2010-11 College Football Bowl Season in Review
No representation is made, whether expressed or implied that this review is anything other than the personal biased, hateful and slanted opinion of me. This review will take you on an in-depth journey through every bowl game played this season. Every match-up from the Humanitarian to the BCS title game will be touched upon, no stone shall be left unturned. These predictions are made off of known information as of January 14, 2011.
NEW MEXICO BOWL: BYU 52 – UTEP 24
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Query: What did this game have in common with Watergate, the Marshall Plane crash of 1970, and Pearl Harbor? Answer: None of the above should have happened! UTEP called a timeout with 2:55 on the clock behind 55-24? ESPN quipped โI guess they wanted to prolong their bowl experience?โ
HUMANITARIAN BOWL: Northern Illinois University 40 – Fresno State17
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It would have been nice if the Fresno State Bulldogs had shown up for the game? Was it the cold weather? NIU was playing with an interim head coach and new O and D coordinators. Attendance? Well โBoxcar Willieโ drew more fans at the old Lewis County High School gym than attended this fiasco! If you arenโt familiar with Boxcar Willie ask your pappy.
NEW ORLEANS BOWL: TROY 48 – Ohio University 21
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College football programs like to keep their traditions alive, and since the Ohio Bobcats have NEVER won a bowl game, they kept that tradition alive. It appears that 29,125 fans attended this โcollege bowl gameโ as opposed to the 43,321 that attended the Texas 5A Div. I State High School Championship game!
BEEF O’BRADY’S BOWL: Louisville 31 – University of Southern Miss. 28
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Whereโs the beef? Who knew that there was a little baseball dome in St. Petersburg, FL in which to squeeze a bowl game? Louisville started out down 14 โ 0 in the first moments. It was as if they flew off to St. Petersburg, Russia? The Black Eagles were down 3 players because they got shot up awhile back in Hattiesburg, MS. In the midst of this USM QB Austin Davis moved ahead of Brett Favre as all time TD leader (as if Brett needed anything else bad to happen this week). Cards RB Bilal Powell rushed for 75 yards which was 75 more yards than he got earlier in the year against WVUโs 3-3-5 defense.
LAS VEGAS BOWL: BOISE STATE 26 – Utah 3
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Easiest pick of all the bowls? What was the most exciting part? Boise changed helmet logo and omitted logo on the right side? Utah started the game like a lion but abruptly curled up into the fetal position from the 2nd quarter onward. In the 2nd quarter Bronco RB Doug Martin took a handoff and went 54 yards unmolested to the house, game over! I ask, if this train wreck Utah team is 10 โ 3 who are they playing?
POINSETTIA BOWL: SDSU 34 – Navy 14
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Is this a sissy name for a game that is usually pretty darn good? The USNA has historically Navy has played a tougher schedule such as; Iowa Jima, Tarawa, Okinawa, S. Vietnam, Iraq, etc. Well Navy was sunk by the Aztecs! I have been to โthe Mesaโ and knows that SDSU has a very nice campus. Maybe there was a clue in the fact that Navy lost to Maryland? Consolation: the USNA grads will eventually occupy boardrooms thus employing SDSU students!
HAWAII BOWL: Tulsa 62 – Hawaii 35
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Tulsaโs 3-3-5 shut down the leading passing attack in America and Texas transfer QB C.J. Kinne (343 yards and 3 TDโs) played like Garrett Gilbert should have all year! Tulsaโs D. Johnson also contributed 326 all-purpose yards on purpose. As a reward Tulsa says bye bye to Graham who going to take over the train-wreck known as Pitt!
PIZZA BOWL: Florida International 34 – Toledo 32
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FIU has now won 100% of their entire bowl games ever played! This game was decided on a FG on the last play of the game by Jack Griffin. FIU completes a 7-6 season or 2 more wins than Texas. I like FIU because of HC Mario Cristobal the first Cuban-American head coach in FBS and a future star!
INDEPENDENCE BOWL: Air Force 14 – Georgia Tech 7
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Boring, boring boring was this one. Two exciting things occurred. The USAFA mascot falcon flew away before the game started but returned at the end of the game. Tech was playing sans about 6 starters soโฆ..If you wanted to attend a bowl game but you didnโt have a lot of time, you should have gone to this one. Why, well because the forward pass is kryptonite to these teams running is all they did. Running eats up the clock. This took less than 3 hours to play.
CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL: North Carolina State 23 – West Virginia 7
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This harkens back to the 1970โs when it seemed that WVU met NCS about every December in the old Peach Bowl in Atlanta. Wolfpack QB Russell Wilson was unstoppable passing for 275 and rushing for 41 yards. WVUโs offense abandoned the running game early, was made one dimensional and was subsequently held in check by NCS. WVU completes its 3rd consecutive 9-4 season, not good.
INSIGHT BOWL: Iowa 27 – 24 Missouri
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Missouri wasted 512 yards of offense including 434 passing yards by their QB in this loss! โMiseryโ head coach Gary โ0-3 in bowls of lateโ Pinkel wasted no time in offering the โIโm very disappointed,โ cliche immediately after the game.
MILITARY BOWL: Maryland 51 – East Carolina 20
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After the beatdown Maryland was administered in Morgantown, WV they have rebounded to kick some butt. UM Coach Ralph โThe Fridge IIโ Friedgen was the ACC coach of the year and just blew out ECU. The question was posed โWhere are you going to go after this game coach?โ The answer: the unemployment line because Maryland fired their leviathan! Wow no good deeds go unpunished in College Park do they? Well maybe the $2million dollar โgood-bye checkโ will help ease your pain and keep you in groceries for a couple of months?
TEXAS BOWL: Illonis 38 – Baylor 14
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The Dallas Morning News said it all; โBaylorโs bowl bid goes bad.โ Bears coach Art Briles did preserve his bowl streak with 4 straight losses (0-4). As a plus BU RB Jay Finley set the single season rushing record with 1,218 yards, which wouldnโt be more than a yawn elsewhere?
ALAMO BOWL: Oklahoma State 36 – Arizona 10
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The Cowboys deserved a much better fate than this second tier affair? Cats QB Foles played a mere 85 miles from his home in Westlake but it didnโt matter as OSU rolled! WVUโs โCoach in Waiting is finally free!โ This was a rout from the opening kickoff and another Stoops loses another bowl, so whatโs new? Justin Blackmon caught two TD passes and Brandon went 25/41 for 240 yards in his swan song.
ARMED FORCES FORT WORTH BOWL: ARMY 16 – SMU 14
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Army did not have a single penalty or commit a single turnover! Army Coach Ellerson used to be the Center for SMU HC June Jones at U of Hawaii. SMU fell behind 16 โ 0 at half despite wearing those black jerseys and couldnโt quite catch up. Ellerson was asked what is the significance of your father and your brother both playing at West Point and he replied โDonโt screw it up!โ At the half ESPN โinterviewedโ former SMU RB Craig โThe Ponyโ James who stated he wanted to โhelpโ the SMU student athletes? Maybe heโll help them like he did the student athlete at Texas Tech when Leach was last there?
NEW ERA PINSTRIPE BOWL: Syracuse 36 – Kansas State 34
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Wildcat Coach Bill โFather Timeโ Snyder pulled a fake FG on 4th and 5 that was an epic fail! Bill, this may have worked when you played in 1922 but not now! In the final analysis a salute by a KSU WR cost them the game!
MUSIC CITY BOWL: UNC 30 – Tennessee 27
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This was a game completely devoid of rushing. It resembled a 7 on 7 with some fat linemen standing around for no apparent reason. The Vols QB Tyler Bray at 6โ6โ 125 pounds makes J.J. Walker look like Dick Butkus! The Vols complete a 6-7 season.
CAR CARE BOWL: USF 36 – Clemson 21
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This was only close due to a recovered onside kick by Clemson who subsequently punched in a TD. ESPNโs Lou Holtz re; his son Skip โHe did it all on his own.โ
LIBERTY BOWL: UCF 36 – Georgia 21
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What a snooze fest! The score was 6-3 UGA midway into the 4th quarter zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. UCF was faster than UGA especially on defense.
CHICK-FIL-A BOWL: FLORIDA STATE 26 – South Carolina 17
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USC turned the ball over 4 times in the first half and only trailed 13 โ 3? How appropriate is it that the Gamecocks are in the Chicken Bowl? This was an old fashioned โslobber knocker.โ FSU KOโed three Cock starters in the first series of the game and USC QB Stephen Garcia was bludgeoned into submission by the relentless rush of the Noles.
HOLIDAY BOWL: WASHINGTON 19 – Nebraska 7
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ย Earlier in the year Sports Illustrated had an article about the often injured UW QB Jake Locker entitled โThe Hurt Lockerโ after the 2009 movie. Well this time Locker rushed for 83 yards and passed for 56 yards in the win. What was the difference in this Nebraska team that blew out this same Washington team in Seattle in September by 35 points? Well Nebraska had NO OFFENSE this time! The score was 19 โ 6 with 4:00 min to go and we couldnโt watch any more. Apparently the black shirts of UW scared UN? Memo To: U of N Please dump your meddling A.D. and get a coach who knows something about offense! BTW Nebraska rushed for 91 yards and passed for 98 yardsโฆโฆ.in the entire game!
