No Sugar Coating here the BCS system was miserable on every level this year. From gameplay, to announcing to timing of the game nothing worked out well for FOX or the fans.
The FOX Move
FOX Broadcast Team
This personally ticks me off, in the BCS move to FOX college officially said that they were fine for taking extra money for diminishing their product. Usually broadcast teams don't endear to me no matter how long they've worked together, but the FOX broadcast team of Brennamen, Davis, and Alvarez were blatantly uncomfortable with their announcing. And of course they would be, FOX has no games to broadcast and these guys never broadcast with each other during the season how should anyone reasonably expect these guys to comfortably work together.
Veering from the Hype Machine
I know people like to beatdown on ESPN for one reason or another but they drive sports right now in this world. Sure the NFL is the absolute best place to advertise any product but ESPN is the best place to hype up a sporting event. The lack of emphasis on in sportscenter in regards to this game is directly correlated to the move from ABC to FOX. If the game was still on ABC this game would have had more buzz, regardless of the stupid move to monday night.
Game Timing
The Monday Night Mistake
Moving the game back to January 8th was a big mistake. Even if you didn't have a horse in the wildcard race this weekend if you are a football fan and not a diehard college only or Buckeye or Gator fan your eyes and mind were focused on the Saturday and Sunday matchup and your head was still thinking about the Romo botched snap or Tom Brady's excellence or whether Coughlin was getting the axe. While if the game was played on thursday your sole focus during the day would have been on how Troy Smith was going to end his career.
Late Night Sleeper
Once again its an apparent must for networks to have a lengthy pregame show and not start the game until after 8:30 East Coast time. I thought there was hope when I noticed that Fox started its pregame show at 7:30, but I was wrong I got to listen to Emmitt and Eddie harp about which of their alma maters was going to take the title for an hour yippy. So once again another game ended well past midnight.
51 Days Away
Say what you want but 51 days off had a factor in this game, sure if the game was on thursday it wouldn't have been much different or different at all really, but to expect a team to come out fresh not having played in almost two months is completely unrealistic. It took away from the game, bottom line.
The Game Sucked
Strong Start Zero Finish
A good football game typically has at minimum a solid finish. This game had zero finish, sure the first half had a lot of scoring and solid play from the Florida defense, but after they scored to make the game 34-14 the game was for all intents and purposes over. The game lacked drama for a complete half, not much worse you can say about a game.
Troy Smith Sucked
The Heisman Trophy winner, 'best big game qb' in Ohio St. history, the showcase player of the game couldn't have played any worse. He had zero accuracy throughout the game, and continued to underestimate the pass rush of the Florida Gators. Someone should have handed Troy the memo that he wasn't playing the Northwestern Wildcats, and that just because he avoided the first portion of the pass rush didn't mean he was in the clear. Troy repeatedly did this, and was crushed from behind on several occasions including the huge sack / forced fumble at the end of the first half.
Ted Ginn Injured
When one teams big play guy, who already made an exciting 93 yard kick return gets hurt and misses the remainder of the game its lame. When he gets hurt because all of his dumb ass teammates pile on him after the kick return, incredibly lame, and very diminishing to the entertainment scale of the game. Who knows how much of an affect he could have had on the game if he wasn't injured, but eliminating the Buckeyes major deep and big play threat certainly helped them target Smith's back without consequence.
Tressel Completely Outcoached
I watched a good amount of Florida games this season and personally I didn't see them do anything out of their ordinary. They ran end arounds, options, run/pass options with Tebow, direct snaps to Harvin, everything in the past. Nothing was different and yet the Buckeyes defense didn't stay disciplined on reverses, and refused to make tackles.
Than Tressel got completely desperate going for it on 4th down from his own 29 and failing miserably because he ran a predictable power run, which followed a predictable and incredibly poorly executed QB sneak on 3rd down. He panicked, showed no faith in his defense and dug the knife deep enough where the second half was meaningless.
The End
Congrats to Florida they dominated in every aspect, they made Troy Smith look horrible and Chris Leak look like a pro, but their dominance made the game a miserable watch for any neutral fan. But hell atleast I got to bed before midnight after they went up 41-14.
