Last Second Bowl Victories

There is nothing like winning a nail biter in the last seconds of the game. Yesterday, it was the Liberty Bowl. Today, the Rose Bowl. Michigan was on fire in this game but Texas came from behind to pull off the win with a field goal in the last 2 seconds of the game. The Longhorns went nuts.

I know that feeling because I went nuts myself when my LSU Tigers scored a touchdown with less than 1 minute to go to take the lead in the Capitol One Bowl against Iowa. But as Lee Corso would say, "not so fast my friend!" With 14 seconds left, Iowa quarterback Drew Tate connects with Warren Holloway on a sick 56 yard bomb for the game winning TD. Un-freakin'-believable. The sweeter the last second victory, the more bitter the last second loss. I could not believe it.

Hours later, I've managed to scrape together a little objectivity and the loss is actually quite believable. LSU looked lost for the first 3 quarters of the game. They went through 3 quarterbacks before settling on JaMarcus Russell. One also has to wonder whether Nick Saban's mind has been focused on Orlando or Miami for the past couple of weeks. The Tigers have been hit and miss all year and even if they had won tonight it would have been one of those ugly wins where you just feel lucky you didn't lose. It reminded me of their season opener against Oregon State where they just couldn't get going in the first half. They ended up winning in overtime because Alexis Serna choked so badly on so many PAT's they had to give him a tracheotomy after the game.

But the let downs don't end with LSU. The SEC isn't living up to my expectations (or my trash talk, a little help guys). I can understand Florida's loss to Miami, but Alabama loosing to Minnesota? How humiliating. I mean, their mascot is a gopher. A GOPHER! Are there no more ferocious animals in the state of Minnesota, or Oregon (Beavers and Ducks) for that matter? The only thing more strange than how a college can have a rodent for a mascot is how Alabama managed to score 16 points in this game while going 0-13 on 3rd and 4th down conversions. At least Tennessee and Georgia managed to take care of business. Let's hope Auburn can do the same, otherwise I'll be eating crow.

Of course, being Cajun, I happen to have a good recipe for crow which renders that whole metaphor somewhat meaningless down here.