College Football Top Ten

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Wrapping it Up

As I sat watching the BCS National Title Game at Pappas Burger in Fort Worth, TX, one thing came to mind. Ohio State had just as much talent on the field as LSU. There were just a few things that gave LSU the edge.

First was the coaching. I don't necessarily mean the Head Coach, but the coaches in general. The LSU coaching staff had the edge in three areas. Number one: adjustments. The Tiger coaches were able to make adjustments. As the game went, when something went wrong, the LSU coaches made the necessary adjustments to put their players in the right places to make plays. Number two: focus. The LSU coaches kept their players focused on the task at hand. It was conceivable to believe, once LSU got behind, that the players could lose focus. But LSU had played from behind before, so the early lead did not cause panic. On the other side, however, once Ohio State had multiple things go wrong, their players made serious mistakes such as the personal foul penalties. Number three: confusion. Ohio State was on it's heels the after the first couple of LSU drives. The coaches did a great job of using various sets and mixing the play-calling up. Further, they did a great job of getting the ball to the paymakers. On the defensive side of the ball, LSU blitzed at the right times, came up with crucial stops, and the defensive line actually overpowered the Ohio State Offensive Line rather than run around them like Florida did last year.

Receivers vs. Cornerbacks. Give the win to LSU's cornerbacks. Last year, Florida's front four was too hard to block for Ohio State and the rest of Florida's defense sat back in zone and took everything away from the Buckeyes. This year, LSU was able to bring more pressure against an improved Ohio State Offensive Line because their corners were able to go man to man with the Buckeyes' receivers. QB Todd Boeckman didn't have anywhere to go with the ball and ran out of time waiting. Ohio State really missed last year's star recievers Ted Ginn, Jr. and Anthony Gonzales.

Finally, Quarterback. It was LSU's Matt Flynn (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Matt Damon) against Ohio State's Todd Boeckman. Ohio State's offense was similar to Oklahoma's offense this year, and failure to produce a complex passing attack cost the Buckeyes (and the Sooners). Both offenses relied on the strength of their running backs. The passing game was basically based on play action and the success of the running game. Each team chose to run over, through and around you and when they thought you are not looking, they threw the ball deep down the field with each QB's big arm. These days, in football, whether college or pros, a QB who can make plays and can get the ball in the hands of playmakers is really what brings success. A local sports columnist likes to say that the game is about the quarterback, and I think he is right. Matt Flynn was a playmaker, but Todd Boeckman was not.


To the Future

I will be changing the format of collegefootballtopten.com in the coming weeks. The site will be totally supported by WordPress. It will give me more freedom to just write. The change will be progressive. I hope to have a few top ten lists in the coming month as well. We will continue to get the site up to speed with, hopefully, some new features in the Fall. There were not many reader comments this year, so, I hope to solicit more comments next year and get more reader involvement.