Posted on 01/01/2017 5:40:32 AM PST by C19fan
A little more than 11 months ago, Clelin Ferrell occupied a spot on the same University of Phoenix Stadium turf in the same No. 99 jersey and stood ready to contribute at defensive end for Clemson in the national championship game. That this most certainly would not happen was beside the point. He tore his anterior cruciate ligament as a high school senior and spent his first college season regaining strength and timing, concentrating on reconstruction rather than production. Also, he simply wasnt needed; if the program was flush anywhere, it was along a feral defensive line anchored by two future early-round draft picks at Ferrells position. Given all this, Ferrells position coach, Marion Hobby, pulled his young and rehabbing protégé aside a few weeks into the 2015 season and delivered a hard truth with as much empathy as he could muster. I really dont want to play you, Hobby said. And he would not. Ferrell took a redshirt. As a result, when his team took the field against Alabama in the title game, there was zero chance he would play.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
I watches pieces of OSU being torn to pieces.
‘twasn’t pretty...
Ohio State got blown out last night but Clemson forever dominant?? another embarrassing article from si...
TOSU didn’t even win the BIG 10 championship. Penn State did. The committee sent the wrong representative to the dance.
Should we just go ahead and award the trophy to Clemson?
Congrats to Clemson from an TOSU alum. Tigers dominant in every phase of the game. I admit I kind of enjoyed Urban Meyer being beat down as I feel his actions surrounding his leaving of the Florida job were not entirely honorable. As to the THE, there are some of us Buckeyes who find that moniker to be pompous, a feeble effort to add academic prestige that the university does not deserve. That said: O-H
The BIG 10 has looked bad this bowl season. So far, they have only two impressive wins (Minnesota and Northwestern).
Ohio State was exposed for their lack of passing attack. Clemson rushed 10 men into the box all night. JT Barret couldn’t do anything.
This was a really bad loss for a 12-1 Ohio State team that had not been shut out in a bowl game since 1920 vs Southern Cal (28-0).
Good wins for Clemson and Alabama. They deserve to be in the championship game.
Depending on what happens tomorrow in Pasedena, this whole committee thing of Kurt’s will have to go back and focus on champions, no matter what the PR prognosticating seems to indicate.
Just like Hillary had, LOL!!!
For many OS fans it may have seemed like forever.
Meh. This was a rebuilding year. Youngest team in the top 5 I believe. That said THE Ohio State needs a QB. Congrats to Clemson on their blowout win. Now go knock off the Tide.
The Hawkeyes play tomorrow.
Impressive wins? Minnesota had serious trouble getting by WSU - a nothing team from a weak conference. The Big 10 is quite over-rated today, but in 5 years it may be dominant again because of the quality of the coaches.
Look at what happened in 2011. Alabama finished the regular season with an 11-1 record but didn't even get to play in the SEC championship game because their one loss during the season was a 9-6 overtime loss to LSU -- who played in the same SEC West division. So LSU went on and won the SEC title game, and then the two teams met in the BCS championship game because they were ranked #1 (LSU) and #2 (Alabama). And Alabama won that game convincingly by a 21-0 score.
THEosu..... hey buckeyes.... its all about schedules ... who you play. Because you beat the Sisters of the Holy Nunnery does not make you number one. Play off picks should not be based on what you did last year or how “big” the school name is... like ND and THEosu. It should be based on record and who you played. A team in the SEC going undefeated is a significant record. Clemson vs Alabama should be a good championship game AGAIN this year.
Don’t you think OSU was in because the money boys thought it would bring more eyeballs to the commercials than Penn State?
At a Touchdown Club meeting many years before his death, Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant told the following story: "I had just been named the new head coach at Alabama and was off in my old car down in South Alabama recruiting a prospect who was supposed to have been a pretty good player and I was havin' trouble finding the place. Getting hungry I spied an old cinder block building with a small sign out front that simply said "Restaurant."
