FROM THE REAL ART SPORTS DESK
FOOTBALL HELL, FOOTBALL HEAVEN

First, some football hell. From the AP via ESPN:

Texas A&M runs down Texas to snap 6-game series skid

Stephen McGee had taken so many hard hits, he was throwing up. But yard by yard, McGee and the Texas A&M Aggies were pounding out six years of frustration in their rivalry with Texas.

With a stingy defense and two long scoring drives in the first and fourth quarters, the Aggies finally got past the Longhorns with a 12-7 victory Friday that they hope signals their return to prominence in the Big 12.

McGee, battered by the heat and the beating he was taking while running the option, punched in the winning touchdown with an 8-yard run with 2:32 to play.

Click here for the rest.

Needless to say, I'm so thoroughly horrified and disgusted that I don't even really want to be making this post. But I do have a couple of thoughts. First, when all is said and done I think this devastating loss comes down to Colt McCoy's neck injury that he got in the K-State game. He was underthrowing all over the place, obviously less than 100%. Second, we would have won if not for that bogus pass interference call against Sweed--as the announcers observed, both receiver and defender were all over each other which should have made for offsetting penalties, but didn't for some reason.

Now I've got to cheer on Oklahoma State if we're going to make it to the Big 12 Championship game. Damn it!

Now some football heaven. Again from the AP via ESPN:

No. 9 LSU ends No. 5 Arkansas' national title hopes

JaMarcus Russell and LSU cleared another contender from the national title picture and just might have added one more big game to their already brutal road schedule -- this time in the BCS.

The Tigers will gladly accept a trip like that, and after taking out No. 5 Arkansas, they feel they have a pretty good resume.

Russell threw for 210 yards and two touchdowns, and No. 9 LSU held off the SEC West champion Razorbacks 31-26 on Friday.

"I think we've made a case for the BCS certainly and we've made a case that maybe we're one of the best teams in this conference," Tigers coach Les Miles said. "If you were picking the best team, we'd have something to talk about it."

Click here for the rest.

Needless to say, after drinking from the bitter, bitter, bitter cup of loss-to-Aggies, I wasn't in the mood for more college football. But I did click this one on at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and I'm glad I did. The Tigers played magnificently; the kickoff return for seven points was, of course, great fun, but Russell's fourth quarter leadership made me feel like I was watching a champion team. They were that good. I think they really do have a shot at one of those BCS at-large slots. After all, the SEC is most likely the toughest conference in the country, and LSU came out looking pretty darned good now that the regular season has ended--I mean, come on, they just knocked off their division's champ!

Anyway, in case you're wondering, the LSU win did not make me feel much better about losing to Texas A&M.

Anyway, go Cowboys!

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