A few brief thoughts, College Division

 (In which the Blob opines on Michigan beating Alabama in a Rose Bowl worthy of its distant descendants, and Washington beating Texas in the Sugar Bowl despite trying its darnedest to give it away at the end)

1. Tell me again why Michael Penix Jr. isn't at the top of the quarterback draft board, and Caleb Williams and some guy from North Carolina are. Guy throws darts. Laser-guided darts. Best pro prospect in the country.

2/ Blake Corum's touchdown run in overtime is going straight to the top of every Rose Bowl  montage from here on out. He was not gonna stay out of the end zone on that play. He just wasn't.

3. Alabama shoulda been flagged for egregious use of a timeout at the end of overtime. You delayed the deciding moment to basically call a quarterback keeper into the teeth of the Michigan defense? (And, yes, I know, a 'Bama guy botched his assignment on the play). That was the best Nick Saban could come up with?

4. Somewhere last night there were about ten NFL quarterbacks wondering why they couldn't have nice things -- i.e., wide receivers -- like Penix has.

5. Michigan got fat on a lot of kibble this fall in a kibble-y Big Ten, but down at the end, after 'Bama had dominated the second half, the Wolverines made the plays they had to make to win it. That said something about them.

6. Yeah, the SEC also-rans beat up on the Big Ten also-rans in the bowls. But in the end, the Big Ten won the only head-to-head that mattered. So there.

7. Two national semifinals, two games that came down to one last stop. Hell of a day for the CFP.

8. In a battle of two elite programs that get the sort of linemen who make them elite, Michigan won up front. 'Bama wasn't able to bully the Wolverines on the line of scrimmage the way it does almost everyone else; in fact, Michigan's defensive front bullied the Tide. Must have come as a shock.

9. "Now THAT'S football by God." (Bo and Woody in heaven, watching a Rose Bowl dominated by the run game and defense)

And last but not least ...

10. /After all that, the national championship is just another Big Ten game.