My Version of a Playoff

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GAME 9
Red River Rematch!!

Oklahoma-14 vs. Texas-9 (me)

"Peterson and OU run to the Final Four"

Adrian Peterson rushed for 179 yards and two touchdowns leading the Sooners to a 14-9 victory over Texas. The Sooners rushed for 225 total yards against the highly touted defensive front seven of Texas.

Momentum shifted early in the game with Texas on the Oklahoma 10 yard line in a scoreless game. Longhorn running back Selvin Young took a handoff from Colt McCoy and was met immediately by the OU linebacker Rufus Alexander and fumbled. After the Sooner recovery, Paul Thompson and Adrian Peterson led the Sooners on a 12 play 88 yard drive for the game's first score. A late first half field goal by Texas made the halftime score 7-3.

After a series of punts and a crucial fumble by Texas sophomer wide receiver Quan Cosby, the Sooners seemed to put the game on ice with a 14 play 80 yard drive capped by Peterson's second touchdown run on a third goal from the Texas one yard line.

Colt McCoy and Texas were not done. On the first play of the ensuing drive McCoy hit his favorite target of the day Billy Pittman (5 rec. 122yds. 1TD)
for a 79 yard touchdown pass. After a failed two point conversion the score stood at 14-9.

After a quick three and out Texas took over possession at their own 24 yard line with 3 minutes remaining. Three first downs later McCoy and Texas faced a fourth and 5 from the OU 44. From the shotgun formation, McCoy's pass intended for a wide open Limas Sweed was underthrown. "I'm not really sure what happened" said McCoy.

"It was a great win over a great football team. It's what rivalries are all about. Smash mouth bloody games" said OU coach Bob Stoops.

"Highly disappointed. We let a couple of opportunities pass and you can't do that against a team like Oklahoma. They deserved to win" said Texas coach Mack Brown.

Up next for the Sooners will be the winner of the Ohio State/West Virginia game.

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GAME 10

Arkansas(me)-35 Florida-14

"Mustain and McFadden lead 'Hogs in rout of Number 1 seed Gators"

"We thought we were going to be able to take advantage of a few things". Those were the words of Arkansas quarterback Mitch Mustain after Friday night's 35-21 Arakansas victory of the top seeded Florida Gators in the Southeast Regional final played at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

The Razorbacks scored on their first five possessions and ran to a 35-14 lead midway through the third quarter. After an early fourth quarter 12 yard touchdown run by Chris Leak to cut the lead to 35-21, the Razorbacks went to the run and were able to take a lot of time off the clock.

The Gators took possession with 3:30 to go and three timeouts but the rally was cut short when Chris Leak threw his second interception of the day at the Arkansas 1 yard line. "It just got away from me" said Leak.

Arkansas took the opening kickoff and went 75 yards in 4 plays. Darren McFadden capped the drive with an 18 yard touchdown run his first of 3 td's on the day. McFadden led all rushers in the game with 135 yards on 33 carries. He also caught 4 passes for 29 yards.

After a Chris Leak(23-33-301-2-2) 41yd strike to Dallas Baker to tie the game the Razorbacks came right back down the field on a 78 yard 13 play touchdown drive where Darren McFadden scored for the second time putting the 'Hogs ahead to stay.

On the following Arkansas drive Mustain hit junior wide receiver Marcus Monk for 68 yards and score stretching the Arkansas lead to 21-7. Monk had a monster day with 5 receptions for 182 yards and 2 scores.

The Gators answered that with a score of their own when Chris Leak found a wide open Andre Caldwell for a 38 yard score cutting the lead to 21-14.

Darren McFadden then capped a 16 play 83 yard drive with his third score of the first half making it 28-14 Arkansas as the teams headed to the locker room.

Any Gator hopes for a quick comeback were immediately dashed when Chris Leak's first pass of the second half was intercepted by junior cornerback Matterral Richardson. On the following play Mitch Mustain hit Marcus Monk on a play action pass for 41 yards and TD and the rout was on.

"This is just an unreal feeling" said Monk. "I know still have work to do but this is pretty big. After all the talk about the lack of offense in the LSU game it feels great to be able to come out here and do this" said McFadden.

