Good morning. How's that Super Bowl hangover treating you?
As much as I think the college game is superior to that of the NFL – no free agency, Art Modell will not be moving the Buckeyes to Baltimore, there's not as much parity, meaning Ohio State should be good year in and year out, and the innovative offenses and defenses – I will hand the NFL this: its championships are typically better.
The average score of the 15 BCS Championship games is 33-17 and of those 15, only three or four of them would be considered exciting, close football games.
The Super Bowl, on the other hand, typically delivers. Last night was no exception as the Ravens jumped out to a 22-point lead, then the Superdome remembered it was in New Orleans and did the most New Orleans thing ever, losing power in half of the dome for 34 minutes, before the 49ers roared back to give us an exciting finish.
On the 49ers' final offensive play of the game, receiver Michael Crabtree was bumped in the end zone, the ball sailed incomplete and brother John topped brother Jim, 34-31, for Super Bowl XLVII.
Was it a defensive hold? Was it pass interference? I guess that depends on whether you think the ball was catchable and which Harbaugh brother you like the most.
It's a shame the four Buckeyes representing the 49ers were denied Super Bowl rings, especially being so close. Ted Ginn showed up large in the return game, returning a 3rd quarter punt 32 yards to set up a huge touchdown for San Francisco, but Donte Whitner will probably want to forget this one. Whitner was abused several times in coverage, particularly in the first half, and missed a few tackles for good measure.
As for that power outage, the Superdome people are saying it was an anomaly, but maybe it was the flurry of Twitter activity taking place 80 miles down the road that caused it? Les Miles was on fire all night, but this was perhaps his finest moment:
The half timeshow....Wow ... Very athletic !!!
— Les Miles (@LSUCoachMiles) February 4, 2013
Uh... That's one way to put it, coach.
In other Super Bowl-related news, the Big Ten was the star of the Puppy Bowl and here are the commercials from Super Bowl XLVII if you want to take them in again. I'm not a farmer, but I kind of want to be one now. But I need a Ram truck, first. Also, YOU'RE THE MAN, GOLDBLATT.
FIVE STAR MONDAY? It was reported that DeSoto, Texas, all-purpose back and longtime Oregon commit Dontre Wilson would be deciding between the Ducks, Ohio State and Texas on Sunday and it appears as if he has.
His high school coach told Derek that Wilson has come to a decision and will be announcing his choice between the three schools tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET.
We're feeling very, very good that the Buckeyes will win this derby and Mark Pantoni's cryptic tweet from Sunday is encouraging, if you're into parsing cryptic tweets:
5 Star Friday came early this week ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
— Mark Pantoni (@markpantoni) February 4, 2013
Stay tuned. We'll have full coverage of the announcement tonight.
THE CARTERS. Cris Carter is heading to the NFL Hall of Fame, which we'll file under correcting wrongs from five years ago, but it was his son, Duron, making waves on Twitter Saturday after Cayden Cochran, his quarterback at Coffeyville Community College, tweeted that "the team that drafts Duron Carter will get the most lazy, whiny, and non-work ethic player [sic] the NFL has evern [sic] seen. I played with him. Horrible."
Carter hauled in 10 touchdown passes at Coffeyville, so you have to wonder what he would have done had he been a "non-non-work ethic player."
Cochran has since deleted the tweet, but it was an interesting broadside launched minutes after Carter's Hall of Fame election went public. His assertions are not surprising to Ohio State fans (or Alabama fans, for that matter), but at least Duron is saying the right things ahead of his audition for the NFL.
“Ohio State was my fault,” said Duron. “I had a lot of growing up to do. I feel like I handled that.”
Duron on what led him to four different schools, with just one (almost) full season at the FBS level:
“Unexplainable,” Duron said about missing out on the opportunity to play in more collegiate games. “I don’t think anybody that plays football loves the game like I do. I love the experience.”
And finally:
“I feel like I’m ready right now and moving forward,” said Duron. “I have to be confident in moving forward, be the best I can be in the NFL. The best I can do is play to the best of my abilities and teams will like me. All you need is one team.”
Anyone that knows Cris Carter's NFL story knows that he washed out of his first stop, Philadelphia, as a bust. At the time, Cris was dabbling in booze and drugs and wasn't quite mature enough for the rigors and work that an NFL career require. He turned it around in a big way and now he's getting fitted for a yellow blazer.
It's hard to cheer for Duron (thanks again for blocking me on Twitter, Duron), but I won't actively root against him, either. If nothing else, I want to see Duron make it in the NFL for his father.
NSD WITH EXPLOSIONS. Be sure to show up bright and early with coffee Wednesday. Eleven Warriors has Recruitmas covered for you with a survival guide, a special Five-Star Wednesday live blog, live reports from the Woody Hayes Athletic Center and radio appearances throughout the day.
ETC. Bo Pelini has his swag back after flipping a recruit from the SEC... This is a mural of Nick Saban on the side of a gas station in Tuscaloosa... Not to be outdone, here's a mural from Athens... Rick Muscles visits S.W.A.T.S.... One of these kids is not like the other... From Saturday, the second-greatest missed dunk of all time (Oden's is still #1).
