HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yea, I know it's January 7th. I am turning over a "new leaf", as they say. I stopped writing for awhile because I had more important things to work on. Now, many of those things are out of the way and I am back.

BOWL SEASON CONCLUDED

     Yes, dear wives of bowl game junkies. All 35 games are done.

     Florida State won on the last drive of the game, 7 plays, 80 yards beating the mighty SEC champion, Auburn 34-31. With 5:01 left on the clock in the 2nd quarter, Auburn led FSU 21-3. FSU went on a 66-yard, 11 play drive converting a 4th down on their own 40 yard line and a big 21 yard 3rd down run by Heisman Trophy Winner Jameis Winston giving them first-and-goal on the Auburn 3. Devonta Freeman, on the next play ran in for the TD.
     Everyone giving Auburn a chance to win said, "Florida State hasn't really played anybody" implying the ACC was not equal to the SEC. The 2013-14 bowl season featured 10 teams from the SEC, 11 from the ACC. Of the three teams they played that won bowl games from the ACC (Clemson, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse), FSU outscored them 151-30, two of those games being on the road. Of all their 7 victories over all ACC teams that went to bowl games, including Duke in the  Championship game, they outscored them 348-112. On average, that is 38.6-12.4, a difference of 26.2 Against all opponents, an average of over 50 points a game, 2nd in the country.
     Only once did FSU allow a team to score more than 17 points in a game. That was the 34 they gave up to Boston College. After the 17-point game with North Carolina State, the most points they allowed in a regular season game was 14 points twice. This was not just their offense that Auburn needed to be concerned about. Their defense was top notch as well, ending up first in scoring defense.
     Auburn, on the other hand, painted a different picture coming into the championship game. Their defense was nowhere near FSU's. If one looks at just the teams in their division of the SEC, they allowed 35 points against LSU (their only defeat), 41 against Texas A&M, and 38 against Alabama. They just outscored A&M and Alabama. Georgia scored 38 against them; Missouri 42. Their average points against all SEC teams was 29.6. Offensively, they beat up SEC opponents, averaging 38.4 pp/game, a difference of +8.8. While both offenses may have been equal statistic-wise, there was a big difference in the defenses.

      Maybe it took a 21-10 first half to wake up FSU, at least defensively. They allowed Auburn only 35 yards in the 3rd quarter. FSU could only get 91 yards and a field goal.
      It was the 4th quarter that was the most exciting. It was when both teams amassed almost 400 yards of offense and 31 points. That includes the 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by . It came down to a 1:19 on the clock with Auburn up 31-27. Jameis Winston and FSU had to get 80 yards. And they did with Winston completing 7 passes for 77 yards and FSU overcoming 2 penalties in the drive.

     Normally, with all the hype the SEC gets, one might say that Auburn was in a comfortable position. Afterall, the SEC had won the last 7 National Championship games. They have been touted as the most powerful conference in college football. And though Auburn led in total yards, rushing yard, first downs, 3rd down efficiency, and time of possession, (four key stats that would normally indicate dominance),  they were not ahead when the final ticks of the clock ran out at the Rose Bowl.

TOMORROW: Oh, how the mighty has fallen!!!