Tournament #1: Sooners Win Title Bout

The Oklahoma Sooners proved to be the best team in college football by virtue of a 34-14 pasting of USC on Thursday night. Tournament MVP Rhett Bomar had another sparkling game, throwing for 332 yards and two scores, while Adrian Peterson finished with 173 total yards and two scores after receiving just one carry in the first half. Head coach Bob Stoops said, "We wanted to come out throwing, because we thought their defensive backs were overrated. AP became the world's greatest decoy, which is still better than world's greatest choke artist." Many believe the classless Stoops was referring to USC wideout Dwayne Jarrett who had a miserable game, catching only two passes for 27 yards while dropping five balls - a total that would make TO cringe, which is saying something. The surprise star of the game for Oklahoma was junior receiver Jermaine Hardison, who caught seven passes for 129 yards and two scores while making several tough catches in traffic.

After the game, fans were treated to a long-winded sermon from Fox announcer Joe Buck who heaped praise on the powers-that-be for finally bringing a tournament format to college football. He reminded us that Oklahoma never would received the chance to win it all under the old format. He also second-guessed Willie Randolph's managerial style from the 2006 NLCS, railed about Randy Moss' fake moon from December 2004, and blurted out the word "Emmy!" at least a dozen times. He also took a few minutes to announce the all-tournament team, which surprisingly contained almost exclusively skill position players.

QB Rhett Bomar, Oklahoma (1,011 yards and 11 touchdowns with just one interception) - also named Tournament MVP
RB Adrian Peterson, Oklahoma (590 total yards and 7 touchdowns)
RB C.J. Gable, USC (7 touchdowns)
WR Dwayne Jarrett, USC (501 yards, 4 touchdowns - good enough stats to overcome terrible title game)
WR Ted Guinn Jr., Ohio State (412 yards, 4 touchdowns in just two games)
TE Jeff Carlson, Notre Dame (180 yards ... more importantly, only tight end that any could remember)
KR Eddie Royal, Virginia Tech (punt return for touchdown against Notre Dame)
Defensive MVP Darrien Williams, Oklahoma (corner shut down Jarrett)

Tournament #1: Semis

Disaster struck for the first time in tourney play, although it seems to pertain to just two men known in certain circles as "The Puppet Masters" and the true nature of this catastrophe is known only to them. Rampant speculation surmises that the issue revolved around gambling. We will probably never know what really happened.

USC 31 West Virginia 17. For most of the first half, it looked like West Virginia was on its way to another surprise victory. The Mountaineers led 17-10 and were driving in for another score when star tailback Steve Slaton fumbled the ball through the back of the end zone for a touchback. USC promptly scored at the end of the half to tie the score before taking over in the second to run away with the game. John David Booty had his best game of the tournament going 16-for-22 with 377 yards and three touchdowns and wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett dominated the smaller WVU defenders to the tune of 236 yards receiving and three touchdowns. USC's star freshman back C.J. Gable was finally hemmed in (12 carries for 24 yards) but he still managed to find the end zone for the third straight game. Slaton carried 16 times for 152 yards and two scores in a losing effort, but still wore the goat horns for West Virginia thanks to his costly fumble. Mountaineers head coach Rich Rodriguez was heard after the game mumbling about "letting down the whole tournament." When a sympathetic Pat Forde of ESPN heard this and told Rodriguez not to be so hard on himself, the WVU coach exploded with a profanity-laced tirade, saying that "Nobody understands! We've ruined everything the Master has worked so hard for. Now Virginia Tech has to upset Oklahoma to maintain order!" Not one person at the press conference could make sense of any of this.

Oklahoma 24 Virginia Tech 16. The Hokies defense came in feeling very confident in its ability to stop any offense and any quarterback after demolishing Brady Quinn in the previous round. But Rhett Bomar had other ideas. The troubled Sooner quarterback struck early and often (14-of-19 for 195 yards and three touchdowns) before turning things over to Adrian Peterson, who had his best game of the tournament with 191 total yards and two scores. The game wasn't even as close as the score made it seem and the result had Rich Rodriguez in tears. People are now suspecting that Rodriguez is in debt to a gambling kingpin or perhaps in love with Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer.

