The National Media Whiffs (Again!!)

The Odyssey has a one-word description for the 2 Playoff games on New Year’s Eve:   boring.  Only worthwhile if you had run dangerously low on your valium prescription.

ESPN and others talked ad nauseum about the 2 playoff games.  At halftime of most of the other bowl games, the analysts could not resist repeating the same analysis over and over and over…The mania over the playoff was a real shame because the other bowl games provided many memorable and overlooked storylines.

The Granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl, merely provided one of the greatest bowl games of all time.  None of USC’s 25 Rose Bowl triumphs were any more stirring than their 14-point, 4th quarter comeback to win 52-49 on a 46-yard field goal at the gun.  Sam Darnold’s 453 passing yards and 5 TD passes not only put him in the record books but placed the freshman on the Mount Rushmore of Rose Bowl QBs alongside Vince Young and Ron VanderKelen.

The fourth quarter of the Orange Bowl was also epic.  A crippled Michigan team, missing their two best players, Jabrill Peppers and Jake Butt, roared back with two 4th quarter TDs to take a 30-27 lead only to see  a 65 yard kickoff return propel the Seminoles to a last-minute victory.

The obscure Idaho Vandals became a fantastic story.  The Vandals were kicked to the curb by the San Belt Conference earlier this year and were relegated to their only reasonable landing spot, the underrated Big Sky Conference…Their demotion to 1-AA clearly fueled them in their bowl game against Colorado State in Boise.  Idaho was a 16-point underdog but laid waste to the unsuspecting Rams.  Has any team leaving the top division ever gone out in such style?  A great story which was ignored by the national media.

The national media also ignored two of the greatest mysteries since the Bermuda Triangle.  How did Baylor, losers of 6 straight games and saddled with a disinterested Shock Linwood (he sat out to “prepare” for the NFL draft) show enough interest to manhandle Boise State?

What happened to the Washington State offense?  The Cougars averaged 40 points a game and were facing a Gopher depleted defensive backfield with one of college football’s great pass/catch tandems in Luke Falk to Gabe Marks.  So, naturally, WSU goes to a dink and dunk offense in the first half which made me wonder if Marks was even playing.   The Gophers, not a defensive juggernaut even before the 10 suspensions, kept Washington State out of the end zone until the game’s last minute.

While we are at it, let’s give Samaje Perine his due props for breaking the Sooner rushing record of the immortal Billy Sims.  The media has not yet given enough props to 2017 Big 12 football.  The bowl performances of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas State plus Texas’ expected ascendance in 2017 make the Big 12 the Odyssey’s pick as the most improved conference in 2017.

The Odyssey is deeply disappointed but not surprised at the media’s bowl coverage.  After all, when ESPN’s Elisa Sadeghi earlier broached the subject that Alabama should rest players and not focus on their Iron Bowl grudge game against Auburn, the media bar was set so low that it could be vaulted by a midget.

We hope you have enjoyed the Odyssey this year.  We wish all of you good luck and great health before we rendez vous in August!!