I can barely contain my excitement for this final game between the Sooners and the Gators. Yesterday was spent mostly reading about the matchups and looking at game projections for who was going to win this game (I also found a guy who writes a Tuesday Morning Quarterback column, but I think he writes about college ice hockey, if I remember properly).

Because I read mostly Gator-oriented articles, I find myself feeling more and more that a Gators win is probable or possible. In fact, I’m super glad that the Gators seem to have a bit of underdog status again thanks to Bradford getting the Heisman and OU being more vocal than UF. This is part of what helped us beat the Buckeyes two years ago.

So who will win? I’m not totally sure. I haven’t seen the Sooners play any football this year, but I’ve seen plenty of Gator football. It’s vitally important for a Gator win for the offense to be spread beyond Tebow and Harvin. Having to cover four weapons is way better than knowing which two will get the ball more often than not. Should UF do this and should Tebow have lots of powerful momentum moving forward, we’ll see a Gator win. I think we can do it and I hope we get it done tomorrow night.

Break is over and I should be returning to a more regularly scheduled format for this week’s blogging. Hope you’ve all had a happy New Year!

I know it’s not Wednesday, but I think it’s fair to call this a football category too, so bear with me on this. Last night was the conclusion of yet another bowl game for OSU and yet another night of disappointment for the Buckeyes. It was so close to being a victory for them, that it almost hurts to talk about. A controversial, but ultimately right spotting put the Longhorns into a great position to take the ball in with under thirty seconds left to put them ahead of the Buckeyes at the last possible moment. Crisis could have been averted with a field goal, but the Buckeyes got an untimely sack and didn’t have the time to manage any comparable last minute heroics.

So where does this leave the BCS? I have to admit, I was hoping for a Buckeyes win to make the Big 12 look bad. That upset would have been disheartening for a Sooners squad about to face off against the Gators this Thursday. Then again, how can I be unhappy about a criminally overrated OSU team being beat, yet again, on the national stage? I guess it comes to a point though where it’s no longer funny, it’s just sad. Three BCS bowl games ago OSU was the strong favorite against the Gators. They’ve lost every big-name, major game since that year against out of conference teams, if I’m not mistaken. This includes losses against USC, LSU, and Texas, all admittedly good teams, but most supposedly worse teams. One has to hope that some of these results will call into question the BCS ranking system, but we all know that instead it will be used to call into question Jim Tressel’s ability to win in the big game. That’s too bad, we desperately need reform in the BCS system. Would it really kill the players to have a playoff system? Have each conference send their top teams to compete for the national title? It makes it a bit more difficult to organize, but I think it’s fairer.

Oh man…I can’t wait for the Gators game on Thursday!

You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ’em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up.

Listening to the Baseball Today podcast, it becomes very apparent that half of this World Series matchup doesn’t make sense. TV execs were hoping, nay, wishing for a Dodgers/Red Sox World Series. Torre vs. Francona. New Manny vs. Manny’s old team. Two huge market teams going at it for all the glory. Heck, they would have even settled for a Phillies/Red Sox series, with all those big names and big guns on both sides. Not to mention a Cubs appearance on their lucky 100th year of losing.

Instead they’ve got the Phils and the Rays. The losingest team in baseball (Philadelphia) against a team that has sucked every season of its existence until this year. Will ratings be low again for this World Series? It’s likely, what with the baseball audience mostly dwindling and since football season is in full swing. Will it be more exciting than the Sox? Most definitely. In fact, it’d be best if the series went the distance. A seven game series would do wonders for an event that has sorely lacked drama in recent history.

Speaking of drama…

Why does the BCS have Ohio State ranked above UF again? Two weeks of byes and all of a sudden we’ve forgotten how good UF is? A few games against mediocre teams and we forget how traditionally OSU is overrated? This should hopefully be resolved this weekend with the Kansas game.

You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ’em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up.

