Stop Me If You Have Heard This Before...Melvin Gordon Is A Beast, Malzahn's Year Three Is Huge...

If anyone has seen erven the least bit of Big 10/12 Football this season, you have noticed the tailback for Wisconsin and his prowess running the football. The Outback Bowl was no different- 34 carries for a bowl-record 251 yards and three scores...

Even if, on one of his touchdown runs, he absolutely decided to latch on to Jermaine Whitehead's face mask with his own hands and yank him into the endzone with him for the final ten yards of the run... all that on a 4th and 1 from midfield
((HT: ESPN))


It was one of many penalties not called on the day by the officiating crew- on both sides- but the bottom line was that Auburn still cannot stop anyone with great regularity defensively.

Here's the wrap from our friends at WISC-TV in Madison


But, Will Muschamp has already rubbed off on the guys who played in a 13th game this season. There were some signs that the fundamentals of tackling on defense- especially by the linebacking corps- have returned. There was some wrapping up of running backs on tackles at the ankles. The tackling-optional approach of the pursuit of the past was less than before.

The pass rush still is non-existent, save a handful of plays late in the game when Badgers QB Joel Stave had to sit in the pocket and look to his left for a prospective receiver when the whole building knew he wasn't doing anything else. And the speed that Wisconsin used on jet sweeps showed another weakness of the Tigers- getting off blocks, chasing running backs to the edge, and getting there first for a tackle as opposed to the idea of being a step behind and giving up 12 yards a look.

Which happened consistently New Year's Day- and all 2014 season long, really...

Wisconsin, under returning interim coach Barry Alvarez, was one dimensional under Gordon and Corey Clement. They ran the ball behind an offensive line that averages, tackle to tackle, 325.8 pounds. But, when the other team can't stop you- as Auburn found on several occasions on their own this year when they were winning games- there is no reason to deviate from the plays that give you a win. And if you get out of town healthy and in a hurry, why do anything different...???

54 carries for 400 net yards on the day for Wisconsin... 521 yards total

"We knew it was coming and it still worked," Auburn cornerback Trovon Reed told Al.com's Brandon Marcello. "I will say that is a selfish act on our end for not paying attention to detail, but if we could take it back, we'd fix it."

And they need to...

Defensively, if the 7 recruits listed as either signed from the JUCO ranks or "hard commits" all lock in, the spring should be interesting:

Darrell Williams (LB) from Hoover, Jordan Colbert (S) from Griffin (GA), Richard McBryde (LB) from Charles Henderson (Troy, AL), and LB's Elijah Sullivan (Tucker, GA) and Montavious Atkinson (Langston Hughes- Fairburn, GA) have been high school-dominant. So, it will be interesting to see how their talents translate to the next level.

And we all know that Will Muschamp will work on conditioning, tackling, and pass rush starting...

Right...

Now...

Year Three will be an important one to see how the new attitudes will translate in a Nintendo-scoring world...

Morning Wrap: Ohio St Makes Playoff Push by Dominating Wisconsin

((ht: espn.com))

So the Ohio State Buckeyes sent a message about the inaugural College Football Playoff.

The want in.

The Buckeyes took care of business Saturday night in a big way, slaughtering the Wisconsin Badgers 59-0 for the Big 10 title in a game that wasn't that close.

Third string QB Cardale Jones was every bit as impressive as his predecessors, winning game MVP honors after throwing for 257 yards and 3 TD's, leading his team to the win. RB Ezekiel Elliot chipped in 220 yards and 2 TD's running the ball.

tOSU's defense shut down Badgers star RB Melvin Gordon, holding him to 76 yards. And they picked off 3 Joel Stave passes, shutting the allegedly powerful Wisconsin offense down.

The win moves Ohio State to 12-1 overall and likely 4th place in this weeks final College Football Playoff poll. Mind you they shouldn't get that berth, to do it, they'll leapfrog both Baylor and TCU who are more deserving.

But, the TV pundits and network that holds the rights have already been playing up the Buckeyes, saying they'll do it. Which means it's highly likely to happen.

Enough of that, let's check out the game highlights...most of which belong to Ohio State.

Thanks ESPN.com:

ICYMI: The Dirty Dozen Gets Scrambled

((HT: ESPN/SEC on CBS/Fox Sports/Northwestern Football)

Did you ever have one of those days where absolutely everything you thought was an absolute lock came crashing down around your ankles and left you in such a state that your pants wouldn't fit anymore...???

Let's face it... all hell broke loose at the top of the rankings (whether you choose to look at Brother Phil's Dozen or some other source) and sent it all in the blender for the foreseeable future...

Examples...

Starting in Oxford... it was proven once again that Alabama has SERIOUS special teams issues in their loss to Ole Miss where Bo Wallace would keep the football and stash it someplace after the game was over as he tried to escape the throng that stormed the field.
Oklahoma decided that a road game against TCU in their new digs was a great idea... It wasn't...and plays like this one Gary Patterson pulled out of the back of the playbook help. What kind of flaws do USC have...??? There seems to be the one glaring one right now... Late game focus... it came into play as Arizona State came from behind to surprise them Some would think that Miss State's win over Texas A&M was an upset... The HQ doesn't think so as their suspect defense was exposed and Dak Prescott went off in a 48-31 win But here's one last one for you to think about as we head to Sunday... Northwestern hosted Wisconsin and they weren't good hosts- beating the Badgers 20-14 in a bit of a mucker it looks like...

ICYMI: UConn vs. Kentucky Is Your NCAA Tournament Finals Matchup

So, outside of the UConn and Kentucky fans reading this, who actually picked these two teams to face off for the NCAA Basketball Tournament Championship?

Be honest.

Yeah, thought so.

Semi-Final Saturday provided some good drama and some pretty good (for the most part) basketball in the largest venue ever to host the tournament.

The first game was a slugfest.

Connecticut outslugged the top seeded team in the tournament, Florida 63-53. The game featured two teams known for their defense and that was a reason the game was so low scoring.

Four Huskies, lead by DeAndre Daniels with 20, scored in double figures as UConn led a good portion of the game. The Gators couldn't get closer than 6 points down the stretch and in the end, the Huskies pulled away.

Oddly enough, UConn a #7 seed, was seeded higher than the team they'll face Monday night in Jerry World, the Kentucky Wildcats.

Your Connecticut/Florida Highlights from CBSSports.com:



And your other finalist, Kentucky.

Nobody is sure why the Wildcats were a #8 seed with all the talent on the court other than the fact they underachieved during the regular season.

But when it counted in March, they were good. Very good.

UK got all they wanted and more against a game Wisconsin team but in the end, it was a Harrison twin that was the difference.

The most clutch guy on the team did what he's done all month long, hit game winning 3-pointers.

This time, with 5.7 seconds left and a hand squarely in his face, Aaron Harrison got a swing pass from brother Andrew and drilled a 3-pointer giving Kentucky a 74-73 win.

All we will say from here is Monday night should be quite the spectacle as two unlikely teams square off for College Basketball's biggest title.

Your Kentucky/Wisconsin highlights from CBSSports.com:

What Were The Badgers Thinking? Strange Ending In Arizona State's 32-30 Win Over Wisconsin

Can you explain this ending by to the Wisconsin - Arizona State game?



Wisconsin head coach Gary Anderson tried to explain.

It is a shame that it went down that way." Anderson said.  "If there is 18 seconds left we teach the kids to spike it and of course he slipped but that is what we practice. We were worried we would have a kickoff our way.”

Wisconsin fans are calling this the "Valley Of The Stun."