Minus a valiant near upset by Arizona State, the college playoff games have mostly been duds. Lopsided, uninspiring, and in some cases hard to watch.

I will save you my self righteousness on why 8 is the correct number of teams for the playoffs. I must mention again that the seeding was completely unjust for the top two seeds. Oregon shouldn’t have been playing Ohio State in the quarterfinals. That should have been Penn State. Georgia shouldn’t have been playing Notre Dame. That should have been Texas. Otherwise, why play the conference championships. Hey, there’s a great idea. Get rid of the conference championship games. Yea, right.

Enough complaining. Georgia looked mostly abysmal and probably wasn’t the second best team. Oregon laid an egg, which it does every season. So, que sera sera. Onward we go.

Texas.

Ohio State.

Notre Dame.

Penn State.

Final Four.

I am on record as saying it will be Ohio State over Penn State when all is said and done. I even got a call from my, ahem, buddy the Two Cent Cracked Crystal Ball. He wanted to know if I noticed how good his pick looked. It is always “his” pick when things look good and “my” pick when it goes poof.

Anyway, here is why I have no intention of moving off my, er, our pick.

Ironically, I can easily poke holes in all of these teams.

Texas

It turns out the SEC was not dominant this year, and may not be going forward. Texas played nobody all season, with the exception of Georgia twice. They lost both. Arizona State outplayed the Longhorns right up until overtime. Overtime was the only time in that game that Texas looked like the superior team. It seems like a foregone conclusion that quarterback Quin Ewers is transferring after the season and Arch Manning will be the starter. That can’t be a comfortable situation. Ewers, quite frankly, has been disappointing.

Ohio State

When I looked at Ohio State’s 20 million dollar roster at the beginning of the year I knew the Buckeyes were the obvious choice to win it all.  Things went smoothly until the loss at Oregon. From there the offense couldn’t really find a rhythm and the offensive line seemed to be in shambles. That second half malaise was punctuated by another loss to rival Michigan. A loss that looked to derail the Buckeyes season. Head coach suddenly can’t beat the Wolverines, even when they are average. Fans were calling for Day’s head. He seemed to even lose a grip on his team judging by the flag planting incident.

Sometime between the brawl over the flag planting and kickoff of the first round game against Tennessee, someone found the on switch for the Buckeyes. They have easily been the most impressive team in the playoffs. Will Howard, once thought by myself and others as a liability, now looks like an All American. I think offensive coordinator Chip Kelly found the on switch. Kelly finally decided to open things up and use that stable of stud wide receivers. The defense has also turned it up a notch. This looks like a team on a mission.

Notre Dame

After losing to Northern Illinois at home in week two, the Irish became an afterthought. As the season progressed, Notre Dame got better and better. However, they weren’t exactly playing Murderer’s Row. Still, it served notice to the playoff committee. There are still plenty of warts on this team. At quarterback, Riley Leonard has been more dangerous as a runner than as a passer. There is no way the Irish can win two more games without some big plays in the passing game. The running game is strong, and Carrie’s the offense. The pass defense is suspect. In the final game of the regular season, USC threw for 360 yards against the Irish defense. The Trojans out gained Notre Dame 557-436, rushing for almost 200 yards. Two late interceptions, a 2024 USC staple, was the difference in the game. A reminder that USC was 6-6.

It would certainly benefit Notre Dame if Jeremiyah Love was healthy. Notre Dame’s leading rusher exited the quarterfinal game with an injury, as did several other Irish starters. Running against Penn State won’t be easy, so Leonard will have to make some big throws. Otherwise, Irish eyes will NOT be smiling.

Penn State

I haven’t been able to completely figure this bunch out. Slow starts plagued the Nittany Lions through the first half of the season. USC, a common denominator with Notre Dame, had them on the ropes and should have put them away. That was the game where I saw a different James Franklin. Franklin played to win, rather than not to lose as Lincoln Riley did. I wrote a column suggesting this team had a real chance to win it all. Then they played a dud against Ohio State. The Buckeyes were very beatable that day, but the Nittany Lions didn’t have the answers. Once again, James Franklin found himself battling his own fanbase over his Ohio State issues.

The schedule wasn’t very challenging, but Penn State has all the pieces except maybe one. Wide receiver has been a problem for a couple of seasons in Happy Valley. To my amateur eye, I thought the wideouts have played better in the playoffs. Of course, the competition wasn’t exactly stiff. Penn State has no issues at running back or tight end. Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen are the best tandem of backs in the country. Tyler Warren is the best do-it-all tight end in all of college football. The defense is stout, especially up front. Drew Allar would have been a top ten NFL pick if he was coming out this year. I do think Allar can get rattled, and opponents will have to do that because he can make all the throws when given time.

