Typically on Wednesdays I share links to good articles/columns from recent happenings – with added insights and musings – from around the sporting world. This week I’ve decided to add a few thoughts on the National Championship game from Monday night.  Feel free to share your thoughts about the game or if you come across good articles, videos, etc. – please pass them along, I’d love to take a look.

10 Thoughts On The BCS National Championship Game:

Photo via rivals.yahoo.com

1.  Nick Fairley (pictured above) and the Auburn defensive line dominated Oregon’s offensive line eating up LaMichael James, Kejon Barner, & Darron Thomas (pictured above) for much of the game. The Ducks were forced to change their gameplan.

2.  Cam Newton looked mortal for most of the game and took a beating from the fast, underrated Oregon defense.  The Ducks punished Newton with several big hits throughout the game and it looked like he was going down before contact at times in the 2nd half.

3.  The 37 day layoff seemed to hurt both teams on the offensive side of the ball.  Both quarterbacks and offenses looked rusty at times and both were dominated for much of the game by the opposing teams’ defense that had over 4 weeks to prepare.

4.  Oregon has no down field passing plays, didn’t think they could block for those plays, or didn’t have it in the playbook or gameplan and as a result Auburn stuffed the run and smothered the Ducks quick passing game.

5.  The lights seemed a little too bright for Darron Thomas at times last night.  Along with the two interceptions Thomas threw in the 1st half, he also mis-read the Auburn defensive front several times on the zone read.

6.  Was Chip Kelly trying to out-coach himself or does he just have huge cajones? We’re talking about several new formations on offense, going for it on 4th and goal from the one, the fake punt, an almost disastrous reverse on a kickoff return, and the fake reverse on a kickoff return among other things.

7.   How sick was that play in the 4th quarter from Casey Matthews – chasing Cam Newton down from behind and forcing the fumble that lead to the game tying touchdown and two-point conversion?

8.  Michael Dyer should have been ruled down on the 37 yard run late in the 4th quarter that set up the game winning chipshot for Wes Byrum. Dyer’s forward progress was stopped and all 22 players on the field stopped playing but give credit to the Auburn coaches for telling him to keep running.

9  .  The Tigers are national champions, but for how long?  With all the allegations of Cam’s father soliciting his son’s football services to Mississippi State for $180,00o and the ongoing investigation – will Auburn eventually have to vacate all the wins and national championship?

10.  Obviously I don’t know for a fact… but TCU could have beaten both teams that played in the BCS National Championship game.  Can we get a plus-1, 8 team playoff, or 16 team playoff already!?

Extra: Cliff Harris didn’t return a punt for a touchdown but he did come through with an interception, fumble recovery, two pass break-ups, and 3 tackles.  Not too shabby.

College Football:

Any idea who should be number 1 to start the season next year?  Well don’t worry to worry ESPN.com and Mark Schlabach have college football’s way-to-early 2011 Top 25. I can’t say I have too many complaints with the top 5.

It’s pretty universal that fans want to see some sort of playoff and according to a survey from the National College Players Association, over 81% of college football players favor a playoff.

Surfing:

John Florence – who was battling the flu – won the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout in some big surf at Pipeline. The surf was actually bigger and better than it was for Pipeline Masters.  Here are the best highlights I could put on here (damn you Surfline):

Surfer Magazine shared their best photos of 2010.  If you have a couple minutes check out the awesome photos.

National Football League:

If you somehow haven’t seen Marshawn Lynch’s 67 yard run against the Saints last week breaking at least 7 tackles here’s your chance:

Seahawks fans’ wild celebration shook the ground at Qwest Field that registered as seismic activity. I can’t say I’m too surprised considering how loud the 12th man is during games for the Seahawks.

English Premier League:

Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger was named manager of the decade by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics. Wenger hasn’t won any trophies for the last six years (but is on the verge of a Carling Cup this season – in the semi’s today) but won because of the Gunners’ consistency.

Any good stories/articles I missed?

Happy Humpday Everyone!