AdvoCare V100 Bowl 2013: 10 Things We Learned from Arizona vs. Boston College
Arizona put together a dominant performance on both offense and defense en route to a 42-19 win over Boston College in Tuesday's AdvoCare V100 Bowl in Shreveport, La. The Wildcats (8-5) finished with 529 yards in winning a bowl game for the second straight year under Rich Rodriguez.
Boston College (7-6), playing in its first bowl game since 2010, fell behind early and couldn't get its All-American running back, Andre Williams, into gear.
While not the most highly anticipated game on this year's bowl schedule, it still provided plenty of big developments. Check out our take on the 10 things we learned from the AdvoCare V100 Bowl.
The Running Back Battle Never Materialized
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The first-ever matchup of first-team consensus All-American running backs was a great way to hype this otherwise irrelevant bowl game, and it probably helped draw some extra eyeballs to a game that kicked off at 12:30 p.m. ET and 10:30 a.m. in Arizona.
But the anticipated clash between Arizona's Ka'Deem Carey and Doak Walker Award winner Andre Williams of Boston College never reached the epic level everyone was hoping for.
While Carey shook off a lost fumble on his first carry to finish with 169 yards and two touchdowns, Williams never got on track. He ended up gaining just 75 yards and a score on 27 carries, failing to go seven yards on any attempt.
So it goes when the hype machine is left to run for too long.
B.J. Denker Went out on Top
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B.J. Denker was not the quarterback that Arizona wanted to have to rely on this season. He was recruited out of junior college more as an insurance policy than anything else, but when none of the Wildcats' other passers managed to step up in camp, the job went to the senior.
And while Denker struggled early this season with his throwing, he kept himself on the field by being elusive with his running ability.
Denker just kept getting better as the year went, and he capped his one year as Arizona's starter as well as he could have hoped: 17-of-24 for 275 yards and two touchdowns, along with 51 rushing yards and a TD.
He also got the game's offensive MVP award.
Chase Rettig Was Asked to Do Too Much
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Chase Rettig was a 3,000-yard passer last season as a junior and made his 45th consecutive start at quarterback for Boston College in the AdvoCare V100 Bowl.
But with the Eagles' game plan so reliant on Andre Williams throughout this year, Rettig took a back seat and became more of a game manager. That changed against Arizona, as Williams was neutralized and Rettig was asked to take on more of the offense.
It was too much for him, it appeared. Though Rettig fared well at times with play-action passes and rollouts, he ended up getting intercepted twice (one getting returned for a touchdown) and was sacked several times.
Rettig finished 16-of-26 for 191 yards, which was the fourth-highest yardage total he'd had this season. It was also the third most attempts he made in 2013, both signs that BC had to go a direction it hadn't planned to.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Ka'Deem Carey Got the Validation He Wanted
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Ka'Deem Carey led the nation in rushing in 2012, as a sophomore, and was second nationally in yards per game this season. Yet he finished 10th in the Heisman Trophy voting, compared to the fourth-place finish for Boston College's Andre Williams, who also beat Carey out for the Doak Walker Award.
Carey gained more than 110 rushing yards in every game this season, and his 169-yard, two-touchdown output against BC marked his 16th consecutive 100-yard performance.
The Pac-12 Conference knew all about Carey, and has for some time, but Carey looked like he really wanted to make sure the rest of the nation knew who he was. Now the question remains of whether he wants to return for his senior year (where he'd go into 2014 as a legitimate Heisman candidate) or jump to the NFL.
Arizona Could Have the Best Receiving Corps in FBS Next Season
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Arizona's roster includes three standout wide receivers who are redshirting this season, one (Austin Hill) because of injury and two (DaVonte' Neal from Notre Dame and Cayleb Jones from Texas) who transferred in. The Wildcats also have a commitment from 4-star wideout Cameron Denson, a local product.
That alone would make Arizona in possession of a great receiving corps. But after the performance of a pair of freshmen wideouts in the AdvoCare V100 Bowl, that unit might have just gone from really good to spectacular.
