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.