Congratulations to the Ohio State Buckeyes for winning the very first College Football Playoff. The OSU lines were absolutely dominant against the Oregon Ducks, who made far too many execution errors and seemed on their heels from the middle of the first quarter on.
Cardale Jones and Ezekiel Elliott will get all the press, but the reason the Buckeyes won was the fantastic play of their offensive line and defensive front. The offensive line opened up holes in Oregon’s defense that a 9th-grader could’ve run through, and although their pass protection was not dominant, it was good enough to give Jones the time he needed to hit several long, vertical pass plays.
The OSU defense took the Ducks’ running game off the table altogether, forcing Marcus Mariota and the wide receiving corps to carry the entire offensive burden. As usual, the more balanced attack won. Perhaps the statistic of the game is the fact that the Buckeyes turned the ball over four times, and won convincingly anyway.
The better team won, in my opinion. The Ducks looked great all year, but Ohio State exploited their strengths and minimized their weaknesses much better than Oregon.
Tweet of the Morning
Cardale Jones becomes 1st QB in college FB history to get a ring for every start (Big Ten title, Sugar Bowl win, national title)
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 13, 2015
What a magical season it has been. Has there ever been a 3rd-string quarterback who enjoyed this much success so quickly? I think no.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
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USA Today grades every FBS team. Kentucky gets a B-, which I think is pretty fair.
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Recent moves by Barnhart prove he’s "all in" with Stoops. I have this same impression, and I think it’s a very good thing. Football is not a game you can commit to halfheartedly, as we have discovered over and over again.
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Kentucky focused on an offensive line target for 2015, but their preferred target will have to flip from UConn.
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Kentucky football earns "Uniform of the Year" honors. That black and blue is a good-looking uni, even if the colors are wrong.
Kentucky basketball
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Over the last two games, we witnessed UK history and didn’t even know it. UK has never won back-to-back overtime games in history. With one of them a double-OT, that record may stand a very long time.
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The "barely undefeated" Kentucky Wildcats. I have said all season that I don’t think UK will go undefeated, and I still don’t. Obviously, I’d be very happy to be wrong.
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Mizzou coach Kim Anderson understands, as I think most of us do, that winning close games is the hallmark of a good team:
"But they’re so well coached and they’re so good that the most impressive thing for me is they find ways to win even when they’re not playing great," Anderson said.
Winning close games is hard.
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Anthony Davis guaranteed an NCAA Tournament title for Kentucky in 2015:
I hope he’s right.
Hat tip: NBC Sports
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The Wildcats want their swagger back, according to USA Today. Well, I’m not sure they can get it at home against Mizzou even with a dominating win. On the other hand, going down to Tuscaloosa and beating the Tide would be much more impressive.
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Devin Booker named SEC Freshman of the Week. Congratulations! Well deserved.
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UK recruit Jaylen Brown takes his final official visit later this month — to Michigan.
Other Kentucky sports
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Support for Jenee Thompson is pouring in after her season-ending injury. I hope she is able to recover in time for next season.
Links posts
College football
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Ohio State turned question marks into exclamation points all season. Indeed.
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Addicted to Quack laments the loss in a colorful and entertaining way. Language warning for those sensitive to the F-bomb.
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I like the SEC too, but this is absurd. Shut up, Travis. OSU won it all, and hypotheticals at this point are ass.
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Ohio State fans mock SEC. Enjoy it all, OSU. Stay classy.
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NCAA talks about reinstating Joe Paterno’s wins. This appears to be more fallout from the NCAA belatedly figuring out that they didn’t have the authority to do what they did to Penn St., which of course, they did not.
College basketball
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Which top 10 upset victim should be most concerned? Arizona, Wisconsin and Texas seem to have the highest "threat level," according to Jeff Eisenberg.
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Michigan St. holds off Northwestern in overtime. ZOMGGGzzz, what’s happened to Michigan State!!! Panic!!! Concern!!! < / sarcasm >
Other sports news
- Kevin Garnett headbutts Dwight Howard. Very uncool, Kevin.