\jeff{krimmel}

Five Miles and Some College Football

In training for the 10K I hope to run on Super Bowl Sunday, I ran five miles yesterday morning for the first time ever. I was impressed with my time, too: 45 minutes and 15 seconds. I certainly was not expecting to maintain 9 minute pace for 5 miles. That was a pleasant surprise.

I got a chance to watch the USC/Notre Dame game last night. I have now seen Notre Dame twice this season: once against Michigan, and once again USC. And boy did Notre Dame look downright pathetic in both. Sure, I didn’t watch a single second of any of their large number of wins, but seeing those two losses…I don’t see how the BCS can even think of inviting them to play in one of their bowl games. That is a decidedly mediocre football team.

Which brings me to my own Texas Longhorns. This just wasn’t our year. It’s been a while since we lost two games in a row, but I can sure tell you that it’s much easier to take knowing we won the national championship last year. The Texas defense this year isn’t up to par compared with the last several seasons, and it’s too much to expect a young quarterback to make up for those defensive deficiencies. Hats off to Texas A&M on a good win, but what a totally classless act by Kellen Heard at the end of that game, hitting Colt McCoy way late after his final interception. I’m glad Heard was ejected from the game, but it’s hard to get out of my head just how classless and unsportsmanlike that hit was.

From my perspective, it looks like we’re heading for a Ohio State/USC national championship game, and I can’t say I’m disappointed. Yes, Florida has played good football and has notched some impressive victories, but USC has shown the flashes of dominance that Florida simply hasn’t. When you’re winning your big games by scores of 21-14, that one loss really hurts. USC, on the other hand, blew the doors off sixth-ranked Notre Dame 44-24. That’s the problem with Florida: they’ve not blown the doors off any better-than-average team.