So… you thought the two best teams in the nation couldn’t play a more boring game than their first (9-6) slugfest. Riiiiiight. Instead, THIS game was even worse and caused an allergic reaction deep within my being, stopping me from being able to write a single word about college football for an entire week. I digress…

I watched. And yawned. And ate pizza. And yawned. And shot the shit with my homeboys. And ate more pizza. And shot the shit even more with my homeboys to avert my attention from the game. And occasionally glanced at the tv screen and looked away quickly so as to not be caught watching something so improper (it’s the same way your father should have taught you to look at a really great pair of breasts). And delved into a meaningful discussion about how a generation is losing the ability to communicate face-to-face due to technology with my homeboys to avoid watching anymore of the damn game. In other words, it was really a tough watch.

Here are some thoughts on the BCS Championship:

-Bama is really, really good. They absolutely curbstomped LSU, who absolutely curbstomped…well everyone else this year. The Tide performance left no doubt as to who was the best in the land.

-Nick Saban is really, really good. He just collected his third BCS Championship. Three. Let that sink in. That stacks up with the legends, folks. I think it’s now clear that Urban Meyer didn’t have health problems at the end of 2009, and he wasn’t burned out at Florida in 2009, he just knew he had to get away from coaching against Saban on a regular.

-Apparently, the best way to get ready for a big game is to watch Red Tails. You know, the one that shouts, “To the end…We fight! We fight!” (or possibly any movie with Terrence Howard in it, I’m not real sure). That’s all Saban talked about in the post game moments.

-The size, strength, and speed on the defensive side of the ball in that game was as good as you’ll see in college football. You can only get that way by having true depth. That means getting elite high school players at all three levels (defensive line, linebacker, defensive back)–every single year.

-Les Miles’ team had no clue what to do on offense. The game plan looked about as sound as Haloti Ngata going out in public in a pair of Daisy Dukes. Of course, it’s hard to do anything when Tide defenders are swallowing you up all night.

-Bobby Hebert is still wondering why Les Miles didn’t throw deep (”I mean, c’mon, that’s ridiculous.”). It’s because he has Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee at quarterback. To put that in perspective, they make Tommy Rees look like a Second Team All-America.

-Saban showed the value of changing tendencies (he attacked LSU’s coverage with McCarron and the passing game, nobody had done that all year), and Miles showed that he has to go back to the drawing board as far as an offensive scheme (one that doesn’t just involve having your defense bludgeon a team to death until the running game wears an opponent down).

Having college football back in the mix on New Year’s day has long been one of the Blarney’s favorite feelings. Yeah, the games are pretty much exhibition games since only the BCS Championship truly matters, but they sure are fun, and a way to end the season without that ugly feeling of a loss (unless you are an ND or Northwestern fan, than you are pretty much guaranteed to end on a sour note). The Gator, Cotton, and Outback bowls are decent, but it really starts to get interesting when the BCS games come into play. A 10-win, Fiesta Bowl-winning season is a great way to increase recruiting mojo, perhaps building the program up to the point where it can soon play in the game that matters. While I am digging the idea of a “plus-one” more and more, hopefully the powers that be do it in a way to preserve some of the prestige of playing in the Fiesta, Orange, Rose, and Sugar Bowls. Anyway, here are some notes that I made mentally as I stuffed my face with deep-dish pizza and a mountain of nachos (another benefit of New Year’s Day games), making the pants fit not so great today.

Here are the thoughts:

-The first cliche I ever heard about college football was: “Speed kills.” (These days, it has mutated into “SEC speed kills.”, but let’s leave that alone for now.) Remember in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure when Abe Lincoln ensures the Wyld Stallions pass history by summing up their report saying “Four Score and seven minutes ago…blah, blah, blah, there was a sentiment that was true in my time, just as it is true today…be excellent to each other.” (Of course you don’t. But his speech capped the presentation and saved the future.) Well, you could replay that exact scene and replace “be excellent to each other” with the damn “speed kills” cliche and it would work just as good. Oregon and Oklahoma State were absolutely jaw-dropping at times in their explosiveness.

-Actually, the “speed kills” cliche could be upgraded to “size/speed combinations kill”. Oregon runs by everyone… until they play an LSU-type team that is big and fast. Especially up front.

-Wisconsin is a legit top 10 program. The Badgers have the size and strength to give them a chance against anyone, just by hurting the opponent with blunt force trauma. They actually have more speed and athleticism that they are given credit for, but they still need to upgrade their speed more to win one of these big games.

-Nobody wants a piece of DeAnthony “Black Mamba” Thomas in the open field. The Honey Badger did before he was fully-grown (his first collegiate game), but not any more.

-Justin Blackmon is Terrell Owens reincarnated. Wow. Also, watching his three touchdown virtuoso made the Blarney very angry–what if Michael Floyd had a quarterback the could challenge defenses with his arm this season? Not piling on Rees, but Floyd is a much better big-play threat than his last season showed.

-Nobody likes kickers.

