Written by Adam Jones
Monday, 05 January 2005

Children are running madly around a sparkler fountain in the driveway down the street. I pause to watch. This will be my last memory of 2004. I take in the laughter, the smoke, the whirling motion of kids up way past their bedtimes. Then I unplug the lights on the upstairs porch (it even has a rocking chair on it, I don't spend near enough time up here...). Once again, for the third year in a row, I will not make it to midnight. Our tradition has evolved (devolved?) from revelry to classic movies and homemade chili. This year's offering, A River Runs Through It, didn't even come to its conclusion; we finished it two nights later. I take one last look at the clock.

11:26

I don't really mark each new year by the last day of December anyway. I, like most of you, mark it in college football time. The year ends when the season ends and that happens when the clock hits 0:00 at the stadium hosting the national championship game. Usually on January 3rd or 4th - it puts me ahead of the game, Christian traditionalists don't even finish the holiday season until Twelfth Night and that's on January 6th. I start my year two days earlier. This focus can frustrate the loved ones. When E asks me what Z was like as a toddler, I don't remember much. I remember it as a painful time not because of any two-year old misbehavior, but rather because Texas went 4-7 and fired John Mackovic. Sue me; I know what's important. And was the end of this year ever important. One of the best bowl seasons in recent memory would end in one of the best bowl match-ups in college football history. Was it worth the hype?

Uhm, er, well...gosh...

No.

I still can't believe the score today. After a fantastic first eight minutes when the two heavyweights exchanged well-executed TD drives, an Oklahoma special teams mistake seemingly sent the Sooners into a tailspin against Southern Cal. But it's not just the four first half Sooner turnovers that ruined the contest. It's that OU showed almost zero fight. With USC leading 21-7, I fully expected Oklahoma - a team full of proven playmakers with big hearts - to dig in and not take it anymore. But they didn't. USC, executing to near perfection on Norm Chow's offensive game plan, relentlessly attacked a Sooner defense that did next to nothing to stop it. On offense, Oklahoma was even worse. Other than Adrian Peterson - who was the poster child for "guts" in this game, even without a single decent running lane - there was zero fire from what was supposedly the best offense in college football. The Oklahoma receiving corps was particularly noxious both catching the ball and by missing seemingly every block on USC safety Darnell Bing who probably made no fewer than a dozen tackles for losses on poorly-executed screens. I exaggerate, but not by much. I feel cheated out of what should have been one for the ages. In the last three post-season games Oklahoma has played against roughly equal talent, the Sooners are 0 for 3 not just in the winning category, but also in the showing up category. Blasted by Kansas State, physically whipped by LSU, ripped last night by USC. And I watched the entire messy affair.
I took one last look at the clock.

0:00

USC 55, Oklahoma 19

I should have put in a movie.

I have no doubt that we crowned a true national champ last night, but I can't shake the feeling that Auburn was wronged. The Tigers finished 13-0 with a 16-13 defensive gem over Virginia Tech. The Hokies had their chances. Auburn's D snuffed a VT drive at the one-yard line when a fourth down pass was dropped. Later, Auburn's superb Carlos Rogers made an out-of-nowhere tackle on Bryan Randall at the six to stop a TD. Virginia Tech then missed a chip shot field goal and Auburn took a 16-0 lead into the fourth. Virginia Tech made it interesting with an 80-yard bomb at the two-minute mark to cut it to 16-13, but Auburn hung on. The Tigers are made of tougher stuff and deserved a shot at the title...but you've heard all of my arguments for a playoff already.

Virginia Tech can take solace in knowing that defensive end Darryl Tapp wins this season's JTT Underappreciated Player of the Year Award. He can share it with his brother, an army captain in Iraq who rose at three in the morning to watch his brother player in the Sugar Bowl. They both deserve our thanks for their performances on the field this season.

As for the Rose Bowl, if you had nothing better do to than to surf Michigan and Texas internet message boards before the game, you would likely have stumbled on several threads like this one.

Michigan fans: You can't throw on our secondary and our front seven can contain the Texas running game. Ernest Shazor in run support will be the difference.

Texas fans: You've never seen anything like Vince Young.

Michigan fans: The speed on the outside is too much for Texas and Chad Henne will connect with Braylon Edwards - the best receiver in the country - and a healthy Steve Breaston.

Texas fans: You've never seen anything like Vince Young.

Michigan fans: Texas loves to wear down the opponent's lines on both sides of the ball, but you won't wear down Michigan, especially not between the tackles.

Texas fans: You've never seen anything like Vince Young.

Michigan fans: Quit saying that.

The Michigan fans were right on all counts. But after Young put on the most astonishing 193-yard display of athleticism this side of Michael Vick, so were the Texas fans. Texas 38, Michigan 37.

The Texas field goal with :02 on the clock wasn't even the most exciting ending of New Year's Day, that came in the Capitol One Bowl when, for reasons too complicated to explain, Iowa QB Drew Tate made a colossal clock-management error resulting in him taking a snap with seven seconds left in the game and seemingly no direction in life. Tate calmly tossed a 56-yard TD to win it for the Hawkeyes 30-25 as LSU suffered an equally colossal brain-management error in the secondary. Iowa was put in that position in the first place by LSU freshman QB JaMarcus Russell, who ended the year by saving the Tiger's bacon against Iowa the same way he begin the year by saving the Tiger's bacon against Oregon State. He committed a clock-management error of his own by not allowing more time to run off before tossing his second TD pass to put the Tigers up 25-24. Of course, since Tate only needed seven seconds and didn't bother to use either of his two timeouts maybe it didn't make any difference.

