By Lauren Woode
Follow her on Twitter: @LaurenIsLive
I have a confession to make. I am a lapsed football fan. This year I have watched fewer football games than I can ever remember and I’m talking elementary school. Why is this do you ask? Trying to start your own business while looking for a job with frequent bouts of questioning the meaning of life takes up a lot of time.
But no pity parties here! This Saturday I was determined to right the ship. Put my hands on the steering wheel (remote control) and check the wind (channel guide) to direct my course. My mission was to watch 3 games in a row: Ohio State vs. Michigan, Florida vs. Florida State, and Notre Dame vs. USC. I have a fan connection with most of these schools, so that made it easy right? Here we go!
Ohio State vs. Michigan at the Horseshoe
I am from Ohio, but I am not a diehard OSU fan. I know, I know…stop booing, but this weekend in college football is what draws me to the game. Rivalries! OSU fans cheering with Santa beards, the chippy cheap shots by the players that every camera captures in HD, and the great college football contradiction of NCAA rule violators heralded as champions while the current team is punished for their transgressions. And I love it! The best cup of hot chocolate I ever had was at a freezing Ohio State game in the Shoe when I was a young whipper snapper.
This game is never meaningless even if season circumstances deem it so. I knew Michigan was done when they scheduled Alabama early in the season and of course no bowl games this year for OSU because of bartering tattoos for memorabilia.
What stuck out for me was the explosiveness and versatility of Denard Robinson. I mean this dude was Whoa! Using him as a running back, even with the injury, was key in the first half for Michigan to keep OSU guessing. The huge hits and turnovers in this game were incredibly entertaining.
My favorite moment was in the 3rd quarter when OSU quarterback Braxton Miller ran out of bounds and shoved 2 Michigan players on his way back to the field looking like nothing happened. A little payback for the rib snapping sack? I should say so!
OSU wins 26-21 and goes undefeated for Urban Meyer’s first asterisk year. I felt sorry for Michigan and Brady Hoke. It’s hard to hate a guy who looks like the King of Queens, Chris Christie, and Bobby from the Sopranos. Michigan had stones for scheduling Alabama straight out of the gate. Keep your heads up. On to a meaningless bowl game for you! (Ooops! Did I say that?)
To be continued…
Categories: college football
Greetings Lauren. Very good piece. I agree that’s there simply isn’t enough time for a professional to watch all the sports programming thrown our way. Some great alternatives are; DVR – (Football has so much dead time; you can watch a game in under an hour with that magical ff button.) listen on the radio while doing housekeeping chores, or watching a highlight show at the end of the day.
The Ohio State – Mich game was great. I think they would still be ranked behind Alabama and Georgia if they had no restrictions. The Big Ten was down and the Buckeyes had a creampuff non conference schedule. If you think Buckeye nation is upset now, going undefeated and not making the title game would have really made them nuts.
Looking forward to reading more from you.
Thanks JAG for the encouragement! Sports watching is an addiction I’ve had for a while. My DVR has been so full this season that prioritizing the saved programs has been daunting. I love radio for baseball and basketball games. Sirius radio NFL coverage is awesome too because I can go back and forth between the local perspectives of play on the field. I did that alot last year. Now that I think about it, I’ve never been a big highlight watcher. I like to sit down and get dialed in to the ebb and flow of the game. I just got into the Red Zone channel because Time Warner cable finally acquired it. I’m not a fantasy football person.
I agree with you about OSU. They definitely would have been ranked behind Alabama and Georgia because of strength of schedule.
Thanks for reading!