By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
LOS ANGELES — The place, Southern California, Staples Center, where the Lakers, Clippers and hockey Kings all play, seemed like Ann Arbor West.
A crowd that started the game chanting “Let’s go, Blue!” ended up singing “Hail to the Victors,” the Michigan fight song, because the Blue, Michigan, is going to the Final Four.
Copyright © 2018 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
PASADENA, Calif. — The oddsmakers knew Oregon, even if most of the eastern United States did not.
The Ducks, the aptly named Quack Attack, were a 9 1/2-point favorite over Florida State, a team that hadn't lost a game in two-plus seasons. Some people wondered how that could be. They found out the first day of 2015.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
PASADENA, Calif. — One team, Oregon, is second in the nation in the playoff rankings. The other, Florida State, is third and undefeated. Each has a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. What else do we need to know?
Other than who will win Thursday's College Football Playoff semifinal, of course.
Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
PASADENA, Calif. — Isn’t this the way the scripts usually run down here Hollywood way? Drama every few minutes. Then when we’re all washed out, the hero comes riding — or passing and running — out of the distance to save the day?
When they’re bringing the curtain down, make certain you leave them something to remember.
Which in this final of the often criticized, soon-to-be-disposed-of Bowl Championship Series, is exactly what this ultimate title game did.
If it wasn’t one for the ages, it was one that left us pleading for more.
And left Auburn, watching and grasping as its magic of last-second success was filched by Florida State, wishing for more time on the clock, impossible as it would be.
On his 20th birthday Monday, Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston did what Heisman-winning quarterbacks are supposed to do, throw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds to play, giving the Seminoles a 34-31 win over Auburn and the perfect finish to a perfect 14-0 season.
“It’s the best football game he played all year,” Florida State coach Jimbo Elliott said of Winston. “Because for three quarters he was up and down, and he fought . . . It’s not ‘my’ night, and you have two or three touches left, and you can lead your team to victory, that’s what a great player is to me.”
Winston, the red-shirt freshman, trailing, wanted to make the difference.
“That’s a storybook moment,” said Winston. “I was ready. I wanted to be in that situation because that’s what great quarterbacks do, That’s what the Tom Bradys, Peyton Mannings, Drew Breeses do.
“Any quarterback can go out there and perform when they’re up 50-0. That’s what you’re judged by. I’m pretty sure that drive, I got more respect from my teammates and people around me on that last drive than I got all year.”
Well, he got a great deal of respect from the people who voted him the Heisman.
The plot for the 16th BCS championship was part Alfred Hitchcock, part Woody Allen and all engrossing, with gasps and grasps, fumbled punts and — a Florida State player taking off his helmet and drawing a 15-yard penalty after a touchdown — dumb moves.
But it was compelling. Five days earlier, Michigan State had held off Stanford in the 100th Rose Bowl Game. Then almost before we could blink, we get another thriller in the same Rose Bowl stadium before 94,208 in weather that was like the song "June in January," 69 degrees at the start.
Kermit Whitfield, untouched, ran a kickoff 100 yards for a Florida State touchdown to give Florida State a 27-24 lead, and a few minutes later Treason ran a handoff 37 yards to give Auburn a 31-27 lead.
Florida State, which hadn’t been behind by more than 11 points in any previous game this crazy year, trailed, 21-3 in the second quarter of his one, and the only thing you could think was that the Seminoles of the Atlantic Coast Conference might be overrated. And under-tested.
What if they played in the SEC? Or Pac-12? Or Big Ten?
No more questions. They’re legitimate. They’re also the first non-SEC member in eight years to win the MacArthur Bowl as the nation’s top college team.
Winston, confident, brilliant, was 20 of 35 passing for 237 yards and two touchdowns, including the game winner. He was sacked four times by an Auburn defensive that was impressive when it wasn’t offensive. That 100-yarder was a game changer.
Winston also ran 11 times but his net distance, ruined by the sacks, was a mere 52 yards.
“He’s a freshman,” Auburn defensive end Dee Ford said of Winston, “and he started second-guessing his decisions, holding the ball. I think tonight we kind of exposed him.”
But who made the big play? Who won the game? Who left Auburn, which once had a 21-3 lead, in the end with a 12-2 record? Jameis Winston and Florida State, that’s who.
The greatest finish in a BCS championship game was when Vince Young scored with 19 seconds to go and gave Texas a 41-28 win over USC on Jan. 4, 2006, also at the Rose Bowl. This one, the last one, the ultimate one, ranks right with it.
Farewell, BCS. You had a great run. And pass.