game" was the holder spinning the laces away from the kicker.

Really?

Obviously, this whole thing comes down to the simple fact that Oklahoma State should have beaten Iowa State. I get that. I accept that. Whatever.

But let's look at it this way: Alabama got a shot at avenging their only loss of the year, why couldn't Oklahoma State?

If you were to tell the OSU football team "You have to go to Iowa State and win this time, and if you do that you get to go to the National Championship" I guarantee that they would take that deal 10 out of 10 times, and win the football game 10 out of 10 times.

But it didn't happen that way, and once again, I'm okay with that.

What I'm not okay with is what I see on Facebook and Twitter:

Alabama and LSU would've shut Oklahoma State's offense down.

Bama and LSU have the #1 and #2 defenses in the nation, respectively.

We'll pick on Alabama.

The Crimson Tide were the top-ranked defense in the nation, but lets look past that. The best offenses they faced were Arkansas (13th ranked passing offense) and LSU (17th ranked rushing offense).

They allowed 185 yards and 2 TD's to Arkansas' passing offense, which when you look at it from the view of talent and overall scheme, is nothing to Oklahoma State's passing attack.

The Tide allowed 148 rushing yards to LSU in the first game, and a stunning 39 yards in the National Championship. Oklahoma State was the 58th ranked rushing attack in the nation while calling a rushing play about 40% of the time.

Now that you have seen that, does it really make sense to say that Alabama would have "shut down" Oklahoma State's offense? Especially passing.

If they allowed Arkansas' quarterback Tyler Wilson to go 22/35 for 185 and 2 TD's with his best receiver being Jarius Wright (1117 yds, 12 TD's) and Joe Adams (652 yds, 3 TD's), what kind of damage would Brandon Weeden had done with Justin Blackmon (1522 yds, 18 TD's), Josh Cooper (715 yds, 3 TD's) and Tracy Moore (672 yds, 4 TD's)?

Add in RB's Joseph Randle (1216 yds, 24 TD's) and Jeremy Smith (646 yds, 9 TD's)?

Well, let's just say the final wouldn't have been 21-0.

In the words of Mike Gundy: "I just think we could score."

The No. 1 Pick

It seems like it's been decided since the beginning of time.

I can remember sitting in Mr. Wellman's fourth-grade class at Bear Creek Elementary when I heard it for the first time.

"Andrew Luck will be the #1 pick in the 2012 NFL draft."

Alright, maybe I exaggerated a little bit, but that's what it seems like. Andrew Luck has been the media's first pick this year since he announced he'd be returning for the 2011 season.

But now we're hearing otherwise?

After a surprising explosion of offense from a man from Waco some call RG3, some people are beginning to not be so sure about Luck being a member of the Indianapolis Colts next year.

Including their former head coach, Tony Dungy, who won a super bowl with the franchise. He went on the Dan Patrick radio show today and said he'd take Robert Griffin over Luck, citing Griffin's added dimension of being able to rush along with his Top 3 arm.

In case you live under a rock, some of the best quarterbacks in the league have that added dimension: Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton and Drew Brees (Though he doesn't do it much) to name a few.

But why would the Colts pass on what's regarded as "The safest pick to come through the draft since Peyton Manning"?

The answer to that, I'm not really sure of.

In fact, I think it makes no sense at all.

Let's take a trip back in time. Tony Dungy gained his head-coachmanship in Tampa Bay and instantly began revolutionizing the defensive side of the ball (Google "Tampa Two", you may have heard of it). He was eventually hired as the coach of the Indianapolis Colts.

In-between there somewhere, Peyton Manning was the quarterback for the Tennessee Volunteers, racking up a 50-9 record in his four years there. The Volunteers had a high-ranked offense, and a low ranked defense. Sound familiar?

Manning graduated left after the 1997 season, and a weird thing happened. The Vols won a national championship in 1998, led by a Top-5 in the nation defense.

Go back to Dungy. He came to Indianapolis and led the Colts to a championship in 2006-07.

Remember when he revolutionized the Tampa defense? Well, this Indy squad, led by Peyton Manning, had the 21st (out of 32) total defense in the league.

Just like in Tennessee.

The problem with the Colts, and Colin Cowherd said something close to this a few weeks ago, is that Peyton Manning's presence is so overwhelming and overpowering that the team takes it on as their own. i.e. Peyton Manning is finesse, so his defense becomes finesse. That's why the Volunteers became a smash-mouth defense as soon as he graduated.

Now, back-track to the draft conversation. Who do you take?

Andrew Luck, who has glimpses of Peyton Manning but is more of an Aaron Rodgers in that he plays smash-mouth, wear you down football? Or do you take the finesse Robert Griffin 3?

Given that Luck will willingly hold a clipboard for Peyton Manning's final years, as he deserves to have, then I would take Luck 10 out of 10 times.

