There were a lot of questionable decisions in that game, but the nonsense at the end would have cost a coach with a lesser resume his job.
It's always a good day when Alabama loses, and congrats to all the Mizzou fans for beating Texas A&M, but of all the things that happened yesterday, the best was watching Rich Rodriguez lose his temper about a dozen times while his football team representing a safety school got drilled by 37 points in a rivalry game.
 

alz wrote:

Yeah.I don't know why you don't just try a hail mary instead. I used to kick, and 57 is loooooong. You have to kick the ball about 7feet high at the line to get it out and far enough and its highly blockable. Then you have the return.. with your "alternate kicker"?

Hail mary or take a knee... dumb call.

To say nothing of sending out a second-string kicker who was 1-for-2 lifetime and not even accounting for the possibility of a return.
There was other stuff, too. Saban seemed like he was flipping coins out there sometimes.
But, again, Rich Rodriguez gets the biggest dunce cap of the day. How many times in a row do you have to get stopped running Kadeem Carey up the middle into the waiting arms of Will Sutton on 4th-and-1 in your own territory before your decide it might be more prudent to punt the ball? 

Last edited by artie_fufkin (12/01/2013 11:42 pm)

"I'm still irritated with Michigan going for 2 against OSU"

Another curious decision. And I'm still laughing about the kid from Ohio State punching a Michigan player in the helmet.
Do you think this guy is trying to tell the Michigan fans that the Buckeyes are #1?

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/ohio-state-player-flips-fans-kicked-game-article-1.1533497

forsberg_us wrote:

I liked the decision to go for 2, but not the play call that followed. Earlier in the game, Michigan had twice ran an option inside the 5, and both times the ball carrier scored untouched.

Michigan hadn't been able to stop OSU's offense. IMO, their best chance to win was by going for 2, and winning it then. But passes inside the 5 are low percentage, particularly if the QB stays in the pocket (as he did on this play).

 
True and I'm looking from the hindsight of "you're not getting 2", but still. Call something with a chance there. I think there were like 4-5 defenders within 7 yards of that target. Either bull rush up the middle, or run a spread option to either side, or maybe a corner route (but I don't really like these either for a 1 chance only type thing, it's actually a difficult pass to hit).

Looking at the polls, Auburn is decidedly behind Ohio State, so even a win there doesn't get Missouri in.

However....

Ohio State has to play a decent team in Michigan State for the Big Ten title. That really could go either way, especially since MSU gets to go in knowing they can kick OSU out of the NC Game, that would ramp anyone up. Expect that to be a really difficult game for a largely untested OSU.

In the meantime, all Missouri has to do (bit of an understatement here) is match Auburn. Big, ugly, tough as nails on the line... I saw a lot of things that scared me about Auburn. They absolutely blew up the Alabama offensive line a few times, and ... well you just DON'T do that to Alabama.... That's frightening, but Missouri has just as much of a chance as anyone here. I think Missouri is probably better than LSU, and that's who knocked off Auburn. Win, hope for a Michigan State win, and then figure out how in God's name you're going to match up with FSU, who I see as the absolute clear #1 in the nation right now.

I'll be pulling for you, but FSU is absolutely scary good. Unless Winston gets charged and suspended before the NCG, I don't see them losing to anyone.

And then there's this :
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/sister-deadly-shooting-bama-loss-21075862

artie_fufkin wrote:

"She said we weren't real Alabama fans because it didn't bother us that they lost. And then she started shooting," Shepherd told The Associated Press.

You have to concede that point. A real Alabama fan would have returned fire.

Ahahahaha. Wow artie, that's brilliant.

Finally got a chance to watch some of Alabama/Auburn. Pleased to see Auburn runs more of a zone read option rather than a triple option like Georgia Tech or Navy. Not saying Mizzou necessarily wins, but we got a pretty good look at a similar offense last week, and Manziel is a much better QB than Nick Marshall.

Also, Alabama's defense also got torched by the same offense Mizzou just held to 21 points.

One thing I will say, this experience shows me just how spoiled we are as Cardinals fans. For some reason, I was somewhat disinterested throughout the playoffs this year. Win or lose, I can't wait for Saturday to get here. My fan-dom has been restored. I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas.