Very rarely can you say that a game was decided on one play. This is one of those times. In fact, one play not only decided a game, but it altered the fate of both teams for the entire season. Leading 38-34, with under 5 minutes to go, Louisville was trying to beat the #3 team in the country, keep their undefeated season dream alive and strike a blow for smaller conferences everywhere by taking down a BCS Giant. One play changed all that. With Miami driving QB Brock Berlin floated a pass over the middle that was seemingly predestined to land in the hands of Louisville DB Kerry Rhodes. If he makes that pick, Louisville wins, Miami loses, and suddenly the Cardinals are players in the BCS while the Hurricane see their national title hopes destroyed. Instead, he drops it, the Canes go down and score a TD and win the game. This is not just a bad loss, it is a crushing loss. Had Louisville won the game they would be the talk of the college football world, they would be undefeated and strongly positioned in the BCS polls that came out this past Monday. Instead, the Canes won, again, and find themselves in the thick of a National Title hunt. One man, Kerry Rhodes on Louisville, could have changed all that, but he dropped the ball.
TREND OF THE WEEK
As the season moves into November it begins to separate the pretenders from the contenders. Where as Purdue fell flat, Miami barely hung on, and Oklahoma had trouble with Kansas State, USC let the entire country know who the best team in the land was. One week after a tight game versus a very good Cal Bears squad, the men of Troy came out and just abused a very good Arizona State team that some had slated to win in an upset. The final score was 45-7, but it wasn’t even that close. In a nationally televised game the Trojans showed the whole country what a championship football team looks like. From that one outing, which included Reggie Bush showing the nation how amazing he is, USC has all but locked up a National Title Game appearance provided they win out. They don’t have to worry about doing so in impressive fashion either, they got that covered. All they need to do is win, and they are in. Other teams will still have to prove themselves, and until they do, like USC did this weekend, the second slot in the Orange Bowl is up for grabs.
GOD DAMN! PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
Sometimes you see a stat line and you just can’t believe it. The numbers resemble something out of a video game rather than real life. Michigan State QB Drew Stanton passed for 308 yards with 3 TD’s and ran for 102 yards. In one game. Against #23 ranked Minnesota. Think about that for a second. Those are not normal numbers, not in real life, not even in video games. Even Randall Cunningham in the old Madden games couldn’t do that. That is just too much balance. If I were Stanton I’d have a recording of this game playing at all times. I’d have a t-shirt made with the stats from that game emblazoned on the front. When I graduated school I’d have business cards made with that information. I’d get it made up as a tattoo and have it inked on my forehead, that’s how amazing those numbers are. In a season where players are putting up crazy numbers, this performance is the GOD DAMN God Damn performance of the week!
