AP PhotoNCAA FOOTBALL: The BCS Championship game got underway at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ on Monday night with two undefeateds- #1 Auburn and #2 Oregon- going head to head. The Oregon Ducks had a 12-0 record for the regular season while the Tigers went 13-0 (they played South Carolina in the SEC Championship game last month whereas the Pac 10 has no Championship game)
After opening the game with offensive drives for each side ending in a turnover or simply sputtering out mid-filed, the first quarter went by with neither team scoring- although Oregon was inside the red zone and would have to settle for a FG to start off the 2nd period.
Auburn would take the lead on their next drive, when Heisman winner Cam Newton connected with WR Kodi Burns for a 35 yard TD play to make it a 7-3 game.
Oregon came right back when Ducks QB Darron Thomas connected with WR Jeff Maehl for an 81 yard yard gain to set Oregon up at the Auburn 12. Thomas then connected with RB LaMicheal James for an 8 yard TD run on 3rd and 6 and successfully completed a 2 point conversion to take an 11-7 lead.
Later on in the 2nd, Auburn would manage to pin the Ducks deep in their own territory after a kickoff, which led to LaMicheal James being tackled in his own end zone for a safety, cutting the Auburn deficit to 11-9. With less than two minutes to go until halftime, the Tigers would then go on to take the lead on a 30 yard completion to WR Emory Blake to make it a 16-11 Auburn lead.
Surprisingly, the only scoring in the 3rd quarter was a 28 yard Wes Byrum FG to extend Auburn's lead to 19-11. While Auburn seemingly dominated time of possession in the 2nd half, Oregon was able to put together a quick drive of just over 2 minutes (after getting good field position recovering an Auburn fumble) and score a TD on 2 yard play LaMichael James while Maehl managed to bring in the pass on the 2 point attempt to tie the game up at 19-19.
The game looked like it was heading for OT when Auburn got the ball back, but freshman Micheal Dyer turned what looked like a short pickup into a 37 yard gain after being tackled by an Oregon defender- but without his knees or elbows hitting the ground. The play happened right in front of the Tiger's bench and his teammates exhorted him to keep running. The play wasn't blown dead until after Dyer's scramble and a video review showed that he was not down by contact after the first hit. From the Oregon 17, Dyer got the ball again and rumbled down to the Oregon 1 yard line (the play was initially ruled a TD before a review showed him down at the 1) with 16 seconds left.
After an attempted rush by Cam Newton, the Tigers decided to play it safe and brought in Wes Byrum for a FG attempt from the 19 yard line with only 2 seconds left in regulation. Byrum's kick was good and the Auburn Tigers win the BCS championship on the final play of the game for a 22-19 final. This was a surprisingly low-scoring game given how potent both offenses were in the regular season.
Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: 'Now Fenway' I'm sure you're saying 'Enough about this silly BCS Championship game- what about the REAL important Bowl games? Like the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl?'
Actually, the Sunday Night Bowl game at San Francisco's AT&T Park would mark the first time the BC Eagles played a ranked opponent since week 6 when they went up against #16 Florida State......and lost by a 24-19 final.
Things got off to a pretty good start for the Eagles after they managed to stop the Wolfpack drive mid-field. Although they went 3 and out for their first offensive possession, they managed to force a fumble from Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick, which Eagle's RB Andre Williams ran back 30 yards for a TD to give the Eagles the early 7-0 lead.
However, Nevada would get the equalizer on the next posession and take a 14-7 lead on a 72 yard punt return with three minutes to go in the first. The only scoring in the 2nd quarter was a 32 yard Andy Martinez FG to put Nevada up 17-7 heading into halftime.
The second half would turn out to be nothing but duelling FG's, with BC's defense successfully keeping the Wolfpack out of the end zone, but their own offense really unable to get it going. This included another Wolfpack interception- this time BC Linebacker Luke Kuechly returned 31 yards to the Nevada 6 yard line. However, Boston College was unable to find the end zone from there and had to settle for a FG to make it 17-10.
Nevada would get another FG from Martinez to extended their lead to 20-10. With 5 minutes left in regulation, BC would get the ball back on their own 34 yard line and march down the Nevada 18 before attempting another FG to make it a 13-20. After forcing the Wolfpack to go 3 and out on the next possession, Eagles QB Chase Rettig would be picked off at mid-field to put the game away for Nevada.
The Wolfpack win by the final of 20-13, and Boston College's defense did well just to keep it a one-score game for most of the second half. In all honesty, the only time I was optimistic about BC getting points on the board was when Nevada had the ball.
The loss marks Boston College's 3rd straight bowl loss (and 2nd straight in San Francisco).
OTHER NCAA FINALS:
Jan 6th- GoDaddy.com Bowl:
Middle Tennessee 21- Miami (Ohio) 35
Jan 7th- Cotton Bowl:
LSU 41- Texas A&M 24
Jan 8th- BBVA Compass Bowl:
Pittsburgh 27- Kentucky 10
NFL: Boy- that Micheal Vick really screwed the pooch, huh? I bet that last pass will dog him all offseason!