The FOX Move
FOX Broadcast Team
This personally ticks me off, in the BCS move to FOX college officially said that they were fine for taking extra money for diminishing their product. Usually broadcast teams don't endear to me no matter how long they've worked together, but the FOX broadcast team of Brennamen, Davis, and Alvarez were blatantly uncomfortable with their announcing. And of course they would be, FOX has no games to broadcast and these guys never broadcast with each other during the season how should anyone reasonably expect these guys to comfortably work together.Veering from the Hype Machine
I know people like to beatdown on ESPN for one reason or another but they drive sports right now in this world. Sure the NFL is the absolute best place to advertise any product but ESPN is the best place to hype up a sporting event. The lack of emphasis on in sportscenter in regards to this game is directly correlated to the move from ABC to FOX. If the game was still on ABC this game would have had more buzz, regardless of the stupid move to monday night.
Game Timing
The Monday Night Mistake
Moving the game back to January 8th was a big mistake. Even if you didn't have a horse in the wildcard race this weekend if you are a football fan and not a diehard college only or Buckeye or Gator fan your eyes and mind were focused on the Saturday and Sunday matchup and your head was still thinking about the Romo botched snap or Tom Brady's excellence or whether Coughlin was getting the axe. While if the game was played on thursday your sole focus during the day would have been on how Troy Smith was going to end his career.
Late Night Sleeper
Once again its an apparent must for networks to have a lengthy pregame show and not start the game until after 8:30 East Coast time. I thought there was hope when I noticed that Fox started its pregame show at 7:30, but I was wrong I got to listen to Emmitt and Eddie harp about which of their alma maters was going to take the title for an hour yippy. So once again another game ended well past midnight.51 Days Away
Say what you want but 51 days off had a factor in this game, sure if the game was on thursday it wouldn't have been much different or different at all really, but to expect a team to come out fresh not having played in almost two months is completely unrealistic. It took away from the game, bottom line.
The Game Sucked
Strong Start Zero Finish
A good football game typically has at minimum a solid finish. This game had zero finish, sure the first half had a lot of scoring and solid play from the Florida defense, but after they scored to make the game 34-14 the game was for all intents and purposes over. The game lacked drama for a complete half, not much worse you can say about a game.
Troy Smith Sucked
The Heisman Trophy winner, 'best big game qb' in Ohio St. history, the showcase player of the game couldn't have played any worse. He had zero accuracy throughout the game, and continued to underestimate the pass rush of the Florida Gators. Someone should have handed Troy the memo that he wasn't playing the Northwestern Wildcats, and that just because he avoided the first portion of the pass rush didn't mean he was in the clear. Troy repeatedly did this, and was crushed from behind on several occasions including the huge sack / forced fumble at the end of the first half.Ted Ginn Injured
When one teams big play guy, who already made an exciting 93 yard kick return gets hurt and misses the remainder of the game its lame. When he gets hurt because all of his dumb ass teammates pile on him after the kick return, incredibly lame, and very diminishing to the entertainment scale of the game. Who knows how much of an affect he could have had on the game if he wasn't injured, but eliminating the Buckeyes major deep and big play threat certainly helped them target Smith's back without consequence.
Tressel Completely Outcoached
I watched a good amount of Florida games this season and personally I didn't see them do anything out of their ordinary. They ran end arounds, options, run/pass options with Tebow, direct snaps to Harvin, everything in the past. Nothing was different and yet the Buckeyes defense didn't stay disciplined on reverses, and refused to make tackles.
Than Tressel got completely desperate going for it on 4th down from his own 29 and failing miserably because he ran a predictable power run, which followed a predictable and incredibly poorly executed QB sneak on 3rd down. He panicked, showed no faith in his defense and dug the knife deep enough where the second half was meaningless.
The EndCongrats to Florida they dominated in every aspect, they made Troy Smith look horrible and Chris Leak look like a pro, but their dominance made the game a miserable watch for any neutral fan. But hell atleast I got to bed before midnight after they went up 41-14.
Comments