NCAA Week 13/NFL Week 12 Recap: The real rivalry week!
As I pointed out in my post yesterday, there was a ton of stuff going on this past holiday weekend as far as sports go. University basketball teams were battling it out in far away locations at some of the early season tournaments. Meanwhile, back at home, their brothers on the football field were taking part in one of the most exciting weeks of college football... Rivalry Week.
The big story of the weekend was the Michigan/Ohio State game of course. I think even those folks down south had their eye on this game. I can't think of another power conference where two as yet undefeated teams were facing off against each other.
I have to be honest and say that I only sort of watched the game. Being neither a Michigan nor an Ohio State fan, I could really care less who won. As my brother in law who is a Michigan State fan like myself so aptly put it:
"I truly can't think of a worse day on the calendar... one fan base will whine, mope & complain for a whole year and the other will be totally unbearable"
Of course, if you watched the game, or read the news, you know by now that Michigan beat Ohio State 30 to 24. I saw a headline the other day that indicated the Buckeyes might not even make it to the college football playoff now, but I don't know if that is accurate. Hard to believe they were once ranked #1 in the nation.
Let's get the other elephant out of the room now. Penn State put a massive beat down on Michigan State at Ford Field beating them 42 to 0. They really stood no chance. I was at least hoping they might score something. In other news, about half the MSU team has decided to enter the transfer portal. It's going to be a hot mess for a while folks. I was fine seeing Houser go, but the recent announcement by Leavitt is some sad news.
Apparently Leavitt is from Oregon and the new Spartan head coach is coming to us from Oregon State. Leavitt is salty that he didn't get an offer from Oregon State while the coach was there, so he has no desire to play for him in Michigan. Whatever. Go ahead and leave.
Hopefully we will build something better without you.
If you got a chance, the Iowa/Nebraska game was quite good. The sad part is, with a 13 to 10 win over the Huskers, it knocks Nebraska out of the running to play a bowl game. Maybe they can continue to turn things around next year.
Hats off to the Kentucky Wildcats for taking down #10 Louisville 38 to 31. That's a big win for a Kentucky team that has their share of struggles over the past couple of years.
BYU took Oklahoma State into two overtimes, but fell just short 40 to 34.
I'd also like to point out the "Iron Bowl" was played this last weekend. Auburn gave them hell, but Alabama eventually came away on top 27 to 24. It was a heck of a game.
Washington State gave #4 Washington a scare, but couldn't finish and ended up losing 24 to 21.
Georgia continues to stay in the #1 spot with a big win over Georgia Tech 31 to 23.
Finally, Iowa State had a big upset over #19 Kansas State beating them 42 to 35.
Next week we have the conference championship games. I swear, if Alabama beats Georgia, the world is going to break in two!
I can't remember seeing so many 12-0 teams playing in the conference championship games. It should be an exciting weekend. You could watch any of the seven games next week and be in for a treat!
As far as the NFL goes, I think my brother in law had another really good quote from this past week:
"Same Ol' Lions"
They had a pretty epic loss to Green Bay on Thanksgiving Day. It was hard to even watch that game. I was so disgusted with them. I really hope they get their act together because it isn't an easy road from here to the end of the season. Defense needs to step up, Offense needs to protect the QB and Goff needs to be less "Goffy".
Meanwhile, Dallas thumped the Commanders, San Francisco beat Seattle, Miami beat the Jets, and Atlanta had a needed win over The Saints.
That Steelers/Bengals game was really good on Sunday. Additionally, there were some really close games decided by 3 or 7 points in the middle of the field. Most importantly for the standings, KC and Philly both won, so they remain up at the top. Along with Baltimore, Detroit, San Francisco, Miami, and Jacksonville. Things are really starting to heat up.
Probably the best news of the weekend is the fact that Chicago beat Minnesota last night keeping them two games out from the Lions. If we can get the train back on the tracks and win at least one of our games against them, we should be good to clinch the NFC North.
Fingers crossed.
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