The Sixth Cents VI

I've been on a week-long New Year's/Bowl Game bender and I'm running on fumes. I've also decided that Six Cents will no longer be a weekly post, there just isn't enough good sports gossip during some weeks to get six quality topics. Instead, I'll be doing it twice per month on the first and third Tuesdays. I have also added some bloggers to the blogroll on the right as well as started a list of my favorite links. Today we'll have a good sized recap of the Fiesta Bowl and then some short personal absurdities from the past week in this weeks addition...
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1. I'm not one to say I told you so, but...HOW 'BOUT DEM BUCKEYES!?!?

Let's break this sucker down quickly based on my previous predictions from last Tuesday.

Notre Dame on offense
I got this one right, although I was a little off on the tactics. Very interesting approach by Jim Tressell that I hadn't really thought of. They actually seemed to be allowing the Irish to run the football as Darius Walker had 3 rushing touchdowns and averaged over 5.5 yards per carry. Unfortunately for Notre Dame, Charlie Weiss (the most brilliant offensive mind in the history of the world according to Brent "I hate the Buckeyes" Musberger) couldn't figure that out. He wanted to throw and throw and throw.

But, just as predicted, the Irish didn't dominate in the air like most football analysts thought they would. Quinn threw the ball 45 times, his second highest total of the season only to the 60 he put up in a loss to Michigan State. This was also the only time all season Quinn was held without a touchdown pass. tOSU's DBs played physical and only allowed a couple of plays to get into the seems downfield. They were swarming to the ball and didn't allow any running room after the catch. Everything was kept in front of them and Brady Quinn was frustrated and running for his life most of the afternoon. Defensive MVP AJ Hawk was a one man wrecking crew. I can't imagine how different the game plan would have been if Bobby Carpenter was available. I really hope that Mike D'Andrea, John Kerr, Marcus Freeman and James Laurinaitis can fill the gap the three seniors are leaving next year and give us a shot at a national title.

Ohio State on Offense
I wish I had written this because it is so dead on; last week I told a co-worker that ND's defense was "pedestrian at best." Holy crap did we expose their lack of speed. I really didn't think Tressell would take chances downfield the way he did, but Smith completed TD passes of 56 to Ginn and 85 to Holmes. They used the read-option package to near-perfection, but in the second half went to more traditional sets in efforts to grind the clock. Pittman did his typical grinding out of the tough yards and then was rewarded with a 60-yard TD run that seeled the deal in the final minutes. Ginn also broke a 68-yard run on an end-around. Troy Smith was remarkable. He was the Offensive MVP and will now be an early 2006 Heisman candidate after helping the Buckeyes complete 8 of 12 3rd down conversions including a 3rd-and-9 and a 3rd-and-11 during the final drive of the game.

Special Teams
The Buckeyes performed somewhat subpar in this aspect of the game, but fortunately it didn't hurt them like it did against Michigan. Two blocked field goals made me a little nervous, but Houston had kickoffs flying out of end zones and Fitzpatrick of Notre Dame flat out missed a PAT. What a bum.

Coaches
I actually underestimated our boy in the sweater vest and I would like to apologize for that. I don't know how I called this even. Jimmy completely out-foxed the "guru" most of the day. I think one of the biggest plays early on was Weiss' decision to go for it on 4th and 2 from inside the Buckeye 10. AJ Hawk came busting through and hammered Quinn for a drive-ending sack and momentum would be ours for pretty much the rest of the way. Then, with the Buckeyes basically letting Notre Dame run the ball, Weiss refused the handout and kept trying to pass on an overloaded and hard-hitting secondary. Big mistake.

Final Score
34-20. I've been saying for three weeks that tOSU would win by two touchdowns. Nobody believed me, not even my fellow Ohioans. After watching this game and analyzing the stat break-downs, this could have been even uglier than it was. Congrats to the Buckeyes on a great win. Here's to rolling back down to Tempe in '07...we own that place and this time we could be playing for all the chips...again.
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2. Party like it's 1999.

