9 Biggest Winners and Losers from the East-West Shrine Game

The annual East-West Shrine Game is a chance for outgoing college football seniors to showcase their talents as prospects for the NFL Draft. This time around it was the West that led from start to finish on its way to a 28-13 victory.Even though the game was dominated by the West, the 2013 iteration of the game featured plenty of winners and losers from both teams. 

While some players shined in the national spotlight, others did not do quite as well. The Shrine Game is definitely not the premier college football postseason showcase, but there are talented players here every year. Some big names include Collin Klein, Ray Graham and Christine Michael.

This time around it was the West that led from start to finish on its way to a 28-13 victory.

Here are the winners and losers from the 2013 East-West Shrine Game.

Winner: Terry Hawthorne

In a game that was owned by the the defense of the West, one guy leading the way was Illinois cornerback Terry Hawthorne. 

The cornerback recovered a fumble that ended up as a touchdown for the West and, on the ensuing drive, also picked off a second-half pass.

He might not be a household name as far as the national spotlight is concerned, but certainly played one of the best games of any player on the defensive side of the ball.

Loser: The East Quarterbacks

Every quarterback who played for East threw an interception and did not play particularly well, to varying degrees.

Starter Collin Klein from Kansas State only completed five of 13 passes for 43 yards and a pick, while carrying the ball five times for 35 yards.

Colby Cameron out of Louisiana Tech was not any better, completing three of six passes for 33 yards and an interception that was returned 30 yards for a touchdown. 

Southeastern Louisiana quarterback Nick Stanley finished it out the day, completing only just 2 of 5 passes for 19 yards and an interception with 4 runs for 4 yards.

Not a good day at all for this trio of quarterbacks.

Winner: Christine Michael

Even though Christine Michael did not have a particularly outstanding game statistically, he did score a touchdown and showed signs of the type of running back he could be.

Michael finished the game with 42 yards on 13 carries, including the touchdown. He also caught one pass for seven yards.

He struggled some during his career at Texas A&M with injuries, but never averaged less than 4.7 yards a carry during any of his four seasons.

There is certainly a shot for this guy to succeed at the next level.

Loser: Ray Graham

East running back Ray Graham is another player that has battled through injuries during his collegiate career.

He came back strong this year, but did not play particularly well in this one. He fumbled on the first play of the game and that led to a touchdown by the East.

Overall, Graham finished the game with 23 yards on six carries with a long of nine yards and a six-yard reception. Those are not terrible numbers from a small sample size, but the fumble certainly hurt.

Winner: Devin Taylor

No player on either squad improved his draft status like South Carolina defensive end Devin Taylor. 

At 6'8" 275 pounds, few players are as big as this guy off the edge. He certainly has NFL size and that was on full display all day.

Taylor finished the game with a sack, a forced fumble and two tackles for loss for the East squad.

This guy could be one of the many who shoots up the draft boards over the next few months.

Loser: Third Down Conversions for the East

One of the keys to winning any football game is third-down conversions.

While the West was very successful on third down, converting 6-of-10, it was a completely different story for the East. They finished the game with no conversions on six third down attempts. 

With both teams turning the ball over four times, this game came down to third down conversions and the West dominated that facet of the game.

That is one of the main reasons why they won so handily.

Winner: Chad Bumphis

The Mississippi State wide receiver caught the only receiving touchdown of the game on a 57-yard reception from Arizona quarterback Matt Scott.

The West did manage to pass for 195 yards and Bumphis had nearly half of those yards, catching four passes for 92 yards and the score.

As far as offensive skill players are concerned, he was one of the few bright spots on a day that was dominated by defense and turnovers.

Loser: East Offense

While the West offense was not much better, the East was downright awful when they had the ball in their hands.

They only managed to total 203 yards on the day while getting dominated when it comes to time of possession.

The East only had the ball for 23:56 and only ran 36 offensive plays. Not a good day for anybody on offense for the East.

Winner: Nigel Malone

While cornerback Terry Hawthorne out of Illinois definitely had a big game, Nigel Malone from Kansas State might have had the play of the day with a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Malone was excellent in pass coverage all game long as the East only completed 10 passes all day for 95 yards.

Malone was one of the few bright spots on a West defense that dominated this game.

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