Out with the eggnog, in with the green tea. The overindulgence season is over. And once again, it included too much football after again vowing to cherry pick only the games that were really, really worth watching.
These leftovers:
*Orange Bowl: An endurance test even for this hard core Penn State alum. The game that wouldn’t end. In regulation. In overtime. In a second overtime. A Penn State offense that looked like it hadn’t played in more than seven weeks. A barrage of penalties. An onslaught of commercials and network promos. An inanely interminable half time. An exhibition of awful place kicking.
Unfortunately, someone had to lose more than sleep. It was the gracious Bobby, not the grumpy JoePa.
Speaking of college football’s legendary elder statesmen, enough on the ongoing endgame about who will ultimately have more victories among Division 1-A coaches. Bowden, 76, still has 359; Paterno, 79, now has 354.
It shouldn’t be ignored that Bowden is the beneficiary of 31 wins while coaching Howard College (now Samford University). For the record, that means that a Paterno win against, say, Florida State counts as much as Bowden wins against Maryville and Millsaps.
*Outback Bowl: “Urban Renewal” is more than a cliché now. But Iowa got hosed.
*Meineke Car Care Bowl: May Santa soon grant Jim Leavitt’s fondest wish. A quarterback.
*Rose Bowl: In a game with the unprecedented inclusion of two Heisman Trophy winners, it was Texas’ Vince Young who was a man among boys.