Johnny Football Is The Truth, What More Can I say

Johnny Football came, he saw, and he ran riot all over SEC defenses for two seasons to the tune of 9989 total yards and 93 touchdowns. He’s been a one man show for two seasons and he put Texas A&M on the map with his great athletic ability and Texas like showmanship every Saturday for college football fans across America to see. And his last performance in the Chick-Fil-A bowl against Duke capped off one of the greatest college careers ever. 

ACC runner-up Duke came into this game with nothing to lose and nothing to prove, they had a great season and they deserved to playing against a really good football team.

Texas A&M on the other hand had a fairly good season and finish their season 8-4 in the always incredibly difficult SEC. This match up was definitely not David vs. Goliath by any stretch of the imagination, and with Duke’s play this season it was tailor-made to be a great ACC vs. SEC preview to the National Championship game on Monday. 

The first 30 minutes did not start out how Texas A&M envisioned with their defense looking absolutely horrendous in the first half. The Blue Devils offense looked more like the Texas A&M offense we’ve come accustomed to seeing with Johnny Football behind center, and the Blue Devils scored on 5 straight possessions to take a 38-17 half time lead. 

Right before the half the Blue Devils had so much momentum and confidence in everything they were doing that they went for an onside kick and recovered it. They managed to get all the way down to the one but had to settle for three points, that missed for points would come back to haunt them. 

Down 21 points at half-time and with their defense looking very pedestrian, Kevin Sumlin had to rally his troops and get them ready to go out in the second half and give Manziel and the offense an opportunity to bring the Aggies back. His defense showed up, and in a big way.

In the post game press conference Manziel said during half time he told all the players to not look at the scoreboard, the scoreboard did not matter. If they looked at the scoreboard they might as well not come back on the field with him. 

The heart of a competitor and a wining mentality does not show up in a box score or on a stat sheet, and the Aggies second half performance showed they were behind their quarterback and were ready to send him off with a bang. 

Duke got the ball back after half and if they would have scored a touch down on that possession you had to figure the game would have been to far out of reach for even Manziel and Sumlin. But in their first two possessions the Blue Devils were unable to put any points on the board leaving hope for Johnny Manziel and his offense. 

The offense didn’t let them down scoring 14 points in the 3^rd quarter to only three points by Duke, including this absolutely insane high light reel escape and touch down pass from Manziel that basically embodies his career since he started playing college football.

With only 15 minutes left in his college football career, Manziel needed to come up big and so did his defense.

Manziel and the offense scored two more touchdowns in the 4^th quarter. Manziel scored on a 3-yard quarter back keeper to make the game 41-38 with 12:48 seconds left in the half. 

But Duke with their never say die attitude went on a 14 play drive, converting on multiple 3^rd downs, and David Reeves scored on a 21 yard play when he managed to keep his balance and tight-rope the sidelines masterfully and get the ball over the pylon while staying in bounds. 48-38 Duke with 5:44 left.

Aggies get the ball back and Manziel launches a 44-yard pass into the air in stride with Derel Walker to make the game within field goal range. The passes was pretty amazing and the entire possession on took 1:06 off the clock. 48-45 Duke. 

With the defense needing a stop to get Manziel the ball back one more time, they did the offense one better. Anthony Boone who had just as great a game as Manziel until the fourth quarter turned the ball over for the first time in the game and threw a pick six to Tony Hurd Jr. with less than 4 minutes lefts. 52-48 Texas A&M.

Duke got the ball back and being down by 4 points they knew a field goal would not cut it. The Duke offense that was having its way with the Aggies defense in the first half disappeared. The momentum had switched to the Aggies sidelines so Anthony Boone would have to take his team to the Promised Land on his back, and the young Aggies defense needed just one more stop. 

With 1:19 left in the 4^th, Boone was pressured and got hit while he was throwing resulting in another Aggies interception and effectively sealing the game for Kevin Sumlin’s team. 

It was an exciting game and Johnny Football was on the sidelines rallying the defense every time they were about to go on the field. He was a leader tonight and he showed the characteristics and on field ability that tells me he can get it done at the next level.

Manziel might be the most exciting college football player I have ever had the pleasure of watching, and he left College Station with highlight after highlight and maybe the best two joys of all: a win over Nick Saban and Alabama in their first season in the SEC, and an amazing comeback with in a bowl game against a very tough opponent. 

Now it’s on to the NFL for the Heisman Trophy winner. If he can be the same dynamic player we have all witnessed for the last two seasons, then I have no doubt he will be just fine in the NFL. 

And the legend of Johnny Football continues.