“You have to understand who you are fighting – you are fighting someone with nothing to lose.” -- Coach Mike Krzyzewski
It was an utter embarrassment.
The 2004 United States mens basketball team managed to do what no other Olympic team had done since 1988 – they lost the gold medal. They didn’t even win silver, they won the bronze, dropping three games in the Olympic tournament in the process.
There were a myriad of reasons – the rest of the world had finally caught up with the United States in basketball, the team had a number of opt-outs due to security concerns (these were the first summer games after 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, the team stayed on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea with divers and pressure sensors activated at all times), the team valued star power over building an actual roster, a few players, namely rookies LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony, were only invited mere weeks before the tournament and barely played in the tournament and finally, there as Anthony said, there was no culture. There was little buy-in about what it meant to be on that team.
“I was standing on the medal stand receiving our bronze medal,” LeBron James, who barely played, said, “and I was thinking this shit was a waste of my time.”
As a result, the Redeem Team was born.
Jerry Colangelo was hired to fix the roster. Mike Krzyzewski was hired to coach. And finally, the team bought in. They still finished third in the 2006 FIBA Championships, thus Kobe Bryant was brought in.
“I’m tired of watching y’all lose,” he famously uttered.
The team gathered in Vegas to train. The entire team went to the club to party one night, all except for Bryant. The entourage arrived back at the hotel at 5:00 AM, only to see Kobe in the lobby of the hotel, heading downstairs toward the hotel gym.
The next day, LeBron and DWade joined him. By the end of the week, the entire team joined him at 5:00 AM.
And, of course, redemption was had.
The Texas football program had a myriad of problems in the decade plus since 2010. Recruiting classes were ranked as high as ever, but there were many defections before they even made an impact, and those that stayed were hardly developed, and those recruiting classes were unbalanced.
There were some questionable (at best) coaching hires, from head coach down to the lowest member on the totem pole.
In 2020, the Longhorns finished the season 7-3 with a win in the Alamo Bowl, Tom Herman’s fourth-straight bowl win as the Texas coach. At a number of places around this country, that would be celebrated.
But University of Texas officials knew that something was rotten.
Herman was fired.
Brought in was Steve Sarkisian, who asked athletic director Chris Del Conte in the interview why the roster had X number of wide receivers but only had X number of offensive linemen.
Del Conte knew they had their man.
Sarkisian went to work building the organization, the coaching staff, the support staff and finally the roster the exact way he wanted it, not the quickest way, leaning on advice from mentor Pete Carroll.
But more importantly, he rebuilt the culture. He knew exactly how to embrace being the head coach at the University of Texas, where your opponent wants to beat you more than they want to win. He knew how to get buy-in at a place where frankly a lot of us would get distracted.
It was rough. In 2021 the Longhorns were terrible. Many were already saying they made a terrible hire. In 2022 Texas was better. But they still made a number of mistakes and still had several holes in the roster and as a result the Longhorns finished 2-5 in one-score games, dropping those five games by a combined total of 25 points.
But this year is different.
The Longhorns went into Tuscaloosa and left no doubt and haven’t looked back since, with the only hiccup coming in Dallas in the final minute of the game.
For the program, who had been draped in an oppressive cloth of negativity for a decade plus, for this school, who was laughed at when the move to the Southeastern Conference was announced and for Sarkisian himself, who showed promise as a young head coach before personal demons almost entirely wrecked him, the 2023 season has been about redemption.
The 2022 losses to Alabama, TCU, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State were avenged.
There is one more.
But still, after that, the job’s still not finished.
Cotton Bowl: Missouri vs. Ohio State – 4.5:
This one is a prime example of THIS IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. Ohio State starting quarterback for most of the year Kyle McCord is off to that sleeping football giant in that traditional college football hotbed that is Syracuse, while Heisman finalist Marvin Harrison Jr is not a lock to play, and second leading rusher Chip Trayanum is off to sip the bourbon in Kentucky and third-leading receiver Julian Fleming is gone but undecided at press time.
But...Missouri is playing everyone, with the exception of All-SEC linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper and CB Ennis Rakestraw, who will miss this game with injuries sustained in the last games of the year.
Now that we have all that mess out of the way...shrug?
Sure, Missouri has 3,000-yard quarterback Brady Cook, 1,000-yard rusher Cody Schrader and 1,000-yard receiver Luther Burden and a defense that played well enough, but Ohio State is Ohio State and they still have a defense that played outstanding all year, holding opponents to 11 points per game.
But they are starting a quarterback (sophomore Devin Brown) who wears the number 33. Unstable.
For that reason, I’m picking Missouri, but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me to see Ohio State win an ugly one, either.
Missouri 24 Ohio State 21
Peach Bowl: Ole Miss vs. Penn State – 4.5:
Let’s talk about this new playoff for a second here.
I’m all for expanding the playoff – more football good – but 12 teams is too many.
Let’s pretend the 12-teamer was in effect this season. Both of these teams would have made it and had a chance at the big trophy. Does anyone outside of State College, PA and Oxford, MS think that either of these teams deserve a chance at the championship?
Penn State had their playoff. They failed miserably against both Ohio State and Michigan. Ole Miss had their playoff. They failed miserably against Alabama and Georgia. But this year we would have had Desmond Howard live from College Gameday telling us that these teams have a a chance. Hogwash.
That having been said, it should be a great game! These two teams have combined for 9 New Years 6 bowl appearances in the 10-year history of the College Football Playoff, though neither has actually made the playoff. It’s like the bridesmaids at the wedding reception getting tanked and duking it out by the champagne fountain.
And who wouldn’t watch that, phone in hand with dreams of being the next Instagram Reels star?