As an added bonus, the Bus Boys were the entertainment at half time. The career arc of all musical acts goes like this: spare bedroom, garage, frat party, small club, theatre, auditorium, coliseum, back to auditorium, theatre, small club, really small club, half time at the Capitol One Bowl.

In one of the more entertaining blowouts I've seen, Utah gave the Orange Bowl crowd their money's worth in a blowout win over Pitt 35-7. Then Urban Meyer booked it to Florida for recruiting season and Alex Smith declared for the NFL draft. Thanks for the memories, Utes.

Texas Tech rose up and thumped Cal 45-31 in a Holiday Bowl I just didn't see coming. I told E with Cal leading 14-10: "Here comes the Cal ground game, Tech is finished." One Aaron Rodgers pick later, Tech's offense took the field and went ballistic. Cal's secondary looked more and more lost with each passing (no pun intended) series.

Who's the only team to be bowl eligible in every year of the Big 12's existence? Texas Tech - time to give Mike Leach some credit, I think.

Speaking of credit, I was completely wrong about Boise State. The Broncos took a 31-21 lead into the half at the Liberty Bowl against Louisville. Four Cardinal turnovers didn't help - one of which was a 92-yard interception return for the TD - but what also didn't help was a very gutty Boise State team that played above their heads. Equally impressive was the Louisville comeback for a 44-40 win. I wrote in the preview that the game was overhyped and I couldn't have been more wrong. It was, indeed, the best Liberty Bowl ever played.

Best storyline? How about Navy winning its tenth game of the season in the Emerald Bowl, 34-19 over New Mexico? The Middies shut out UNM in the second-half and closed the door with a final drive that took 26 plays and over 14 minutes off the clock. You may want to read that again. Roger Staubach didn't even win ten games in a season at Navy. Aaron Polanco, welcome to the legends club.

Of course there were also some dogs. One of my favorite college football writers, Matthew Zemek of Collegefootballnews.com writes:"Today, bowl games have lost their cachet, and are accordingly viewed as one-game islands that are more interruptions of recruiting and preparation periods than they are championship postseason games."

Of course they are; there is no reason in the world why 56 teams would need to play in championship games. But that's no excuse for Texas A&M and Oklahoma State to completely mail it in against Tennessee and Ohio State. The Aggies and Cowboys marred perfectly good seasons by getting destroyed, largely by starting each game with an assortment of creative turnovers. In defense of A&M, Tennessee looked big and fast and healthy for the first time all season. In defense of Oklahoma State, Ted Ginn, Jr. really is semi-impossible to tackle. Interestingly, Ginn spelled an aching Justin Zwick (hamstring) by taking random snaps at quarterback during the contest, running either a draw or sweep on each play. Oklahoma State STILL couldn't tackle him.

Georgia Tech just ripped Syracuse 51-14. If Syracuse being a co-Big East champ isn't damning with faint praise then I don't know what is. Boston College returned the favor to the ACC by beating future conference mate North Carolina 37-24.

In a rematch of the 2001 Fiesta Bowl, Oregon State brought back memories by again thwacking Notre Dame 38-21. Except this was uglier since it happened at the Insight Bowl in front of a viewing audience of dozens.

Arizona State continued the trend of upholding the Pac Ten's honor by upsetting Purdue 27-23 in the Sun Bowl. Bowling Green whipped Memphis in a wild ride of a 52-35 GMAC Bowl.

Two teams really had no business losing and lost anyway. Virginia proved it can lose to above average teams, as well as great ones, in a 37-34 come-from-ahead OT loss to Fresno State. What a season to forget in Charlottesville. UCLA also had some explaining to do after a 24-21 loss to Wyoming.

Florida State put West Virginia out of their season-long misery with a 30-18 win in the Gator. Georgia won the Outback over Wisconsin 24-21 in a brutally ugly game that wasn't as close as the score indicated. Unlike Wisconsin, Minnesota went down south and won one for the Big Ten as both Laurence Maroney and Marion Barber cracked 100 yards on Alabama's defense - no easy task - in a 20-16 Gopher victory.
Miami unveiled the full vintage speed package and scored pretty much every way possible in a 27-10 runaway over Florida. UTEP put up a valiant fight only to drop one to Colorado 33-28. No matter, for UTEP just being invited actually is a victory.

As for me? I stunk up the joint, going 7-11 against the spread. Taking my advice on bowl games is akin to taking enunciation lessons from Beano Cook.

One more time around the block:
1. USC
2. Auburn
3. Oklahoma
4. Texas
5. Utah
6. Virginia Tech
7. Louisville
8. Iowa
9. Georgia
10. Miami

Well friends, once again we come to the end of another exciting edition of the JonesTop Ten. I continue to get older, but I don't tend to get much more interesting then this, so if you are expecting marked improvements this would be a good time to unsubscribe.

For those of you who will soldier on, I will inform you right now that USC will be my pre-season number one next year.

I will spend the summer pondering important questions such as:

Why does Shaquille O'Neal get to toss the coin at the college FOOTBALL national championship game?

Do we really need a 29th bowl game in Toronto? and

Given Bob Stoops' coaching performances in the late season, how in God's name does Mack Brown keep losing to this guy?

Do you have the answers? If so, e-mail me at jonestopten@sbcglobal.net.

Good night and God bless,

Adam Jones