Month: January 2006 (Page 14 of 14)

The Ohio State defense has done it again, shutting down Notre Dame’s high-powered offense in a 34-20 victory in the Fiesta Bowl. All season Brady Quinn and the Fighting Irish looked unstoppable on offense, but things changed once the faced a tough, physical and fast defense led by A. J. Hawk.

The performance of the Buckeye defense reminded me of their performance against the Miami Hurricanes on the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. Everyone thought Miami’s offense couldn’t be stopped. After the game everyone realized that Miami just hadn’t been tested by a real defense.

That’s the real story of the Rose Bowl coming up Wednesday night. USC has an incredible offense, but they play in the pass-happy Pac-10 where nobody plays real defense. Will they look the same against the tough Texas defense?

Texas has a great offense as well led by the amazing Vince Young, even if it’s not as dominating as the Trojan offense. It might not need to be, since USC’s defense is average at best.

So let’s see how good the Trojan offense really is now that they’re facing a real defense.

Unbelievable. The officials were already having a terrible day in the Iowa/Florida game, but the off-sides call at the end of the game was so bad that you have to wonder what’s going on down there. Chris Spielman was announcing the game and was critical of many of the calls that went against Iowa. One call at the end of the half led to a Florida touchdown. After Iowa rallied to get within 7 points with a little over a minute left, they recovered an onside kick, only to have it over-ruled by a pathetic off-sides call.

After the fiasco in the Michigan/Nebraska game and the blown calls in this game, the NCAA needs to take a look at the idiots marquerading as officials in these bowl games.

Other than the epic battle coming up between Texas and USC, the matchup between Ohio State and Notre Dame should offer the best game of the bowl season.

Charlie Weis has breathed new life in the great Notre Dame program, though his recent comments dwelling on the close losses this season seemed a little strange. Notre Dame has lost seven straight bowl games. They need to get their mind off of USC and focus on the Buckeyes. Notre Dame had a pretty tough schedule, but the Ohio State defense will present their toughest test yet. The key will be whether Ohio State can put enough pressure on Brady Quinn to disrupt Notre Dame’s explosive passing attack.

On the other side of the ball, Jim Tressel and the Buckeyes have won three straight bowl games, including the epic 2002 National Championship against Miami. Tressel knows how to prepare his team for big games, and the Buckeyes are thrilled to have a shot at Notre Dame after two disappointing losses earlier in the season against #2 Texas and #3 Penn State. This team has been playing great football since QB Troy Smith found his game in the middle of the season. I have to give the Buckeyes the edge.