The Peach Bowl is the only NY6 game that Penn State has not won in their history – and they won’t win it here. Yes, they have one of the country’s most stingiest defenses, only giving up 11 points per game (sidenote: all these Big 10 teams have one of the country’s most stingiest defenses, maybe the Big 10 can’t you know, move the football?).
Ole Miss 31 Penn State 21
Orange Bowl: Florida State vs. Georgia – 19.5:
I get why, but it is funny that we had to sit and listen to Florida State throw a tantrum for two solid weeks and now they are three-score underdogs to a team also not in the College Football Playoff.
Florida State was decimated by injuries and NFL Draft declarations and NFL Draft aspirations and transfers and getting their feelings hurt because the staff watched their last two games and wanted to bring in another quarterback.
Thus...QB Tate Rodemaker won’t play. Neither will RB Trey Benson. Nor will WRs Jahiem Bell, Johnny Wilson or Keon Coleman. D-linemen Jared Verse and Fabien Lovett are gone, too.
Meanwhile, Georgia, we’re being told, actually wants to win a non-playoff bowl game. I imagine Kirby Smart giving a thumbs up or thumbs down like he’s in Gladiator.
Georgia 38 Florida State 9
Fiesta Bowl: Oregon –16.5 vs. Liberty:
Why is Liberty in this game? What are we doing here? Who wants to see this game outside of the Falwell family?
Oregon 45 Liberty 17
Rose Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan –1.5:
The grandaddy of them all.
If this line holds until kickoff, it will be the first time a team not named Georgia was favored against Alabama since the 2009 SEC Championship game against #1 Florida, the same day that Mack Brown insisted that there was one more second left.
Incredible.
This will be Alabama’s 8th CFP semi-final game – they are 6-1 previously.
Jalen Milroe has been incredible since the Texas game, he has yet to have a multi-interception game and has accounted for 35 touchdowns. These Crimson Tide seem to go as he goes, so you wonder how Michigan will account for him.
Michigan’s biggest opponent in this game might be themselves.
This is their third-straight appearance in the CFP – last year they were down 21-3 to TCU before ultimately falling 51-45, and two years ago they were down 27-3 in the first half before falling 34-11.
Going back a little further, the Wolverines dropped the 2020 Citrus Bowl 35-16 to Alabama. The year prior they lost 41-15 in the Peach Bowl to Florida. South Carolina beat them the year before that. All in all, they haven’t won a bowl game since 2016 and have only won two of their last eleven bowl games.
It’s almost like that weak Big 10 schedule doesn’t prepare them for games like this.
This current iteration doesn’t have much to do with those earlier games, but J.J. McCarthy was here for the last two CFP games and didn’t play great – he'll have to be great for Michigan to get to Houston.
Michigan 27 Alabama 24
Sugar Bowl: Texas – 4.5 vs. Washington:
It’s been a long drought, Texas fans. Let’s enjoy this.
Washington started out the season with a strong 6-0 including a win over #8 Oregon in Seattle, then hit a little dip where they narrowly defeated 3-9 Arizona State and 3-9 Stanford, winning those games by a combined 17 points, then had three straight narrow wins over ranked opponents before finally defeating Oregon again in a game not a lot of people thought they would win to cap off an undefeated season.
I probably don’t have to give you much of a refresher on them. Heisman finalist and sixth-year senior Michael Penix Jr threw for 4,200 yards and 33 touchdowns this season to only 9 interceptions. Even more impressive he was only sacked 10 times in 466 pass attempts.
He has a bevy of weapons at his disposal, including two 1,000-yard receivers (Rome Odunze and Ja’Lynn Polk) and another one that is talented enough to do the same but missed much of the year with injury (Jalen McMillan). McMillan will be dressed and ready for Texas after returning for the Pac-12 Championship game. The Huskies also rediscovered their running game midseason behind Dillon Johnson, who rushed for 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Yes, they struggled against Arizona State and Stanford. We should note it because it shows that these guys are human and not in fact a video game, but just know this is the most talented offensive team the Horns have faced all season by far.
The good news is that defensively they are more of a middle of the pack team, allowing 5.4 yards per play, ranking in the sixties in defensive yards per rush and struggling at times this year against the pass as well.
Even more troubling for the Huskies, they only got to the quarterback 19 times this year. They rank 130th in the country in defensive sack percentage, but help is on the way as Sioux Falls transfer Zach Durfee will be eligible for this one after being out all season with an eligibility issue. The Huskies have high hopes that he is the answer.
And remember that EDGE Bralen Trice was the Alamo Bowl MVP last year and is being mentioned as a possible first day draftee in this Spring’s NFL Draft.
More good news, if it comes down to kicking, Washington kicker Grady Gross was only 13-of-17 on field goals this season, including only 4-of-7 from 30-39 yards.
I’d like to see Texas use the pass to set up the run once again. They’ve been doing a lot of that since Jonathan Brooks went down with his injury, and the result has been 208 yards rushing per game without Brooks. I’m not sure a lot of people would have predicted that.
Defensively the national narrative is that the Texas defense will struggle against the Washington pass catchers, and I hope all those press clippings have found their way to the locker room. I expect Penix to have some success, but I also expect Texas to have a few surprises as well.
This is a game that Texas can win, and I think they get the redemption they seek.
Texas 38 Washington 31
For entertainment purposes only. Save your money for a business trip to Houston.
"Who wants to see this game outside of the Falwell family?" Sturminator...Flip Flops, NFL, Mexican girls, Bob's World! Bob Sturm, he would be.
Great theme! If this team takes the Mamba Mentality into Monday night I think we're all going to have a very happy New Year!