Because You Just Have To

  It was a glorious time for college football. The College Football Playoffs (CFP) produced two magnificent games. Alabama routed their opponent, to make a statement. Mississippi State rebounded to honor their late coach Mike Leach, with a win. Tulane, the only non-Group of 5 team ranked high enough for a major bowl game, reeled off 16 points in the last four minutes to stop USC and its Heisman Trophy-winning QB. Penn State bombarded an overmatched Utah squad in the Rose Bowl—a Big Ten versus Pac 12 matchup like it should be. 

Texas Christian University actually has a Hillel on its Fort Worth campus. It also has one heck of a football team that Head Coach Sonny Dykes has constructed. 

TCU took on the vaunted program from the University of Michigan and met the challenge. Whenever the Wolverines made  a move to narrow the score, the Horned Frogs responded in a big way. 

Still, as the clock ticked down to its final minute, Michigan was making a run. Until their top flight center prematurely snapped the ball to the quarterback and chaos ensued. Michigan couldn’t get enough yardage to make a first down after recovering the fumble. Game over. 

The team from the Big 12 moves on to the National Championship game in Los Angeles on January 9. The boys from Ann Arbor returned home defeated, and the fans now have to worry about the future of the team’s Head Coach Jim Harbaugh, who reportedly has met with the Carolina Panthers about becoming their leader. 

Meanwhile, the defending champion Georgia Bulldogs had to muster everything they could, along with a lot of luck, to beat the #4 seed, Ohio State. UGA remained the only unbeaten major college team, but barely. 

As good as the Michigan-TCU game was, the nightcap on New Year’s Eve was even more compelling. So much so that the final play took place on January 1, 2023. Which means Ohio State is winless in the new year. 

Georgia and Ohio State had two of the better defenses in major college football. Except that this Saturday night was a night for offense. With two Heisman Trophy candidate quarterbacks at their respective helms, this was a epic battle that only went Georgia’s way in the final stanza. 

As great as C.J. Stroud was for the Buckeyes, Georgia’s top dog, Stetson Bennett IV showed his pedigree with a miraculous drive to put the ‘Dawgs ahead for good. Yet he left too much time on the clock and OSU had a chance to walk away with the win with a field goal. 

This is one of two instances where coaching won the game for Georgia. Ohio State’s head coach, Ryan Day, had previously stated that he would go for broke if the opportunity arose. Which, Day thought , was to fake a field goal in his team’s territory. 

The play looked like it was executed perfectly. Ohio State would keep the ball and head down the field, giving Georgia no opportunity to strike back. But hold on—Bulldogs Head Coach Kirby Smart was alerted by his aides in the press box that the formation looked different, and he called time out in the nick of time, forcing the Buckeyes to punt. 

Smart acted smartly once more with the game on the line. He called time to “freeze” the OSU kicker. That added bit of pressure worked, as the ball hooked wide left.

Now Georgia seeks to win a second straight championship. The oddsmakers have the Bulldogs as a 13 1/2 point favorite. However, don’t count TCU out. But for a yard or so versus Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship Game, the Horned Frogs would also have been undefeated going into Monday night’s clash had they scored. 

I am biased. I root for Georgia because I was born in that state. I paced and fidgeted through the OSU contest. You know I want the Bulldogs to win. Any prediction I make won’t be objective, even if ultimately accurate. Just know that I will be watching the game on January 9th hoping that another miracle isn’t necessary. 

The Jets fizzled, even with Mike White at the helm. Another desultory season for Gang Green. Tampa Bay and that guy Brady stepped up to win the NFC South. Another old QB, Aaron Rodgers, has Green Bay poised to make the playoffs after pundits all but counted the Packers out. Jacksonville and Tennessee meet on Saturday, the winner to make the playoffs. Even the Pittsburgh Steelers kept their hopes alive, winning in the last minute with their young rising star quarterback, Kenny Pickett, from Ocean Township, NJ and Pitt, leading the charge. And those Giants, who I had pronounced dead for the playoffs, are in as he #6 seed in the NFC. 

I watched the Rutgers-Purdue men’s basketball matchup with my trial partner, his wife and my wife, as we made up for New Year’s Eve when our plans were thwarted by heavy fog in the area. After having our delayed Chines food and some leftover carrot cake for his birthday, we were entranced watching RU lead the top-ranked Boilermakers for most of the contest, then go back and forth with the lead before ultimately sinking a game-winning three pointer for the Scarlet Knights. This was the second time in two seasons that Rutgers knocked off Purdue when they were ranked #1—the only time that this has ever happened, and involving the same two teams.

I was in a great state of mind. Georgia had won. Rutgers had won. I was 13-2 in the FOX News weekly pool—in it to win it if the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills combined for 58 points in their pivotal game on Monday Night Football. 

Every ounce of my euphoria was erased when I changed the channel. The game had been temporarily suspended and I soon learned why. Which quickly became a matter of national attention. For good reason. 

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know what happened to Buffalo defender  Damar Hamlin. His hit on Cincinnati wide receiver Tee Higgins wasn’t extraordinary. In fact, Hamlin bounced up and everything looked okay. For just a moment. 

When Hamlin fell to the turf, his life was in danger. Heroic efforts to resuscitate him on the field and either in the ambulance or at the Level 1 trauma center at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center may have saved his life. Hamlin remains seated and his doctors have seen progress, although it is way too early to offer a prognosis. 

The raw emotion of his fellow players and the coaches for both teams expressed what was being felt. A shaken Josh Allen, the Buffalo QB, was consoled by his counterpart on the Bengals, Joe Burrow. Tears and fears were everywhere. Especially when no news was reported to the players or the fans or the millions now glued to the ESPN coverage. 

Thankfully, the NFL, in conjunction with the NFLPA, suspended the game and it is not being played before the Week 18 games on tap. Prayers for Hamlin’s well-being were ubiquitous and remain so. He is not out of the woods. 

We all know that football is a dangerous game. I thought back to the October 24, 1971 game between Detroit and Chicago at Tiger Stadium, when Detroit player Chuck Hughes died before the end of the game. The only fatality in league history. That wretched thought went through my mind repeatedly. 

The outpouring of support for Hamlin was incredible. A charity he had started, with a modest goal, has surpassed $6 million in donations. People care. 

Yet the games will go on. The Bills (and yes, the Bengals) have important games upcoming on Sunday as they head to the playoffs. Who knows what the NFL will do with Monday night’s game—the Bills have to pick up the pieces of what had been already a troubling year with man murders in upstate New York, massive snow storms crippling the region, being forced to leave for a game rescheduled in Detroit, being stuck in Chicago with the oppressive blizzard and its resulting deaths. And now this horrible accident. 

I may not be a Bills fan. But I am rooting for them like I root for Georgia and RU. Because you just have to.