Ohio State 30 Texas 21

Texas had trouble with Arizona State’s running game last week. They will have trouble with the pass and the run against Ohio State. They won’t have an answer for the Buckeye wideouts. On offense, Texas just can’t make enough splash plays. Largely a running team, the Longhorns will be forced to rely more on Ewers and the passing game. It has yet to show it is up to the task. There is a weird vibe with Texas. Is the right quarterback playing? Is Sark focused or is he being lured by NFL teams? The Buckeyes have the best roster, and that will continue to translate to the game on the field. Will Howard will continue to have a blast throwing the ball to Jeremiah Smith and his pals. On defense the front will harass a susceptible Ewers. The Buckeyes will end their season in Atlanta, GA.

Penn State 24 Notre Dame 14

Many of the fans of these two teams still think Joe Paterno and Ara Parsegean are coaching their teams. Both teams are led by African-American head coaches meaning we will see an African-American coach reach the championship game for the first time.

 It is well documented that I am not a James Franklin fan. The important thing is the players are fans of Franklin. In this portal era, Franklin has one of the best retention rates of players. They love playing for Franklin and have little interest playing elsewhere.

At Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman is a fresh face leading the program to new heights after unlikable Brian Kelly hit his ceiling in South Bend. Everything I just said about James Franklin can be said about Freeman. He’s a players coach who keeps players, which is allowing him to build sustainable winning.

I think Penn State would win this game regardless of the circumstances. However, there is an added benefit for Penn State. Notre Dame will be playing on two days less rest and got really banged up during their first two playoff games. Penn State is hoping that Abdul Carter is healthy enough to play.

I think the test for Penn State will be whether they can take advantage of Notre Dame’s secondary if the Irish shut down the run game. I don’t think it is a sure thing that Notre Dame shuts down the run game. And will all everything Tyler Warren continue to roam free through opposing secondaries?

From Notre Dame’s perspective I am sure they will want to establish their usually potent running attack. With Love dinged up, and a stout Penn State front that will be difficult. That means Riley Leonard will have to play the best game of his life. I suspect he will find this is a far cry from lighting up Wake Forest or Pitt. His legs, however, could give Penn State issues.

I have had a feeling about this Penn State team. That feeling was paused after the Ohio State game. But when I saw the Nittany Lions draw, I texted my Penn State friends and suggested James Franklin be fired if they didn’t reach the championship game. No worries. The James Gang is off to Atlanta and a date with their nemesis Ohio State.

Will Big Game James finally win a big one against the Buckeyes? And if he does, how will all the blue and white faithful Franklin haters be able to continue their hatred for a man who just won a national championship? I won’t need popcorn for the game, I will need it for the aftermath.

Hopefully the games will be closer than I predict. It is time for these playoffs to puff their chest out and give fans some exciting games.

Two Cent Takes

College Football

~Get rid of the bottom 15 bowl games, but keep the others. Bowl season was very good this year.

~Contracts are going to be necessary going forward in the portal era.

 

Need more evidence?

 

This kid flipped from Cal to Oregon, signed his letter of intent, went to the Rose Bowl with the team, then entered the portal and flipped back to Cal.

Yea, we need contracts that state if a player transfers they are violating their contract and forfeit NIL money. On the reverse, a school must pay in full the NIL money they agreed on with the player. Both sides would be held responsible. Otherwise college football will be ruined.

~Kenny Dillingham proved he is one of the best young coaches in the game. He has taken Arizona State from the Herm Edwards induced ruins to nearly pulling off a quarterfinal win against vaunted Texas. Let’s see how long ASU can hold onto Dillingham.

~NIL has done one good thing, and that is to knock the SEC down a peg. The SEC was deeper than other conferences this year, but they were certainly not superior at the top. Maybe Nick Saban saw this coming, and got out of Dodge just in time.

College Hoops

~Tennessee is number one, but Auburn is the best team in the country right now. Tennessee is very good, but Auburn is borderline unstoppable.

~The ACC is very, very down. It is Duke and everyone else.

~Is Louisville back? Not yet, but they are on the right track. They beat Virginia on the road by 20, which just doesn’t happen for the Cards. They ended it with a bang.

 

~One thing that needs changing is replay. The last two minutes of every game takes forever because every out of bounds call is reviewed for both possession and clock. It’s ridiculous. Here was another issue with replay this week.

 

Because the officials “thought” there may have been goaltending they blew the whistle to go to replay. There was no goaltending, and the put back to tie the game was waved off because of the whistle. Northwestern lost the game. This is no good.

NBA

~While Cleveland and Oklahoma City keep rolling —both are unbeaten in their last ten games— Philadelphia is climbing out of the rubble. All this while Shaq and Reggie Miller both skewered Joel Embiid for his playing shape and on court decisions. Don’t they realize half the battle is Embiid just being on the court?

NHL

~The Pens are getting points over the last two week stretch. However, they have thrown a lot of bonus points out by losing in overtime. Only Vancouver has more overtime losses.

~Washington is the real deal, giving superstar Alex Ovechkin a chance at one more Cup. Something the Pens just aren’t going to be able to do for Sidney Crosby.

