Taking Down The Field Goal Posts: Thanks Anyway, Rutgers

Well, that was one of the better Cinderella stories in recent years. Unfortunately, it had to end sooner or later... and perhaps its less painful to be crushed by Cincinnati now than to be denied a shot at a national championship despite an undefeated season. Rutgers lost—nay, got hammered—in Cincinnati last night by a Bearcats team that was as fired up as they've ever been. Rutgers wasn't ever in the game, really. David Stern and Queen Latifah are going to be crushed.

So with Rutgers no longer a part of the conversation, we turn our attention to who might end up playing Ohio State in a national championship game for which they'll have about 50 days to rest. Kirk Herbstreit seems to be leading the "Let's have a rematch!" parade, which I suppose makes sense. Michigan and Ohio State probably are the best two teams in the country, but at the same time, Michigan had their chance. I wouldn't mind seeing someone else get a chance to take down Ohio State.

USC is still very much in the mix, and may in fact be in the driver's seat, after their convincing win over Cal last night. And while most people yesterday seemed to think that USC and Michigan were the most likely choices, Florida has to be right there with them, and Notre Dame and Arkansas are still in the mix, too. Notre Dame and USC play each other next week, so one of them will lose, and Arkansas and Florida will play in the SEC championship game, so one of them is going to lose, too.

Or, we could just give the trophy to Ohio State now and call it a season. That seems to make the most sense.