Saturday Reaction: Clemson, Big 10 and Mother Nature

It was a huge night of college football as the defending national champion was tested. While the story is and will continue to be Jameis Winston the real story should be how Clemson blew this game. Missed field goals and a bad fumble kept the Seminoles in it and now we have to listen to Winston talk for the next few months.

Coach Jimbo Fisher’s quote “We know how to win” at the end of the game on ABC is a stretch. Clemson helped FSU with a slow developing play call on fourth and one. The Tigers had a 407-318 lead in yards and still lost.

Florida State is still in the driver seat for the ACC title and a playoff spot. For college football as a whole though, Winston will continue to be a bad distraction. People don’t change this quickly and I’m bracing myself for the next bad report out of Tallahassee.

Winner: Sean Maguire, Florida State quarterback

Congratulations to Maguire for keeping the Seminoles alive for another national title. He did throw more picks (2) than touchdowns (1) but his 305 passing yards were unexpected for a guy who threw just 116 yards last season. That was probably in garbage time too. Florida State fans will always have respect for Maguire for years to come.

Loser: ACC

The conference looks weak outside of Florida State right now. North Carolina was rolled over by East Carolina in embarrassing fashion. Syracuse, Miami and Pittsburgh lost to Big Ten schools. The best win the conference had today was Duke over Tulane. Not going to move the needle with that one.

Winner: Samantha Ponder

Ponder gave a great take on Winston during College Gameday as she explained why his suspension was warranted. It was probably the best I’ve heard and that’s with everyone in the media giving their two cents. Please give her more time than David Pollack ESPN.

Loser: Florida State University

The school originally suspended Winston for just the first half of the Clemson game but changed course to a full game late Friday night. Nothing good is announced on a Friday night. The school came across as suspicious and incompetent. Better to stick to your original decision to than to try and sweep a new choice in past newspaper deadlines. It was bad public relations coming from a school that appears to not have any.

Winner: Mother Nature

Several games have been delayed due to lightning this year and more were impacted this week. Michigan vs. Utah, Illinois vs. Texas State and Toledo vs. Ball State were games that were severely delayed.

We are playing football in Toledo!! Rain may be able to contain the #MACtion but will never be able to stop it! pic.twitter.com/3RsfX2tCzW

— #MACtion (@MACSports) September 21, 2014

Loser: Michigan Athletics

Well this tweet from the Michigan Golf Club sums it up.

The sad thing is that Utah got paid $1M to come to Ann Arbor to beat us but our school won't even give us $100 for gas money to our tourneys

— Michigan Club Golf (@UofMClubGolf) September 21, 2014

Should note that the golf club is not a varsity sport for Michigan but yeah, that’s disrespectful of the athletics department if that’s true.

Winner: Indiana

The Hoosiers got there first win against a Top 25 team under Kevin Wilson today after six unsuccessful tries. IU went into Columbia, Missouri and knocked off the No. 18 Tigers 31-27. This was huge for the Big Ten as the Hoosiers are the only school in the league with a win over an SEC school this year. SEC fans will go back to disowning Missouri on a convenient basis. Today, the Tigers are back in the Big 12.

I survived four hours of ESPN and lived to tell the tale

It was a great game but was it great enough to protect me from the brainwashing power of ESPN?

8:00 – Starting off my four hour ESPN binge. So far so good. A tasteful time lapse video of the grounds crew preparing the field after the Rose Bowl.

8:12 – After a series of bad commercials, including a promo for “Chozen,” (might be the worse cartoon ever) we see a spot for the new Chris Pine movie “Shadow Recruit” featuring the Auburn mascot. It promoted the movie and college football at the same time. Nice job advertisers.

8:16 – With the Florida State band blaring in the background, Lee Corso picks the Seminoles to win by dawning a throwback helmet. All of this occurs while Alabama coach Nick Saban awkwardly critiques Auburn. Shouldn’t he be recruiting or watching film? I’m sure Auburn fans muted the television whenever his face appears.

8:29 – Bo Jackson and Bobby Bowden hug each other at midfield for the coin toss. Cool sight.

8:32 – With smoke still on the field from opening fireworks, we have kickoff. Someone screwed up.

8:33 – Cam Newton introduces Auburn quarterback Nick Marshall, Another moment where Alabama fans muted the TV.

8:36 – Auburn calls a time-out after three plays. Anxious?

8:38 – Chris Weinke reappears out of nowhere to introduce Jameis Winston. The fact I know who Chris Weinke is makes me feel old.

