The Simulated National Championship

Well here it is, the national championship game, simulated as a result of my 16-team tournament. And your national champs are.....

THE MICHIGAN WOLVERINES

24 20

If it weren't for 4 long passes, this game would have been an absolute defensive battle. Chad Henne struggled early, throwing 2 interceptions that lead to Ohio State field goals and a 6-3 OSU lead with less than a minute to go in the first half. But Michigan didn't just run out the last minute when they got the ball back. Henne hit Mario Manningham with an 83 yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage to go up 10-6. They weren't finished yet. Michigan then used their timeouts to force Ohio State to punt. Following the punt, Henne connected with Steve Breaston for a 68 yard touchdown pass, giving Michigan the shocking 17-6 halftime lead. The 3rd quarter was marked by good defensive play on both sides until Troy Smith retalliated with a 76 yard touchdown to Roy Hall on the final play of the quarter to make the score 17-13. In the 4th, Michigan could still not get anything going on offense. Another sharp passing attack by Ohio State put the Buckeyes ahead 20-17 with a touchdown pass to Anthony Gonzalez. Michigan fought back with the first drive of the game that didn't involve a long pass to take a 24-20 lead with just under 3 minutes to go when Henne completed a TD to tight end Tyler Ecker. The time then came for Troy Smith to earn his Heisman. Ohio State was quickly stopped on the following drive, and they decided to punt. Michigan strung together some first downs, but, luckily for them, Henne threw his 4th interception of the game to give the Buckeyes one more chance with less than a minute to go. They drove down the field and it came down to a 4th and 9 on Michigan's 10 yard line with 23 seconds to go, but the game winning touchdown pass was deflected away from Ted Ginn and Michigan took a knee to become the national champs.

So there you have it. I think if a tournament like mine actually existed and would have wound up the way it did, there might not be any complaints, even from college football purists. The two teams in the championship game earned their way in and it came down to an exciting finish. Florida fans couldn't complain, because their team lost by 11 to the MAC champion. Well, I really enjoyed doing this over the past few weeks, but now I need to come up with another topic for this site.....hmm.....

Semifinals: Rose and Orange Bowls

We're down to the final 4. Two of the teams were pretty much expected to make it this far, Ohio State and Michigan, and the other two teams, BYU and Central Michigan are total surprises. Will the national title game be OSU-Michigan like many would have liked to see, will it be a battle between 2 major underdogs, or will it be a combination? Time to find out

7 43

Ohio State finally plays a game that proves their ranking. Even though they put 43 points on the board, which came from 4 TDs and 5 field goals (including 2 50+ yarders) from their kicker, the Buckeyes' defense was the real story here. The Beck non-brothers of BYU combined to throw 8 interceptions in this game, 4 each. Two were returned for touchdowns. Ohio State's offense did not need to do much because of this, and Troy Smith only hooked up with Ted Ginn once, but it was for a 77 yard TD. OSU even pulled Troy Smith in the 4th to rest him for the national championship game. Ohio State dominates....not much else to say.

14 48

The surprising Chippewas have finally fallen, but not without a blaze of glory. Both of their touchdowns were over 90 yards. The first was 94 yard bomb to make the game 10-7 in the first quarter. The 2nd was a 96 yard interception return to cut Michigan's lead to 24-14 just as they were about to take a 31-7 lead into halftime. However, Michigan had some tricks up their sleeves as well. Steve Breaston returned the kickoff following the interception 99 yards for a TD to give Michigan a 31-14 halftime lead. The Wolverines added 2 more TD passes from Chad Henne, giving him a total of 4, in the 2nd half to give Michigan the clear victory.


So there we have it. Despite all the crazy upsets, the National Championship game will be #1 Ohio State vs. #3 Michigan, probably just like it should have been. It's not surprising to me that Ohio State is in this game because they are ranked #1 in the video game, but Michigan is ranked #14 but still managed to blow out #3 Notre Dame when they played in this tournament. I guess these games are more realistic than I thought before. The results of the national title game will be up on Wednesday or Thursday. Should be interesting.

Round 2 of the College Football Tournament

Round 1 of the simulated NCAA Football tournament featured tons of close games, wild finishes, and upsets. The 2nd round? not so much. But the truly dominant teams came out to play and BYU and Central Michigan are playing the roles of George Mason and Bradley in this tourney so far. Let's go to the results...

