GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!

by Ryan

I have no idea how Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis got into the broadcast booth last night, but Fox shouldn't give the keys to just anyone. Here's the pair losing track of what down it is. Should Oklahoma kick a field goal on third and goal? Davis gives an emphatic no. Smart.



The broadcast was a train wreck throughout the evening. Awful Announcing has a good collection of quotes and analysis and the video above, while Deadspin has The Best Sound Clip Ever About The Greatest Football Playing Quarterback of All Time.

After the third quarter I left my house and had to listen to part of the fourth in the car. I'm not exaggerating when I say the radio broadcast was at least 300 times better than the TV one. I forget who was doing it, but for the first time all night I felt like I was being told what was going on rather than being talked at in a confusing, roundabout way.

Seriously, is that team the best Fox had to offer? Somewhere between the orgasms of Thom and the dead air that is Joe Buck is a decent broadcast. Somewhere.

College Football Post

by Ryan

Before you watch the Oklahoma/Florida BCS National Championship game, please take the time to read this. It's totally worth it.

If you don't believe me, the link is to a Slate article written by Bill James. Yes, that Bill James. The good news is that it reads a little less complex than this, which almost made me pass out when Rich showed it to me last night. To sum things up, Bill James absolutely murders the BCS, the computer rankings, and pretty much everyone involved in the entire process.



So tomorrow when you see all those "The BSC doesn't work, it just didn't feel right" columns everywhere, don't bother reading them. You already know better, and I doubt you'll see a better constructed argument anywhere else. Either way, enjoy the game tonight. It should be a good one.

O-S-Who? Redux

by Rich

Ed. Note: Rich started this post at 3:55 AM the night of the National Championship game in January. Needless to say, this never got finished. However, I thought it would be fun to re-live the beating Ohio State took just as, you know, a warm up for tonight. Enjoy.



The BCS National Championship Game started out something like this.


...Aaaaand ended a little more like that. For the second year in a row, The Overrated State University put up a valiant fight was gutted like a fish by an SEC team that many said shouldn't even have been in the game. In the last two national title games, The Fighting Sweater Vests have been outscored 79-41 (And that should be 79-34, because I defy anyone to argue that LSU's defense was concerned with anything other than getting to the sidelines to hug departing coordinator Bo Pelini during OSU's last touchdown drive).

During last year's First Annual BCS Egg-Laying, Florida scored 21 straight points on the Bucks after they ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown. This year, the LSU Tigers dropped 31 unanswered points on the boys from Columbus after they jumped out to a 10-0 lead. Nice work guys, this year you scored twice before folding like a red-and-gray card table. Really, you should be proud of yourselves.

The fact that I've spent the entirety of this post so far ripping on OSU certainly does not mean that I plan on overlooking how good this LSU team is. They were banged up all year (although the fact remains that both of their losses came in triple overtime), but got healthy enough to put on one hell of a show tonight. Their defense upstaged a statistically superior Ohio State unit, and to be honest I'm a little worried on behalf of Trent and Money about the idea of Glenn Dorsey possibly suiting up for the Dolphins next season. (Note: crisis averted) He commanded a double-team on every snap, got better as the game went on, and I haven't seen an interior lineman show the kind of closing speed he flashed on a sack of Todd Boeckman since...I dunno, since before Warren Sapp got old?

Senior QB Matt Flynn also came to play tonight, throwing a career-high 4 touchdowns and consistently handling OSU's much-hyped defense by finding the holes in their zone blitz schemes and hitting the hot receiver. Ohio State would bring pressure from the linebackers, and Flynn would simply take his three or five-step drop and sling it in to a tight end or wideout in exactly the spot where the blitzers came from. Props are also in order for LSU's pass protection, which gave Flynn the time he needed to make those reads.

And of course, I need to mention Les Miles. This guy is quickly becoming one of my favorite coaches at any level in any sport. He...

Isn't very important right now. Who is important is Beanie Wells, who won't be playing tonight. This should be fun...

Hey Look, Non-Steroid-Related Cheating!

by Rich

I'm currently on the road between Miami and Buffalo, but there are certain things I just can't resist commenting on. Especially after the...Bills "game." It's nice to hear some heartwarming news like this.


Man. You know you're dumb when you go to FSU and still have to cheat.


When reached for comment, Bobby Bowden did not appear to be aware of the situation and kept asking Mark Schlabach "You gonna bring me my pecan pie now, boy?"

B-U-(clap, clap)-F-F-(clap, clap)-A-L-(clap, clap)-O GO!

By Jon

I sent an utterly bizarre text message a few days ago.

The Roost's own Chris was on the receiving end of this doozie: "Are there any UB football games over Thanksgiving break?"

Strange, I know. The day has come where a University at Buffalo football game is worth attending. Not to say that I haven't attended one before (2006's home opener was absolutely unwatchable), but now I just might get my money's worth. A laughingstock since their Division I-A (or "Football Bowl Subdivision," for all of you new-schoolers) inception, UB now sits atop the MAC East standings, and people are taking notice.

Lot's of people deserve credit for the outstanding turnaround. Head coach Turner Gill seems to be getting the majority of the credit, and for the most part, it is well-deserved. Gill had the guts to take over one of the worst programs in the entire country and has them sitting pretty in just his second year. As past coaches Craig Cirbus and Jim Hofher will tell you, the UB head coaching job was regarded as career suicide. How can you recruit players to come to a place where there is virtually no college football history, cold weather, and a losing reputation? Gill seems to have found a way, with a large number of freshman and sophomore players starting on both sides of the ball. Athletic Director Warde Manual deserves some respect for the foresight to hire Gill, and has done a very good job of hyping a once-maligned program (nearly 30,000 in attendance for the aforementioned 2006 home opener is quite the accomplishment.) If Manual is smart, he will offer Gill a hefty raise to fight off those pesky Nebraska rumors.

Another bright spot for this year's incarnation of the Bulls is the amount of production from local kids. I'm sure most would argue that Niagara Falls High School product James Starks has been the MVP of the team, while Naaman Roosevelt (St. Francis) is the team's top wide receiver.

Do yourself a favor, and head on down to Amherst for a football game. UB basketball games have been a good bang for your buck for a few years now (although, they pale in comparison to their SUNY counterparts in the state capitol), and it seems like the football program has finally caught up.

Hell, when was the last time a football team from Buffalo had a legitimate shot at the post-season?