True freshman WR Nate Phillips had nine catches for 193 yards, while redshirt frosh Trey Griffey (the son of MLB great Ken Griffey Jr.) caught three passes for 41 yards and hauled in his first two career touchdowns.
Assuming the Wildcats can find a capable quarterback from the many it will be choosing from next year, this could be the nation's best crop of receivers.
Boston College Has Some Huge Offensive Losses to Replace
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Boston College's loss to Arizona marked the end of the careers of some stellar senior skill players.
Four-year starter Chase Rettig was the Eagles' quarterback for the past 45 games. Running back Andre Williams finished with the fifth most rushing yards in a season in FBS history. And WR Alex Amidon finished as the school's career receptions leader.
Those are a lot of shoes for BC to fill.
While the quarterback spot is a complete question mark and the receiving corps has some work to do, the Eagles did see a glimpse of the future in the backfield. Freshman Tyler Rouse, who had 71 yards coming into the game, gained 54 yards and scored a TD in the game's final minute, while fellow frosh Myles Willis had 25 yards on five carries.
Arizona's Defense Doesn't Get Enough Credit
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Arizona allowed 58 points to rival Arizona State in its previous game and at many times throughout the season couldn't make a stop when it needed to. Its secondary also got beat on a lot of deep balls, while missed tackles led to several other big plays.
But the Wildcats' defense was a lot better than the numbers would indicate, and in a game where that unit needed to stop a prolific running back, it answered the challenge very well.
Arizona's front seven got bodies on Andre Williams quickly on each and every carry, taking the big back down almost immediately each time. Keeping him from breaking free forced BC to try to throw more than normal, and after an initial adjustment period the Wildcats' secondary stepped up.
No play was bigger than when Will Parks read Chase Rettig's eyes, jumped a route and took an interception back 69 yards for a TD.
The Season Was Still a Major Success for Boston College
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Steve Addazio inherited a team that was 2-10 a year ago and made an instant turnaround. The five-win improvement should have earned him strong consideration for various Coach of the Year awards if Florida State wasn't in the same conference and Auburn's Gus Malzahn hadn't done what he did in his first season.
The Eagles weren't all about Andre Williams, they had contributions from several veterans on offense. And BC's defense, while not spectacular, did manage to hold Clemson to 24 points back in October.
Finishing on a loss—actually, two straight defeats, as BC fell to Syracuse in its regular-season finale—can taint how a season was as a whole. The Eagles' 2013 campaign was a successful one and bodes well for the program's future under Addazio.
Rich Rodriguez Has Arizona Moving in the Right Direction
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Rich Rodriguez is the first coach in Arizona history to take the Wildcats to bowl games in each of his first two seasons. And with the 42-19 win over Boston College, he's also got more bowl victories (two) than Mike Stoops had in his eight years in Tucson.
The Wildcats need to find a quarterback, and the likely loss of Ka'Deem Carey will have to be dealt with, but there are a lot of pieces in place that indicate this program is on the rise and might make a serious push for the Pac-12's South Division title.
Win that and then the league championship game, and Arizona might finally make it to the Rose Bowl, the only school in the conference (other than newcomers Colorado and Utah) never to get that invite.
Shreveport on New Year's Eve Isn't an Easy Sell
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The announced attendance for Tuesday's AdvoCare V100 Bowl was 36,917, but it didn't look close to that on television. Plenty of good seats seemed available.
Some bowl games this year have had great crowds, including the huge turnout for the New Orleans Bowl a few hours down the road from Shreveport. But that game featured a pair of schools from Louisiana, while this one featured a pair of clubs that both had to travel more than 1,100 miles.
Arizona's slot was supposed to be filled by an SEC team, but it would have been the 10th-best team from that league. The SEC only had nine bowl-eligible teams this year, and two of them went to the BCS.
Without a local draw, it's hard to get people to come out for a day game on a Tuesday in the cold, especially when all the New Year's Eve parties will require one's energy and money later on.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
