Yesterday's College Football Playoff Games, NFL Regular Season Ends Today

I enjoyed watching the college football playoffs yesterday on ESPN, especially that second game between Clemson and Ohio State...I guess it also helped that the two teams I had decided to root for both won.  Still, after LSU had run up an incredible 49-14 halftime lead over Oklahoma in the first game...with Tigers QB Joe Burrow throwing 7 touchdown passes in the process...it wasn't all that much fun getting through that contest's second half. With Clemson vs. Ohio State, it looked as if the Buckeyes were clearly the better team by far early on, but three of their drives stalled out in the Red Zone and they had to kick field goals each time...they could have been ahead by far more than 16-0 before Clemson finally woke up and began their penalty-aided comeback. Not that I'm complaining about the officiating, other than that one blown call when a Clemson receiver clearly fumbled the ball...recovered by Ohio State...that was ultimately deemed an incomplete pass.  The final score was 29-23 in favor of Clemson, so we now have a Tigers-Tigers championship game slated in New Orleans on January 13th next year.  I'm going to pull for Clemson although just going by yesterday's games it looks as if they will have an uphill battle getting past Burrow...

The National Football League regular season ends today...I'm writing this before the afternoon and evening games.  The Miami Dolphins, even though their management all-but declared 2019 to be a "tanking" season, have amassed a 4-11 record through the efforts of the players under first-year head coach Brian Flores, who clearly understands the importance of establishing discipline and a culture of winning.  I know with that record this may sound strange on the surface, but I think a lot of people were expecting the Dolphins to go winless this year...hats off to them for confounding the critics!  As for the other teams I'm following, Seattle plays San Francisco to determine who wins the NFC West division and who enters the playoff as a wild card team.  Philadelphia wins the NFC East if they can get past the erratic New York Giants, else Dallas still has a shot to win it against Washington.  Minnesota, New Orleans, and Green Bay are already in the NFC playoffs...the exact seedings will be determined today.  In the American Conference Baltimore has the number one seed throughout the conference playoffs and New England...if they get past Miami in their game today or Kansas City loses...will be seeded number two, with first round byes.  Since the Dolphins won't be in the playoff picture this year I like the Chiefs...and if not them, the Ravens.  Houston and Buffalo are already in the playoffs with the last wild card slot going either to Pittsburgh or Tennessee, depending on how today's games go.  The way things stack up right now with teams currently still in the running, my ideal Super Bowl for this season would pit Seattle against Kansas City, with Philadelphia and Baltimore representing the secondary teams I'm rooting for...and then Green Bay and Pittsburgh.  The "worst" Super Bowl scenario for me?  New Orleans vs. New England, definitely an unwanted possibility...