-Andrew Luck really does make plays that you just haven’t seen in college before. Stanford owes that kid their football program. By the way, some think that Stanford shows you can field a top team while “doing it the right way” with academics, but don’t be so sure. Yeah, they have done it the last two years, but they needed a top 5 coach on any level (Harbaugh), and the “best college quarterback since Elway” to do so. Can that be sustained? Nope. Sorry, but using Stanford as a model for the way to do things is like planning on saving for your kid’s tuition by winning the lottery.

-Notre Dame is more than a quarterback away. All of these teams (Oregon, Wisconsin, Stanford, and Oklahoma State) played more physical on both sides of the ball than the Irish, and flew to the ball in a much more aggressive manner on defense. Even Stanford and Wisconsin, without any elite defensive speed, gang-tackled way better that the “bend but don’t break” Irish have shown any ability to do. This is holding ND back.

*Sugar Bowl edit note–Michigan will struggle some next year. Football has some luck involved over the course of a season for every team, but Brady Hoke’s crew have used up next year’s good luck just on the ND game and Sugar Bowl matchup with Virginia Tech. Man, the ball has bounced their way.

Well…Son. Of. A. Bitch. Notre Dame let a game they were in control of get away…again. And again. And again. Same old (going back to Davie) story. Luckily, it was the Champs Sports Bowl, after an 8-4 season, so nobody was watching. Still, it would have been nice to win a game that the Irish should have won, and it would have been nice to beat a Florida school.

On to my thoughts.

ND vs. FSU-5 Things I Think:

1.) I think that beyond doubt, it is time to fully open the Notre Dame QB competition. An I mean “open” in the sense that some poor girl got cheated on, got into an entire bottle of wine, and had access to Facebook on her mobile is “open”. “Open” like 7-11. I mean, Brian Kelly needs to give Andrew Hendrix and Everett Golson EVERY opportunity to unseat Tommy Rees. Rees is a solid backup. He is okay if his team’s talent is better than the opponent’s talent. That’s it. He can’t even really be called a game manager (the ultimate backhanded quarterback compliment), because he turns the ball over too much. He isn’t getting better either, he’s getting worse. The interceptions in Florida State territory were inexcusable–Period. Especially for a quarterback that has the game experience he now does.

2.) I think Michael Floyd screwed the Irish over. Not because he wasn’t in the game at the end–as some believe. I don’t know the extent of his injury, or how much say he had himself as far as getting back into the game, so I will believe he really couldn’t go, or the coaching staff held him out despite his desire to get back into the game. Even though the fan(atic) in me wanted to give him the Jay Cutler treatment in the moment, calling him all sorts of names hinting that he lacks male genitalia, Floyd has been a selfless team player (risking injury at punt return, for example) since he donned a gold helmet, and I have to believe that didn’t change with the fourth quarter winding down at Florida State. However, he IS the team’s best player, the best pure wide receiver in school history, and he didn’t come up huge when his team needed it most. He left some plays on the field, including an inexplicable drop of a sure touchdown and the best deep pass Tommy Rees will ever throw in his life. In a game where points came at a premium, Floyd can’t drop a sure touchdown.

3.) I think the coaching staff needs to stick with what works. As in the defensive gameplan. Lots of moving, twists, stunts, and blitzing, gave way to Diaco’s preferred “bend but don’t break” in the third quarter. A slow, tortuous death it turned out to be. Look, despite the pained look on Lou Holtz’s face at ESPN studios, despite him questioning the strategy (which Holtz never does), that is not why I think this. Given a lead, Holtz (who was guilty in his day as well), and just about every other coach in the world get conservative, because staying aggressive and getting burnt for it will lead to a public skewering by the outside mob. It’s a risk management strategy. I get it, but I don’t like it. I like going with what is working. The first time I went to a restaurant and ordered steak, I loved it. So, call me crazy, but I keep ordering steak. Even if the lobster might work too. This is an oversimplification, and a I truly understand the pressure a coach feels to “play it safe”, and go with soft coverages, but in the long run, they will all get fired anyway. So, say “to hell with it”, stop worrying about the status quo and criticism, find something that works, and if for a certain game it means being aggressive, keep doing what is working. Just an opinion.

4.) I think that the Irish need more playmakers, please. The Irish have more overall athleticism than they have had in years. They are close to having the talent needed. But, the “skill” positions kill. Defensive backs that can’t “man up”, and receivers after Floyd and Eifert that can’t get open. FSU didn’t necessarily “out athlete” ND, but they had receivers like Rashad Greene and Bert Reed make some huge plays. As I stated earlier, Floyd missed opportunities, and the receivers other than Eifert (who was phenomenal with acrobatic catches) did nothing. This recruiting class, with Greenberry and possibly Neal at receiver, along with Shepard and Darby at defensive back, is of the utmost importance to Notre Dame’s future.

5.) I think that Kelly better be honest when he says he will assess everything, including the way he coaches. He has two 8-5 seasons, hit team didn’t get better as the season went on (though they are better than when he started two years ago by a significant margin), and he hasn’t run his the true version of his offense yet. It is time to do some soul-searching. Everything from philosophy to the type of toothpaste he uses.