The Week That Was | College Football Playoffs Recap & Remembering Head Coach Bill McCartney | NFL Wild Card Preview | Rashad's 1st Annual All-NFL Team & Regular Season NFL Awards

The National Championship Game for the College Football Season is all set for January 20th as the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame will play the Buckeyes of Ohio State. First and Foremost, the Irish showed their resiliency and resourcefulness by coming back from behind trailing 10-0 to the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl in the College Football Playoff Semifinal. Before halftime, Quarterback Steve Angeli of Notre Dame provided a much needed spark for the Irish due to starting quarterback Riley Leonard coming out of the game during the first half because an injury to his concussion he had suffered so he was in protocol.

Angeli led the rest of the offensive drive completing a 13-play,52-yard drive resulting in a 41-yard field goal by Kicker Mitch Jeter to cut the lead to 10-3 at halftime. Then in the second half, the Irish's resiliency continued when the offense scored with a 3-yard touchdown run by Quarterback Riley Leonard who would return from his concussion protocol now the game was tied at 10-10. Then in the 4th quarter, Running Back Jeremiyah Love scored on a tough short yardage touchdown to give the Irish a 17-10 lead completing a 10-play,71-yard drive. Now the pressure was back on the Nittany Lions and they was able to able to respond with 2 touchdown drives of their own when Running Back Nicholas Singleton of Penn State scored 2 7-yard touchdown runs to give the Nittany Lions a 24-17 lead. It was a back and forth seesaw affair that would result in an instant classic when Quarterback Riley Leonard threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Wide Receiver Jaden Greathouse to tie the game at 24. Late in the 4th quarter the defense of The Fighting Irish made a big play when Cornerback Christian Gray made a big interception off of Quarterback Drew Allar of Penn State to give the Notre Dame offense a short field to operate for the game winning field goal by Kicker Mitch Jeter from 41 yards with 0:07 to go.

Next it was the Ohio State Buckeyes looking forward to continue their revenge tour against the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl. It was a match up where Texas had plenty of opportunities to win the game but was unable to do it. The biggest and turning point of the game was before halftime with the score tied at 7,the Buckeyes offense led by Quarterback Will Howard of Ohio State threw a simple screen pass to Running Back Treveyon Henderson resulting in a 75-yard touchdown with 0:13 to go in the first half. The Texas defense was unable to make a play and prevent that touchdown from occurring. The score was 14-7 at halftime. In the second half, Quarterback Quinn Ewers of Texas threw his second touchdown pass to Running Back Jaden Blue from 26 yards out to tie the game at 14 which would be the only points scored in the third quarter. The 4th quarter began so the Ohio State Buckeyes offense led a time-consuming 13-play,88-yard drive resulting in a one-yard touchdown run by Running Back Quinshon Judkins to give the Buckeyes a 21-14 lead. The big turning point in the game was when the Texas offense had the ball deep in the Ohio State territory and Defensive End Jack Sawyer did the hat trick when he sacked Quinn Ewers forced a fumble and recovered the fumble to score a game sealing touchdown from 83 yards to make it a 28-14 lead. That was the biggest play of the game because the Texas offense had a big opportunity to tie the game at 21 but in the nick of time, Sawyer made a monumental play to preserve the win for the Buckeyes.

There was sad news in the College Football world where Head Coach Bill McCartney of the Colorado Buffaloes passed away at the age of 84. McCartney was the greatest coach ever at Colorado who built the program to unprecedented heights during the mid to late part of the 80s into the early to mid 90s. During his tenure at Colorado, the Buffaloes could have won 2 national championships in a row but only won one in 1990 beating Notre Dame by score of 10-9. The year before in 1989 Colorado lost 21-6 to the Irish of Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. McCartney coached a pipeline of talent like Quarterback Darian Hagan, Running Back Eric Bieniemy, Quarterback Charles Johnson, Linebacker Chad Brown, Greg Biekert, Alfred Williams, Deon Figures, Kanavis McGhee, Kordell Stewart, Michael Westbrook and Heisman Trophy Winner Running Back Rashaan Salaam and countless talented players he coached. Outside of coaching players,McCartney was able to groom and mentor the next wave of coaches like Ron Dickerson,Gary Barnett,Rick Neuheisel,and countless others. Overall Bill McCartney was the winningest head coach at Colorado putting the program on the map as a national powerhouse to national champions. His record was 93-55-5 in 13 seasons at Colorado.

In the NBA the game that stood out was the Oklahoma City Thunder who had a 15-game winning streak against the Cleveland Cavaliers who had a 10-game winning streak faced each other in Cleveland which may possibly be a NBA Finals Preview. Cleveland prevailed by score of 129-122 to increase their record at 32-4. Oklahoma City Thunder had their 15-game winning streak snapped as the catalyst for the Cleveland Cavaliers was Jarrett Allen who had 25 points and Evan Mobley had 21 points. The Cleveland Cavaliers is 11-0 against the Western Conference.

The National Football League Regular Season is finally over and finished and the one game that was the game of the week was between the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions where there was a lot on the line such as the #1 seed and the division. The Detroit Lions won by a landslide winning by score of 31-9 led by the dynamic performance of Running Back Jahmyr Gibbs of Detroit Lions who ran for 139 yards on 23 carries and scored 3 touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass. The defense of The Lions kept the vaunted offense of Minnesota out of the end zone to only 3 field goals. Now the Lions have the top seed in the NFC.

