Oh my WOW!! That was my reaction when I was watching USC absolutely destroy Oklahoma last night. I haven't seen a performance so dominant in a #1 vs #2 National Championship game since Nebraska and Tommy Frazier annihilated Florida in the 1995 Fiesta Bowl. Needless to say, I enjoyed last night much more.
I said yesterday that I was basing my pick on LenDale White being unable to play...well, not only did he play, he looked like a future first round pick, bad ankle be damned. In hindsight, it wouldn't have mattered if USC had to start the actor who played Boobie Miles in "Friday Night Lights" last night, they were CLEARLY better than OU in every phase of the game. Even the OU Offensive Line which had been so dominant throughout the year looked completely outclassed by the USC Defensive Line.
For a team with so may seniors, OU sure did go in the the tank quickly. Their body language was "Paul Pierce-esque" which is inexcusable in a national championship game. As soon as Mark Bradley botched that punt, it was as if OU thought "here we go again". Jason White was the ring leader of it all for the second straight year. That interception that White threw up for grabs was actually worse than Brett Favre's int in the NFC playoffs last year...which is saying something. Somewhere Jake Plummer was feeling a little better about himself during that first half.
If anything, I think the last two national championship games have proved that OU is a program that lacks the true championship swagger that USC showed last night and the Miami has had for soooo long. Hit them in the mouth and get physical and they will cower in the corner like my friend Greg's dog Cali.
I still think that Matt Leinart has an above average arm, at best, but he compensates for that by throwing one of the prettier balls I have seen recently, his touch passes look like they were dropped from heaven. Simply put, he is everything that Jason White isn't...poised, unflappable, heady and most of all...a winner.
Congrats to USC, they are on the verge of a dynasty nearing 1980's Miami proportions...excluding Luther Campbell and the 2 Live Crew Bandanas, of course.
One last thing...with all of the crappy fluff pieces that ESPN and ABC drown us in each and every weekend, how in the hell did nobody ever run a story about Ken Norton, Jr. being a defensive coach at USC? I know its hard to believe that football fans would want to know about a great linebacker with numerous Super Bowl rings making the transition to college coach over a story about Guys who played pee-wee football together but...thats exactly what we want!! Ken Norton, Jr. is a relevant figure in the memories of most football fans, there is a pretty damn good chance that we'd be interested in the fact that he coaches one of the more dominant college defenses of recent vintage.
I will discuss some other topics tommorrow that I couldn't get to today because work is crazy, but I didn't want to let the day go by without at least quickly discussing the thrashing that we all witnessed last year. I just hope that Chris Leak and Co. were watching intently so they have some idea of what they should be shooting for in the next two years.
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