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Saturday
Syracuse 38 West Virginia 14 Pinstripe BowlThe game was supposed to be a battle of two of the top QB’s in the draft. The weather
didn’t cooperate. In horrible conditions at Yankee Stadium Syracuse used a running
attack to dismantle West Virginia. Coming into the game Syracuse RB Prince Tyson-
Gulley had 617 rushing yards for the year. In the game he rushed for 217 yards and two
touchdowns. Jerome Smith added another 158 yards on the ground for the Orange.
It’s a shame because I love both Geno Smith and Ryan Nassib. Smith will probably go
number one to Kansas City in April’s draft. Smith gave up two safeties in the game.
This was hardly the way he expected to end his career. Smith finished his career going
18 of 26 for 197 yards and two touchdowns. WV’s Tavon Austin was held to only 79
yards of total offense. Austin will remind many of Percy Harvin and will go in the first
round of draft as well.
Nothing went West Virginia’s way in the game. In a key sequence, Syracuse was up
19-7 in the third quarter. West Virginia had a TD called back because of a questionable
holding call. After a WV punt, a Syracuse fumbled pass was reviewed to be determined
to be just an incomplete pass. On the next play Gully ran 67 yards for a touchdown and a
26-7 lead. Game over.
This wasn’t a great game for Ryan Nassib either. I predict when all is said and done
he will be the second QB taken in the draft. I really love this guy. Nassib is a three
year starter with a big arm. He’s very accurate and ran a pro style of offense. I’m going
on record early hoping the Bills take Nassib. That being said he wasn’t impressive in
this game. Nassib finished up going only 12 of 24 for 127 yards. He did throw two
touchdowns and threw one interception. He could have been picked off two other times.
I’m not a big fan of Matt Barkley, Tyler Wilson and Mike Glennon. I believe Nassib will
pass them by April on most people’s draft boards.
Doug Marrone has done a phenomenal job as coach of Syracuse. He went 8-5 this year
and has taken the program back to prominence. If you looking for a real dark-horse
candidate to take over the Bills coaching job if Chan Gailey gets fired then could get a
look.
Texas 31 Oregon State 27 Alamo Bowl
Texas overcame two 10 point deficits to get a come from behind victory in the Alamo
Bowl. Oregon State took a 27-17 lead into the fourth quarter. This is when Texas QB
David Ash came to life. Ash led a 9 play 84 yard drive to bring Texas within three with
eight minutes to go. Ash evaded an Oregon State pass rush and made a beautiful 15 yard
pass to Johnathan Gray on the touchdown.
The Texas defense came alive in the second half. The Longhorns couldn’t stop the run
all year. In fact Texas was the worst team in the Big 12 against the run. Storm Woods
did have 118 yards and two touchdowns on the ground for the Beavers but most of that
was in the first half. Texas can rush the passer. The best pass rusher is Alex Okafor.
Okafor could be a first round pick in the draft. He set an Alamo bowl record with 4.5
sacks in the game. Texas had a bowl record 10 sacks in the game. I blame Mike Riley
for part of the problems. It was obvious by the fourth quarter that Oregon State couldn’t
handle the Texas defensive ends. Yet for the whole game Riley continued to put his
tackles on an island with no help. Texas continued to not give OSU QB Cody Vaz
anytime to throw. Riley never made any adjustments.
Texas got the ball back with 4:30 minutes to go. Ash threw another nice pass to
Marquise Goodwin from 36 yards out to give the Longhorns the lead with just over
two minutes to go. Goodwin scored twice and had 132 yards of total offense in the
game. Texas’s new OC Major Applewhite insisted that he was going to get the ball in
Goodwin’s hands more often and it paid off. The Texas pass rush sealed the victory.
Rice 33 Air Force 14 Armed Forces Bowl
Air Force usually does well in bowl games but this wasn’t the case against the Rice. Air
Force jumped out to a 14-7 half-time lead. In the second half it was all Rice.
Freshman QB Driphus Jackson replaced an injured Taylor HcHargue in the second
quarter. Jackson had a stellar performance for the Owls. Jackson went 15 of 21 for 264
yards and two touchdowns. Jordan Taylor caught three touchdown passes and had 153
receiving yards.
The Owls hadn’t played the option all year but you wouldn’t have known it by their
performance. They shutdown the Falcons attack most of the day. Rice held the yardage
edge 506 to 212.
Rice started the season 1-5 and some thought coach David Bailiff’s job was in jeopardy.
Instead the Owls won six of their last seven games.
Speaking of Armed Forces, former WW II hero and actor Charles Durning died this
week. Many might not know but Durning worked as a boxer before finding his way into
acting.
Arizona State 62 Navy 28 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl
All you need to know about this game is that Arizona State scored touchdowns the first
nine times they had the ball. Navy couldn’t stop the Sun Devils offense. ASU rolled
up 646 yards of offense. It looked like the varsity playing the modified team. Navy
should be embarrassed with their performance. I hope the US Navy does a better job of
protecting our interests around the world then they did protecting their own goal-line.
