Last One, I promise.....for this week. And it has controversy

I realize that this will be my third straight football post, but who can ignore the plethera of quality football on the college and professional level recently. I promise tomorow's post will not be football related.

For now, though, I'd like to discuss college football. Althought the current bowl season has failed to impress to the level of years past (mainly the parody of this year's Fiesta Bowl), last night's Sugar Bowl was exciting to say the least. The bowl featured two top ten teams, Ohio St. and Arkansas, as is expected given its BCS stature, and was action-packed from beginning to end, evident in the combined 57 points scored. Though it may seem as if this score was achieved by means of defensive failures, offensive struggles were the story of the night, as the Buckeyes won by a score of 31 to 26.

NFL-bound quarterback Ryan Mallett threw for 277 yards and two touchdowns, stats, which although may appear impressive, do not rightfully reflect the NFL caliber performance he delivered. Mallett's receivers were terrible, to say the least, as they managed to drop crucial pass after crucial pass (in loose coverage). Thus, placing any blame for the loss on Mallett is unwarranted, as he was just as shocked at these drops as any of the thousands of Arkansas fans who poured into the Superdome with hopes of seeing the Razorbacks first BCS win. Instead, what they received was a depressing 28-10 deficit at the half and an unsuccessful second half comeback. Mallett's only error occurred in a crucial situation at the end of the game, as he threw an interception to Solomon Thomas to seal the victory for the Buckeyes.

On the part of Ohio St., the game was much sloppier offensively than it looks given the result. Terrelle Pryor threw for 221 yards and ran for 115, which is the only highlight of the Buckeyes offense, as the running game had some holes to say the least. Dan Herron, the starting back for State only ran for 87 yards and had two unforgivable errors which allowed Arkansas to pull back within 5 points by the end of the game. These were a fumble on 4th and 1 to give Arkansas the ball inside Buckeye territory, and giving up two points by being tackled in the endzone for a safety early in the fourth quarter. Thus, Herron's errors made the game look closer than it was, but could the game have played out completely differently?

Terrelle Pryor's 'discounted' tattoos

This question stems from a recent development surrounding the Ohio St. football program, which has surfaced in the past month. Due to a series of violations, including discounted tattoos and the sale of championship memorabilia by five Ohio St. players, the Buckeyes almost found themselves without many of their largest contributors for last night's game. However, the NCAA instead decided to only suspend these players for the first five games next season (and not the Sugar Bowl), with their justification, according to Mercury News being thus: "student-athletes did not receive adequate rules education during the time period the violations occurred". However I believe this statement is ludicrous, as the players should know the rules, and this decision is merely in an effort to ensure the quality of last night's game.


From a Razorback fan point-of-view, this decision ruined their hopes of a BCS win, given the impact of the suspended players. Terrelle Pryor and Dan Herron (both mentioned earlier) are among the suspended group, and they clearly made their mark on last night's game, combining for over 400 total yards, and three touchdowns. The other suspended players made a significant impact, as well, including WR DeVier Posey, who accounted for 70 yards and a touchdown. And let us not forget perhaps the most important player of the game, Solomon Thomas, also suspended next year, who made the game saving interception with under a minute left to assure an Ohio St. victory.





So, should these suspensions have started before the game, or is this just another example of securing the best matchup for a televised game? I think my decision is clear, but I encourage other views.

And once again, I promise tomorow's post will not be football related.