Johnny Football: Alone on Heisman Island

The Johnny Football Show rolled on in the season finale at Texas A&M, but not without a brief detour. Late in the first quarter, our hero went down after a tackle and grabbed his knee, and 90,000 went silent and absolutely still.

And the producer of the national TV broadcast swallowed his headset mic wondering how he was going to fill the next 3 hours.

But alas it was just another plot point in Johnny Football, the movie. Manziel came back and did his usual thing: 439 total offense, 5 total TD. And despite the failed attempt for a TD reception, like the failed PAT attempt the week before, it appears that nobody's going to catch him for the Heisman.

It's not that Johnny Manziel doesn't have the Heisman numbers, he certainly does. He's the single biggest impact player on any team in college football. But Heisman voters have been cool to freshmen in the past. But in 2012, who could you vote over him?

Notre Dame's Manti Te'o? Maybe. He is the best player on a tough as nails, possible national champion defense. But he isn't the best defensive player in the country, not even the best LB. That would be the Dawgs' Jarvis Jones y'all.

Kansas State's Collin Klein finishes up with Texas. But the late-season debacle at Baylor (who were obviously protecting last year's trophy) will be stuck in the voters' heads. While Manziel's season only got better as the stakes got higher, beating Alabama on the road and taking the magic carpet ride from there. The night of The Home Depot College Football Awards is Manziel's 20th birthday. The Heisman is two days later.

The Aggies' regular season is over. Manziel can't lose ground on the Heisman. And it doesn't appear that anyone else can win it.

Midnight Yell

I have to admit, my profession allows me entree to some pretty cool shit. Early this morning was one of those moments. Just after midnight, I was standing down on Kyle Field by the Yell Leaders as they rallied an estimated 18,000 Texas A&M fans through their songs and cheers.

The position of Yell Leader is actually campaigned for and voted on by the student body. There are 3 seniors and 2 juniors charged with maintaing the spirit of the Aggie Nation.

Even Coach Sumlin made an appearance. The crowds at Midnight Yell have been upwards of 30,000 in the past. I was told that the combination of it being Thanksgiving break and the weather (it was cold out there - especially for Texans) kept the crowd figure at a "modest" total.

It really is the most passionate and partisan fan base in the country. To find it's rival, you'd have to go to the English Premier League. It is truly unlike every other place in the world.

There's nothing bigger in the community than the 6-7 football weekends a year the Aggies play host to. Just this morning I saw two old ladies in a hotel elevator. They were decked out in their maroon sweaters and carrying two huge buckets of ice. I asked what all that was for and a woman in her mid-70s looked at me like I had eight heads, "To ice down the beer."

Turkeys!

I actually arranged my holiday weekend travel to see this fiasco from my hotel room. The Jets Thanksgiving night performance, like their 2012 season, has been a waste of my time.

But not only were the Jets beyond awful, the NFL's ridiculous cross-promotion of Lenny Kravitz and his new song "Like A Jet" flopped miserably, tying a marketing campaign to a team with no life and a quarterback with no energy.

But the day's biggest turkey was me. After a making a wonderful Thanksgiving breakfast for the kids: scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, cinnamon toast, and introducing Kit-Kat Pancakes, I got on a plane to Houston.

Only after a 3-hour flight and a 2-hour car ride to College Station did I realize that I left my travel pouch with all my chargers, USBs and ear buds, on my desk in my office. Good thing Best Buy opened at Midnight! I was to lame to go at that hour and brave the Black Friday beatdown for a couple of electronics cords, but it was still bustling when I got there at 7:45 AM

I've been coming to College Station for many years now, and it has grown from the hole-in-the-wall it used to be. Now you can find every mid-level hotel, high-end restaurant chain, and every strip mall department store you can think of - all on one strip of state highway.

Things grow and change, much like the Texas-Texas A&M Thanksgiving rivalry, which is no more.

Aggies fans were still no doubt delighted to see the Longhorns lose on Thanksgiving night to TCU, but it only clears the way for the home finale, the 12th Man, and Johnny Football. The weekend is looking up.