Thoughts on a great football Saturday

2 point conversion

• I had a bad feeling going into the play. Michigan has not been a good short yardage team all year. 
• I didn't like the formation they came out in. I really didn't like that they came back out in the same formation. John Beilein would never do that with the basketball team.
• After the fact, I think they needed to go for two. 
• OSU had a dominant running game - without a turnover M was unlikely to stop them
• M would be using their back up kicker for any field goals (his miss was saved by the timeout M called in the 3rd Q)
• Gardner was hobbled.
• As I said I didn't like the formation, I think it limited M. I think OSU had scouted the film enough to be able to guess what was coming.
• That being said, I think if Gardner had been able to get the pass off a split second earlier and Dileo could have reacted and made the catch right as he turned it would have been successful.
• When you're going for an all-or-nothing two point conversion play - I think you need to pull out all the stops. It either needs to be your best play that no one had been able to stop all year or something you've saved for just this case - that is un-scoutable. This play was neither.
• Biggest problem I have with the decision to go for two is Hoke saying he asked the seniors and they said "go for 2." Well of course they did. If there is a player on that sideline that didn't want to go for the win right there - they should be cut. Hoke and his staff are paid a ridiculous amount of money to make those decisions. The 22-23 year-olds on the sideline are paid in tuition and board allowances.
• Another way I've thought about the decision to go for 2 - what if the scenario was M was down by 3 and faced 4th and goal on the 3 with 32 seconds left. Do you take the field goal then? I feel like that decisions might have been to kick, but why is it any different?

Alabama -Auburn

• The extra second - I thought the clock in football was different than the clock in basketball in that the on field officials need to signal to stop the clock. It shouldn't be the split-second his foot came down out-of-bounds but the split-second the official started to signal to stop the clock.

If Alabama wins on this FG it would be an injustice - official has to signal to stop the clock - game should be over
— Mike Altese (@mpharmd98) December 1, 2013

boneg championship - Rose Bowl

• I was happy until I realized that their loss probably guaranteed MSU a spot in the Rose Bowl
• Twitter seems to think I should root for MSU because "Ohio (sic) is our real rival"
• I know about 2 people who are OSU fans - I know several MSU fans. I don't like it, but I'm not surprised when OSU is successful and better than M. I do NOT like it when MSU is.
• My best chance is a close OSU victory (preferably 7-3 with many turnovers) with an Auburn blow-out in the SEC championship game dropping OSU behind Auburn in the BCS.