TiVo Blogging the MAC title game
This is not a liveblog — I worked during the game — but rather a TiVo-Blog. I doubt that’s groundbreaking. But who cares.

• My first gripe comes before the game even starts. The guide says the game starts at 7:30 p.m. But it’s 7:38 (TiVo-time) and the announcers (Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit) are still talking. The kickoff finally comes at 7:46.

First Quarter

• Central Michigan QB Dan LeFevour gets the ball first. The MAC Freshman of the Year leads the Chippewas to a 3-and-out. One thing immediately noticeable is the fact that the game is at a neutral site, though one has to imagine the Chippewas have the advantage. Up until a few years ago, the game was hosted by one of the division winners. I assume moving the game to Ford Field was a financial one, but the atmosphere is somewhat lacking. There are more empty seats than at the end of a Lions game.

• Kalvin McRae, Ohio’s running back who is the leading force on offense, looks outstanding on his first few runs, but Ohio quarterback Austin Everson misses a wide-open receiver, and it leads to a Bobcat punt.

• The announcers talk a great deal early on about Central Michigan coach Brian Kelly making a jump to a bigger school. Quarterbacks aren’t the only ones that benefit from the MAC’s success. Just ask Urban Meyer and Terry Hoeppner.

• CMU strikes first, with LeFevour leading his team on a 7-play, 89 yard drive that finishes on a pass to Obed Cetoute. Cetoute caught the pass deep in the end zone, but had possession and was inbounds. Replay confirms it. (Why do college officials use that word?). LeFevour was 5-5 on the drive with his passes. Honestly, for a freshman, he’s downright scary.

• Ohio’s offense doesn’t appear to be able to pass on the Chippewas. Ohio’s success this season have come from McRae, but even Frank Solich seems to know the Bobcats can’t go to him every time, something some MAC teams have done in the past. Still, it needs to show it can complete passes to make sure teams don’t key in on McRae (Yes, I’m writing obvious analysis in present tense after the game is over. Any problems? Good).

• Between the new college clock rules and fast forwarding through commercials, this game is flying by.

Second quarter

• A bad punt gives the Bobcats terrific field position at CMU’s 32. And Ohio has a new quarterback. Not sure if it’s injury-related, or if Frank Solich is channeling Whitey Herzog in the seventh game of the ’85 Series, and “seen enough.” (Note: It was an injury) The new quarterback is… (fighting urge to cheat and check stats)… oh, never mind. Touchdown McRae. Saved by the bell. It’s 7-7 with 11:10 to go in the half.

• ESPN’s 30/30 tells me Eva Longoria is engaged to Tony Parker. Think they’ll… oh wait, LeFevour finds Damien Linson for 71 yards (He finished with 186 receiving). Exciting. Back to Longoria and Parker. On one hand, it’s a bad sign not only for every man out there, but for the participants in this game. These guys give so much of their bodies, and their lives, and yet women like Longoria prefer French-born basketball players. What message does that send?

• Herbstreit says new Ohio QB Brad Bower “physically… has more to offer than Everson.” Boy, I bet Everson never gets tired of hearing that. Bower completes a pass for a first down, but receiver Chris Garrett fumbles the ball with 6:52 to go, and CMU recovers. With the way Ohio’s offense is, you had to figure a 2-score deficit might be too much to come back from. LeFevour (Man this kid is amazing. Over 300 yards passing when it’s done) takes off on a third and 12 for 38 yards, setting up a Chippewas’ field goal. I read the stats, which were pretty impressive, but this is the first time I’ve seen him play. He plays with a lot of poise, which means he could be a major force for three more years.

• Apparently MacGyver (or the guy that played him) graduated from OU. Wow. I have lived in this state 26 years and never knew that. I wonder if they have classes at Ohio University on how to turn broken shoelaces into explosive devices. Actually, I wonder more about whether they have acting classes.

• A touchdown pass from LeFevour to Cetoute (which would have pretty much iced the game) is nullified by a motion penalty with just over a minute left. That becomes important after LeFevour gets sacked by OU’s Jameson Hartke, then by Todd Koenig. It sets up a third and goal from the 33. Hmmm. Well, time for Kelly to reach into that third and forever playbook. May I suggest the Annexation of Puerto Rico? Oh wait, that was Little Giants. We don’t really get to see the play, as ESPN cuts back too late from a CMU commercial. I think it was pretty much a QB draw. The result is a missed fieild goal by Rick Albreski.

