Did anyone else notice during halftime the Ohio State marching band playing “Anchors Aweigh?” A subtle hint perhaps that it’s time for Jim Tressel to ship out.

Jones, who led Hawaii to its first ever BCS game — where the Warriors got trounced by Georgia — is reportedly fed up with Hawaii’s lack of commitment to the football program and has been talking to SMU about their vacancy. Meanwhile, everyone on the island has been calling and writing letters to try and change his mind; even the governor has called to mediate a solution.

I didn’t realize that Hawaii was so starved for national attention that they’d drop everything in order to keep a coach from leaving a mediocre football program playing in a barely legitimate conference. I would have thought hosting the eighth season of The Real World would have been enough.

Even playing by Canadian rules, the Cardinals wouldn’t have had a chance against the Scarlet Knights, not with Ray Rice on the field. The dude ran for 280 yards and acored four touchdowns. (Imagine what his total would have been playing on a 110-yard field.) A 90-yard TD run at the beginning of the third quarter made the score 31-9 and that was, as they say in Canada, all she wrote.

It was fitting that ESPN put Canadian John Saunders in the booth to call the play-by-play, but Doug Flutie and Jessie Palmer should never be allowed anywhere near a live game broadcast. That was like listening to Beavis and Butthead for three hours. In fact, I think Beavis and Butthead would be superior color broadcasters for a football game.

Lame fat guy jokes aside, the Jayhawks won their first BCS bowl last beat, beating Virginia Tech 24-21 in the Orange Bowl. I’m sure I wasn”t alone in thinking Kansas was going to get its butt kicked in yet another BCS blowout, but instead we got a low-scoring game dominated by defense.

Or was it dominated by a lack of offense?

If the Hokies hadn’t tuned the ball over so many times and maybe run the ball a little more, the outcome of this game would surely have been different. The Jayhawks were pretty much stymied on offense and managed just a couple decent drives. The height of ineptitude came in the third quarter when they reached the VT one-yard line and then got backed up 30 yards on penalties. And then Todd Reesing threw an interception.

So congratulations on a 12-1 season and enjoy the free oranges, but let’s not go thinking Kansas is somehow a national powerhouse all of a sudden. Mangino is definitely not lobbying for a playoff system anytime soon.

Remember that Oklahoma fan who squashed the scrotum of some Texas fan earlier this year? I sure hope no one brings up that ass kicking OU received from West Virginia in this year’s Fiesta Bowl while he’s in earshot.

I’m sure a lot of critics and pundits out there will be second-guessing the Rose Bowl committee’s decision to invite Illinois to play in Pasadena following USC’s 49-17 rout yesterday, but it’s good to see that at least some traditions survive in this crazy, mixed up world of ours. The Granddaddy of all Bowl games is about more than winning and losing, you see, the annual meeting of Big 10 and Pac-10 football teams is a key part of what makes America great.

The grand panorama of our national fabric is made all the richer each year waking on New Year’s Day to see the Big 10 representative, fresh off a grueling and bone crushing schedule of smashmouth football, get its behind stomped by the “weaker” Pac-10 team that uses guile and speed and cunning to best the competition. The Rose Bowl is a chance for a bunch of corn-fed football fans and boosters from the Midwest to take a holiday to the coast, to marvel at the warm weather, and then have their hopes of victory crushed once again.

The cycle of life, you see, can’t be stopped by BCS computers and some notion of competitive pairings. The Rose Bowl serves as both a reward for the hard working farmers in America’s breadbasket, as well as reminder that the Left Coast will always reign supreme over the Midwest. To stand in the way of that tradition would be unpatriotic.

Maybe they don’t play defense in the WAC, or maybe they just don’t have defensive linemen the size of defensive linemen, because the Georgia Bulldogs pretty much had their way last night against the vaunted Warriors passing attack. (To be fair, Boise State beat Oklahoma last year, and we all know they don’t play much defense in the Big 12 either.)

The debate can still rage whether Colt Brennan is a better quarterback than Tim Tebow, but it’s clear Brennan is no competition when he spends most of the game picking himself up off the carpet. The Bulldogs manhandled the Hawaii line to get eight sacks on the Heisman Trophy candidate and otherwise cause general mayhem in the Warriors backfield.

