A Fun Finish to '08 and a Crazy Start to '09

Wow, so much has happened since I last Ranted. So this will be a Cliff Notes version of what has been on my mind over the Holiday break.

- Notre Dame won a bowl game, first time since 1994, yes 1994. So does everyone still think Notre Dame is the end all in college football? I have something on that coming up after the season officially ends with Florida stomping Oklahoma Thursday night.

- The Trouble Tracker will need an update, Miami had five more players suspended, all for their bowl game, which they then went out and lost to Cal. Those five players put Miami's season total to 12, placing “THE U” in commanding lead for the top spot.

- Pitt played their bowl game on New Year’s Eve. Wait, let’s re-phrase that. Their defense played in their bowl game on New Year’s Eve. In one of the poorest offensive displays in the history of the game, Pitt managed to be shut out against Oregon State. Just when you thought Matty Cav could not be any worse, he goes out and gives his star running back ONE touch in the 1st quarter.

- In better bowl news, Penn State was embarrassed even worse when they were dismantled in every facet of the game by USC in the Rose Bowl the next day. I was really feeling bad about that 3-0 loss, but watching USC move the ball on that “vaunted” Penn State defense made me feel much better about Pitt’s bowl performance.

- Utah opened everyone’s eyes when they lined up toe-to-toe with Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and beat them. And they beat them soundly. Utah beat Bama much easier and more convincingly than Florida did a few weeks earlier in the SEC Title game, which makes you wonder if Utah, at 13-0, deserves to be the National Champion. I say yes!

- Pitt hoops made a statement to the nation in the nation’s capital when they manhandled Georgetown on Saturday. That was the first time the Hoyas had lost at home in their past 29. Plus, the Hoyas became everyone’s favorite Big East team earlier in the week when they knocked off #2 UCONN in Storrs. A reminder to everyone, the Big East championship comes through Pittsburgh, and the BET Championship goes through Madison Square Garden (aka. Pittsburgh North).

- The untouchable North Carolina Tar Heels were beaten soundly by an unranked, 23-point underdog Boston College team AT HOME. Boston College never stepped down and played very physical basketball (well, physical for the ACC, which means they bumped Hansbourgh at least 4 times) and completely threw off the tempo that the Heels like to play.

- The Pitt win, and the UCONN and UNC losses set up, for the first time in school history, Pitt being the #1 ranked team in the country. The Panthers received 70 of the 72 first place votes in the AP poll, and 30 of 31 in the ESPN Coaches poll. (See Jason's guest Rant above).

Not a bad week, huh? We will have a BCS Championship preview coming up later this week as well as the Final T3R for the football season following that game.

Next week, once the football season is complete, I will start the college basketball portion of T3R.