What did I learn this weekend? -The Maniac

Well, following a weekend of championship games, I reflect on what I learned:

• The Gators don't run up the score- they are just that good. The Gators put up 31 points on one of the toughest defenses in the nation Saturday afternoon. Emanuel Moody didn't replace Percy Harvin altogether, but he did look very strong. He and Jeffrey Demps added the extra threats that Florida needed to open things up very nicely for Tebow. Tebow threw for 216 yards and 3 TDs, and ran for another 56 yards. Alabama, going into Saturday, led the nation in 3rd down defense. The Gators were 8-13 on 3rd downs. The Tide's defense did a decent job. Florida averaged 450 yards of offense during the season, and Bama held them to 359. But Florida did have 5 plays of 20 or more yards. Bama made some mistakes (only 1 turnover, a late INT) that cost them a few drives. Overall, Bama payed a good game. Just not good enough.

• Ball State was overrated, but not by too much- Buffalo just did a great job of forcing turnovers. Ball State funbled the ball 4 times and threw 1 interception. The Cardinals did manage to gain over 500 yards of total offense, and hold the ball for over 34 minutes. Turnovers will kill you, and Buffalo drove that into Ball State's heads. The Bulls turned all 4 fumbles into points. 2 of those they returned for TDs, something that hasn't been done by anyone since 2001 (Louisville).

• Speaking of Louisville, they need recruits. Badly- Louisville fell behind 49-0 in the first half to Rutgers. Missing 5 defensive starters, their lack of depth showed. They will lose 4 defensive players, including their best corner. Time to get on that recruiting trail Mr. Kragthorpe

• The BCS is still screwed up, and AP voters need to start compensating for it- When you look at the tie in the Big 12 South and how it played out, it doesn't make any sense at all. OU beat TTU in Norman, TTU beat Texas in Lubbock( at the last second, mind you), and Texas beat OU on a neutral field. I'm sure most of sports nation agrees that Texas got the shaft here. Home field advantage is HUGE in college football these days, especially when you play in the Big 12 South. Stadiums that hold 70,000 or more are loud, hostile, and just plain intimidating when they're 90% opposing fans. The OU-Texas game in Dallas was split straight down the middle, and if you watched the game you know what I mean. The stadium was almost exactly half red, half orange. If you want a true champion next year, play all 3 of those games on neutral sites. You'll find out who is truly the best in that division

• Staying in the Big 12, the South divison is more dominant than ever in the conference as a whole- OU's romp of Missouri put the exclamation point on that statement. The Southern divison has now won 5 straight Big 12 titles, with the North's last title being the K-State upset of OU in 2003. The combined score of the last 5 games? 233-51. The South went 15-3 against it's Northern opponents this year. That's domination to the extreme.

• Washington has hope- After this season, that's not hard to say. Sarkisian stated "I am committed to bringing them back to title contention". I sure hope there's not a time limit on that statement. 0-12 is obviously as bad as it gets. Recruit hard Coach, that's about the only hope you've got right now.

• BC's Dominique Davis is slowly getting there- He's not ready yet, and proved it Saturday against Virginia Tech. Don't count him out though, he's only a Freshman and only started 2 games this year-1 at home and the ACC title game. At home against Maryland, the regular season finale, Davis was 12-24 for 134 yds and 2 TDs. Against Va. Tech, he was 17-43 for 263, with a TD and 2 INTs. that isn't bad for an inexperienced quarterback against a VERY good Bud Foster defense. BC couldn't win the ACC title with Matt Ryan, but Davis might be the answer. He could have a big year next year replacing Chris Crane, who graduates this year.