On the West Coast We’re Doing it All Wrong

On Saturday I had the pleasure of watching one of the greatest college football games of all time.  It was the SEC championship game.  The hyperbole oozing out of my television speakers was thick enough to stain my carpet.  Twitter was no better; nor were the things being printed on ESPN.  As I sat there, what I thought I saw was an Alabama defense allowing receivers to get so far past the secondary that they actually had time to stop and catch what I thought were wobbling turkeys coming out of Aaron Murray’s hand.  I thought I saw the Georgia defensive front getting pushed around like a Walmart shopping cart on Black Friday.  I thought I saw an Alabama offense so vanilla that punting on a fourth and one from Georgia’s forty seemed logical.  But oh, how wrong I was.

Listening to Verne Lunquist and Gary Danielson (the CBS television crew) I learned that what I actually saw was a masterful offensive scheme that resulted in unprecedented long passes.  What I actually saw were Aaron Murray works-of-art that would forever cement his status as one of the Georgia greats.  What I actually saw was an Alabama line so forceful that it was only logical that Georgia’s front just fell over in their presence.  What I actually saw was a defense so amazing and coaching so outstanding that the idea of actually trying to score a points when on the opponent’s side of the ball was a waste of good field position.

You see, when a Pac-12 game is full of bad football we are apt to point it out.  When a quarterback can’t throw the ball downfield we don’t call him a “game manager.”  When a defensive front lays down on the field like an early winter snow we don’t laud the opponent’s offensive line.  But since the SEC has become the conference by which all other conferences are measured there is never anything negative to say.  The west coast football fan needs to stop being so objective and realistic and start the hyperbole.  It works for the SEC.