Fiesta Bowl - Conclusion

So a couple of weeks have passed since the Fiesta Bowl, and my opinion of a lot of things really hasn't changed. In the long run of things, I don't like the way things ended. Not at all.

When I think about it, I can compare it to the 2006 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat. In my sports-related life, few things really rival the 2006 NBA Finals in terms of heartbreak. There have been times when a team I liked lost (heck, I'm a Dallas fan...I've made a life of big losses), but there are usually times when I simply thought the other team was better. And when I think the other team is better, there's no shame in losing.

Example -tomorrow, the Vikings play the Cowboys in the NFC divisional round. I think the Cowboys can win the game, but one of the teams has to lose. Minnesota is a solid team, and they'll be at home. If the Vikings win, I'll be sad...but I don't think it will be tragic.

The Heat series was tragic. The Mavs dominated the first two and a half games. Then, conspiracy alert, Dwayne Wade started getting any call he wanted. A million free throws later, and the Heat had won.

Following that series, I didn't think the Heat were the better team. I thought the Mavs were capable of doing things that would've beat the Heat, but they just weren't doing it. I thought, even with the refs, the Mavs had beaten themselves more so than the the Heat had beat them. Heck, if I were to rank the teams that beat the Mavs...it would've been:

1)Mavs
2)Refs
3)Heat

It's the same with the Fiesta Bowl. Right now, despite the 17-10 win for the Broncos, I don't believe that Boise State is the better team. I not only believe that TCU is better than Boise State, I think they're much better. I think, if TCU plays their best game, Boise State wouldn't be able to keep up. Whether the game is in Phoenix, Boise, or Antarctica.

Which is why this game hurts so much. Because, despite my belief that TCU is the better team (and, perhaps, the best team in college football), they lost. And the funny thing is all the love that Boise is getting from the win (people saying they're almost a lock for the national championship next year if they win out), and there's one simple fact.

TCU played the worst game of their season, and Boise had to convert a fake punt in the final quarter to win.

And, in so many ways, TCU beat themselves. For the entire season, TCU won with two simple facts - they ran the ball amazingly well and they played defense. The defense was phenomenal in the Fiesta Bowl, holding Boise State to 10 points. And I'll forgive seven of those points because they came after the f-ing fake punt, and the defense was completely shell shocked by that sudden change in momentum.

The running game? TCU had ten carries from their running backs. Ten. And it wasn't like the running game wasn't working - one of our top backs (we have five that we trust) only carried the ball once. For nine yards. For the rest of the game, they never felt like they needed a guy capable of getting nine yards?

Instead, TCU put their offensive hopes into the hands of Andy Dalton. Up until the Fiesta Bowl, I would've been okay with giving Andy a bigger role in the offense. In a lot of ways, he's the best QB that TCU has had in a while, and he was on his way to a Heisman run in his senior season next year. He can beat you with his arm and his legs, and he typically makes pretty smart decisions.

In the Fiesta Bowl, however, he was awful. The worst game I've ever seen him play, and it might be the worst game of his life. I don't know what bothered him the most, but it seemed like nothing was working for him.

Was it the Broncos' fans? Like I said in my last post, Boise's fans were really loud. I'm pretty sure that, even on road games, Andy probably hadn't faced a crowd that loud. Clemson might have been louder, but Andy wasn't really phased in that game.

Was it the slight injury he sustained in the first quarter? He was knocked out for a couple of plays in the first quarter, but he ended up coming back for the next series. Was the injury bothering him more than it seemed?

Was it his headphones going out? Andy's pick-six was immediately after the PA announcer declared to the crowd that TCU's radio equipment wasn't working. Maybe Andy is the type of quarterback that really relies on his radio equipment during a game, and maybe losing that equipment completely threw his game off.

Or was it just the epic size of the game. Andy Dalton played like a quarterback who had never played on a really big stage before. His biggest bowl game was last year's Poinsettia Bowl, and he'd never played in a game that was played on (truly) national television. Boise State has played a few games on national television, and their school had been to a BCS game before.

TCU had the unfortunate circumstances of being the favorite and yet the team with the more pressure on them. TCU went in with the chance to be the AP national champion, it was their first BCS game, and it was the first time for the nation to watch the TCU Horned Frogs that everyone had heard so much.

And they fell on their face. And I don't get it.

Maybe TCU felt like they had to throw to win. Maybe they felt like they had to score quickly to make sure that Boise didn't make it a blowout. Maybe they, like me, anticipated that Boise's offense would score 20 points. And since our offense had spotted them 7 points, maybe they thought they needed to ratchet the offense up.