Arkansas awaits the winner of the Notre Dame/USC game on Tuesday night.

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GAME 11
West Regional Final/Rose Bowl

USC-56 Notre Dame(me)-35

"Irish 'embarrassed' by Trojans"

"The only word that comes to mind is embarrassed. I'm embarrassed for the fans, the alumni, the faculty, and the entire Notre Dame family" said head coach Charlie Weiss after USC manhandled Notre Dame 56-35 in front of over 100,000 fans at the Rose Bowl.

USC was once again led by junior quarterback John David Booty who was 30 of 37 for 325 yards and 6 touchdowns. Four of the scores were to All Amreican wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett. Jarret finished the contest with 6 catches for 92 yards and 4 touchdowns. Booty and the USC starting offense played only 3 quarters.

The Trojan machine started the day by scoring on their first 4 possessions all TD passes by Booty to sprint to a 28-7 lead.

The key point in the game came with under a minute to go in the first half. With the score 28-14, the Irish had the ball 3rd and goal at the USC 8 yard line with 17 seconds left. Brady Quinn from a shotgun formation rolled to his left and tried to find senior wide out Jeff Samardzija in the corner of the end zone. Unfortunately for Irish fans, Quinn's pass was intercepted by USC linebacker Keith Rivers and returned 99 yards for a score putting the Trojans ahead 35-14 at the half.

The Trojans scored on the opening drive of the second half to stretch the lead to 42-14 and pretty much ending Notre Dame's hopes for a title.

"I could not have scripted this game any better. We'll need to take a look at a few things defensively but I'm satisfied with the way the team came out and immediately took control of the game" said USC head coach Pete Carroll.

Playing in their last game, Notre Dame seniors Quinn and Samardzija were the stars for the Irish on the day. Quinn forced to throw all day beacuse of the deficit was 35-59 for 590 yards and 5 touchdowns. Quinn unfortunately threw 4 interceptions, 2 of them were inside the Trojan 20. Samardzija will remember his last game in an Irish uniform as he shredded the Southern Cal secondary with 19 catches for 337 yards and 4 touchdowns.

One National Semi Final is set. USC will face the South Regional Champion Arkansas Razorbacks for a chance to play for the title.

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GAME 12
Midwest Regional Final/Arrowhead Stadium

Ohio State (me)-21 West Virginia-16

"Defense holds on for Buckeye victory"

Ohio State All American defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock may have said it best, "we're just glad to get that one over with".

The Buckeye defense came up with big plays in the second half to protect their 21-7 halftime lead.

Trailing 21-7, WVU faced a 3rd and goal from the OSU 3 yard line. Mountaineer QB Pat White called the option play that had been working for the Mountaineers all day. As White sprinted to his left he pitched the ball to RB Steve Slaton who was hammered at the 2 yard line by James Laurinaitis holding the Mountaineers to a field goal to make the score 21-10. The drive went 75 yards in 15 plays and took all but 2 minutes of the third quarter. All running plays from White and Slaton.

After a quick three and out series by the Buckeyes the Mountaineers came right back down the field in 10 plays. Pat White took it in from 8 yards out with 6:58 remaining in the game. On the two point conversion Steve Slaton was met in the backfield by Andre Amos and the score was 21-16.

The Buckeye offense continued to sputter in the second half and they were then forced to punt it with 3:30 to go.

On first and 10 from the Ohio State 41 and 2:40 to go White took off on an option left and was hit hard in the backfield by senior LB John Kerr as he was trying to get the ball to Steve Slaton. The fumble was picked up by senior tackle David Patterson and returned to the WVU 28 yard line.

Another three and out and a missed FG and WVU had one more chance. All ideas for a rally were squashed when on the first play from scrimmage Marcus Freemen stepped in front of a Pat White pass for an interception to preserve the victory for Ohio State.

WVU was led by QB Pat White (9-13-91-1TD, 12 rushes 94yds 1TD) and Steve Slaton (31 rushes for 136yds). OSU was led by Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith who threw for a TD and ran for another.