"I pull up, go in and every head in the place turns to stare at me. Seems I'm the only white fella in the place. But the food smelled good so I skip a table and go up to a cement bar and sit. A big ole man in a tee shirt and cap comes over and says, "What do you need?" I told him I needed lunch and what did they have today? He says, "You probably won't like it here, today we're having chitlins, collared greens and black eyed peas with cornbread. I'll bet you don't even know what chitlins are, do you?" I looked him square in the eye and said, "I'm from Arkansas, I've probably eaten a mile of them. Sounds like I'm in the right place." They all smiled as he left to serve me up a big plate. When he comes back he says, "You ain't from around here then?"
"I explain I'm the new football coach up in Tuscaloosa at the University and I'm here to find whatever that boy's name was and he says, yeah I've heard of him, he's supposed to be pretty good. And he gives me directions to the school so I can meet him and his coach. As I'm paying up to leave, I remember my manners and leave a tip, not too big to be flashy, but a good one and he told me lunch was on him, but I told him for a lunch that good, I felt I should pay. The big man asked me if I had a photograph or something he could hang up to show I'd been there. I was so new that I didn't have any yet. It really wasn't that big a thing back then to be asked for, but I took a napkin and wrote his name and address on it and told him I'd get him one and shook his hand and left."
"I met the kid I was lookin' for later that afternoon and I don't remember his name, but do remember I didn't think much of him when I met him. I had wasted a day, or so I thought. When I got back to Tuscaloosa late that night, I took that napkin from my shirt pocket and put it under my keys so I wouldn't forget it. Back then I was excited that anybody would want a picture of me. The next day we found a picture and I wrote on it, "Thanks for the best lunch I've ever had."
"Now let's go a whole buncha years down the road. Now we have black players at Alabama and I'm back down in that part of the country scouting an offensive lineman we sure needed. Y'all remember, (and I forget the name, but it's not important to the story), well anyway, he's got two friends going to Auburn and he tells me he's got his heart set on Auburn too, so I leave empty handed and go on see some others while I'm down there."
"Two days later, I'm in my office in Tuscaloosa and the phone rings and it's this kid who just turned me down, and he says, "Coach, do you still want me at Alabama?" And I said, "Yes I sure do." And he says OK, he'll come. And I say, "Well son, what changed your mind?" And he said, "When my grandpa found out that I had a chance to play for you and said no, he pitched a fit and told me I wasn't going nowhere but Alabama, and wasn't playing for nobody but you. He thinks a lot of you and has ever since y'all met." Well, I didn't know his granddad from Adam's house cat so I asked him who his granddaddy was and he said, "You probably don't remember him, but you ate in his restaurant your first year at Alabama and you sent him a picture that he's had hung in that place ever since. That picture's his pride and joy and he still tells everybody about the day that Bear Bryant came in and had chitlins with him."
"My grandpa said that when you left there, he never expected you to remember him or to send him that picture, but you kept your word to him and to Grandpa, that's everything. He said you could teach me more than football and I had to play for a man like you, so I guess I'm going to. "I was floored. But I learned that the lessons my mama taught me were always right. It don't cost nuthin' to be nice. It don't cost nuthin' to do the right thing most of the time, and it costs a lot to lose your good name by breakin' your word to someone."
"When I went back to sign that boy, I looked up his Grandpa and he's still running that place, but it looks a lot better now; and he didn't have chitlins that day, but he had some ribs that woulda made Dreamland proud and I made sure I posed for a lot of pictures; and don't think I didn't leave some new ones for him, too, along with a signed football."
"I made it clear to all my assistants to keep this story and these lessons in mind when they're out on the road. If you remember anything else from me, remember this. It really doesn't cost anything to be nice, and the rewards can be unimaginable."
Well Coach, we haven't forgotten you or the simple lessons you taught not just your players, but everyone who would take the time to listen to you.
-Larry Burton, Panama City Beach, Florida
No. Because PSU had two losses, they were not in the running. They earned a nice win over osu, but it was by a hair. Not a convincing defeat to unseat them with just the one loss.
I agree with Albert’s Child above. The conference championship games are an odd anomaly because they rarely include the two best teams. Most years the top 2-3 best teams are in one side of the conference and non-representative of the best teams. Love PSU, but their game against Wisconsin was less important than the matchups between Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State in the season. All three lost to one of the other.
There was this one time I thought I was dead - turns out I was just in South Carolina
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