8: 46 – Start checking out the “spider” cam on ESPN 3. It’s just a sky cam but I love hearing the game audio as oppose to the announcing. No commercials but no replays either. FSU is up 3-0.

8:53 – Turn to ESPN 2 for “Title Talk” and instantly regret it. Michael Smith, Jemelle Hill, Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, and someone with a southern accent I can’t identify. Shouldn’t Jesse Palmer should be watching the bachelor instead?

9:01 – The woman I couldn’t identify was Cheryl Hines from “Suburgatory.” Disney is just doing everything it can to promote itself.

9:04 – Touchdown Auburn. The Title Talk on ESPN 2 is crazy mismatch of personalities that will be on Awful Announcing soon. Even Taylor Hicks from American Idol would later enter the room. Changing the channel at warp 8.

9:16 – The best tweet so far comes from Pat Forde.

They just announced something in press box about terminating cell hot spots. Think they said BCS reserves the right to kill us if we don’t

— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) January 7, 2014

9:24 – Touchdown Auburn on a 50-yard pass. So much for that great FSU defense.

9:30 – Florida State’s offense looks lost. Winston might have been too loose coming into the game.

9:43 – Auburn misses a chip shot field goal. Still only up 14-3. Might be a turning point for FSU.

9:46 – Florida State fumbles giving the ball right back to Auburn. So much for turning point. A friend texted me saying the score will end up being 45-24 Auburn. It kills him that the SEC is dominating another BCS title game.

9:50 – Touchdown Auburn, 21-3. This could get ugly.

9:58 – Touchdown Florida State, 21-10. Nice to see the Noles quickly get off the mat.

10:06 – Half ends on a punt, how exciting.

10:22 – More Nick Saban offering analysis on how Florida State can get back into the game. How does this make Auburn fans feel?

10:34 – After a three an out for FSU, Auburn nearly fumbles the fair catch. Still not looking good for the Seminoles.

10:46 – Went back to Title Talk and low and behold, Johnny Football is in the room eating food. And get this, they are actually having an intelligent conversation on life after winning the Heisman trophy.

Maybe the “spider” cam should become the primary viewpoint in football broadcasts. It’s like playing Madden.

10:49 – Auburn forces another three and out to protect its 21-13 lead. I thought the experts said this defense was going to give up six yards a play.

11:03 – James Franklin of Vanderbilt is taking a lot of time on the “title talk” set. Also gives a sarcastic conspiracy theory as to how Vandy almost loss to Houston in the BBVA Compass Bowl. Houston fans must be throwing the remote at the TV after hearing that joke.

11:08 – After three quarters it’s Auburn 21-13.

11:10 – Holy Cow, a trailer for the new Lego movie. How did Morgan Freeman and Liam Neeson sign up for this.

11:20 – Check out ESPN NEWS in the “Film Room” So much better than the chaos of Title Talk. Meanwhile FSU gets an interception and scores a touchdown. Auburn still leads 21-20 as the two point conversion option is taken out due to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Kirk Herbstreit and Brent Musburger love the call. I do not. Too big of a stage for that flag.

11:29 – Tre Mason has been carrying Auburn on the ground like he has all year. If he breaks one it’s all over.

11:32 – Auburn bleeds the clock with a long drive but only gets a field goal to make it 24-20. Don’t think that’s good enough.

11:34 – Improbable touchdown on a kickoff for FSU. 27-24. Viewed it on Fan cam as the Seminole fans went nuts in the bottom left corner.

Go Crazy FSU fans! Except for the guy in the corner who never moved.

11:36 – Friend who thought FSU was about to get rolled is befuddled when he turns the game back on. “How are they ahead?”

11:39 – Auburn converts on third and long as Marshall escapes the rush. Another miracle in the works?

11:46 – Tre Mason finally breaks one for a nice touchdown. 31-27. FSU’s defense is clearly winded.

11:52: – Winston completes a 49-yard pass to Rashad Greene with a touchdown saving horse collar tackle the refs missed. Under a minute to go and FSU must get a touchdown.

11:55 – Auburn’s secondary miscommunicated on a 1st down play from 12 yard line. Lucky to get an incompletion as the coverage was a traffic jam of Tigers running into each other.

11:57 – On third down the Tigers get too physical in their press coverage as Chris Davis is called for pass interference in the end zone. Only a matter of time now.

11:58 – Touchdown FSU on first and goal. The Seminoles have successfully completed their first miracle comeback of the season. And they picked the best time to do it too.

12:03 – Ball Game. Congratulations to Florida State on their undisputed National Championship. Not every BCS title winner can say “undisputed.” Hopefully that will change in the playoff format. Bye bye BCS.