Three Intense Days
Three days of high-level football marked the sports calendar the past week and when the dust cleared we were left with the final four in the NFL and a new champion in college football.
Let’s start with the new king of the college game which no longer is a contrast to the professionals. College football is a junior version of the pros. Millions of dollars are thrown around to players who now can transfer almost at whim and more than once as well. The rules of changing teams is a common and dizzying routine.
It used to be you needed a scorecard to determine the athletes by their numbers. Now, even a scorecard won’t help you decipher where a player came from.
Nonetheless, the Ohio State Buckeyes are the champions of the sport.
They defeated Notre Dame, 34-23 in a battle that started out brilliantly for the Irish with an 18-play opening drive for a touchdown. Then OSU went on a long roll. They led 31-7 halfway through the third quarter. But ND woke up and challenged with a pair of TD’s converting for 2 points both times. But the Buckeyes held on.
Down by 8, and forcing Ohio State into a 3d and 11 at their own 34 with 2:45 remaining, quarterback Will Howard threw to Jeremiah Smith for a 56 yard gain and that was that.
Their hero was running back Quinshon Judkins who rushed for 100 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Notre Dame wrapped up a banner season at 14-2, and Ohio State bounced back from an embarrassing loss to Michigan to go on a a tear and capture their first national title in 10 years.
The loss to the mediocre Wolverines was the fourth in a row for head coach Ryan Day who might have lost is job had he not taken the Buckeyes all the way.
Perhaps there might be a lesson to be learned. Don’t hang your hat on one game, one loss, as humiliating as it may seem.
Losing to Michigan was a bad game for Ohio State, but they were always a championship contender. They lost to Oregon early in the year, then crushed the #1 Ducks in the playoffs where they played their best football of the season.
Remember, Notre Dame had one of those setbacks, to Northern Illinois back in the second game of the season. Didn’t they respond nicely the rest of the way?
In the pro payoffs there was one huge shocker.
The top-seeded Detroit Lions were unceremoniously knocked out of the NFC post-season derby by the Washington Commanders who won only 4 games last season and were considered one of the hapless outfits in the league.
But if you’re bad enough, and have a shot at grabbing a quarterback in the draft who can start to turn the fortunes around, you can begin a reversal to at least become more respectable.
Well, the Commanders not only became respectable in one year, they developed into a forced to be reckoned with. That’s due to their selection of LSU’s Jayden Daniels to hopefully become their franchise quarterback.
It’s taken him one season. The rookie did things no one imagined or expected.
It’s never an automatic thing. You have to choose the right guy, with the right skills, and the right stuff that goes beyond running an offense.
Still, it was highly unlikely, as good as he played, that they would upend a team with a purpose. The purpose of getting over the hump and finally earning a spot in the Super Bowl.
The Lions were built to do just that in 2024. They had all the ingredients.
Despite some brutal injuries to their defensive unit, they found enough ways to win 15 games, the best record in the NFC, and home field advantage throughout.
Perhaps one of their two defeats in the regular year was a possible tip-off to San ultimate issue in the post-season. With four games remaining, the Lions were beaten by the Buffalo Bills at home, 48-42. It was only their second loss since week 2, and it was against one of the powers of the league. But Buffalo tacked on 48 points against the Lions, who scored 42 of their own, but still fell short.
That wouldn’t be the case against Washington would it? Of course not. Until it was.
I predicted a Detroit victory against a team that was 12-5 in their turnaround season.
It’s rare that an upstart group not only wins one, but two road games against a division champion in the playoffs, especially one with only a Super Bowl appearance the only thing missing from their resume.
The Lions couldn’t stop the rookie quarterback and while they managed enough points on the board to win in most circumstances, they turned the ball over too many times to win. The final score was 45-31, and after it was over, the Commodores first-year head coach Dan Quinn had some rare comments about his young leader.
He said Jayden Daniels had a different poise about him than most. That he was a rare competitor, that in those special moments, if he were a basketball player, he would want the last shot in the game. A player who makes great decisions.
I can’t remember when I’ve seen something like I witnessed in that stunning surprise.
So hail to the Redskins, sorry, Commodores, as they play the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC championship and the chance to make the jump to the Super Bowl.
You would think Washington would face the same obstacles this week against the Eagles, a team with a Super Bowl DNA, a division champion, and the home field edge.
That still might be the case, but there are questions about Philly going in.
First of all, the Eagles suffered one of their three setbacks against the Commodores. It was late in the year, game 15, when Washington won at home 36-33.
The Commodores seemed to grow up fast , winning their final 5, including that triumph over Philly.
All eyes will be on Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who has been fighting injuries all season and suffered one to his left leg that forced him to wear a brace from the third quarter on in the victory over the LA Rams. He finished the contest, but was hobbling, and his health, particularly as a QB who can run and elude defenders, will be critical.
The success against LA was helped by a pair of damaging turnovers, and the spectacular runs of Saquon Barkley who gained over 100 yards 11 times in 2024, including a mind-boggling 255 yards against those same Rams in week 11.
In last week’s playoff battle in the gusty winds and snow against the Rams, the boys from the west coast put up a fight but those turnovers ruined any chance they had and that Barkley fellow dashed for touchdown runs of 78 and 62 yards, finishing with 205 yards on the ground.
Not bad for a player who was allowed by the New York Giants to sign with a division rival.
The Commodores will have to find a way to make Barkley a mortal running back, and score points against the league’s finest defensive unit.
A tall task indeed. Maybe I’ll get burned again, but if Hurts can play and be effective, I have to like Philly. If Hurts is hampered, I’ve got that Washington bandwagon to climb aboard. If it slows down enough.
Going into last week’s NFL games, the clear gem was the collision between the Bills and the red-hot Baltimore Ravens, featuring the two favorites for MVP, quarterbacks Josh Allen of the Bills , and the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson.
The final score was close, 27-25. The Bills ended up on top, and again, in virtually every game, turnovers told the tale. The Ravens committed three, the Bills none. Enough said.
I know picking games is fun for readers. The reason I have been reluctant over the years is because anyone can be right. Your next door neighbor who doesn’t follow sports can be on the money. It takes no expertise. No one, even a team’s coach, knows for sure that his team will wind up on top. He hopes. But he really doesn’t know.
The better team doesn’t necessarily win games. The team that plays better does.
If you can answer this question before a game, you are an automatic genius.
The question is, who will turn over the ball, and when will they do it?
Answer that, and you can become wealthy.
So it’s the Bills playing in Kansas City against the Chiefs, and the Washingtons facing the Birds of Philly for the third time.
The Chiefs who are trying to win a third consecutive Super Bowl have won the close games all year. They have found a way to win regardless of the circumstances.
In my view, teams that win tight games are far more dangerous than those who blow out their opponent. Big winners just pile it on against desperate foes.
Kansas City and Philadelphia victories would bring about a rematch from two years ago.
How can I go with those two? It would end this column with a dud.
So I’ll go out on a not-so-big limb.
I’ll go with the Bills over the Chiefs. And the Eagles to end the Commodores Cinderella dream.
I have no idea if I’ll be right. But if you tell me when the turnovers will come and where?
Well, then I’m confident in going two-for-two.