Wild card weekend was marked by a slate of games that actually turned out to be pretty good, the last of which featured the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Green Bay Packers.
Remember how well the Packers played New England without Aaron Rodgers? It should probably come as no surprise that they got out to the early lead at Lincoln Financial Field and held on to that for most of the game- taking a 21-20 lead into the 4th quarter. However, Micheal Vick was able to rally the Eagles offense and made it a 16-21 game with just over 4 minutes to go in the game. Aaron Rodgers was sacked on 3rd down during the next Green Bay possession, forcing the Pack to punt.
Eagles QB Micheal Vick then marched the Eagles down as far as the Packers 27 yard line before he threw the game and season-ending interception to seal the game by a final of 21-16.
ELSEWHERE ON WILD CARD WEEKEND: As surprising as the Philly's early exit from the postseason may be, the biggest stunner of the weekend came early.
In a literally seismic upset, the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks defeated the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints on Saturday afternoon at the Emerald City's notoriously loud Qwest Field. The Seahawks headed into the 4th quarter with a 14 point lead, but the Saints almost immediately started eating into it with a Juluis Jones TD pass to make it a 27-34 game. New Orleans' Garrett Hartley would then boot a FG on the Saints next possession to narrow the deficit to 34-30 with the Seahawks still clinging to the lead.
With 4 minutes 20 seconds to go in regulation and both offenses seemingly running out of momentum, the Seahawks would've been satisfied just to keep the drive going long enough to bleed out the clock. Of course, Buffalo Bills cast-aside Marshawn Lynch finding a hole and rushing 67 yards for a Seahawks TD doesn't hurt, either. That made it a 41-30 game, giving the Seahawks insurance for when the Saints came right back and scored a TD 36-41 (the 2 point attempt failed). However, the Seahawks would recover the onside kick and the Hawks took a knee, ending the defending Super Bowl champions bid to repeat one game in.
Many observers also noted that Saturday's game at Qwest field was likely Matt Hasselbeck's last home game as the Seahawks QB. Hasselbeck went 22-35, with 272 yards, 4 TDs and a lone interception on Saturday.
AFC: Well now....looks like it's going to be a pair of divisional rematches on the AFC side.
On Saturday night, the defending AFC champions were bounced out of the playoffs early at their home field by the New York Jets. Trailing the Colts 10-7 heading into the 4th, the Jets took the lead on a short LaDanian Thomlinson TD run to go on top 14-10. Indy would take a one point lead thanks to two Adam Vinatieri FG's (one from the 32 and 50 yard line), making it a 16-14 game.
However, the Jets had a kicking game left that compensated for what it lacked in distance with timing. Impeccable timing at that. Jets kicker Nick Folk nailed a 32 point FG as time expired for a 17-14 Jets win, meaning the Jets will travel to Foxboro to take on a well-rested Patriots next weekend.
The Baltimore/Kansas City game was kind of a one-sided beatdown, with the Ravens coming away from that one with a 30-7 win over the Chiefs.
So this upcoming slate of NFL games will look something like this:
Saturday- 1/15:
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh, 4:30 PM ET/1:30PT
Green Bay @ Atlanta, 8PM ET/5PT
Sunday- 1/16:
Seattle @ Chicago, 1PM ET/ 10 AM PT
Ny Jets @ New England, 4:30 PM ET/ 1:30 PT
NHL: Ever get that feeling of Deja Vu? Like when the Pittsburgh Penguins take a seemingly insurmountable lead against Boston into the 3rd period and manage to choke that away? I've been known to get that feeling once in awhile myself.
Last night was no different when the B's fell into the 2-0 hole in the 2nd after Tukka Rask gave up goals from Micheal Rupp and Kris Letang.
But while others were watching the BCS game on Monday night (namely me) the Bruins mounted a furious comeback in which they scored 4 unanswered goals in the 3rd period- a power play goal from Zdeno Chara, followe 12 seconds later by the game-tying goal from Brad Marchand. The tie-breaker came with just over a minute left in regulation- a power play goal off the stick of Mark Recchi and Greg Campbell added some insurance with an empty netter as the final 10 seconds of regulation were ticking away.
Monday night's win snaps a 2-game losing streak in which the B's lost to Minnesota on Thrusday and at Montreal in OT over the weekend.
The Bruins will next take on the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night at the Garden and will face the Flyers on Thursday evening.
NBA: No come from behind win for the C's on Monday night as they lost to the Houston Rockets by a 108-102 final on Monday Night. This is their 2nd loss in a row after a weekend 79-90 loss to the Chicago Bulls. The C's next game will be on Wednesday night against the Sacramento Kings and will head into the weekend with a home game against the Charlotte Bobcats.
MLB: The Red Sox and Hideki Okajima have agreed to a one year $1.75 contract, returning to Boston for a fifth straight season. Although he struggled for much of the 2010 season, Oki had a 1.30 ERA in 13 innings of work in his final 15 appearences.