Tournament #1: Quarterfinals

Quarterfinals is just a more impressive way of saying "second round." Here are the results:

(8) West Virginia 38 (1) Ohio State 31. Ding dong, the witch is dead. The top-seeded Buckeyes were ousted in stunning fashion at the Horseshoe when a late turnover by Ohio State sealed a 38-31 win for the Mountaineers. Patrick White continued has fabulous play and has to be a leading candidate for the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award should West Virginia keep winning. Despite once again throwing with the wrong hand, White completed 16-of-22 passes for 356 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing for another score. He now has 670 yards and six TD's through the air in two games. Steve Slaton was able to shake off a rough opener to carry 12 times for 66 yards and three scores and the powerful West Virginia offense was able to score just enough points to keep Ohio State at bay. On defense, the Mountaineers adopted a unique strategy, as they focused on shutting down Antonio Pittman and forcing Troy Smith to beat them through the air. Smith did this quite easily, throwing for 389 yards and two scores (both of them to Ted Guinn Jr., who caught eight passes for 265 yards). Without the ground game, however, the Buckeyes were unable to mount a game-tying drive in the final moments. And the tournament lost its top seed.

(4) USC 42 (5) LSU 21. This was billed as a battle of heavyweights, but it turned out to be a real yawner. JaMarcus Russell was under constant pressure from USC's front seven, while the Trojans got plenty of offense from C.J. Gable (three touchdowns, giving him six in the tourney), Dwayne Jarrett (six catches for 136 yards and a score), and the quarterback duo of John David Booty and Mark Sanchez (combined 319 yards passing). Now USC gets a home game against West Virginia and no longer has either Ohio State or Floria on the horizon. No doubt, Pete Carroll is pretty pumped up about the whole thing.

(14) Virginia Tech 35 (11) Notre Dame 2. The tournament's most surprising team continued its terrific play by belting Notre Dame in South Bend. The Hokies' vaunted defense bounced back from a bad second half against Michigan to force Brady Quinn into his worst game ever - an abysmal 15-for-30 performance that included five interceptions. Virginia Tech returned two of the picks for touchdowns and also got a punt return for a touchdown from silent hero Eddie Royal. What little offense the Hokies needed came from efficient quarterback Sean Glennon (8-for-11 with 116 yards and a touchdown) and tailback Brandon Ore (19 carries for 122 yards and a score). The lone bright spot for Notre Dame was the play of Chicago Cubs' pitcher Jeff Samardja, who had seven catches for 134 yards in the losing effort.

(7) Oklahoma 30 (2) Florida 27 (OT). With aplogies to Virginia Tech and West Virginia, the Sooners' wild win over the Gators has to rank as the upset of the tournament to this point. It was a game that featured four lead changes in the final two and a half minutes alone and ended when OU's Travis Wilson hauled in yet another huge catch in traffic. On the heels of his game-winning catch against Auburn, Wilson actually got off to a rough start in this one, taking a big hit early and dropping the first two passes that came his way. However, he shook that off to make several monster catches for the Sooners and finished with 97 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Wilson's play was key as it enabled bad boy quarterback Rhett Bomar to find the range to the tune of 305 yards and four touchdowns. Florida's decision to focus on Adrian Peterson (104 total yards and a score, but just 56 rushing yards) wound up costing them when Bomar found the hot hand. On the Florida side of the ball, the Gators shook off a rough start and a 14-3 halftime defecit and moved the chains with ease in the second half. Florida was led by freshman tailback Percy Harvin, who had 180 yards rushing, 224 total yards, and two scores ... although there was some controversy surrounding the fact that he was wearing the number 31 instead of his usual #4. Head coach Urban Meyer blamed the BCS for this mishap but then caught himself when he realized that he had just lost in the tournament format he had long recommended. He then became flustered and asked if they could please turn the focus of the questions to his top-ranked recruiting class.

Tournament #1: First Round Results

After an intense seeding process that combined real life BCS standings, gut instinct, and 2006 video game performance, the games kicked off with an exciting first round of action.

(1) Ohio State 48 (16) Rutgers 14. To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Buckeyes rolled to an opening round victory over an overmatched Rutgers squad. Trailing 7-0 in the first quarter, the Scarlett Knights were driving for a tying score when Malcolm Jenkins picked off a Mike Teel pass and took it 98 yards for a touchdown. And that was pretty much the end of the game. Antonio Pittman was the star for Ohio State, carrying 18 times for 215 yards and three touchdowns.

