Holy crap it was a crazy weekend of sports. We had NFL games on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. Then we also had NCAA football games on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I kind of felt like a chicken running around with its head cut off trying to keep track of it.
Thankfully, my inlaws are avid sports fans, so since we spent a fair amount of time with them this past holiday weekend, there was always something on the TV. I really don't feel like I missed to much of the action despite everything else that was going on. That still doesn't mean it wasn't chaotic!
It's hard to believe that we just finished up the final weekend of the regular season. It's been quite a crazy one for the Big Ten especially. With all the new schools joining the league, we didn't quite know what to expect. I think most everyone was a bit surprised at least on some level.
Sadly (for me), the Michigan State Spartans looked like absolute trash on Saturday in their "must win" game to make it to a post season bowl. They gave up so many points to Rutgers that it wasn't even funny. Don't get me wrong, with a new coach and basically a whole new team, I wasn't expecting them to make it to the college football playoffs, but I was at least hoping they would make a mid level bowl game.
I guess we all watch from the sidelines this year...
In top 25 news, Memphis beat (17) Tulane 34 to 24 on Thursday for the first upset of the weekend. Then the real craziness started. Georgia Tech took (7) Georgia into eight overtimes before eventually falling 44 to 42. Can you believe that? Eight overtimes!?!? That's freaking nuts.
(15) South Carolina took down (12) Clemson 17 to 14, and Syracuse beat (6) Miami 42 to 38. Around noon on Saturday though, all eyes were on what has been dumbed "The Game".
The rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State runs about as deep as the blood in the veins of many residents. Being a Michigan State fan I am able to be pretty unbiased, I hate both the teams. It's fun to watch how riled up they get though. Many would argue that I should still cheer for Michigan in this case since they are from my home state, but honestly, I don't really care.
I would have been just as happy watching Ohio State absolutely destroy the Wolverines as I was with the Michigan win. Like I said, I hate them both. The one good thing that the 13 to 10 Michigan win gives us is we don't have to watch Ohio State play Oregon again for the Big Ten Championship. Penn State now gets that honor. It also gives Indiana a bit more street cred.
Sadly, the Michigan/Ohio State game was marred by some ridiculousness after the game. Michigan players attempted to plant their flag on the 50 yard line. Obviously, chaos ensued. Punches were thrown, people were shoved, cops and security intervened, Michigan players got pepper sprayed, a normal Thanksgiving weekend right?
I think what bugs me the most is the fact that a Michigan player was interviewed after the fact and while his statement started off good talking about how disgraceful it was. He then said something to the effect of "they need to learn how to take the loss". My personal opinion... Taking the loss is one thing, planting a flag is another. In addition to that, perhaps Michigan needs to learn to take the win in a more graceful manner.
Of course, just like politics, each side is fully entrenched and there will likely never be any admission of culpability on either side. Typical of the world we now live in huh?
Apparently, there were a few other scuffles at midfield in some of the other games this past weekend. I guess that's why they call it rivalry weekend right?
(4) Penn State beat Maryland 44 to 7 and as I said before, they move on to the Big Ten Championship against Oregon.
Meanwhile, (10) Indiana beat Purdue 66 to 0. I wouldn't have thought that Purdue would have a worse record than Nebraska in the Big Ten this season, but here we are. I kind of feel like with the Ohio State loss Indiana should have been a bit higher in the rankings. Who knows though.
It's going to be interesting to see how the new college playoff format goes this year. I'm also looking forward as usual to the post season bowl games, even if Michigan State isn't playing in one of them. We have to get through the conference championships first and I will be covering those for you on Friday before the weekend.
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
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