What'd I Miss?

First, a hat-tip to Tony, who updated my last post with several title changes.

Second, the last game blogged on this web page was Clemson's 35-31 victory over Alabama on January 9, 2017.  By winning that game, Clemson not only won the 2016 national championship -- the Tigers' first such title since 1981 -- but Clemson also won the Unofficial College Football Championship.

Even though we stopped updating this blog, they kept playing college football games, and there have been a whole bunch of UCFC battles since the last time we wrote about them.  Here is a brief summary of what happened:

1.  On September 2, 2017, No. 5 Clemson beat Kent State 56-3 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C.  The Tigers retained the UCFC.

2.  On September 9, 2017, No. 3 Clemson beat No. 13 Auburn 14-6 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C.  Auburn failed in its attempt to regain the UCFC for the SEC, and Clemson kept the title.

3.  On September 16, 2017, No. 3 Clemson beat No. 14 Louisville 47-21 at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville, Ky.  This was an ESPN GameDay game, but the Cardinals were no match for the Tigers, who kept the UCFC.

4.  On September 23, 2017, No. 2 Clemson beat Boston College 34-7 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C.  Another easy win.

5.  On September 30, 2017, No. 2 Clemson beat No. 12 Virginia Tech 31-17 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va.,  The Hokies were ranked number 12 going into the game, and this was another GameDay battle, but the Tigers were too much for Virginia Tech.  They defended the title for the fifth time in a row.

6.  On October 7, 2017, No. 2 Clemson beat Wake Forest 28-14 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C.  A sixth consecutive defense for the Tigers.

7.  On October 13, 2017, No. 2 Clemson traveled to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. for a game with an unranked Syracuse team.  The Orange stunned the Tigers -- and the country -- with a 27-24 victory.  Syracuse moved to 5-3, on the year, and took the UCFC.  The Orange would not win another game that season.

8.  On October 21, 2017, Syracuse traveled to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.  There they were beaten 27-19 by the No. 8 Miami Hurricanes.  The Canes, who were number 8 in the country, moved to 6-0 on the season.

9.  On October 28, 2017, No. 8 Miami beat North Carolina 24-19 at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C.  The Canes were not very impressive, but they retained the UCFC.

10.  On November 4, 2017, No. 9 Miami beat No. 13 Virginia Tech 28-10 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.  The Hokies had a pretty good season, finishing 9-4 with a loss to Oklahoma State in the Camping World Bowl.  But this was their second failure in the UCFC.

11.  On November 11, 2017, No. 7 Miami hosted No. 3 Notre Dame at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.  Naturally, ESPN showed up for GameDay in this Catholics vs. Convicts rematch -- the first big game between these two teams in many years.  And the Canes put on a show, crushing the Irish 41 to 8.  At this point, Miami's record was 9-0 and they moved up to No. 2 in the country.

12.  On November 18, 2017, No 2 Miami beat Virginia 44-28 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.  It was the Hurricanes' 10th win in a row, and their last win of the year.

13.  On November 24, 2017, No. 2 Miami traveled to Heinz Field in Pittsburgh to play a Pitt Panther team with a record of 4-7.  The game was the Panthers' last game of the year -- and they pulled off a stunning upset, beating Miami 24-14.  It was the second time in 2017 that the number 2 team in the nation lost the UCFC to a team that was not only unranked, but which finished the year with a losing record.  These are two of the biggest upsets in UCFC history, and they both happened in the same year.  As a result of this game, Pitt took the UCFC.  Since the Panthers were not eligible for a bowl game, this was the last UCFC game of the 2017 season.  Alabama eventually beat Clemson and Georgia in the playoffs to win the National Title.

14.  On September 1, 2018, Pittsburgh beat Albany 33-7 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh to retain the UCFC.

15.  On September 8, 2018, Pittsburgh hosted No. 13 Penn State at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.  The Nittany Lions crushed Pittsburgh 51-6 to take the UCFC into the Big 10.

16.  On September 15, 2018, No. 11 Penn State beat Kent State 63-10 at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pa.

17.  On September 21, 2018, No. 10 Penn State beat Illinois 63-24 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill.