And if they don't? They'll most likely have to watch as Luck dominates the NFL for the next 10-15 years, all while looking at each other repeatedly saying "What were we thinking?"

RG3 will be a good quarterback, but Andrew Luck will be a franchise changing quarterback with the mentality that he brings to the football field.

He basically says "I'm gonna run it through you, then throw it over you. Try and stop me", while Peyton says "Where are you lining up? Alright... Hang on just a second."

I'll have the Luck please, side of Reggie Wayne.

2011 In Review

I would first like to say Happy New Year to all of my readers, I hope you all have a fun and safe night, and keep every resolution you attempt to begin tomorrow.

Now, let's review this past year and what all went down in sports. I started this last year, and know that everyone posts their cheesy lists, but I cut the cheese and get straight to the point.

So, without further adieu, here are my Top 5 moments of 2011.

Number 1: World Champions
We finally did it. I've watched the Mavericks since they seemed to go 0-82 back in my elementary years, and never thought I'd see the day. But I finally did, and Cuban hoisting the trophy paired with Dirk raising the MVP trophy was the best image of 2011.

Number 2: The Rushing of the Field
I was moving between the press box and the roof of Boone Pickens Stadium for the Bedlam game (December 3), and it was incredible. I got to sit back and watch everything and soak it all in, and it was the craziest atmosphere I had ever seen. Then, with four minutes to go in the game I moved down to the walkway between the field and Gallagher-Iba arena, and watched as the sea of orange flooded the field like a tsunami of fanatical, long-awaited happiness. I saw them tear down the goal posts and move them through the crowd as people hung off of them, everyone rejoicing in the schools first ever Big 12 Championship. Then, we went to Washington Street afterwards, home of "The Strip" and witnessed the celebration there as well. Incredible night.

Number 3: Back to Back American League Champions
Highlighted by Nelson Cruz' boomstick, the Rangers raised another AL Championship trophy and another AL Championship banner. Unfortunately, they couldn't finish it off (again) in the World Series, but it was another great year and another huge step taken towards being a major MLB power.

Number 4: Pack Attack
Before 2011, Aaron Rodgers was only known as "The quarterback who fell really far in the draft." He is now known as World Champion, and led an injury-stricken Packers squad to their first Super Bowl in a long time.

Number 5: The Rise to Dominance
Not exactly a moment, but the entire year was incredible for Cam Newton. He started it off by winning the National Championship in January, then followed that up by being the first pick in the NFL draft. Now, he has broken two rookie quarterback records (One held by Peyton Manning) and is becoming ONE OF the best quarterbacks in the leagues (YES, I said it!). Cam is a star and a role model, and the NFL needs him to do exactly what he's doing. Imagine what he would be doing if DeAngelo Williams was having a year like he did in '09. Can you say "Playoffs"?

Happy new year, hope it's a safe one!

Tebow

Tim Tebow is now 7-1 as a starter.

Brace yourself for the eighth straight week of Tebow mania on ESPN, as well as every radio station you come across... But I can't say I don't love it.

Let's get this out of the way... Tebow isn't an elite quarterback. He's not Aaron Rodgers (The best, period), Tom Brady or Peyton Manning (The second best in my opinion), but what do all four of these players have in common?

Their job is to win football games.

Tebow has won 7 of them in his last 8 games.

Yet people are still looking for arguments to debunk the Tebow-Mania that has ensued on everyone's Twitter timeline...

"But Brendon, his defense is playing incredible! That's the reason they're winning!"

Sure, the defense is playing great. I'll give that to them. But aren't they supposed to do that? The defense's sole job is to give their offense a chance to win the game (I go to Oklahoma State, I know this better than anyone).

Guess what? The defense is doing their job, and Tebow is doing his.

"But Tebow didn't kick that field goal in overtime, the kicker won the game!"

This is the funniest. Tebow's job isn't to kick the field goal. Overtime rarely ends with a touchdown unless it comes from 25+ yards away (on a long play). Any time a team gets within 30 yards of the endzone, they run the ball a few times and kick a field goal.

Tebow's job is to get the ball inside the kickers range, that's EVERY quarterback's job in the NFL. The kicker's job is to kick the field goal.

The kicker did his job, Tebow did his.

All in all, the only reason Tebow gets talked about is because there are so many people who want to throw him out as a quarterback. That's what Skip Bayless, ESPN's most controversial analyst, thrives off of. Someone says something, and he goes against it, THAT'S why you hear about it. That's what the national media does, and that's what you tune into when you turn on ESPN or the radio.

Tebow is not a quarterback. Fine. I'll give you that. But he's doing every job a quarterback is supposed to do, and doing it well.

Tebow's job is to give his team the best chance to win. Moving the ball inside of field goal range in overtime is the job he was handed, and he did it.

That's the same job Rodgers, Brady, Manning, Romo, Flacco, Alex Smith and Roethlisberger all have. That's the job you have as a quarterback.

Tebow does his job.