Greatest two point conversion ever.

Sorry to keep stressing the fun factor, but we all need it with the country and the world going completely to hell day by day.

Many, many close games, overtimes, and dazzling plays. We’ll begin with the important games.

Harvard played frequent Nemesis Holy Cross, who insisted on remaining tied with the Crimson, touchdown for touchdown, throughout the regulation 60 minutes. So they started playing overtime. Unfortunately, the Harvard field goal kicker, Thurston Howell IV, was back in Cambridge nursing a painful gouty toe, so their strategy had to be touchdowns, one of which they scored in each of the three overtime periods. Holy Cross did the same for two of the three. It wasn’t enough. Must have been kind of thrilling to watch. (Side note. Penn-Dartmouth played out exactly the same way. No one has field goal kickers anymore?)

Rutgers played the SMU Mustangs and twice opened up three touchdown leads. But head coach Kyle Flood, like Greg Schiano before him, is smarter than the average bear. When you have a three touchdown lead in the middle of the third quarter, what you do is sit on that lead, no matter what. Run the ball, run the ball, and when it’s third and long, run the ball. When the other team scores, you stick to your guns and run the ball. Why SMU managed to tie the game in the closing seconds of regulation with the greatest two-point conversion in the history of college football: two yards gained on a desperation 40 yard pass to a truly gifted wide receiver. After that it was just a repeat of the Harvard-Holy Cross game. Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights overcame their abysmal coaching to win in the end. It was too nerve wracking to watch except on the ESPN zipper.

Ohio State played Northwestern. The Wildcats were inspired. My wife loved their new helmets. Me not so much. I have nothing against Northwestern but Michael Wilbon, although I resented having to stay up way past my bedtime for the Buckeyes to rally late in the fourth quarter for a win that was way closer than the final score. A great football game. I agree with what the Wildcat coach said after the game. “Those guys getting on the bus back to Columbus know they were in a fight tonight with my guys.”

In less important games, Georgia squeaked by a valiant Tennessee team in overtime, when a too ardent running back trying to push the ball past the goal line fumbled it into the end zone for a touchback. Georgia field goal. Game over.

Indiana beat Penn State for the first time EVER. Doesn’t seem possible such a record could still exist. Well, it doesn’t any longer.

Notre Dame, wearing the cheapest, tartiest uniforms in their once dignified history, defeated the team that annihilated USC last week. They didn’t even need overtime to do it. Hmmmmph. Credit where credit is due. But the bright green shoes and the helmets with mirror shamrocks got to go.

And Navy and The Air Force defied Obama by playing a game, thanks to a special dispensation granted by the SecDef. I think Navy won.

All I’m saying is that in the constant hunt for distractions, college football is still a winning proposition. People actually trying, risking life and limb for something as intangible as victory. If you think about it, it’s kind of inspiring.

btw, if you’ve been daunted by all the “danger” talk about football, this is required reading. I’ll give you one teaser paragraph, but by all means read it all. Should adjust your perspective.

One thousand times more Americans die from swimming than from football hits. Last year, skateboarding collisions killed 15 times as many Americans as football collisions did. About twelve times as many people die annually from crashes on the ski slopes than die from crashes on the gridiron. If you’re wearing a Riddell or Schutt helmet when you die, the Drudge Report surely will highlight your passing. If you’re not wearing a helmet in a fatal riding or skiing crash, Matt Drudge probably won’t notice. The war on football is as much a clash between perception and reality as anything else.