It's Down to Three (and four)

Winning time has arrived. We have three eligible to win this bowl contest. But before I outline the three still standing, a word about how crazy this picking stuff is. Last night, Arkansas is down 31-26 and Ohio St. has the ball at about their 45 yard line with a 4th and 1. Their all world QB has just scrambled for 14 yards on 3rd and 15 to get them to the position they're in. There's abour five minutes and change left in the game. They go for it. But they hand off to the tailback and take the ball out of their QB's hands. The tailback fumbles and although Ohio State recovered, they did so behind the line of scrimmage and thus turned the ball over on downs.

Arkansas supporters (including Marvetta, Patricia, Moriah, and Monique) were elated. But the Razorbacks failed to advance the ball and chose to punt with about 4 minutes left. Ohio State gets the ball at their four. They get two first downs and run the clock down to about a minute and 15 seconds left before they have to punt. It looks bad for Arkansas. But wait, Ohio State runs that spread out punt protection formation and give up a block!. Four Arkansas players have a chance to pick up the ball and score a winning touchdown. There was no reason to just fall on the ball. Even if Ohio State had recovered they would have been hopelessly caught behind the line of scrimmage and Arkansas would have gotten the ball on downs again. But, alas for Patricia and Marvetta especially who needed the Hogs to win to stay in the contest, the first Arkansas player fell on the ball at about the fifteen yard line. He was down in college football at that point. Arkansas got the ball but their stud QB threw an interception and Arkansas lost. Wow. That's how close winning and losing are. Think about those few who picked Tennessee. If they hadn't just totally handed the game to North Carolina, Joe Baker may not have lost his momentum. (Now Joe is in danger of finishing last.) How about the Kansas State game? Kansas State scores with about a minute left in the game and has a chance to tie with a two point conversion. The Kansas State receiver who scored the touchdown though saluted the crowd after the score. Two officials flagged the guy for unsportsmanlike conduct. Kansas State is penalized 15 yards and a makable three yard two point conversion becomes an impossible 18 yard two point conversion. Syracuse wins. One last example is the Rose Bowl. Wisconsin is gashing TCU with up the middle runs. Down eight they go on a five minute, run-filled drive to score a touchdown with about a minute left in the game. They line up to attempt a three yard two point conversion to tie the game. What do they do? Line up in a shot-gun formation and attempt a pass. They were gashing the smaller TCU defensive line with up the middle runs. The pass fails and TCU wins.

Three people have navigated this mine field brilliantly. The defending champion has shown us why she is the champion. She has a one game lead over Alec Walker. Four games left but these two only differ on one game: the Birmingham Bowl (or some bank now has the name). The Birmingham Bowl will be played this Saturday and features Pitt versus Kentucky. I'll have a preview. Kathy has Kentucky and Alec has Pitt. If Pitt loses, Alec is out. If Pitt wins, we could go to the tie breaker. However, there exists a third party in this contest with a shot. RC Smith is behind by three games. He differs with the leader on three contests. He has Pitt on Saturday, Boston College on Sunday, and Oregon in the Championship on Monday. If he wins all three, we'll go to the tiebreaker on points. Should be fun. Key game is Saturday. If Kentucky wins, it's all over and Kathy can keep her plaque and inscribe her name on it for a second consecutive year.

(In the race for the bottom Tim and Monique are tied. But Will and Joe are still in it. I'm calling this the stinky shoe. Winner gets a stinky, used athletic shoe filled with the snack food they identified at the beginning of the contest. Bad luck losers!)