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.....