Last Saturday I watched college football. I may have watched too much of it. When I woke up Sunday morning my eyes hurt.
My dear wife, Carrie, my brother-in-law, Stevarino, and I watched every play of the 7 overtime night game marathon between Texas A&M and LSU. No, this is not a basketball score. A&M outlasted LSU 74-72 in 7 OTs. It was epic. We’ll be hard-pressed to see another one like that. Overtime, yes, but 7? I watched Eli Manning in his sophomore year quarterback the Ole Miss Rebels in a 7 OT game against Arkansas. The Hogs won 58-56 was it? I think it was. I don’t want to look it up. It was sad enough the first time.
Of course last Saturday started with Indiana and Purdue. IU lost in a stadium that was filled more than I expected on a Thanksgiving Saturday weekend. The IU Football experiment still has a long way to go. Some attitude adjustments are in dire need in that athletic program. I suppose it is still a confusing place since the fall of Bobby Knight. I heard more folk talking about an ESPN 30 for 30 show to air this past week about Coach Knight getting fired over 18 years ago than I heard about the Purdue-Indiana game. Some things simply never change.
Purdue. The talk of Coach Jeff Brohm leaving Purdue for Louisville was in full force this week until Coach Brohm put the squash on the story. He is staying at Purdue. He mentioned loyalty to Purdue. That was refreshing. I think he did the right thing.
Louisville fans lamented. One Card fan likened his spurn of Louisville as the opposite of Coach Bear Bryant going back home to his Alabama to coach when he, like Brohm, was 47 years old. Coach Bryant said “Mama called”. And he answered. My Louisville friend was disappointed because Brohm turned down “Mama”.
Me, I think Jeff Brohm,(I was in old Cardinal Stadium one day he came in relief of Browning Nagle in a Louisville blowout win), didn’t want to deal with a second dumpster fire this soon. When he arrived at Purdue the Boilermakers were Boilercrud. In the four years before Jeff Brohm got to Louisville, Purdue had a 9-39 record. The last two years under Coach Brohm have improved so far to 13-12 with a bowl game this month in all probability. This is still a team learning how to win. What do I mean? This season they blew out Ohio State, beat a ranked Iowa team, and the suffered a butt-whipping at Minnesota. Don’t forget early grown pains against Eastern Michigan. At that point one might think the dumpster got another match thrown into it. Not so. But you better believe knowing 8-4 was “right there” had something to do with Coach Brohm saying no to “Mama”.
There is an amazing old school feel to Louisville’s passion to get the guy there. Where else would you find such adulation for a player turned coach when, in his playing days brought only 38 touchdowns and 28 interceptions in a career that featured just two starting seasons? I know there is family history. That is easy to find in many schools. But I think it may be the magical carry over from one Howard Schnellenberger. Some of us remember when he showed up at old Cardinal Stadium when the football program was on life-support. It almost didn’t make it. 3 dollar tickets were easy to find at Convenient Stores in the early 1980s. Now there is a palace to play in. And I think Card fans from there to here still believe in the mantra “We’re on a crash collison course with a National Championship and the only variable is time”.
Jeff Brohm may be the man to do just that one day and I hope it does. The pipe smoker saved football at Louisville and made it a much more popular sport all over the Commonwealth. The Governor’s Cup? Howard. New Stadium? Pipe Dream to Pipe Smoke rising. National Championship? I hope I can see that one day. Driving east on I-64 where all those hideous billboards dot both sides of the road next to the Ohio River, there will be one featuring Howard and his national championship saying. That would be cool.
THE PICKS for this week.
I was 10-5 last week. Thought it would be worse. I need to double check the numbers and tally the season. I have been pleased.
South Carolina beats Akron…a game rescheduled because of the Hurricane.
Texas beat Oklahoma in the Big 12 Champ Game….Oklahoma gives up too many points and their offense may turn the ball over today. Texas-sized game in Texas -sized Jerry’s World Stadium and winning this game can make you a legend in that state and help your future employment prospects for life.
Iowa State beats Drake…What is a Drake?
Stanford beats Cal…Seems hokey to have a game after the PAC 12 Championship was already played. Sadly, it was too smoky to play this game when it was originally scheduled.
UCF beats Memphis in the American Championship Game….UCF keeps rolling. Very impressive…but Memphis has some power too on both sides of the ball.
Bama beats Georgia in the SEC Championship Game…Bama has beaten every time by more than 20 points I saw this week. Go ahead and give them the trophy and let someone else keep playing so we can watch interesting football.
Fresno State beats Boise State…Coach Tedford has the Valley boys back.
Clemson beats Pitt…You know how I get heart ahead of my head sometimes? This is one I am holding back on. Rooting for Pitt.
Northwestern beats Ohio State…So I seem oxymoronic here compared to the last game. Here’s the thing: Northwestern is a physical team and they are a smart, well-coached bunch. After their victory over Ohio State tonight, the Michigan faithful will tell Coach Harbaugh to keep the team home and work on beating Michigan instead of going on field trips here and yon.
NC State beats ECU…in another Hurricane moved contest. Talked to some folks down on the coast of NC this week. Insurance claims can take a long time to get moving and in some cases rebulit.
Marshall beats Virginia Tech….Is there a better spoiler scenario? Hokies give the Herd this game and 300 thousand samolians and a home and home as Tech tries to improve to 6 and 6 and bowl eligibility. Go Herd!
Speaking the rights as we near noon kickoffs.
Danny Johnson