It's just now halftime in the NCAA football championship as I speak. The first half was a very dominant and one-sided experience as was expected with Indiana vs. Miami.
I had mentioned before that Indiana is undefeated and many are calling them perhaps that greatest college football team of all time. Miami barely made the playoffs and had magical upset victories in the 3 games that got them to the final. Many were disappointed that Miami made these upsets because most people feel that they got lucky and that they do not belong there and their presence in the final is going to make for a poor game.
To the people saying that I respond with "shaddup"... Indiana would be working over anyone that they play against most likely, so it is no surprise that this game is going exactly the way that it is up to this point.
Indiana has likely not even really put their foot fully on the gas pedal yet because they are likely testing the waters but every possession has gone like this
- Indiana attempts short pass, 75% of the time it is complete
- Indiana does a short run play, 50% of the time they achieve first down
- If needed Indiana goes for a mid-range pass play on 3rd down and either completes it or Miami ends up getting overzealous and commits a pass interference penalty
- Indiana marches down the field and scores
Thus far this has worked on half of the Hoosier possessions and on the flip side, Miami is struggling to move the ball at all. The only shot they have had at scoring at all was a very long field goal attempt that they missed.
Indiana is really THAT GOOD. Their defense is just outstanding and this has resulted in the Hurricanes having a 0% 3rd down conversion rate. This is no bueno for Miami and their fans.
Carson Beck, the quarterback for Miami has only been sacked one time but man oh man, has it been close so many other times. He simply doesn't have enough time after the snap to think a great deal about what he is going to do and this has to be extremely stressful. He is missing a lot of passes wildly and is throwing the ball intentionally out of bound several times already. You can only do so much when your offensive line can only give you a few seconds of protection when some of the best defensive linemen of all time in college football are itching to slam your face into the grass.
That being said, I am impressed that Miami has held Indiana to merely 10 points in the first half. I expected it to be much more. The live odds keep changing but at the moment Indiana is expected to win by 16 or more points. If things continue like they have been going into the 2nd half, I don't think Miami puts up any points until the 4th quarter once Indiana has such a comfortable lead that they let off the gas a bit.
Of course there are always interception possibilities but the Indiana offensive line is giving Hoosier QB Fernando Mendoza a very comfortable amount of time to eye up his options downfield and complete passes. Having a good offensive line, or in the case of Indiana an absolutely outstanding one, is such an important aspect of the game.
I see no path to victory for Miami and it is going to take a miracle for that to happen. I will eat my shoe if it does happen because it isn't going to happen.