The game’s two high-profile stars, Newton and
the Ducks’ LaMichael James, turned in somewhat
muted performances. James scored once for
Oregon, but once for Auburn, too, when he was
thrown for a safety. Newton, the poster child for
cynics and supporters alike for everything good
and bad about big-time intercollegiate athletics,
was efficient enough (20 of 34 for 265 yards and
2 touchdowns, with a fumble and interception)
but hardly the robust game changer who won
the Heisman Trophy.
His father, a target of an N.C.A.A investigation
over a pay-for-play scheme during Newton ’s
recruitment by Mississippi State, has been kept at
a distance by Auburn.
Cynicism can be all-consuming when you look at
the periphery of big-time college sports. Listen to
all the stories about the process by which athletes
are recruited, bought and sold; the camps; the
recruiting services; the questionable connections
and deals; the money changing hands, just to
achieve a golden championship moment or a
winning season.
Auburn has its big-time booster, Bobby Lowder,
and Oregon has Phil Knight, the Nike co-founder
who has turned Oregon into so many Nike
mannequins and walking billboards.
The Ducks apparently have as many as 100
uniform combinations they can throw at the
opposition, including Monday ’s Halloween
costumes.
It’s easy to become cynical. But each year at
these championship games, there is a sliver of
salvation that re-energizes faith in the pure joy of
competition.
A player, unknown before the game, makes a
game-changing play that saves the day. What is
gratifying is not so much the play but the player ’s
reaction to making the play.
Last year, Alabama defensive lineman Marcell
Dareus made two key plays that provided the
Crimson Tide ’s golden moment.
On Monday it was Michael Dyer, Auburn’s 5-
foot-9 freshman running back, who helped
secure Auburn ’s national championship.
This time last season, Dyer was a senior at Little
Rock Christian Academy watching this very game
and looking forward to someday playing for a
national championship.
Little did Dyer know this would be the year when
fate tapped him on the shoulder and said, “It’s
you.”
In the fourth quarter, with the game tied at 19-19,
Dyer took a handoff from Newton, raced through
the line and appeared to be stopped. In a frozen
split second that added to the surreal nature of
the night, players just stood and looked at one
another.
No whistle sounded, and at the urging of the
Auburn sideline, Dyer took off again and
completed a 37-yard run that led to Wes Byrum’s
decisive 19-yard field goal.
As he stood on the field afterward, with confetti
and hugs all around him, Dyer, practically
hyperventilating, speaking breathlessly, told and
retold the story of his improbable run.
“I had no idea; I didn’t know if I was down, if the
whistle was blown or miscommunication,” he
said. “I just knew there was no whistle blown, so
I just kept on running. I heard a lot of voices —
even the crowd was saying, ‘Go, go.’ ”
Dyer had not played the first quarter and was
growing frustrated. When he finally got a chance,
Dyer turned in a night to remember. He finished
with 143 yards on 22 carries.
“In high school, I had a couple plays like that; I
rolled over,” Dyer said. “It was freshman year in
high school. The first play I ever did was kind of
just like that, but I actually scored that time. ”
These moments are college football’s saving
grace, the unabashed enthusiasm of young
players, the sense of wonderment as big-time
college games become bigger and bigger
business and the recruiting trade in young supple
bodies becomes more cynical.
Another college season is over. All I can say is
thank goodness for Michael Dyer.
Source: Http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/sports/ncaafootball/12rhoden.html?src=twrhp
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