Arizona State QB Taylor Kelly looked like a candidate for next year’s Heisman race.
Kelly was near perfect. He went 17 of 19 for 272 yards and four touchdowns. He ran for
76 yards and a touchdown as well. You wondered if Arizona State would show up for
this game. It was Navy that looked like they spent time partying in the Bay area.
Navy has slipped over the past few years. This isn’t the same teams that use to beat
Notre Dame on a regular basis. This team didn’t belong on the same field as ASU. It
was a bad day for the armed forces. Air Force was blown out earlier in the day by Rice.
Friday’s Action
Ohio 45 UL Monroe 14 Independence Bowl
Both teams came in with big wins on their resumes. The Warhawks beat Arkansas and
the Bobcats took down Penn State. Mickey (Fruit Loops) Tettleton’s sire Tyler was the
star as QB for Ohio. In the first two drives of the game Tettleton went five for five for
165 yards and two touchdowns. Ohio jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never looked back.
Tremayne Scott DE for Ohio missed seven games this year because of injury. What
an impact he made in this game. Scott was the stud on the defensive side of the ball.
He finished the game with five tackles, two sacks and an interception. Scott forced
ULM QB Kolton Browning to have his worst game of the year. Browning threw
three interceptions in the game. Beau Blankenship led the ground attack for Ohio.
Blackenship set an Independence Bowl record by scoring four touchdowns.
After a horrible start the MAC has had strong showings last two times out with wins by
Central Michigan and the Bobcats. This of course all leading up to the biggest game the
MAC has ever played when Northern Illinois plays Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
Virginia Tech 13 Rutgers 10 in OT Russell Athletic Bowl
There is no way that Rutgers should have lost the game. Rutgers set the tone on the
first play with their defense when stud LB Kasheem Greene recovered a fumble in the
endzone. Rutgers got a field goal and had numerous chances to go up more than 10-0
but couldn’t capitalize. Virginia Tech’s defense kept them in the game. With the score
10-3 early in the fourth quarter Rutgers QB Gary Nova made a horrible pass down the
sidelines that was picked off and returned to the Scarlet Knights 21 yard-line. Three
plays later Logan Thomas hit Gary Fuller to tie the score. Thomas is a tease. He has
great ability but too often makes poor decisions.
The game went into OT and Tech got the ball first and the Hokies were able to kick a
field goal. Rutgers had a chance to tie but St. Francis grad Nick Borgese missed a 42
yard field goal that would have forced a second OT.
Texas Tech 34 Minnesota 31 Meineke Car Care Bowl
I really hated to see Minnesota lose this game. This was a game where Texas Tech was
a huge favorite and had better talent. The Golden Gophers played their heart out and
almost pulled the major upset.
Tech QB Seth Doege has a chance to be a late round pick in April’s draft but this wasn’t
his finest hour. Doege had two fourth quarter interceptions but Minnesota couldn’t
capitalize on the mistakes. Doege tied the score with just over a minute to go when he hit
Eric Ward for a 35 yard catch and run to tie the score at 31.
Minnesota QB Phillip Nelson was then picked off by DJ Johnson with 55 seconds left
and Johnson returned the ball to the Minnesota 25. That set-up a Ryan Bustin 28 yard
field goal as time expired to give Tech the victory.
It has been a tumultuous month for Tech. Tommy Tuberville left for Cincinnati and the
pegged former QB Kliff Kingsbury as their next head coach. Kingsbury was at the game
watching his future team.
The game was a very dirty game with a ton of personal fouls. There were a total of
nine personal foul penalties in the game. At one point Minnesota had a 3rd down and 49
because of personal foul penalties.
NBA Notes:
How many coaches is Deron Williams going to quit on? You remember that Jerry Sloan
quit in Utah because of him and now reports out of New Jersey are that he quit on Avery
Johnson this week.
Isn’t it still nice to see the former Braves doing well? There is still a piece in my heart
for the Clippers even though they haven’t been the Braves for over 30 years. Clippers
are the deepest team in the NBA. The starters bring “Showtime” back to the LA area, but
guys like Jamal Crawford, Rod Barnes, Eric Bledsoe, Ronny Turiaf, and Lamar Odom
give them team valuable minutes that have helped this current winning streak.
Finally:
That’s why they call it gambling. Duke was a nine point underdog to Cincinnati on
Thursday. Cincinnati didn’t have much of a coaching staff left. Butch Jones took most
of his assistants to Tennessee. Tommy Tubberville hasn’t taken over yet. The game was
played in Charlotte, North Carolina, so the crowd was a heavily on the side of the Blue
Devils. The game is tied at 34 with a 1 minute and 34 seconds left. Duke has the ball
second and goal from the Cincinnati five. The people that took Duke can’t lose right?
Duke fumbles and Cincinnati recovers. With 48 seconds left the Bearcats hit an 85 yard
bomb for a touchdown. With 20 seconds left Cincinnati intercepts a pass and runs in for a
touchdown. Cincy wins 48-34 and the people that took Duke can’t believe they lost. The
people that had Cincy had it all the way, sure.