West Virginia in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl: Why I Never Bet on Football

Last night's Fiesta Bowl once more confirmed why I do not bet on college football. Because I am an idiot. My wife already knows this but likes it when she can give proof. I gave all the proof she needed last night. How? Let me explain.

I, being a big University of Florida fan, greatly anticipated the Oklahoma vs. West Virginia Fiesta Bowl (Bob Stoops used to be the Defensive Coordinator for Florida under Saint Spurrier). My wife, who has a passing interest in football, asked me why I was so interested in seeing this game. Ahh...Let the idiot emerge. First I stated the above reference to Stoops which she already knew and was not impressed so I pressed on. "West Virginia has no business being in this game" I proudly professed. My wife raised an eyebrow. I looked around for my soapbox. "The Big East is a terrible conference and shouldn't even be in the BCS. Look at how badly University of South Florida got beat by Oregon. And USF beat West Virginia. West Virginia also lost to Pitt at the end of the year when a national championship was on the line. Pitt is awful. Plus their coach Rich Rodriguez has hi-tailed it to Michigan. West Virginia sucks. Now Oklahoma beat Missouri twice and look how bad Missouri beat Arkansas from our beloved SEC. Oklahoma lost last year to Boise State because they were not prepared. Their is no way Stoops will not be ready for this game. Oklahoma is going to slaughter West Virginia showing those BCS idiots that they don't know what they are doing. Plus this means that at least one Florida coach will when a bowl game (Zook got hammered by USC and Meyer took it on the chin for Carr's last game)." I looked around for my applause as I stepped down. My wife looked reasonably pleased with my statements and settled down into the couch to watch the game with me.

It did not take long for West Virginia to confirm my dumbness. They were easily controlling the game early but were only up by 6 points. My wife was smiling. "Its OK, Oklahoma is just nervous. One touchdown and they will be ahead." Soapbox please. "There is no way the West Virginia defense is going to hold up. Oklahoma out weighs them by 40 pounds on the line. Oklahoma is going to pound them." There was that eyebrow again. "Any time now." It never happened.

West Virginia was awesome. Their defense did wear down but by that time it was over. Pat White was is control. Anything they called on offense worked. That is what I seemed to have forgotten - Pat White. He got hurt against USF early and did not play the rest of the game. He was hurt again against Pitt. He was definitely not hurt against Oklahoma. West Virginia showed the world that Big East football can compete with anybody.

My wife got up off the couch with about 4 minutes left in the game and declared "I'm going to bed. C'mon you can finish watching the game in bed - idiot." She smiled her big Cheshire cat smile. Ouch!