Here’s what many thought might happen: When a whopping 37 days separate the best offense in college football taking snaps against someone other than itself, the timing and rhythm and accuracy that allowed it to shred others for an entire season might take at least a quarter to appear.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Consider this: You are a star junior college football recruit about to make one of the most important decisions of your life, one that will shape your future and potentially determine whether you enjoy a professional career defined by fame and fortune.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — They have given up trying to figure out those wacky play-calling cards. The ones with pictures of TV personalities and maps and moose and bizarre logos and symbols. The ones that could mean anything from formation to protection to run to pass to someone get Phil Knight a cup of coffee in his luxury suite.
I suppose this is what it felt like to be a great actor in the 1930s not named Spencer Tracy. Or how it feels to be a track star running the same events as Usain Bolt. Or to land your first professional singing gig down the street from where Andrea Bocelli is holding a concert.
The journey to college football’s Bowl Championship Series final takes different twists and turns for most. It’s not all yards and tackles. It is not shaped merely by brilliant plays and dramatic wins. Sometimes, it’s not even about football.
It’s not guaranteed a new year will bring change. The Yankees still will win in 2011. The Pirates won’t. LeBron James still will speak in the third person. Clay Guida will have long hair and fight as if intravenously fed with sugar. Rex Ryan will prefer feet.