But Dalton looked terrible to me. Our running game was working when they used it. When TCU made the game 10-7 at halftime, why didn't they adjust? We were down three points, and they'd stopped Boise's offense once when they got their first second-half possession. Heck, even when TCU tied it, they still didn't go back to the team that got them there.

When you throw the ball, three things can happen. And two of them are bad. When your QB is struggling, why not go to the running game? Particularly when your running game is, arguably, your best asset?

And then there's the fake punt. Early in the half, TCU had seen the fake punt coming, and they called a timeout. But when Boise actually went for one, we didn't see it coming? We forgot who we were playing? The great Coach Gary Patterson got out-coached?

That play was the entire game. If Boise misses that fake punt, the game is over. Instead of demoralizing TCU, it would've demoralized the Broncos. It would've, perhaps, given TCU's offense enough energy to get seven points for their first lead of the game. Or, at the very least, it would've given them good-enough field position for a solid field goal attempt.

And it would've told the defense what Boise was thinking: we can't move the ball on your defense. We are completely incapable of beating your defense with a conventional offense. Your defense is superior to us, and we have to resort to stupid little tricks to successfully move the ball.

You want my feelings on Boise State? They're a joke. They're a bit. And they're never going to be a legitimate football program until they start acting like one. I don't think legitimate teams rely on goofy-little trick plays to succeed. I don't think legitimate teams have to spend half their time working on one-upping their own devices in order to beat another legitimate team.

Because, yes, Boise is 2-0 in BCS games. But they're only 2-0 because they won on trick plays. The hook and ladder and statue of liberty plays against Oklahoma, and the fake punt against TCU. Take away those three games, and they're 0-2. Take the same Boise players and give them a real coach, and they're 0-2.

And if Boise wants to be legitimate, lose the dumb blue turf. It doesn't make you unique. It doesn't make you cool. It makes you look like a sideshow. It makes you look like a circus. It makes you look like a joke.

Teams don't want to play you in Boise because it would demean their team to play on blue turf. They aren't afraid of you. They just don't want to look like idiots.

I'll admit that I didn't respect Boise's team going into the game, and it didn't look like Coach Patterson and the Horned Frogs respected them either. I think that they can be a great program, but they need to cut out all of the Division II BS. Run a real offense. Beat a team because you're better...not because you out-tricked them. Play on green turf like everyone else.

Then you'll get some respect. Until then, you'll be the cute little team with your gay blue turf. Nothing more.

As far as TCU goes, the loss hurts. A lot. If they'd been able to beat Boise, TCU had a chance to end the season number two ahead of Texas. Boise jumped from #6 to #3, and it's hard to say whether or not Texas would've stayed ahead of TCU if the Fiesta Bowl had gone the other way.

Ending the season #2 would've meant that TCU could've started the season in the top 10. Coming off an undefeated season and a BCS win, a lot of the questions about the program would've been answered. They'd have a huge win in their pocket, an undefeated season on their resume, and a top 2 finish to brag about.

Now, TCU can go undefeated again, and all the questions will still be there. Can TCU win the big game? Will they wilt under the pressure like they have every year before? Do they really belong on the big stage?

And, unfortunately, TCU won't be able to definitively say "yes" to any of those questions. Every single year, they falter in one game. Southern Mississippi in 2003. SMU in 2005. Utah in 2008. And Boise State in 2009. Games that they needed to win, and games that they should've won.

And in every game, they lost. I thought that 2009 might have been the year when TCU finally abandons that ridiculousness. Even though they have one awful game every year, I never anticipated that their one awful game would be in the bowl game.

And, yes, TCU is bringing back a lot of their team from last year. Hughes and Washington are gone, and they will be missed. But I never really worry about TCU's defense, and I'm sure that Coach Patterson will fill those holes.

But the offense that was so good last year is all coming back. TCU has just as much chance to run the table in 2010 that they had in 2009.

But if they go undefeated, I don't think they'll get a title shot because they lost in the Fiesta Bowl. The benefit of the doubt that TCU was given over Boise last year will be gone. If both teams go undefeated, Boise will get in ahead of TCU. And even if Boise isn't part of the equation, people are going to want TCU to have a major victory under their belt before they're allowed to play with the big boys.

2009-2010 could've been a major step in the program's evolution. Instead, it's just a step. To get a chance at the title, TCU is still going to need a BCS win. To move up, they're still going to have to prove that they can win a big game on a national stage. To be considered with the big boys, TCU will have to play like it.

The Fiesta Bowl was the Horned Frogs' chance to exorcise their demons. Instead, they simply made their demons more powerful.

And, at the end of the day, that's what hurts the most.