While you were celebrating the new year at midnight on Saturday, tears were collecting on my cheeks because of what was happening in Atlanta. It was the national semifinal of the College Football Playoffs called the Peach Bowl.
Ohio State had led most of the game, and starting the fourth quarter, it was 38-24 in favor of the Buckeyes. My friend, Brad in North Carolina, and I were both feeling cautiously optimistic. But as the contest was clicking toward the finish, University of Georgia slipped ahead by a point, 42-41.
With seconds left, the Buckeyes had a chance. They got the ball back and slowly but surely,
quarterback CJ Stroud got the ball into field goal range with a few seconds left.
It wasn’t a gimme. In fact, it was more than 50 yards, well within Buckeye kicker Noah Ruggles’ distance, but too far for normal kickers. Ruggles had delivered at that distance before, and I felt he could do it this time as well.
I watched intently as Ruggles’ right foot came forward. It was what will become known in Buckeye lore as “Wide Left” because that’s what it was. It wasn’t close. The final score was the same as it was when Ruggles had lined up his kick, 42-41 Georgia.
Georgia now faces Texas Christian University (TCU) for the national championship on Monday, Jan. 9 and is favored by 13 points. My advice? Don’t bet it either way.
Prior to the Ohio State game, TCU defeated favored Michigan.
WHEN I WAS A KID, probably in the pre-teen era, I became an avid college sports fan, first football, then basketball, followed by baseball. As I lived in southeastern Ohio, it was all Ohio State. My favorite player was Dick Schnittker, who starred as a football end (now called a wide receiver) and a basketball forward, for which he was an all-American and later a pro forward with the Minneapolis Lakers.
As an Ohio State fan back then, my football postseason loyalties went strictly with the Rose Bowl, which attracted the champions of the Big Ten and whatever the Pacific conference was called 70 or so years ago. That winner would be the national champion.
There was a year in which the two combatants in the Rose Bowl were Ohio State and Stanford. The latter won. And like Saturday night, I was saddened. My solace back then was that I would just have to wait a year, win the Big Ten, win the Rose Bowl and claim the national championship.
Now, a team must win enough and be named to the college playoffs, then win.
But if Ohio State isn’t at the top, I will be very disappointed.
SOMETIMES GAMES ARE ANYTHING BUT FUN TO WATCH. Such was the case Monday night, when the Buffalo Bills were to play the Cincinnati Bengals. They had played nearly a quarter. The Bengals were ahead 7-3. Damar Hamlin, a safety for Buffalo, had tackled Tee Higgins of the Bengals. Hamlin stood up after the tackle, then collapsed to the ground.
It immediately became apparent that this was very serious. And it was. As an unconscious Hamlin lay on the field being treated with CPR, the game was suspended, then the other players from both teams gathered, many in prayer and many in tears. Within an hour, Hamlin, still unconscious and accompanied by his mother, who was at the game, was taken by ambulance to University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
He was listed in critical condition following cardiac arrest as of the following afternoon, Jan. 3 — while a nation prayed.