Offensive Player of The Week:

Running Back Jahmyr Gibbs of Detroit Lions against the Minnesota Vikings

23 carries,139 yards & 3 touchdowns

Defensive Player of The Week:

Linebacker YaYa Diaby of Tampa Bay Buccaneers

5 tackles with 4 for loss and a sack against the New Orleans Saints.

Moving forward to the Wild Card Preview and Predictions on Saturday the Los Angeles Chargers will play on the road against the Houston Texans. The Chargers led by Quarterback Justin Herbert who threw 23 touchdown passes and only 3 interceptions. Defensively the Chargers improved to leading the league in scoring defense only allowing 17.7 points per game which from a franchise standpoint is the best since 1963. Quarterback CJ Stroud of the Houston Texans has been sacked 52 times this year so keep eyes on Khalil Mack and the pass rushers to drive Stroud batty also keep eyes on Safety Derwin James. I like the Chargers to be the only road team to win during Wild Card Weekend by score of 20-17.

The Ravens/Steelers rivalry is renewed but the Steelers are playing poorly heading into the playoffs losing 4 consecutive games. The Ravens will not have Wide Receiver Zay Flowers due to an knee injury but Bateman, Andrews, Likely and definitely Running Back Derrick Henry should be enough for Quarterback Lamar Jackson to get it done against the Ravens: 30-16.

On Sunday the Buffalo Bills will host the Denver Broncos where the Bills Josh Allen should be too much for the Broncos defense especially the dynamic equal opportunity offense should lead them to victory: 38-17.

The Packers/Eagles tilt may be the best of the week as a toss up where the Eagles Quarterback Jalen Hurts is back from concussion protocol which leads to how will he play in this magnitude of a playoff only time will tell obviously Running Back Saquon Barkley who had an excellent regular season should dominate behind one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. The Packers will not have Wide Receiver Christian Watson due to injury which may compromise the passing game for Quarterback Jordan Love so the Eagles win 27-20.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers faces the Washington Commanders which is sort of a toss up game to say the least. I love the Baker Mayfield/Mike Evans combo. Evans who tied Jerry Rice for the most 1,000 yards receiving for 11 straight seasons will be a handful for the Commanders secondary. Quarterback Jayden Daniels of Washington is a rookie sensation who will be effective but the Buccaneers will pull it out: 30-27.

Finally, on Monday night, the Minnesota Vikings will take on the Los Angeles Rams in Glendale, Arizona due to the unfortunate wildfires in the Los Angeles California area. The game has been moved to a neutral field. The Rams have an experience on how to win in the playoffs like Head Coach Sean McVay who won a Super Bowl along with Quarterback Matthew Stafford especially Wide Receiver Cooper Kupp, the Rams should win on the experience factor plus Quarterback Sam Darnold of The Minnesota Vikings will be tested in the postseason in terms of his performance because a week ago against the Lions defense, Darnold only threw for 166 yards no touchdown passes. He has to play better but overall the Rams should advance winning by score of 28-21.

Rashad Mitchell's 1st Annual All-NFL Team

Offense:

Quarterback Josh Allen Buffalo Bills

Running Back Saquon Barkley Philadelphia Eagles

Fullback Patrick Ricard Baltimore Ravens

Wide Receiver Ja'marr Chase Cincinnati Bengals

Wide Receiver Justin Jefferson Minnesota Vikings

Tight End Brock Bowers Las Vegas Raiders

Left Tackle Tristan Wirfs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Left Guard Joe Thuney Kansas City Chiefs

Center Creed Humphrey Kansas City Chiefs

Right Guard Quinn Meinerz Denver Broncos

Right Tackle Lane Johnson Philadelphia Eagles

Defense:

Defensive End Trey Hendrickson Cincinnati Bengals

Defensive Tackle Chris Jones Kansas City Chiefs

Linebacker Zach Baun Philadelphia Eagles

Defensive Back Partick Surtain II Denver Broncos

Safety Kerby Joseph Detroit Lions

Special Teams:

Place Kicker Chris Boswell Pittsburgh Steelers

Punter Jack Fox Detroit Lions

Kick Returner Kavontae Turpin Dallas Cowboys

Punt Returner Marvin Sims Jr Denver Broncos

Special Teamer Brenden Schooler New England Patriots

Long Snapper Angelo Depaola Minnesota Vikings

Rashad Mitchell's Regular Season NFL Awards:

MVP: Quarterback Josh Allen- Buffalo Bills

Runningback of the Year: Running Back Saquon Barkley- Philadelphia Eagles

Wide Receiver of the Year: Ja'marr Chase- Cincinnati Bengals

Fullback of The Year: Patrick Ricard- Baltimore Ravens

Tight End of The Year: Brock Bowers- Las Vegas Raiders

Offensive Lineman of The Year: Lane Johnson- Philadelphia Eagles

Defensive Player of The Year: Partick Surtain II- Denver Broncos

Comeback Player of The Year: Quarterback Sam Darnold- Minnesota Vikings

Coach of The Year: Dan Campbell- Detroit Lions

Team of the Year: Kansas City Chiefs