Michigan 41, Florida 35. For those of you who are still caught up in disbelief I will repeat myself. Michigan 41, Florida 35. What a great start to 2008.
That's the final score of the 2008 Capital One Bowl and Michigan raised it's record against "mobile QBs" this year to 2-2. All sorts of experts and journalists have said Michigan can't defend a running quarterback but I've finally figured out what Michigan can't defend. They can't defend against a freakishly good scrambling quarterback. Exhibit A: Vince Young, in the 2004 Rose Bowl. Exhibit B: Troy Smith, in three UM-OSU matchups. Exhibit C: Armanti Edwards, in the game-that-must-not-be named. Exhibit D: Dennis Dixon, in the Oregonian massacre earlier this season. All of those players would be looking to pass but if they saw an opening to run and took it, they were gone. Fast, big players who could juke and break tackles. The two most recent unsuccessful "mobile QBs" that Michigan has contained, Juice Williams and Tim Tebow, were not those type of players. Williams is close to that caliber but isn't nearly as good as any of the four aforementioned QBs were in college and Tebow is basically just a fullback who has the ability to throw the ball. He doesn't juke, he powers through defenses. This is exactly why Michigan came on top today despite FOUR, count em, FOUR turnovers (including two inside the Florida 3 yard line). If those two inside the red zone had been touchdowns instead of fumbles, Michigan would have won by 20 points, showing exactly how badly Florida was outplayed today.
I can't express how sweet it is to knock that arrogant grin off of Urban Meyer's face. It was a great feeling to shove this win down those Gator gullets and seemingly say, "THIS IS FOR TAKING OUR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP BID LAST YEAR!" It was an amazing football game and I'm ebullient that my favorite team in the whole world came out on top. Finally, for once this season, Michigan fans can hold their head high. I look forward to next year with Rich Rodriguez running the team and I hope to see a lot of what I saw today: aggressive play calling and victories. One final note of thanks to all the seniors and most of all, Lloyd Carr, who leaves behind a legacy of class in the coaching profession. Thank you for everything Lloyd, it has been a pleasure to watch you coach the Maize and Blue.
That's all for me tonight, I'm going to go watch the rest of the Sugar Bowl. Look for my final rankings of all of the college football teams after the BCS National Title Game and here's a quick hint, neither LSU or Ohio State will be my number one regardless of who wins. Adios amigos!
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