If you can’t beat them, let them join
As if Central Florida’s victory over Baylor in Wednesday’s Fiesta Bowl wasn’t big enough, Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel hopes it leads to something bigger.
“Hopefully, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby was taking notes on UCF on Wednesday night,” Bianchi wrote.
“Really good notes.
“Bowlsby not only was in the house to see the unbelievable, inconceivable UCF Knights pull off one of the most monumental bowl upsets in history with their 52-42 victory over Big 12 champion Baylor, he should have been quickly drafting an invitation to invite UCF into the Big 12.
“Incredible. Implausible.
Incogitable. Can you believe it?
UCF outdueled the highest-scoring offense in the history of college football to take this earthshaking, program-making victory over the No. 6-ranked Baylor Bears.
“The entire nation just saw the youngest program ever to win a BCS bowl come of age Wednesday night.
“You can’t buy the benefit of being placed indubitably on the radar of power-conference commissioners such as Bowlsby.
Even though the Big 12 commish says his league has no plans for expansion in the next few years, he certainly is much more aware of UCF’s enormous potential than he was a month ago.
“Bowlsby says the Big 12 is happy to be at 10 members, but is he really? Why wouldn’t the Big 12 expand to 12 teams, add UCF and USF, have conference championship game and become a major player in the state of Florida? Combined, Tampa and Orlando are the nation’s fourthlargest TV market, which means the Big 12 could dominate the I-4 corridor that runs right through the middle of the fourth-most populous state in the union.”
Footing the blame
The Kansas City Chiefs face the Indianapolis Colts this weekend in the NFL playoffs, which is a good thing, but Sam Mellinger of The Kansas City Star wrote the Chiefs will need to reverse a trend to make it even better.
“Part of being a sports fan in Kansas City is that you eventually come to expect a monster around every corner,” Mellinger wrote.
“The No Punt Game. The North End Zone. David Glass, particularly the early years. Sirr Parker. Free throws against Syracuse. We can go on, of course.
“But as many times as not, it seems, the kicker is what hurts the most.
“This trend was set way back in 1971, when Hall of Famer Jan Stenerud missed three of four field goals in a double-overtime Christmas Day playoff loss to the Dolphins that still stands as the longest game in NFL history.
At the time, the Chiefs were just two years removed from their Super Bowl championship, but in retrospect, it sure set a distinct trend that is older than Oklahoma Joe’s ribs, Garozzo’s spiedini and even Arrowhead Stadium:
“The Chiefs will break your heart in the playoffs, usually with the kickers missing.”Quote of the day “If I go out and play
well, I think it’s a heck of a start to next season.” ASU backup quarterback Fredi Knighten on the
possibility of playing in place of injured starter Adam Kennedy
Sports, Pages 18 on 01/03/2014