Gridiron Goings-On

And so with the Las Vegas Bowl victory on 12/27/24 against Texas A&M University, the USC Trojans football season mercifully comes to an end.  At 7-6 and while this would technically be a winning record, there’s not much to cheer here as far as the overall 2024 season goes.  Had USC performed better this season on the football field, I might have written about the season more.  As it stands, the overall season was a disappointment.  Does Coach Lincoln Riley get fired or bought out during this coming off-season?  Who knows?  Does USC still have big shoes to fill at the quarterback position or is Jayden Maiava the choice going into the 2025 season?  Again, who knows?  Miller Moss won’t be back, that’s for certain. 

I didn’t watch the Las Vegas Bowl this year.  I just tracked the score online and in the end, I fell asleep at around half time.  I only knew of the game’s outcome when the following morning, I received a text from Linda, who effectively congratulated me on the win.  I saw the game’s highlights on YouTube and I must say, I was very proud with the way that USC fought back and overcame a 17-point deficit to come out with the win.  Down 24-7, one tends to become quite pessimistic when you’re on the losing end of that kind of score.  But as we Trojans do, we fought back when the odds and score were against us, ultimately pulling out the 4-point victory in the closing seconds of the game and clinching a winning season, at least mathematically.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’ll take a winning season, especially when one of those seven wins comes against UCLA, but outside of that 7-6 record, there’s not much winning there to celebrate.  I don’t even know if we solve the University of Notre Dame, our other rival, next season, but I figure, USC has more pressing issues to address and overcome than beating Notre Dame.  As it stands, the college football season is over, at least, it’s over for me. 

Now, I’ll focus a bit on the NFL season and see if the Cincinnati Bengals can sneak into the post-season.  Yesterday’s Cincinnati 30-24 overtime win over the Denver Broncos helps, but we’re not done.  Things will come into focus next weekend.  I remain hopeful, but cautious.  It’s a damn shame that the Bengals got off to that horrendously slow start when the season started.  Things going into Week 18 might have been vastly different.  But as it stands, here we are, hoping and praying for certain things to happen, things that are out of Cincinnati’s control.   

Football.  What a game.  At the very least, it’s a distraction from what is truly my dull and mundane life.