Third Quarter

• I assume many viewers tuned in now, after the killer 1-2 punch of My Name is Earl and The Office, the two funniest shows on TV. As for me? Let’s just say TiVo has helped me twice tonight. Just think, if I didn’t have TiVo, I wouldn’t watch nearly as much TV. Thank goodness for technology, finding new ways to keep me away from physical activity.

• ESPN 30/30 tells me Bud Selig wants to retire and write a book. I think it will be called How I Looked the Other Way During One of the Most Fraudulent Periods in baseball History.

• Ohio gets the ball first, using its running game from McRae and some nice runs and passes from Bower. It’s what OU has done well a lot this season: Controlling the ball and the clock. The drive soaks over seven minutes off the clock, and ends when kicker Matt Lasher kicks a 34-yard field goal, cutting the Chippewas’ lead to 17-10. It was probably Ohio’s best chance to get back into it, and settling for three just wasn’t enough. Credit CMU’s defense.

• ESPN is asking who the Heisman Trophy winner will be. I can answer that with two words: Troy Smith. So I pretty much agree with everyone else.

• LeFevour looks to answer, and leads CMU down the field. But he makes his first mistake of the night, and is intercepted by Michael Mitchell. This just got very interesting. Maybe not this TiVo-blog, but the game.

• And on the first play on the drive, Bower goes down, so we get to see Ohio’s third quarterback of the night — Josh Febus. A sophomore from Dublin, Ohio who hasn’t thrown a pass this year, Febus couldn’t have imagined being in a spot like this. It’s perhaps the major turning point in the game. Febus throws consecutive incompletions and the Bobcats punt with less than five minutes to go in the quarter. OU’s defense does its job, forcing a CMU punt.

• Ohio’s in a tough spot. It’s fighting for the game with a quarterback who has almost no college experience. It puts incredible pressure on Ohio’s defense, not just to stop CMU, but to force a turnover. Febus just doesn’t look ready to lead the team on a long drive.

• As it happens, LeFevour leads the Chippewas on a game-clinching drive, completing a screen to Ontario Sneed (does he hang with Mean Mr. Mustard?) for a TD.

• Bower comes back, giving Herbstreit an opportunity for the line of the night: “Brad Bower is going to need a Jack Bauer-effort.” As ABC officials run to the phone to complain about the cross-network promotion, I wonder if Herbstreit wants Bower to roughly interrogate Central Michigan, then expose a government coverup all while maintaining a strained relationship with his daughter.

• Down 14 points with 11 minutes left, Ohio abandons the run, which means using McRae almost exclusively as a receiver. Mike Ogle collects his seventh tackle, but it seems like his 18th. He’s been all over the place. On fourth and one from midfield, Solich (who Fowler says needs to avoid the option offense with “the next job in mind,”) goes for it, and gets it. Nine minutes remain. Now seven and a half remain, as Ohio isn’t showing much urgency. Bower is sacked on third and one, forcing a punt. The good news is the Bobcats down the punt at the four.

• Well, so much for that. Sneed (I promise no more Beatles references) takes off for a 96-yard score. Okay, it’s really over now.

• Still, I can’t help but wonder what might have happened had the Bobcats not lost their two best quarterbacks to injury (for two series). But it’s not like the season is over for Ohio. Unlike a few years ago, when MAC teams were guaranteed just one bowl game, the MAC has four.

Northern Illinois will play in the San Diego County Union Poinsettia Bowl (what?) Dec. 19 against TCU. Central Michigan has the Motor City Bowl (wasn’t the point for bowls to be in warm-weather areas?), Western Michigan has the International Bowl (played in Canada, but with a 100-yard field) and Ohio plays in the GMAC Bowl in Alabama. I suppose I could rant about there being too many bowls, but I guess it’s good for the MAC, so I’ll hold off.

• Central Michigan triumphs, 31-10. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that much of the attention from Herbstreit, Fowler and Erin Andrews (sideline reporter) after CMU had won its first MAC title since 1994 focused on why Kelly hadn’t been splashed by Gatorade.