Steve Brownlee

The Ohio State football team should be sending thank-you cards, a cake with scarlet-and-gray icing — heck, put some some maize-and-blue highlights on it, too — and whatever else seems appropriate to the Michigan Wolverines for spurring them on to win the national championship in college football earlier this week over Notre Dame.

The flag planting that took place immediately after U of M’s 13-10 big upset victory at Ohio Stadium certainly seems to have angered, embarrassed and generated whatever other emotions were needed to motivate the Buckeyes to go get the national title.

I started thinking about that after the Buckeyes defeated Texas for their second straight convincing victory in the playoffs, also their two games subsequent to the flop they registered vs. Michigan.

At that point, OSU looked liked the real juggernaut it was supposed to be at the beginning of the season back in August.

Just as I was about to write about this a couple days ago, an ESPN commentator — Trevor Matich — brought up the exact same point during a College Football GameDay or whatever they call the program on that cable TV network wrapping up the season.

I had to do some digging on his name, as I only heard the show host refer to him as “Trevor.” His Wikipedia website shows he was an offensive lineman, and in the NFL, specialized as a long snapper. And oddly enough, when they gave his birthdate, I discovered he is exactly — to the day — two months older than me.

So anyway, I wouldn’t have a problem if the pundits, or the players, or even U-M head coach Sherrone Moore, referred to the Ohio Stadium field as Ann Arbor South, considering who’s won The Big Game there the last two times it’s been played in Columbus.

But calling it that is a far cry from trying to rub the home team’s faces in their road victory in the seconds following the game. Remember that, edge rusher Derrick Moore, who is the Wolverine “credited” with the actual attempt at flag planting from what I could also find online.

As I mentioned in this column just after The Big Game, if you want to plant a flag, do it in front of your visitor’s locker room if all you want to do is feel good about yourself.

But the act sure seemed to spur the Buckeyes into action. I doubt head coach Ryan Day could’ve stirred up that hornet’s nest himself, otherwise he would’ve done it long before that day.

But I’ll give him credit for harnessing that energy and directing it into winning the title.

What might be the worst part of this whole escapade is if it would start a trend where Ohio State doesn’t care nearly as much about the Michigan game anymore, it just being looked on as a rivalry game at the end of the regular season along its quest to win national titles.

I kinda doubt that’s going to happen, at least not just because of this single episode, though.

In fact, it may make this rivalry more intense, if that’s possible, for a couple years down the line.

So with those comments, I’ll finally bid adieu to college football in my Armchair Quarterback PRO football picks column I’m supposed to be writing!

Let’s look at the NFL conference championship games this weekend:

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Sunday, 3 p.m.

NFC No. 6 seed Washington (14-5) at No. 2 Philadelphia (16-3); TV: Fox — I’ve been listening to various arguments by the talking heads, mostly on ESPN, with some doubt being cast on the team that should be favored, the Eagles, mainly due to injury concerns with quarterback Jalen Hurts.

The one argument that rings really hollow with me is that Washington looked so much better moving the ball compared to Philly in last weekend’s games.

Well, yeah, with the Lions’ decimated defense not able to offer enough resistance, plus the track they played on was perfect, playing indoors on artificial turf.

Meanwhile, the Eagles’ offense was playing against a rejuvenated L.A. Rams’ defense, and they were outdoors where you could see the snow building up between the yard lines. Imagine how much slush there was that you couldn’t even see on TV?

What tips it for me is that Philly has such a superior defense to Washington’s, so I’ll take the Eagles, 27-19.

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Sunday 6:30 p.m.

AFC No. 2 seed Buffalo (15-4) at No. 1 Kansas City (16-2); TV: CBS — A quick look at the weather forecast shows no rain — or snow — and highs in the mid-30s in Kansas City on Sunday, actually a nice January day in either of these teams’ hometowns.

Like just about any game nowadays, offenses get the lion’s share of attention, but the real differences here are the defenses, a lot like the NFC championship matchup.

While Buffalo has a bit more potent of an offense this season, I think there’s a bigger gulf between the Chiefs’ and Bills’ defenses.

That plus the Patrick Mahomes’ factor and playing in KC, I just have to take the Chiefs, 31-29.

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Last week — 2-2, 50 percent. Playoff total — 6-4, 60 percent.

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 552. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.