A Crescendo

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The New Year brought a crescendo of dramatic, often startling developments in both college football and the NFL.

The college story doesn’t take a backseat to the pros. It’s only because the NFL was the last act to the week’s often hard-to-believe tales that we lead with them. And it was the very last game of the regular season that punctuated all that transpired.

I was thinking, as I viewed the scene in Pittsburgh, with the chilling atmosphere of an intense rivalry about to unfold what it would all mean. A division title and more games to be played for the winner, and a quick exit and a shut down for the loser. That this contest was really the ultimate that the sport can offer. I know the chase is for the Super Bowl, but there was something in this Steelers-Baltimore Ravens showdown that transcended the big one in February. It was about the deafening crowd clad in black and gold, waving those towels (they’re known as the Terrible Towel, thanks to a local former writer and broadcaster Myron Cope), the cold of night, the fact that it was winner moves on, loser goes home, familiar rivals, and all the rest. In the Super Bowl, the champion is exalted and the runner-up falls short but still having represented their conference with success in the post-season. In this game, there was no such thing as the comfort of at least going far. The end would be bitter for someone.

In the Steelers ultimate triumph over the Ravens, there were a series of unimaginable events that still boggle the mind. The Steelers seemed in control in the second half, but a three-point lead was still tenuous. Then the Ravens connected on a 50-yard scoring pass to take a lead with nearly nine minutes left, only to be erased by a Steelers TD with almost 4 minutes to go. Aaron Rodgers, the aging once-great QB showed why he is a Hall of Famer leading the pivotal drives with no times out remaining from the 50. His 26-yard touchdown pass appeared to have the game locked up. But Pittsburgh’s ultra-reliable kicker Chris Boswell missed the extra-point and now the Ravens, down by two, 26-24, had a chance to win it with a field goal. And they got that chance. But with only 2 seconds on the clock, rookie kicker Tyler Loop, superb all season, missed a 44-yard attempt, giving the Steelers the stunning victory. They moved on, and the Ravens were finished. Imagine, two missed place kicks in the waning moments played a major role in deciding the struggle.

This had to be the most topsy-turvy season in NFL history. The unexpected has been the rule, not the exception. No one, and I mean no one would have predicted the New England Patriots who won only 4 games last year to finish ahead of the Buffalo Bills, the Chicago Bears, 5 wins a year ago, topping the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, the Carolina Panthers coming from a 5-win season to capture the NFC South, the Denver Broncos ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs and being seeded no. 1 also beating out the LA Chargers, the Jacksonville Jaguars going from a 4-13 season to a division title this year, and the big one, the Seattle Seahawks beating out the LA Rams and SF 49ers and winding up the #1 team in the NFC. Now, as the post-season playoffs get underway we will see if the usual suspects emerge when it really counts, or the craziness continues.

Before the last weekend of the NFL regular season all the talk was about the college playoff quarterfinals and rightfully so.

There were two  big shockers, one centering on a result, the other the decisiveness of a game. Mighty Ohio State, the defending champs, fell to Miami, who many questioned being in the tournament to begin with. The other was the resounding crushing of once-mighty Alabama by the darlings of 2025, Indiana. No surprise the #1 Hoosiers won, but the 38-3 final score spoke volumes of how strong Indiana, under the masterful coaching of Curt Cignetti has proven to be. The Hoosiers now face Oregon who they whipped by 10 points on the road back in October, in one semi-final, while Miami continues its Cinderella run against Mississippi.

The Ole Miss triumph over Georgia is the one everyone has talked about. An improbable win on so many levels by a team locked in turmoil over their head coach who left for greener pastures over a perennial national power. The game itself was a crazy affair, with Georgia leading by nine at the half, only to see Ole Miss rally to take a 10-point lead with 9:00 remaining in the 4th. The Bulldogs stormed back to tie the game at 34 on a field goal with under a minute remaining.

But a field goal with six seconds on the clock and a weird safety with one second left, gave the Rebels the amazing win, 39-34.

Perhaps the overriding story centered around departed head coach Lane Kiffin who fled Ole Miss for LSU and was rightfully not allowed to coach his team against Georgia. But six of his assistants remained for the playoff, with defensive coordinator Pete Golding in his first month as head coach. By now, it may be known if the six will depart for LSU as expected, where they will join Kiffin. If you ask Golding and the Ole Miss players, it doesn’t really matter. It probably doesn’t for the Ole Miss football squad, who feel they can overcome anything at this point.

But 2025 has certainly brought with it some dizzying, unpredictable, and sometimes wild developments that mark the gridiron sport not seen before.