Rematches

Ohio State is #1. Michigan is #2. Ohio State beat Michigan yesterday in a pretty close game.

The college football championship game is January 8. Should Michigan be invited?

On the one hand, the whole point of a championship game is that #1 gets to play #2 for all the marbles. On the other hand, there are a dozen awesome teams that have not had a chance to unseat Ohio State this year. If USC, for example, doesn't get a chance, why should Michigan get two chances?

Listening to the commentators yesterday, I could tell they were carefully restraining themselves from re-re-re-stating the obvious: we wouldn't even have this problem, if... yeah, I can't bring myself to say it again. I'm officially blue in the face.

Did you know that it's possible in the NFL for the Super Bowl to be a rematch between two teams that already played during the regular season? It has happened eleven times. And it's the darnedest thing—no one ever complains about it. In the NFL, if you get to the Super Bowl, no one ever tries to say you didn't earn it. I have a theory. I think there is a reason for this. If you're in the Super Bowl, you've beaten two of the best teams in the league in consecutive weeks. All the other contenders had their shot, and they lost. It's that simple.

In college football, there's no playoff, so you get situations like this one with Michigan.

The BCS was a huge leap forward. We now have a controversy-free, undisputed national champion about 20% of the time. Let's take the logical next step. It ain't rocket science.

Postscript: For the record, I favor treating yesterday's game as a playoff game. Michigan lost. They should be out.

Super bowl pick

So my last set of predictions was horribly, horribly wrong.

The Steelers keep surprising me. Going into the Colts game, I knew their defense was incredibly good at creating interceptions, even on seemingly sensible throws, and stopping the run. What I didn't count on was their ability to (a) stump Peyton by betraying no hint of what they'd do on a given play (it seemed like if this were possible, teams would've been doing it all season long); and (b) keep sacking him all day. This Sunday, they looked more like I had expected. Which is still pretty intimidating.

What was amazing this week was the Steelers offense. The commentators liked the play-calling. I don't know if it was that or something else, but it was awfully impressive.

Antwaan Randle El is a fast, fast man.

I'm going to go way out on a limb and pick the Steelers to win the Super Bowl. If you're Matt Hasselbeck, I just don't see how you're supposed to prepare for the Steelers defense. Plus the Steelers are fun to watch. So by my logic, they can't possibly lose. Looking forward to it.

Predictions

Both AFC games are looking like nail-biters right now, but I predict they won't be that close. My picks: Seahawks, Patriots, Colts in a blowout, and I don't know about the other one. I haven't seen the Bears or the Panthers play.

Colts

I meant to say this last Monday before the game, and I meant to say it before today's drubbing started. If Peyton Manning and Edgerrin James stay healthy, I think the Colts are going to have their perfect season. I haven't seen the team that can beat them. They have an offense a geek can really appreciate, by the way. I say Edgerrin James not because he's such a great player, but because their offense banks on flexibility, and James is their running game.