Kudos to my "big brother"on the party of the year. If asked which year, one could answer, "both." Seriously, well done. For those of you who missed it, it was one for the ages. It had a classy grown-up feel at times with party favors, food, and even torches out front to keep the people outside warm. Other times it felt like a crowded late night bar. Awesome. People were making out like it was going out of style and I had to break up a fight over a spilled beer. "How dare you spill a beer on the Gongola's floor!" - John P.

Lizak, classy as always, threw a champagne bottle into the street (which I got blamed for) and then stuffed his hand into a pot of meatballs and licked it clean. He then almost threw up in my sister's car, but managed to get out in time to walk it off and then hurled into my kitchen sink instead.

The little brown buddy made his usual surprise guest appearance and after meeting a nice Indian girl said, "I only like white girls." That's just how he rolls, gotta respect it.

I made the obligatory 523 drunk dials from 3:00-4:00 am and considered "Who's your buddy"-ing Nash. I thought better of it since the Nurse stayed over and had to work early.
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3. Debauchery

After the Buckeyes game yesterday, the plan was to get home and sleep. The plan failed miserably when I got a call from Graham (on the right.) He was in town visiting his girlfriend and I met them out for what was supposed to be a couple of beers. Hours later G was practically carrying her out of there and I was left to close the bar down and head to the next watering hole with my new friend and fellow no-limit soldier, "Iowa." Make 'em say "ughhhhhh." I got home around 6:00 this morning with just enough time to shower and get ready for work. I am currently ready to fall asleep at my desk.
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4. Battle of the Deadities (at least they will be soon!)

For those of you with nothing to do tonight, head on over to Gongolapad for some leftover beer and watch the Orange Bowl. Hopefully the Big Ten can get it's 3rd win of the bowl season (in seven games, pathetic) when 352-year old Joe Paterno's Lions take on 347-year old Bobby Bowden's 'Noles. I hate them both. And I will likely be asleep by 5:15 this evening so don't count on seeing me there.
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5. You Gotta have Goals!

I've always been against New Year's Resolutions, but I'm going to set a couple of goals for myself for the upcoming year.

-Make a decision about my career. No more of this I'm going back to school I'm not going crap. I want a solid decision made by the middle of March.
-Get back in shape. I lost 18 pounds this summer on the bike and playing soccer, then I put about 10 back on once it got cold. I finally bought a trainer so I can ride and I want to start running again. Once the spring hits I'd like to join a gym and start swimming so I can try to do a triathlon this summer.
-Cooking. I am sick of eating out and spending all of my money on food. I want to cook at like 5 nights a week and make my lunch 3-4 days a week. I also want to learn to cook something new every other week. I need more diversity in that department.
-Drinking. Time to slow down...a bit. I'm not a quitter, but I need to scale back so I can accomplish my next goal.
-Sleep. I need to start getting to bed at a decent hour. No more of these 4 hour night sleeps before a long day at work.
-Save up money for big purchase. If I decide to go back to school, I want to buy a new laptop this spring. If I decide not to go to school, it's either a new bike (this summer) and/or finally buying a place here in Chicago by spring of 2007.

There are definitely other things on my list, but I want to be realistic about these goals and make sure I focus on just a few so I can succeed in all of them.
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6. Obligatory reference to The Miami of Ohio State University

Miami Hockey won the Ohio Hockey Classic in Columbus this weekend after beating RPI in OT and then the Buckeyes in the final by a shootout. It was the second consecutive year tOSU lost their own holiday tournament in a shootout to the #2 team in the nation. Last year it was Colorado College. With that tournament win, Miami remains ranked #2 in the country, but we continue to lose ground on Wisconsin after two ties and one overtime win in the past four games.

If anyone is interested, I'm thinking about heading to South Bend to see our boys take on the Drunken Irish on January 13th. Let me know...

Buckeye hoops moved to 10-0 after a come-back win over LSU and yet another game-winning three pointer by Matt Sylvester. If you remember, it was young Matthew who burried the Illini in the regular season finale last spring, hanging U of I their first loss of the season.