Elves on shelves, over-sugared children, and painstaking anxiety all swirled together in a frothy peppermint mocha — that’s what the Christmas season is all about. Also, substantially important “amateur” football.
What a week for North Texas as JerryWorld in Arlington hosted all levels of the Texas high school football state finals, and within an afternoon’s drive, College Station and Norman played opening-round playoff games during the first weekend of postseason major-university football. Among the young’uns, the Stephenville Yellowjackets secured their seventh state-finals trophy. Even more locally and, in my opinion, the most outstanding story in amateur Texas athletics: The South Oak Cliff Golden Bears appeared in their fifth consecutive state title game and won their third championship in as many years. During a time of affluent-suburb and exurb domination, a truly inner-city squad creating a modern dynasty is both heartwarming and mindboggling.
In the largest classification, Duncanville lost to North Shore 10-7 during the program’s sixth faceoff with the Mustangs in the final contest of the season. Finally, Desoto clobbered C.E. King on their way to the school’s fourth state championship and third in the last four seasons. It should also be noted that Desoto could technically be playing down in 5A (where schools like Aledo, Denton-Ryan, Highland Park, and Frisco-Lone Star play) but opt to compete among schools with higher enrollment —impressive to say the least.
Sadly, for local squads, that is where the dynasty and domination talk end. The eighth-seed Oklahoma Sooners, who might as well be an annex of elite Texas football, hosted ninth-seed Alabama for the kickoff of the legitimate college postseason on Friday. The Sooners were feeling feisty as they climbed to an early 17-point lead over the Tide, but an inexplicably fumbled punt proved the beginning of the end for OU as they fell victim to the largest turnaround in the CFP’s short history. Holding a 10-point lead after Bama’s first touchdown, the Sooners went about a routine punt. Grayson Miller received the deep snap and started into his kicking steps when his brain just seemed to short circuit. Have you ever been standing somewhere and — for seemingly no reason at all — just drop your phone or keys on the ground? That’s what happened to the ball for Miller, who attempted to pick it up and complete the kick but was easily blocked, a turnover Alabama would convert into a field goal. A pick-six off John Mateer on the very next drive knotted the squads at 17 going into halftime, but the momentum was irreparably shifted and the Tide would continue their tirade of 24 unanswered points and an eventual 34-24 victory, earning a date with unbeaten and top-seeded Indiana in the quarterfinals. Neither reddish team rushed the ball effectively, so the game was predicated on who choked, which was Oklahoma, for the fifth time since a major playoff has come to fruition. The brain-fart punt and the pick-six proved the difference in an otherwise neck-and-neck slugfest.
Flash forward to Saturday morning, and a different sort of slugfest trudged on, a defensive one. The Aggies, so hyped to finally be able to play for something meaningful, welcomed the Miami Hurricanes to what is supposed to be one of the best and most daunting environments in college football. Kyle Field is those things, but it didn’t matter. What ensued was a game between two defensively tilted teams who did not score a point between them by halftime. That might sound ridiculously boring, but it honestly wasn’t. You are suggested to have a sense of humor or be a real masochist to watch two programs at the highest level of college football who can’t even seem to buy a field goal during one of the most important games in recent memory for each squad. Texas A&M started the shitshow, then the Canes followed as these teams combined to miss three kicks in the second quarter alone. Miami missed three total.
In a game with such little scoring, it came down to who screwed up last. Miami finally managed the game’s first and only touchdown after more than 58 minutes of play on a pop-sweep to all-world wide receiver Malachi Toney, who fumbled earlier in the game. Needing a touchdown to continue playing, the Aggies drove quickly with no timeouts and barely 90 seconds remaining only for Aggie slinger Marcel Reed to toss his second interception of the day in the endzone on a third-and-goal from the 5-yard line.
The Canes’ rushing game proved the difference as Mark Fletcher Jr. took over during the final drive. He ran well all day and accumulated 172 yards on 17 carries, more than 10 yards per touch. On an afternoon where offensive consistency just seemed absent for both sides, that was clearly the difference.
Despite an overall fantastic season, the College Stationers will have to endure the slings and arrows of fraudulent advancement after playing a schedule that ended up being one of the softest in the SEC (through no fault of their own) and losing to Texas before being kneecapped on their own field by a two-loss ACC also-ran who didn’t even allow them in their own end zone.
I asserted last week that Miami was the least deserving team selected to the field and stand by that. Notice I didn’t say they were the least talented, though I should point out that via the transitive property of college football, our Frogs are better than Texas A&M. The Hurricanes lost to Louisville and SMU this season while TCU bested the Mustangs soundly. Them’s the breaks, and that’s the law. I didn’t write it. I just write about it. Sorry, Aggies.
The Hurricanes tripped alarms, but don’t expect them to make landfall after the quarterfinals, as they’re hurtling toward a pissed-off Ohio State team without a Big 10 championship. There are plenty of teams across the landscape you’d rather not face if given the choice, but the Buckeyes after a loss should probably be at the tippity top.
Two games down, two higher-seeded opponents vanquished, and home-field advantages squandered. That’s where it ended as 11th-seed Tulane was completely overmatched against Ole Miss in the most lopsided game of the day (41-10). The Green Wave simply didn’t have the athletes to contend with the Rebel receiving corps, who could comfortably take a 5-yard hitch and run like thoroughbreds for 20 or more yards each time. It was never a game as Tulane managed only a field goal in the first half and were down 41-3 before visiting the end zone for the first and only time during garbage minutes on their final offensive possession.
James Madison suffered a similar fate in Oregon as the Ducks swam out to a 34-3 lead by the end of the first half. The Dukes did fight back in the fourth, scoring touchdowns on their final three possessions to make the contest look more respectable, but the 51-34 final score is not truly demonstrative of a game that was owned by Nike University from the get.
The elephants in the field are the aforementioned Green Wave and Dukes. Yes, they absolutely by the rules deserved their spots, and their mere presence gives a brief questioning and respite from what we all know is a well-established collegiate football oligarchy. Would Notre Dame against Ole Miss and Texas visiting Oregon made for substantially better and more competitive football? Also yes, but I don’t really care. The threat of the little guy bowing up and biting someone they’re not supposed to is still one of the last things making the sport great. At a time when our hometown university has to posit whether they’ll go all-in on fundraising to keep their quarterback for one more season (they didn’t) or let him walk to greener pastures (they did) before a bowl game that should have significance, we’ve got to cling tight to customs that still make the sport somewhat special.
The next phase of the playoff is set and will occur similarly. Our local game, the Cotton Bowl, between Miami and Ohio State, is set for New Year’s Eve. The other three games, including the first of the day between Texas Tech and Oregon, are all on New Year’s Day in their own time slots. The Red Raiders will try and join TCU and Texas as the third school in our state’s history to win a college football playoff semifinal.