18.  On September 29, 2018, No. 9 Penn State hosted No. 4 Ohio State at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pa.  A crowd of 110,889 showed up to watch, which was the largest crowd in the history of the Stadium.  ESPN was there for College GameDay.  It was a spectacular game.  With 8 minutes left, Penn State led 26-14.  But OSU quarterback Dwayne Haskins hurled a 47-yard touchdown pass to make the score 26-21 with 6:42 left.  Then Haskins got the ball back at his own 4 with 4:35 left.  He drove the Buckeyes 96 yards, capping off the drive with a 24-yard touchdown pass with 2:03 left.  Down 27-26, PSU tried to answer, but the Nittany Lions were stopped on 4th and 5 at the OSU 43, and the Buckeyes had taken the UCFC.

19.  On October 6, 2018, No. 3 Ohio State beat Indiana 49-26 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

20.  On October 13, 2018, No. 3 Ohio State beat Minnesota 30-14 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

21.  On October 20, 2018, No. 3 Ohio State went to Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind. for a game against a Purdue team that had started the year 0-3.  But the Boilermakers were now 3-3, and in an emotional game, the Boilermakers delivered a stunning upset for Tyler Trent -- a Purdue student who was dying of bone cancer.  Purdue rolled over OSU by the amazing score of 49-20, and Purdue took the UCFC.

22.  On October 27, 2018, Purdue traveled to Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich. for a game with Michigan State.  In a hard-fought defensive struggle, the Spartans knocked off Purdue 23-13, and took the UCFC.

23.  On November 3, 2018, Michigan State beat Maryland 24-3 at Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md.  With the victory, the Spartans moved to 6-3 on the year.

24.  On November 10, 2018, Michigan State hosted No. 8 Ohio State at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich.  For the second time in the year, OSU took the UCFC in a road game -- rolling over the Spartans 26-6 in front of 74,633 fans.

25.  On November 17, 2018, No. 9 Ohio State traveled to Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md. to play the Maryland Terrapins.  It was the second time in three weeks that Maryland had hosted the UCFC, and this time the Terrapins really put on a show.  Maryland led for most of the game, and led by 45-38 with 1:41 left in the fourth quarter.  Once again, Dwayne Haskins led OSU to a comeback victory.  First, he sparked a touchdown drive that tied the game a 45 and sent both teams to overtime.  Then he scored a TD in overtime to make the score 52-45.  Maryland scored to cut OSU's lead to one, and then went for the victory with a two-point conversion.  They did not make it, and the Buckeyes escaped with a 52-51 victory.  This game ended up being very important, as it effectively killed OSU's chances of making the year-end playoff.  However, OSU still had the UCFC.

26.  On November 24, 2018, No. 10 Ohio State hosted No. 4 Michigan at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.  Both teams were 10-1, and a huge crowd of 106,588 showed up for the Game of the Year in the Midwest.  Of course, College GameDay was also there.  In the last-ever meeting between Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh, Meyer came out on top once again -- crushing the Wolverines 62-39.

27.  On December 1, 2018, No. 6 Ohio State beat No. 21 Northwestern 45-24 in the Big Ten Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind.  In my opinion, OSU should have gotten into the playoff.  But their terrible loss at Purdue, and their terrible win at Maryland, sunk their chances, and they were left out.  Clemson rolled through the playoffs with easy wins over Notre Dame and Alabama to take their second title in the last three years.  Ohio State went to the Rose Bowl.

28.  On January 1, 2019, No. 5 Ohio State beat No. 9 Washington 28-23 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.  The game wasn't actually that close.  OSU led 28-3 midway through the third quarter, and were up 28-17 with less than a minute to go.  Washington got a touchdown with 42 seconds left that didn't make much of a difference to the outcome, but makes the score look better in the record books.

That Rose Bowl was Urban Meyer's last game as coach of the Buckeyes.  In seven years at Columbus, his record was 83-9.  His record in the Big 10 was 54-4.  He went 7-0 against Michigan.  Personally, I think he's the best coach Ohio State ever had -- just as I think he was the best coach Florida ever had.

The Rose Bowl was also Dwayne Haskins's last game as quarterback for the Buckeyes.  In one year as the starter, he went 13-1 with 50 touchdown passes and only 8 interceptions.  He completed 70 percent of his passes and threw for 4,831 yards.  He will be missed.

But the UCFC goes on.  At noon Eastern Daylight Time on August 31, 2019, the Buckeyes will defend the UCFC at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio against the Florida Atlantic Owls.  We will see what happens.