Overwhelming Consensus: Weekend in Review, By Coby DuBose, 12/20/05

College football on a Friday night is always a treat. When it occurs on a championship platform, its even better. While Division I-AA athletes may not get any of the glory of their I-A counterparts, their games are often more intertaining and the passion with which they play is certainly up to par with any level of football. The Mountaineers of Appalachian State deated Northern Iowa's Panthers in Friday night's championship game, behind some big defensive plays and a poised offense. The title marked the schools first, and is sure to propel the football program to continued success. While this great game may not have gotten the headlines of the weekend, it was a nice way to kickoff three days full of football.

The Panthers recieved some help from the New England Patriots as they knocked off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in impressive fashion. The Pats appeared to be in Super Bowl form, as they overwhelmed Chris Simms and moved the ball up and down the field. The return of Teddy Bruschi seems to have come full circle, as his leadership and toughness brought back the swagger to the World Champions.

I once knew a Dallas Cowboys fan who liked Charlie Waters, worshipped Jay Novacek, and loved Troy Aikman. That woman is my grandmother. As it stands today however, her ankles should be sufficiently sore as she has jumped right off of the Cowboys' bandwagon and onto that of the Indianapolis Colts. Beffudled by her ignorance and arrogance, I asked her if the Colts would go undefeated. She assured me that they would and added that the Cowboys would beat the Redskins. 0-2, Babob. The Colts can be commended for the fact that they played their players, but were simply beaten by a well-oiled machine when San Diego came to town. We can all thank Tony Dungy for giving history a hard right cross, however. Beyond his willingness to keep the integrity of the league in tact, he can be thanked for saving sports fans from having to hear talking heads speak of "what might have been?". One can only imagine the sports talk shows and opinion columns who would have almost certainly wondered if the Colts could have gone undefeated had they played their starters.

While the Colts are to be commended, the Dallas Cowboys should receieve a firm boot to the rear from their fans and anyone else who was forced to sit through their football "game" against the Cowboys on Sunday.

Sunday culminated with an embarrasing loss for the Atlanta Falcons in Chicago, as Brian Urlacher and the Bears sent Michael Vick packing for warmer weather and happier days. His numbers were atrocious, and the Falcons looked like a team that simply did not want to be there. Rex Grossman's emergence in the second half is something that was certainly impressive and encouraging to Lovie Smith. If Grossman can build upon his performance against the Falcons, the Bears could once again claim a place among the NFC's contenders.

Brett Favre's Monday Night Football performance left much to be desired. Praised for his primetime play in his career, Favre was unable to overcome the relentless Ravens' defense and continued what could be described as a nightmare season. To top it all off, the lone bright spot for the Pack, Samkon Gado, was injured in the 3rd quarter. Here's to hoping the Green Bay coaching staff has seen enough good out of Gado to keep him around next season.

The NFL had center stage this weekend and did not disappoint. While the primetime games were somewhat undesirable, Saturday's action and Sunday's surprises were interesting to both the casual observer and the ardent football fanatic.