A TRUE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

VS

#7 Richmond Spiders (12-3) vs #4 Montana Grizzlies (14-1)

Four former WPIAL players have a chance at winning a REAL college football national championship tonight. The Richmond Spiders are playing Montana in the D-1AA (also known as the Football Championship Series) Title game in Chattanooga, TN.

D-1AA is the highest level of collegiate football that plays a playoff to determine their champion. Imagine that, a playoff determine the true champion. Richmond and Montana would have both been left out of this game had it been set up with the BCS system that ruins the current system of college football. Montana entered the 16-team playoff as the #4 seed and Richmond as the #7 seed. Both teams had huge upsets along the way. Montana defeated top-seeded James Madison last Friday in the first semifinal, while Richmond has defeated two top teams each of the last two weeks. Richmond defeated third seeded Northern Iowa last Saturday, one week after beating 3-time defending champion and Big Ten runner-up last season Appalachian State. Richmond held the high-powered Mountaineer offense to just 13 points, matching the lowest output they scored all year. The other time they scored that few came against LSU, the defending BCS Champion. The Spiders also forced star QB Armanti Edwards to throw five interceptions. He had thrown just four all season prior to that game.

The Spiders have a little Western Pennsylvania flavor on the team. Four players on the Richmond roster hail from the Greater Pittsburgh area including three players that see the field quite a bit. On offense starting LG Matthew McCracken (Mt. Lebanon) and TE Joe Monteverde (Chartiers Valley), lead the way, while red-shirt freshman OL Jason Sakoian (Upper St. Clair) has also gotten reps during the year. On defense starting LB Jordan Shoop (Knoch) ranks fifth on the team with 63 tackles, he also has 3.5 sacks and 2 interceptions on the season.

The Spiders have certainly had their struggles this season starting the year 4-3 after a heart breaking loss to James Madison where Richmond allowed 15 points in the last :59 of a 38-31 loss to the top team in the nation. After that game, the chances of the Spiders even making the playoffs seemed bleak, let alone making it all the way to the title game tonight. From that point forward, though the Spiders defense has led this team on an incredible run. They have won eight straight games allowing only 13.25 points per game during that span. To put that in perspective, if they had done that all year, they would rank fourth out of 118 teams in the FCS in scoring defense.

The Spiders play in the CAA, which is basically the SEC of D-1AA. Five of the 16-playoff teams selected came from this 12-team conference. Maine was seeded 14th to begin the playoffs and lost in the 1st round to Northern Iowa 40-15. Villanova, which beat Richmond early in the season, was seeded eighth and lost to James Madison in the 2nd round. New Hampshire was the six seed and they also lost to Northern Iowa, this came in the 2nd round. James Madison also plays in the CAA and as mentioned above lost last week to Montana.

You can watch this National Championship game live tonight on ESPN2 at 8pm.

Just Syracuse Being Syracuse

Last night Cleveland State shocked the Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome with a 60 foot buzzer beat to beat the Orange and hand them their first defeat, 72-69. However this is nothing new to the Syracuse teams in recent history. Losing at home, early in the season, is almost a given for Syracuse now-a-days. Since winning the National Title in the 2002-03 season Syracuse has lost at home to a no-name, automatic win on the schedule every year but one.

You know the old saying, "Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence and anymore is a problem." Well, maybe that isn't the exact quote but you get the picture. While most of these teams that beat the Orange put together good seasons, they should never be on the level as a program like Syracuse. Take a look at some of the games the Jimmy B and the Orange have lost int he past few years:

Nov 26 2003:
96-92 loss to Charlotte - The 49ers had just lost to George Washington nine days earlier.
Nov 22 2005:
74-69 loss to Bucknell - Bucknell lost to Santa Clara and N.Iowa that year, but beat Syracuse.
Dec 19 2006:
84-79 loss to Drexel - Drexel were coming off back to back losses to Penn and Rider before beating Team Boeheim.
Nov 28 2007:
107-100 loss to UMASS - The Minutemen followed that game up by losing to IUPUI
Dec 8 2007:
91-89 loss to Rhode Island - Rhode Island finished the year 21-10
MONDAY:
72-69 loss to Cleveland State - The Vikings were 6-4 going into that game beating 6 nobodies.

Here is the last shot again!

Congratulations Darrelle Revis

Former Aliquippa and Pitt star Darrelle Revis was named to the NFL Pro-Bowl today in just his second season in the league. Revis was named as a reserve DB to the AFC team. Revis was selected 14th overall after the Jets traded up to pick him in the 2007 draft.

I sat down with Darrelle Revis right before that draft and was at his house for the draft. Here is one of my first interviews for this site, with Pro-Bowler Darrelle Revis.

Other Pittsburgh related players to make this years Pro Bowl include Steelers, James Harrison and Troy Polamalu, both of who will start, as well as James Farrior who was named as a back-up. A Jet teammate of Revis' and former Steeler Alan Fanaca was selected as a starter. Former Pitt standout Wide Receiver Larry Fitzgerald was also named a starter for the NFC team.

Here is a complete list of players to make the 2009 NFL Pro-Bowl.

TROUBLE TRACKER

What happens when you give an Ohio State player an extended period of time off?

They show up on the Tracker.

Freshman defensive lineman Nathan Williams was arrested last Wednesday for shoplifting shirts from a Macy's department store in the Dayton area. He entered a plead of not guilty today.

This is just another reason the Big Ten should extend its regular season to fit with every other conference in America. The Big Ten ends their season every year before Thanksgiving, forcing the teams sometimes up to 6 weeks between the end of the season and their bowl games. This also allows players at these Big Ten schools (which lead all other conferences in getting in trouble this season) that much more time to go out and do something stupid.

SEASON STANDINGS:
The "U" - 7
Florida State Criminoles - 5
The State Penn - 5
Indiana - 4
WVU - 3
the Ohio State University - 2
Tennessee - 2
MeCheatAgain - 2
Florida - 2
Mississippi State - 1
Nebraska - 1
Texas Tech - 1
UCONN – 1
Kansas – 1
Syracuse - 1

CONFERENCE STANDINGS:
Big Ten - 4 schools (36% of schools in conference)
SEC - 3 (25%)
Big XII - 3 (25%)
Big East - 3 (19%)
ACC - 2 (16%)