0 30

Sloppy game with a showing of Ohio State's dominance. Troy Smith only threw for 219 yards for 0 TD and 3 INTs, but Brandon Cox outdid him by throwing for only 113 yards 0 TD and 4 INT, one of which was returned for a touchdown. Auburn had 7 turnovers in total. Ohio State only scored 1 offensive TD. They got the remaining 16 points from 4 field goals and 2 safeties, which were the result of Troy Smith throwing an interception at the 1 yard line twice.

35 7

Another game filled with interceptions. At one point near the end of the first half, there were 3 interceptions thrown back-to-back-to-back. BYU starting QB John Beck was injured early in the game and was replaced by Jason Beck (no relation) who threw for 3 TDs but also 3 INTs. However, just like in the last game, 2 of the 3 INTs set up safeties for BYU. Wake Forest was not able to get anything going on offense in this game beyond their 1st quarter TD. The mid-major team advances to the final four.

24 44

Michigan dominated from the very beginning of this game and never looked back. Mike Hart had 139 yards rushing and 2 TD's and Steve Breaston caught a 73 yard TD Pass right before the end of the first half to give Michigan a 28-10 lead. An interception return for a TD was Notre Dame's only first half touchdown, and Michigan had one as well in the 4th to make the score 44-17. Notre Dame scored a garbage time TD with only 24 seconds left. Ironically, this score is similar to when these teams played in real life this season, and the exact same score from Notre Dame's last game, where they were crushed by USC.

36 23

Somewhere, Dick Vitale is smiling. Central Michigan must have watched a lot of tapes of George Mason last year. Strong defense and electrifying passing gets them another victory with Dan LeFevour throwing for over 400 yards and completing several bombs. CMU held a 7-0 lead going into halftime, but capitalized on Sooner turnovers in the 2nd half to take a 23-0 lead. Oklahoma retaliated with a TD and a 2, then intercepted LeFevour and returned it for another TD and 2 to make it a ball game again. However almost immediately, Central hooked up for a 72 yard TD pass and then recovered a fumble on the following kickoff that lead to field goal to put them ahead 33-16, and they never looked back. Can you imagine seeing Trev Alberts hanging out for a week in Mt. Pleasant, MI to hype up their Orange Bowl appearance? I can.


THE FINAL FOUR
#1 Ohio State vs. #13 BYU @ The Rose Bowl
#3 Michigan vs. #15 Central Michigan @ The Orange Bowl

Tournament Time: 1st Round Results

The first round of my college football tournament is in the books. Here's how the games turned out....

1724

In a back and forth game, Troy had a 17-14 lead going into the 4th. Ohio State took a 24-17 lead with an 82 yard TD pass from Troy Smith to Ted Ginn


46 31

Boise State returned the opening kickoff for a TD, but then Auburn bounced back with 24 unanswered points. The teams traded scores from there and Auburn tacked on a safety near the end. Boise State couldn’t get any running game going at all, and Auburn’s offense was pretty much unstoppable. Courtney Taylor had 7 catches for 188 yards and 4 TD in the game.

44 38

BYU took an early 27-0 lead due to turnovers by LSU deep in their own territory. LSU fought back to make it 27-24 in the 3rd quarter. BYU eventually rebounded to take a 41-31 lead, and added a 49-yard field goal with only 1:16 to go to make it 44-31. JaMarcus Russell, who had 3 TD and 2 INT, was injured on the following drive, but Matt Flynn came in to lead them to a TD with 31 seconds to go. LSU recovered an onside kick and then completed a Hail Mary as time expired but the receiver was tackled just short of the goal line to end the game.

35 32

Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. USC had a lot of them early, and Wake Forest jumped out to a 28-0 lead. The Trojans bounced back to make it close, but never held a lead. John David Booty threw for 403 yards and 3 TD, but his 3 INT’s did him early.