It’s a real mystery. How can the Rays keep almost losing their lead only to come back in seriously clutch games. Last night the Rays left the Trop with a walk-off single by Dioner Navarro in the bottom of the ninth. Are they in the clear yet? No. They’re only one game up on the Sox with one game left tonight and a series against the Twins following. After that, it’s less pressure with games against the Orioles and Tigers, non-playoff contenders.

In other baseball news that thrills me, the Florida Marlins have been doing pretty well erasing some of their game deficit and building against the Mets and Phillies. Unfortunately, at 5.5 games back it’s gonna be a tough climb that requires cooperation from the strong Phillies and collapsing Mets.

In one of my favorite games of the week, USC blew out OSU 35-3. The Buckeyes will finally be properly ranked (13) before the end of the season. The past two years saw them dominate Big-10 teams and get a high ranking only to drastically lose in out of conference play against the other team. The Buckeye era is over, making me very happy.

Whoa guys, I haven’t got anything prepared for today, but here’s a taste of some of the exciting events and things coming up for the blog and the world in general:

Stephen Colbert song in Rock Band!

Rock Band 2 launch on 14 Sept!

(1) USC vs. (2) OSU game on Sat!

Across the Universe movie review!

Death Race movie review (ugh…I’m being forced to see this)…

Burn After Reading movie review!

and maybe a new feature for Game Overview tomorrow =O

See you all tomorrow!

You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ’em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up.

MLB Baseball

The Tampa Bay Rays are determined to send me to an early grave. A five game lead, almost evaporated, sitting now at 1.5 up on the Boston Red Sox. After dropping six (SIX!) of eight to start off the month, they finally decided to win when it counts, in the second game of three against the Bo Sox. There’s no way they can hold on to this pennant and world series push if they don’t keep beating the Red Sox. The almost have to take the game tonight and the next series against the Yankees if they’re gonna have any ability to stand up against the Sox next series and hold on for the rest of the season. There’s only one easy series for the Rays for the rest of the season, and that’s against the Orioles. They’ve still got series against the Yankees, Red Sox, Twins, and Tigers. It’s gonna be a rough stretch.

In sadder news, it’s looking increasingly less likely that the Marlins will be able to put together a playoff run. At 8.5 games back their ONLY chance is to not drop any more games against the Phillies (four left, counting tonight) or Mets (three games left, the last series of the year). Regardless, you can’t say that there’s a non-contending team with any more relevance to a playoff race than the Marlins. Philly is 2.5 games back on NY, but with games against both teams, just a few mistakes can drastically change the top of the NL East.

College Football

College Football, oh how I’ve missed you! Welcome back. I know you’re in the second week, but I was too busy to catch the games that week. Besides, the Gators played Hawaii. Who cares? This week I saw a few very interesting games that can have a lasting effect on the season:

Ohio State

When, oh when are we going to stop overrating the Buckeyes? OSU has been a consistently high rated football team for at least three years now (I’ve only been really paying attention to college football for that long), but for what reason? They play in the criminally weak Big Ten where they, of course, dominate and end up rated nice and high. Then they go to the big games out of conference, like against the Gators or Tigers (GO SEC!) and get trounced. At least this year the BCS poll seems less fooled, with the Buckeyes rated at No. 5, especially after their disappointingly poorly played win against the Ohio Bobcats.

Do the Buckeyes have a chance against the Trojans? No. Pac-10 may also be weak, but the Trojans have always been a damn good football team. They will destroy the Buckeyes. I can tell you for sure that I’ll be tuned in this Saturday on ESPN to watch them lose. I love it when the Buckeyes lose.

Gators

Hope you watched the UF vs UM game this weekend, it was a blast. It’s always a good game when you have those rivalry games played, no matter what the ranks are. Only thing that concerns me about the Gators is that Tebow doesn’t seem to be as dominant. Not such a big issue, but I kind of wanted him to take two Heismans. There’s still plenty of time in the season…

Man do I love college football. Can’t wait for Saturday!