Welcome back everyone. Since last time, there's been exciting news in just about every sport imaginable. With all this exciting news in the sports world, I just don't know where to begin (or finish for that matter). The obvious choice would be Super Bowl, so that's where I'll start.
As you've probably heard hundreds of times over the past week, this was the first Super Bowl to ever pit the top-ranked offense against the top-ranked defense. As the saying goes, "Offense wins games and defense wins Championships" and as many of you may have watched Sunday night, the cliché proved true. The Bucs ran (literally and figuratively) all over the Raiders, gaining 150 yards on the ground in the game and jumped to a 20-3 lead at the half.
Much of the talk before this Super Bowl revolved around the matchup between Oakland's offense, featuring league MVP Rich Gannon, the greatest receiver of all time, Jerry Rice, and arguably the best pass-catching running back in the NFL, Charlie Garner and Tampa Bay's defense, led by Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, Simeon Rice and company. Without its starting center, Oakland's offensive line looked totally over-matched, forcing Gannon to make throws before his receivers finished their routes and giving Garner no room to run. Without a running game, and without protection to pass, Oakland's dominant offense sputtered early and looked confused.
Now the question must be asked: Was Jon Gruden the X-factor in this game? Did his knowledge of Oakland's offense give him the advantage necessary to shut down the potent Raiders' attack? Well, how could it not? Gruden basically assembled the current Raiders team and coached the entire offense (minus Jerry Porter) last season. Gruden's knowledge of the Raiders was almost spy-like. Hell, Bill Callahan was Gruden's assistant last year!
Gruden was handed a terrific defense from Tony Dungy when he took the head coaching job in Tampa during the offseason, so he cannot be given all the credit for the Bucs' defensive dominance in the Super Bowl, but his presence cannot be ignored. The pressure from the Bucs' defensive line as well as the great coverage of the Raiders' backs and receivers continuously forced Gannon to rush his throws and fear a sack.
A long-standing tradition in professional sports is to sign a player from a rival or opposing team, just to gain more knowledge about that team's strategy. Obviously Gruden was not hired as a "Raider-killer," but can you think of anyone more qualified at stopping a great offense than the mastermind who engineered it himself?
Trading players has always been a large part of basketball and baseball but has only a small role in the NFL. In other sports, teams will make "deadline deals" before the playoffs to add depth or experience, but in the NFL, trades are a rarity. Trading coaches, however, has been largely unheard of, until this year's trade between the Raiders and Bucs. Often times, teams give up "compensation" in order to sign another team's coach, usually in the form of some cash and a draft pick. In order to sign Gruden however, the Bucs forked over $8 million and multiple future first round draft picks. Because of the outrageous "hostage" price the Bucs were forced to pay, the NFL has just recently instituted rules to hinder the trading of coaches. Some critics will argue that the Bucs compromised their future for the present, but with so many talented young players, the Bucs appear already to have a great nucleus. The final piece to winning a Super Bowl was a great coach, who just happened to be a spy.
Tostitos and football
As you may remember, before break I criticized and analyzed college football's Bowl Championship Series format. I voiced my concerns and ultimately decided that the BCS works perfectly if and only if two teams remain undefeated for their respective seasons. Well, that's precisely what happened. The Fiesta Bowl, this year's NCAA National Championship Game, matched undefeated and top-ranked Miami University against undefeated and second-ranked Ohio State University. In what was one of the greatest college football games in NCAA history, the Buckeyes stunned the Hurricanes 31-24 in double overtime.
As far as the experts were concerned before the game, OSU could not answer for Miami's speed and quickness.
The exact opposite proved to be true. Ohio State had more than enough speed in the secondary and power up front to stop Willis McGahee and Miami's talented receiving corps. Ohio State had little trouble containing Miami's receivers but struggled all night with tight end Kellen Winslow, Jr, who torched Ohio State with 11 receptions.
McGahee, who suffered one of the most graphic (and horrific) knee injuries in recent sports history, was a non-factor even before he left the game, gaining only 67 yards on 20 carries.
The surprise of the game was definitely the play of Buckeyes' quarterback Craig Krenzel. Despite a terrible day passing (7-21, 122 yards, 2 INTs) Krenzel single-handedly beat the Hurricanes with his legs. Krenzel and the Buckeye offensive unit noticed the Hurricanes stacking the line early in the game to stop Maurice Clarett and immediately took advantage. The Hurricanes, though, could not stop Krenzel, who finished the day with 81 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
Although Hurricane fans will claim that they lost the game because of a phantom pass interference call in the first overtime, there is no denying that Ohio State played well enough to win the game. They forced five Miami turnovers and although their offense sputtered at times, it still managed two touchdowns when they needed them most: in overtime.
I've never been a huge believer in the "defense wins championships" theory in sports and think sometimes it's much more exciting to watch a high-octane battle, but I must admit that this year in football, the theory held true.