Friday, December 1, 2023
Let the college football Conference Championship Game weekend begin.
It started today with the Conference USA title tilt as #24 Liberty (13-0) defeated New Mexico State (10-4) in a shootout, 49-35.
Good job Liberty but, let's face it, that was not the #1 game on our collective minds today.
We were primed and ready for the evening's PAC-12 Championship game in Las Vegas that featured the highly regarded and hyped 11-1 Oregon Ducks against . . .
Gosh, I'm not sure who the Ducks are playing but they must not be any good as Oregon has been installed as a 9.5 point favorite and all this week the media pundits have touted the Ducks as the sole playoff team from the PAC-12 with virtually no mention of their opponents even having a chance.
I think they are playing Whitman, Whittier, Whitworth or maybe Wabash. Not sure really but it was some name like that.
The basic reason that I continue
to write this blog year after year
Old Town Camarillo was all
spruced up for Christmas
Laurie and I had coffee and a pastry at our go-to spot, Café Ficelle, on Ventura Blvd. after dropping off the grandkids at school.
Before the PAC-12 Championship Game, I still had to cheer on our friends coaching and playing for the Brasil Onças National Team in the tri-nation South American Tournament being played in Brasilia.
The winner of this tournament will
play in the IFAF World Championship
Tournament in Germany next Summer
The Colombia Condores were 1-0
in this tournament after upsetting
Team Chile 29-0 on Wednesday
The Onças were 0-0 as this was their first tournament game with a 4:00 pm kickoff.
Win or lose, the Brasil Onças team will play again against Team Chile (0-1) tomorrow at 4:00 pm.
Brazilians are tough people!
The game was live streamed on YouTube
The Onças were dominant leading 28-0 at the end of the First Quarter.
With about two minutes left in the First Half, Brasil scored again to make it 35-0 and triggering the Mercy Rule for the rest of the contest.
The Onças 56-0 victory was
a TREMENDOUS team effort!
You can save a lot of money on flights to Germany by buying your tickets early, just saying . . .
Go Onças GO!
Normally, I would be joined by
Michael and Jacob tonight for a
high stakes high school game . . .
. . . but not tonight!
We finally figured out who the Almighty #5 ranked Oregon Ducks (11-1) were going to pummel tonight in the PAC-12 Championship Game by 9.5 points or more.
It was the lowly #3 ranked
Washington Huskies (12-0)
Why were the Ducks so heavily favored even though they lost to the Huskies in Seattle, 36-33, back on October 14th?
In part because the Ducks had been dominant since that game with winning margins of 14, 29, 44, 9, 36 and 24 points in their subsequent six games. That is an average of a 26 point victory margin since that three point loss to the lowly Huskies.
On the other hand, Washington was 12-0 but had been struggling to beat teams over the last eight games of the campaign. Though they obviously won all eight of those games, the Huskies winning margins in those eight contests were by 7, 3, 8, 9, 10, 7, 2 and 3 points. The UW's margin of victory over this stretch was a paltry 6 points per game.
Obviously, on paper, the Ducks were a FAR superior team, right?
WRONG, the game would be played
on the field, not on paper
Much needs to be said about the great UW coaching staff and the grit and mental toughness that the Huskies displayed in winning all of those close games.
Excellent QBs Bo Nix for Oregon and
Michael Penix, Jr. for Washington
My final thought before the game was that whichever of these two transfer QBs (Nix from Auburn and Penix from Indiana) played the better game would take home the last PAC-12 Championship Trophy in the last PAC-12 game ever.
It turned out to be an awesome game with the Huskies taking a big lead to start the game only to see the Ducks roar back in the Second and Third Quarters.
The Fourth Quarter of this great game continued to be hectic but in the end the . . .
YAHOO!
AWESOME GAME!
College Football Playoffs
HERE WE COME!
UW Husky football began in 1889
This is the first team to ever be 13-0!
The previous best record was the Huskies 12-0, 1991 National Championship Team.
This is the UW's 18th Conference Championship in school history.
A satisfying victory on
many levels to be sure
When the final College Football Playoff rankings are announced on Sunday, if the currently #3 ranked Huskies are then ranked either #2 0r #3, then they will next play in Pasadena, California on January 1, 2024 in the 110th edition of the Rose Bowl.
It would be the Huskies 16th Rose Bowl appearance having gone 7-7-1 in their previous games.
Personally, Laurie and I have seen the Dawgs in this "Granddaddy of Them All" game eight times with a respectable 5-3 record.
We have seen them win over Michigan in 1978 (27-20), and 1992 (34-14). We also witnessed the Huskies losses to the Wolverines in 1981 (6-23) and once again in 1993 (31-38).
In 1982 (28-0) and again in 1991 (46-34), Washington beat Iowa.
The 2001 Rose Bowl was a good one for us as the Huskies beat Purdue (34-24).
Our last Washington Rose Bowl Game was a loss to Ohio State in 2019 (23-28).
If #1 Georgia (12-0) beats #8 Alabama (11-1) and if #2 Michigan (12-0) beats #16 Iowa (10-2), then a traditional Big-10 vs. PAC-12 Rose Bowl between Michigan and Washington would be a real possibility.
That would be AWESOME!
And quite expensive I'm sure.
Meanwhile, some American football news from overseas . . .
L'Hospitalet Pioners vs. Badalona Dracs
These two traditional Barcelona clubs square off on Saturday in the Copa Catalana Championship Game.
It should be another great one.
Hmmm . . .
A rare Atlantic Coast Conference game on the eastern shore of the Atlantic Ocean.
It might make for a fun weekend next Summer.
Laurie continues to prepare our home for the Holidays.
This is her new concept for
our 2023 Christmas tree
I LOVE IT!
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