(8) West Virginia 42 (9) Wisconsin 30. The Badgers were out to stop West Virginia's vaunted running attack and did so by stacking the box, which required star quarterback Pat White to take to the air (with his opposite hand, no less). White went 10-for-18 with 345 yards and five touchdown passes, including a huge 72-yard pass to Rayshawn Bolden (who was a model of efficiency with three catches, all touchdowns, for 194 yards) after Wisconsin had closed to 28-23. Steve Slaton, hemmed in for most of the game and outplayed by the Badgers' P.J. Hill (155 total yards and two scores), finally broke loose for a 37 yard touchdown run that iced the game and ensured that he would have at least one highlight on SportsCenter later that night.

(4) USC 42 (13) Boise State 21. The Broncos stayed close for a while, but couldn't pull off the upset against the heavily-favored Trojans, as freshman C.J. Gable rushed for 100 yards and three touchdowns. Despite holding USC's passing game to 204 yards and one Steve Smith touchdown, Boise State never really had a chance in this one. It seems that real life magic didn't really translate in this instance, as Boise State's star running back Ian Johnson managed just 66 yards on the ground. Fortunately for everyone involved, the game was played in L.A., so nobody was subjected to that hideous blue field.

(5) LSU 17 (12) Arkansas 14. Going into the BCS Tournament, the Tigers were considered a darkhorse candidate to take home the title, and for 30 minutes, they appeared to be up to the task. Jumping out to a 17-0 lead behind the passing of JaMarcus Russell and an attacking defense, LSU looked unstoppable. However, in the second half, it was a different story as the Tigers' offense went scoreless and the Razorbacks nearly stole the game. Most bystanders agreed that this was a boring contest and that while Russell may wind up being the top pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, he no doubt has the slowest release in video game history.

(2) Florida 28 (15) Wake Forest 0. The Gators looked like the best team in the tournament in the first round ... but only for one half. In a strange turn of events, the game was called on account of "freezing" conditions at halftime, but not before Tim Tebow produced a touchdown everytime he touched the ball. The big freshman went 1-for-1 passing with a touchdown and had three carries for three rushing scores. That is pretty efficient. Also, Wake Forest isn't any good.

(7) Oklahoma 28 (10) Auburn 21. The Oklahoma Sooners made a surprise move just moments before the game, bringing back expelled quarterback Rhett Bomar to make the start. But while the talk was of Bomar and controversy, it was star running back Adrian Peterson that carried OU to a hard-fought victory over the Tigers. Peterson ran 15 times for 122 yards and two scores and Travis Wilson had 109 yards receiving and made a huge diving catch on the game-clinching drive. The lone bright spot for Auburn's sluggish offense was senior wide receiver Courtney Taylor who hauled in five passes for 152 yards and two scores. When asked about the odd decision to bring back a creep like Bomar, OU head coach Bob Stoops said, "This is football. We know he is a bad guy, but winning football games is what this football team is about. When we play football. On a football field." He also kept saying, "Character counts" and "No excuses" over and over, like a crazy person.

(11) Notre Dame 24 (6) Louisville 23. This game will probably be remembered as the day that the Irish saved the rest of the field from Michael Bush. The bruising junior running back had 233 rushing yards, 133 receiving yards, and two touchdowns, yet the Cardinals managed to fumble a kickoff late in the game and allow Brady Quinn to lead a late touchdown march that allowed Notre Dame to escape with a typical Notre Dame win. Quinn helped the Golden Domers offset Bush' 366 total yards by completing 22-of-34 passes for 341 yards and three touchdowns. The Notre Dame mascot was seen perfroming some impressive dance moves late in the game, which is worth noting. Also, ND was the first team in the tournament to win as the lower seed. Whether this or the dancing mascot is more interesting is up for debate.

(14) Virginia Tech 34 (3) Michigan 31. In one of the most exciting games of the tournament, Virginia Tech got a stunning performance from sophomore quarterback Sean Glennon. The unheralded field general went 22-for-30 with 283 yards and two scores while outdueling Michigan's Chad Henne. The Hokies' upset bid was aided by a run defense that stuffed Mike Hart (just 50 yards rushing), a solid all-around game from tailback Brandon Ore (107 total yards and three touchdowns), and two missed field goals from the Wolverines Garrett Rivas.