Armchair Weekend in Review (November 30-December 2, 2007)

Sorry about the delay, but let's recap a wild weekend in sports, just the same...

CFB: The Dust Finally Settles

Michigan's shocking upset loss to Appalachian State back in September seemed to set the tenor for a chaotic football season to come. On Saturday, there was some more instability before thing finally settled down.

Missouri entered Saturday's Big 12 championship as the #1-ranked team, but Oklahoma proved the Tigers' place at the BCS summit was a fluke thanks to a 38-17 pounding. Mizzou felt blue because the loss dropped them out of the BCS bowl picture, while there were cheers in Norman, Oklahoma, as the Sooner Schooner will make a return trip to the Fiesta Bowl.
- The Sooners' opponents will be the Mountaineers of West Virginia, who became the seventh different second-ranked team to fal in 2007. Pittsburgh put the upset on the 'Neers in the 100th Backyard Brawl, 13-9. Pat White got only 91 total yards passing as he injured his thumb in the second quarter, only to come back later in the game.

So, the question of "who's #1" and the more persistent matter of "who's #2" were finally settled. Ohio State got the two-spot, but who would the Buckeyes face after seven weeks on their collective keisters?
- After Lloyd Carr resigned from his post at Michigan, there was vast speculation that Les Miles would come home. However, just hours before their SEC title tilt against Tennessee, Miles came out and flatly denied any and all rumors that he would be headed to Ann Arbor. With that out of the way, the Tigers won the SEC and the BCS title berth, 21-14. Backup QB Ryan Perrilloux threw for 243 yards in the win, giving starter Matt Flynn a rest.
  - While Miles is staying put in Baton Rouge, one of his contemporaries is off to greener pastures. Bo Pelini, Miles' defensive guru, has taken the head coaching job at Nebraska.
  - Two other coaches will remain with their current employers in 2008: Bobby Bowden signed a one-year extension at Florida State, while Oklahoma State will keep Mike "Come and get me; I'm a man!" Gundy on their payroll through next year.

It had been a rather emotional season at Virginia Tech, but the Hokies rode that wave to the ACC title, 30-16, over Boston College. After the Hokies' slow start to the '07 campaign, the trip to the Orange Bowl seemed improbable.
- Likewise for their opponents, the Kansas Jayhawks. Despite being knocked from the ranks of the undefeated last week, the 'Hawks will also ring in the New Year in South Florida.

Hawaii remained the lone undefeated team in Division I (FBS), but those prospects didn't look good early in their game against Washington. The Warriors did manage to erase a 21-0 deficit as Heisman Trophy candidate Colt Brennan added on to his record of 131 career TD passes, throwing five in a 28-21 come-from-behind win over the Huskies. The Warriors will say Aloha to the BCS for the first time ever when they meet Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

Other conference champions included Central Michigan (MAC, 35-10 over Miami (OH)) and Central Florida (Conference USA, 44-25 over Tulsa).

USC reclaimed the Victory Bell by ringing that of crosstown rival UCLA, 24-7, eventually sending Carl Durrell to the unemployment line. The Trojans will stay home on New Year's Day and play host to Illinois in the Rose Bowl.

James Rodgers was the hero in Oregon State's 38-31 double-overtime win over Oregon, scoring the game-winning TD.

Twenty-five years after the Stanford Band got involved in arguably the wackiest play in sports history, the Cardinal didn't need them in a 20-13 win over California.

Navy torpedoed their rivals from West Point, 38-3, in the 108th Army-Navy Game in Baltimore.

Arizona State got its first 10-win season since 1996 with a 20-17 win over in-state rival Arizona.

NFL Week 13

It had been a very trying week for the Washington Redskins; Joe Gibbs' squad spent most of that time mourning the tragic death of teammate Sean Taylor while having to prepare for Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills. Before the game, the Redskins and the rest of the NFL honored Taylor's memory with a moment of silence. The Skins, who made an on-field tribute with only ten men on the field in their first defensive possession, played as hard as possible given the circumstances, but wound up on the short end of a 17-16 final score thanks to the following goof:
- Ryan Lindell and the Bills lined up for a 51-yard game-winning field goal and while everything wenf well, the kick was rendered nill, null and void because Gibbs had called timeout during the snap in an attempt to ice Lindell. So, it was mulligan time, but Gibbs asked for a TO once again. This time, the Redskins were called for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty as it was against the rules to call two timeouts in a row to ice a kicker. Thus, a 51-yard lengthy field goal turned into a virtual chip shot, which Lindell made with four seconds to go in the game. Another thing about Joe Gibbs: Lane Kiffin he ain't...
- Off the field, police in Miami-Dade County announced on Friday that four people were arrested in Taylor's murder last week.

