After a 37 day wait, the BCS Championship game has come and gone. The game was filled with excitement, but it was not what it was made out to be. For a month, we have heard about the high flying Oregon Ducks offense – the highest scoring offense in the FBS. For a month, we have heard about Cam Newton and Auburn’s tremendous offense. For a month, we have heard about the potential record scoring game we would have. No-one could have expected what actually occurred in Glendale.
The outcome was not the surprising part. I felt that Auburn would win the game and I had them picked on my Yahoo! ticket with 15 confidence points. The means to the end was the unexpected part. Who would have predicted a score of 0-0 at the end of the first quarter? Who would have predicted Oregon would go two quarters without scoring a single point (1st and 3rd)? Not me, my BCS score prediction was 38-35.
Defense dominated this game. Auburn was just too big and too strong on the defensive line (led by the best lineman in the country – Nick Fairley). Oregon could not run the ball and that ultimately cost them the game. The Ducks defense did step up in the 4th quarter to give them a chance. A key strip of Cam Newton led to the game tying touchdown and two point conversion, but they could not consistently stop Auburn’s rushing attack which compiled 255 yards.
In fact it was true freshman running-back, Michael Dyer, who was the most outstanding offensive player in the game. The game clinching play occurred with a little over 2 minutes left in the game. Dyer rushed to the right and was seemingly tackled, but continued to run for a huge gain. He landed on an Oregon player and therefore was never down, everyone was confused but his teammates urged him to continue running since their was no whistle. The play was reviewed and upheld, see for yourself:
The BCS championship was not as expected, but it certainly delivered as an entertaining football game. I can only imagine what would happen if TCU had a chance to play Auburn. TCU matches up with Auburn better than Oregon did. TCU has the number one defense in the country for a reason, and their offense was ranked number five, one spot ahead of Auburn.
[Photo Credit: FratHouseSports.com]
