Well, what a roller coaster season this has been. Actually, more a slide than a roller coaster I guess. After starting the morning yesterday with three wins, ending up at #2 in the BCS, Media, and Coaches' Polls with 43 1st place votes between the Polls, I decided to play again after dinner. What a mistake! I made it up to 2nd on the list for Heisman Trophy Candidates, and also the Maxwell and O'Brien Trophies (I was on the top of those lists), but I proved human, as well as the WVU defense.
The last three games of the season were conference match-ups against (currently) 10-2 Cincinnati, (currently) 7-5 Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl, and (currently) 10-2 Rutgers. First up was Cinci, who I probably overlooked even with their very good record coming in (I was worried about playing Big East leader [at the time] Rutgers in my final game of the season). And the defense shut down, allowing 33 points, including the game clinching final TD drive by the Bearcats to take the 3 point lead with only 9 seconds left in the game. It's important to note that my receiver dropped the sure-to-be game winning TD grab wide open in the end zone, as it slipped from his hands. Final score was 33-36.
But, I thought to myself, as we were sitting at a very reasonable #9 with only 1 loss, no big deal- it was on the road, and it was probably a fluke. We play Pitt next at home, and there is no way we could lose to them...right? Wrong. The defense shut down again in this game, letting up a very late TD drive, giving me the ball with less than 3 minutes left to play. I was driving down the field, and made it into the red zone, but I decided to run an option play. This turned out to be a costly mistake, and probably the difference between BCS and where we are playing now- I got hit. I got hit hard. And I got injured for the rest of the game. The back-up QB then proceeded to throw an interception, when we should have just been running the ball to take the easy tie and hope I got better to play in OT. Alas, we lost 21-24 (but I unlocked the Instant Classic achievement).
It was then time to panic- we lost at home? How could we beat Rutgers on the road?! Would I even be able to play, let alone start? BUT, we only lost both games by a total of 6 combined points, so that isn't terrible, right? And #16 is an improvement from where we began the season. Still, all these questions were running through my head, and I decided that I should leave the game till this morning to play, thinking a fresh mind would be the key to victory. Wrong again. Rutgers scored first, and the defense just checked out again, allowing them to unleash the points in the second half. I can't blame them for everything though, because I threw 3 interceptions and one was ran back by a linemen for a quick 6. We got steamrolled 21-49.
Then we got steamrolled right out of the Top 25 in all 3 polls. Then I dropped down to 4th among Heisman Voters, where I finished. Then we got placed in the Motor City Bowl against...the MAC Conference Champion Toledo Rockets...yeah. Not a good day.
On the other hand, I finished Player of the Game every single week I played, and won Conferene POTW 5 times, including in our loss to Pittsburgh in Week 13. I ended up winning the O'Brian Trophy, and the Maxwell Trophy. And, I made 1st Team All-American (as well as Freshman All-American).
So, we definitely slid off the map with the last three games, but we still finish the regular season with a 9-3 record, and are on our way to a Bowl game. We finished 3rd in the Big East with a 4-3 record. The whole season isn't a complete wash, I guess. I will post my final season stats after I play the bowl game later tonight.
- Though it may sound like a National Title game, Florida is playing Ohio State in the...Capital One Bowl? That's right, after disappointing season for these schools, #10 Florida is playing #12 Ohio State in the Capital One Bowl.
- USC is ranked #2 in the country, however, they will not get a chance to play in the National Title game. Instead, they play Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, and #3 LSU (also 12-1 like USC) plays #1 Oklahoma (13-0) in the National Championship game.
If you have anything else you want to know specifically about my Road to Glory progress, please leave a comment below!
Thanks for reading.
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