Eli Manning looked to get off the deck after a nightmare four-interception performance against the Minnesota Vikings. But, with two more picks and a fumble in the first half, thing looked rather bleak for the New York Giants and the prospect of yet another second-half collapse looked good. However, Eli managed to rally the troops to score 14 unanswered points in Big Blue's 21-16 win over the Chicago Bears.

Speaking of the Vikes: After two weeks on the shelf for a sprained knee, Adrian Peterson rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns in a 42-10 rout of the Detroit Lions.

Eli's older brother, Peyton, made history earlier in the day. The Indianapolis Colts QB threw for 288 yards and four touchdowns, passing Joe Montana for 9th all-time in yards passing in a 28-25 squeaker over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Manning's opponent, David Garrard, threw an interception in the game, his first in 239 pass attempts, BTW.

The last Pittsburgh Steelers home game saw Heinz Field turned into an unbearable muck thanks to a hard rain. With the wet stuff in the forecast for Sunday night, the grounds crew spent the week redoing the turf to make it better. Whatever they did, it seemed to work, as Hines Ward broke the franchise record for TD receptions (he had two on the night) in a 24-10 shoutout against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Fighting Mike Tomlins also put a two-game lead on the Cleveland Browns, 27-21 losers at Arizona.

It is now very likely that we could see company for both the all-time best and worst teams in NFL history in the same season. The Miami Dolphins assured us of the latter with a 40-13 beatdown by the New York Jets, wearing the uniforms of the old New York Titans (losers themselves in their day) once again.

From football to fútbol

Arsenal kept their lead in the Premiership thanks to a 2-1 win at Aston Villa; Mathieu Flamini and Emmanuel Adebayor did the honors in the Gunners scoring department.

Tottenham striker Robbie Keane had a Sunday afternoon to remember (or forget) at White Hart Lane. His Spurs playing host to Birmingham, Keane scored a penalty in the 50th minute and a regular goal in the 53rd before getting his marching orders via a lunging tackle on the Blues' Fabrice Muamba in the 68th minute. By the way, the Second City's second club upset the Spurs, 3-2.

Throwing down

After a horrendous performance against the Celtics the night before, the New York Knicks got off the deck and played the Milwaukee Bucks tight, 91-88. Sunday saw two losses, though. Hours after their 115-104 loss at home to the Phoenix Suns, word was spread that the father of embattled forward Stephon Marbury had unexpectedly died of a heart ailment.

Kobe Bryant did all he could with 28 points, but the Los Angeles Lakers looked flat in a 120-96 beatdown against the Utah Jazz.

Gonzaga rained on UConn's Garden party, beating the Huskies 85-82 in Boston led by 23 points from Jeremy Pargo.

Kudos

...to New Jersey Devils center Zach Parise and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, who scored hat tricks on the same night. Parise lit the lamp the first three times in the Devils' 4-0 shutout of the Montreal Canadiens, while Byfuglien hit for the hat for the first time ever in a 6-1 rout of the Pheonix Coyotes.

...to the Bryan Brothers, Bob and Mark, who gave the US its first Davis Cup since 1995. The brothers beat the Russian tandem of Igor Andreev and Nikolai Davydenko in straight sets for the win on Saturday.

Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel, 1938-2007

The concept of being a "daredevil" means, simply, risking life and limb for the entertainment of many and/or the simple enjoyment of an adrenaline rush. Evel Knievel didn't mean to become a daredevil, but he will always be remembered as one.

While pretty much all of us weren't around to see Knievel's stunts back in his day, the man who once refered to himself as "made of scar tissue and surgical steel" defied death for the two decades he hopped onto his motorbike, dressed in a red-white-and-blue helmet and jumpsuit, and jumped over anything imaginable. From his gut-wrenching spill after an attempt to ride over the fountains at Caesar's Palace to the failed attempt to clear the Snake River Canyon in Idaho in a special rocket, Knievel thrilled millions who either saw his feats in person or on ABC's Wide World of Sports during the 1970s. While he decided to quit after his somewhat nasty spill at Wembley Stadium in 1975, Knievel performed for five more years, finally retiring in 1980. The daredevil persona eventually passed into the genes of his son, Robbie Knievel, whom this author saw jump a number of vintage aircraft on board the USS Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum a few years ago.

Well, dardevils don't always meet death after their stunts, but it finally caught up to Evel on Friday. Knievel, who broke an astounding 40 bones during his career, passed at age 69. Billy Rundle, Knievel's longtime confidante, said it best: "Superman just doesn't die, right?"

Let's have some cheering up, shall we?

Dude of the Weekend

UCF running back Kevin Smith. Why he's under the radar is unknown, but Smith amassed 284 yards in the Golden Knights' C-USA title win. Smith has 2,488 yards for the 2007 season, placing him second for the most behind Marcus Allen.

Dope of the Weekend

Detroit Lions quarterback Jon Kitna: With your team at 6-6 and falling fast, it's gonna take a miracle to live up to that 10-win prediction you made before the season began...