31 44

Houston fought tough at the beginning, taking a 10-0 lead into the 2nd quarter. The game was even tied at half time 17-17, but Michigan pulled away in the 2nd half, usually having a 2 touchdown lead at any given time. Chad Henne lead the Michigan air attack with 5 TD’s

42 41

The game started off pretty even, with both offenses even having similar stats near the end of the first half. Brady Quinn threw 2 costly interceptions that turned into points for Louisville, giving them a 34-17 halftime lead. In the 2nd half, Notre Dame made a strong comeback, but was stopped just short of the goal line on 4th down while losing 41-34 with only 1:16 remaining. However, in Louisville’s first play from scrimmage following the turnover, the running back was tackled in the end zone for a safety, making it 41-36. In sickening Notre Dame fashion, they were able to score the go ahead TD (missing the 2) after the great field position they got after the free kick. Brady Quinn wound up throwing for 513 yards.

29 6

Oklahoma’s defense dominated, shutting down Wisconsin’s running game and picking off John Stocco 3 times. Wisconsin’s only score was late in the 4th quarter when Stocco completed an 82 yard TD pass to Marcus Randle El, only to have their extra point blocked. Oklahoma started with a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and kicked 5 field goals after that.

21 10

Upset City Baby!! But its pretty easy for Florida to be upset when Chris Leak throws 4 INT's, all in Central Michigan territory. Central's passing game was strong, connecting for 2 long passing TD's, and the defense held Florida to only 3 points in the 2nd half.


2nd Round Matchups
#1 Ohio State vs. #9 Auburn @ Indianapolis
#12 Wake Forest vs. #13 BYU @ Jacksonville
#3 Michigan vs. #11 Notre Dame @ Detroit
#10 Oklahoma vs. #15 Central Michigan @ Kansas City

Let the Games Begin!

Well the final polls are out, and now its time to put together the final matchups for my college football tournament plan.

Before I begin, some people that have read this have asked me about scheduling. Well this is what I would do. The first round would be held the Saturday after finals end for the students, which this year is Saturday, December 16. The 2nd round would be held on Saturday, December 23. The Semis would be held on New Year's Day, Monday, January 1, and the championship would be held on Monday, January 8.

Now, where would the games be held? The 3 major bowls that are currently held in cities that were not recently devastated are the Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. So the Semis and the Finals will rotate between Dolphins Stadium in Miami, Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA, and University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ. The First and Second round games will be held in neutral locations. Each conference will have a "home" stadium (listed below) where the higher seed in the game will play. If there are 2 or even 3 teams from the same conference that are the higher seed that given week, then the game will be played in the next closest available neutral location (thanks to Ryan for helping me decide on the first 2 round format and locations).

ACC: Alltell Stadium - Jacksonville, FL
Big 12: Arrowhead Stadium - Kansas City, MO
Big East (and Notre Dame): Giants Stadium - East Rutherford, NJ
Big Ten: RCA Dome (Lucas Oil Stadium in 2008) - Indianapolis, IN
C-USA: Reliant Stadium - Houston, TX
MAC: Ford Field - Detroit, MI
Mountain West: Rice-Eccles Stadium - Salt Lake City, UT
PAC-10: Qualcomm Stadium - San Diego, CA
SEC: Georgia Dome - Atlanta, GA
Sun Belt: Superdome - New Orleans, LA
WAC: Monster Park - San Francisco, CA

Now how it all shakes out....

Conference Champs
ACC: Wake Forest (14)
Big 12: Oklahoma (10)
Big East: Louisville (6)
Big Ten: Ohio State (1)
C-USA: Houston (NR)
MAC: Central Michigan (NR)
Moutain West: BYU (20)
PAC-10: USC (5)
SEC: Florida (2)
Sun Belt: Troy (NR)
WAC: Boise State (8)

At-Large Teams: Michigan (3), LSU (4), Wisconsin (7), Auburn (9), Notre Dame (11)

First Round Matchups:
#1 Ohio State vs. #16 Troy @ Indianapolis
#8 Boise State vs. #9 Auburn @ San Francisco
#4 LSU vs. #13 BYU @ New Orleans
#5 USC vs. #12 Wake Forest @ San Diego
#3 Michigan vs. #14 Houston @ Detroit
#6 Louisville vs. #11 Notre Dame @ East Rutherford
#7 Wisconsin vs. #10 Oklahoma @ Kansas City
#2 Florida vs. #15 Central Michigan @ Atlanta

I actually invested money in this site today, by buying NCAA 07 for the Playstation 2, even though its been a very long time since I've even played video games. I'm going to simulate the results and see how it turns out.