Hawaii was supposedly coming to the Sugar Bowl to prove to the world they could stand toe-to-toe with the best in the country, but all they really showed was they have a long way to go before we have to take them — or any other WAC team — seriously. Maybe in the future they should schedule a game or two against teams from real conferences before taking a BCS slot away from a more deserving program that could maybe compete on the same field.

The new administration in Miami isn’t beholden to Cleo Lemon — or anyone else, for that matter — but I would guess Bill Parcells is looking more at a running back or maybe someone on defense to start his Dolphins rebuilding campaign. And with Marc Bulger and Gus Ferotte still on the roster, quarterback isn’t really a need for the St. Louis Rams. (What they lacked this season was a shaman or a healer to keep guys on the field.)

The Jets probably should be looking for a solution at quarterback, considering the oft injured Chad Pennington is close to being done and Kellen Clemens is a doubtful candidate for QB of the future. New York, though, never takes the player they should so I’m guessing they’ll pass on Ryan and draft an offensive lineman.

Oakland drafted their $31 million man last year and Kansas City says they’re sticking by Brodie Croyle (good luck with that), which is good news for the team that needs, needs, needs a quarterback: the Falcons.

Atlanta’s woes are many and deep, but whoever they find to coach the team (subliminal message: Mike Singletary) is going to need someone other than Joey Harrington or Chris Redman to start the reclamation effort. Ryan would be a good fit because he’s fairly mobile and can take a fair amount of punishment, and that offensive line isn’t getting better any time soon.

(Note to Arthur Blank: A personal check is fine. I figure you’re good for it.)

First up this afternoon is the Meineke Car Care Bowl pitting UConn against Wake Forest. Originally known as the Queen City Bowl and briefly called the Continental Tire Bowl, the muffler shop franchisor now ponies up about $1.5 million a year to tack its name on this contest. It might as well be named after something practical like auto repair — or maybe plumbing supplies — given the utilitarian nature of the competition.

The Huskies beat a ranked South Florida team and otherwise took care of business to finish with a 5-2 conference mark, though they lost the Big East title when they got whupped up on by West Virgina 66-21. The Deacons opened the season with two straight non-conference losses but had a successful run as a middle-of-the-pack ACC team.

I would recommend making a big pot of coffee and having a good book nearby if you’re planning to watch.

Next up on the schedule is the grand, old Liberty Bowl. Having been around since the Eisenhower administration, the game certainly does qualify as old, but the grandness loses some of its shine when you consider the full name of the contest, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. Then again, auto repair is one of those liberties we often take for granted in this country, so maybe it’s good we celebrate it each year with a football game between unranked, middle tier college teams.

Central Florida is representing Conference USA this year after staking a 7-1 record and beating Tulsa in the C-USA title game. They do have the NCAA rushing leader, Kevin Smith, on their side, so there’s that to watch for. On the other sideline Mississippi State makes its first bowl appearance since 2000 after going 4-4 in the SEC.

Yeah, I’m bored just writing this.

But all of that is just a precursor to tonight’s big action in the Alamo Bowl. Ah yes, the pageantry of Big 10 vs. Big 12, playing for the pride of America’s heartland. A game set on the majestic stage of San Antonio’s Alamodome against the backdrop of the beautiful River Walk where the margaritas flow like the mighty San Antonio River. And what a game of contrasts this will be.

The Penn State Nittany Lions had to travel more than 1,600 miles to get from Pennsylvania to the Lone Star state; Texas A&M has a 170-mile road trip. Joe Paterno is coaching his 500th game tonight; former assistant Gary Darnell is coaching his first and last game in place of Dennis Franchione. Both teams posted .500 conference records but the Aggies ended their season with a win over the hated Longhorns; Penn State lost their season finale to Michigan State.

The Alamo Bowl usually ends up being a decent game between closely-matched teams, and this one will probably follow that trend. A&M is coming off a big win over their in-state rival and Penn State is all fired up over Casketgate, so I would expect both teams to come out playing hard. The Aggies, though, are notorious for failure in bowl game situations while JoPa is 8-2 in post-season play since 1993, so I would have to give the edge here to the Nittany Lions.

Suggested viewing menu: Blended ritas for the ladies, nachos & cheese, and plenty of ice cold beer. This one could be going to overtime.

Even though the unsportsmanlike foul on Chris Jessie, who happens to be the stepson of Texas head coach Mack Brown, didn’t have any bearing on the outcome of the game, someone had to post a video and vent their frustration against the poor kid.

A little harsh would you say?