NFL

~I was shocked that the Rams rested everyone, causing them to lose to the Seahawks and drop to the four seed where they get the Vikings rather than the Commanders. Maybe they will prove me wrong this weekend, but that seemed like a bad idea.

~Aaron Rodgers and Devante Adams manipulated their situations so they could be together again. And what a great way to go out this season.

 

 

~Playoff games on a streaming service is, once again, screwing a lot of fans over. Greed sucks.

~The Bears and Jets are apparently going to interview everybody. I know this because they both asked to interview Arthur Smith. No sane organization would hire that man to be a head coach.

~Jerrod Mayo got the Kraft treatment in New England. Groomed to be the next coach, he was given all of one year. Look for Mike Vrabel to land in that spot. He is more of a Kraft kind of guy.

~I will be stunned if Mike McCarthy is back in Dallas, so I guess it looks like I should be prepared to be stunned.

The Weekly Shiny Penny

You won’t find better entertainment anywhere around the dial than these four guys.

 

A Penny For My Final Thought…

Pittsburgh Steelers vs Baltimore Ravens.

The only thing worse than losing another first round playoff game is losing a first round playoff game to your rival. Unless there is a massive, miraculous turnaround, particularly from the Steelers offense, that is what will happen Saturday night.

When the final bell tolls Saturday night, it should also toll for Mike Tomlin.

There won’t be a trade of Tomlin, for he has a no trade clause. Tomlin won’t resign either. He has far too much arrogance to resign. Tomlin thinks his way will work despite ample evidence that it doesn’t work.

That leaves it to Art Rooney, who is probably the least interested Rooney when it comes to football operations. Can he talk Tomlin into stepping down? Would he do something the Rooney family never does and fire Tomlin? I wouldn’t get my hopes up. Instead Steelers fans should expect more of the same next year.

Poor coaching. Poor game management. Poor play calling. Still searching for their next great quarterback.

Look no further than the last game where Mike Tomlin assured fans they would see changes.

  • The Steelers traded for wide receiver Mike Williams and proceeded to play him sparingly. Last Saturday night Williams made a tremendous catch along the sideline. He then spent the rest of the game mainly on the bench. One target. Apparently Van Jefferson is a better option.
  • On defense the coaches came up with the genius plan of having Corey Trice cover Jamarr Chase with no safety help. It went as well as you would expect.
  • Beanie Bishop had another interception, his fourth of the season, but spent most of the game on the bench so Cam Sutton could play. Sutton is bad, but he is a veteran. Tomlin loves veterans. This despite Sutton being the target of negative comments from teammates a week ago.
  • Dan Moore was a human turnstile at left tackle as he has been most of his career. Broderick Jones wasn’t great at right tackle. Most sensible coaches would have cut Moore two years ago and played Broderick Jones at his natural left tackle position. Not Mike Tomlin. He loves him some Dan Moore.
  • When the Steelers wanted to run their useless pitch plays they did it with their,power back, Najee Harris. When they needed half a yard on 4th down they went up the gut with their speed back, Jaylen Warren. When it was crunch time late in the game they went with neither. Instead they brought in Arthur Smith’s pal Cordarelle Patterson, who had not seen the field to that point. He carried once for negative yards and missed a key block.
  • Nobody has been able to reign in George Pickens. Pickens has a right to be angry about the offense lately, but there is a limit to the nonsense. That limit was reached long ago. In this game Pickens had more drops than catches and yards. Oh, and one fight with a fan where Pat Friermuth had to control Pickens.

All of those are examples of pure stupidity by a coaching staff that promised change.

Then there is Russell Wilson. Four weeks ago I would have fallen into the trap of thinking resigning him was a must. His quarterback play has sunk to Mitch Trubisky levels. Aside from taking too many sacks and being too errant, Wilson pulled off these two beauties.

 

 

On the first play above, Wilson somehow couldn’t squeeze out a half yard despite a gap a mile wide. In the bottom play, with only one timeout remaining and driving for the winning field goal Wilson, a 36 year old veteran, chose to go up field to get two more yards rather than head out of bounds. Or better yet, once out of the pocket just chuck it out of bounds. At least 15 seconds were wasted. This is in addition to him dumping the first pass of that drive to Harris for two yards and more lost seconds.

Wilson looked like the professional quarterback the Steelers needed until the last month. Now he looks completely incompetent. In other words, he fits right in. I’m not sure they wouldn’t be better off putting Justin Fields back in the starting lineup for this game.

The Steelers head into the playoffs in complete disarray.

With Zay Flowers possibly not playing and snow in the forecast there are things working in the Steelers favor. Still, they would have to do the greatest 180 in history to win this game.

Most likely it will be another first round playoff loss. It could get ugly. It will be one more notch on the ever growing bad side of Tomlin’s record. Yet nothing will change next year. Unless Arthur Smith is remarkably hired by another team, the coaching staff will stay status quo. The mentality will stay status quo. The results will stay status quo.

Status quo is not the standard.

Just my two cents…