TICKETCITY BOWL: Texas Tech 45 – Northwestern 28
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Techโs QB Taylor Potts threw 56 passes, completed 43 for 369 yards and 4 TDโs to beat a team that hasnโt won a bowl game since 1949! Despite dropping back 56 times HE WASNโT SACKED ONE TIME! NWโs defensive stupidity was only exceeded by being gutless?
OUTBACK BOWL: Florida 37 – Penn State 24
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Why isnโt this game played in Sidney? Iโll take some bloomin onions please! JoPa met Urban โI am really leaving this timeโ Meyer after the game and told Urban โI love ya kid.โ Meyer said afterwards that he also loved JoPaโฆ..awwwwwwwww.
CAPITAL ONE BOWL: Alabama 49 – Michigan State 7
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What a beat-down! I saw this coming from a long, long way away! Bama scored on their first 4 possessions and help Spartie to 171 total offensive yards! Way to go Big 10!
GATOR BOWL: MSU 52- Michigan 14
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This 38 point loss was the worst bowl loss in the history of Michigan football. Rich has led UM to 3 consecutive losing seasonsโฆโฆgoodbye Rich Rod! Update-heโs so fired!
ROSE BOWL: TCU 21 – Wisconsin 19
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TCU This game took up about 20 pages of pre-game fluff in the Dallas Morning News with the same whining โWe canโt get no respect,โ theme from HC G. Patterson. Patterson if you think you were being disrespected now wait till 2012 when you enter Big East play and you will be dissed by hillbillies in Morgantown, โJersey Shore Wannabeesโ at Rutgers, and the national media for being in the BE! Patterson, please shut up! Well the Frogs complete a perfect 13-0 season which is great. However that doesnโt mean nothing when it comes to 2012, watch out!
FIESTA BOWL: Oklahoma 48 – Connecticut 20
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This was over early in the 3rd quarter. I only watched the pregame to see references and film clips of WVUโs 20 point blowout of OU in the 2008 game! U Conn was playing checkers and OU was playing chess. David and Goliath was closer than this? The last time OU played a Big East team in this bowl OU was blown out 48 โ 28 by West Virginia. However, U Conn doesnโt have Pat White, Steve Slaton, Noel Devine and Owen Schmidt (50% of the aforementioned are collecting NFL checks). U Conn has no passing attack and an average defense.
ORANGE BOWL: STANFORD 40 – Virginia Tech 12
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On paper this may have been the best match-up of the bowls? Both teams have completed 11 win seasons, both can score in bunches and both are well coached. It was 13-12 Stanford at the half which was all the football Va Techโs offense was willing to commit to? Meanwhile WVU A.D. Oliver Luckโs kid threw for 287 yards and 4 TDโs to lead this blowout. I was impressed by Stanfordโs #48 who plays BOTH linebacker and fullback! The Hokies only TD was an illegal throw by Tyrod Taylor who was standing on the sideline as he launched a ball to the end zone between 2 defenders. That might happen on Madden 2011 but not in the real world?
SUGAR BOWL: Ohio State 31 – Arkansas 26
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The Bucks were actually up by 18 points thanks to about 100 dropped passes! To add insult to the injury, Arkansas blocked an OSU punt with 2 minutes to go with the ball on the OSU 20 yard line poised to win the game. Mallett threw a pick and it was game over! OSU breaks the โcurseโ of losing to the SEC.
GODADDY.COM BOWL: MIAMI (OH) 35 – Middle Tennessee State 21
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Had a diminutive QB named Dwight โTinyโ Dasher who had one big TD run in his last college game. Dasher was suspended for 4 games but made up for lost time when he did return by throwing 16 interceptions! ESPN broadcasted the pre-game speech by the Redhawks interim coach and it got me fired up! Miami finishes a โCB Seasonโ with a 10 โ 4 record.
COTTON BOWL: LSU 41 – Texas A&M 24
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This game could have had national championship implicationsโฆโฆโฆ.in 1954? The Aggies were surging coming in and LSU was like the 1969 song โHanginโ Around.โ Dallas Morning News Kevin Sherrington summed this up best โโโฆ..Big 12 you (A&M) can put together a nice 9 or 10 win season โฆ.Go to the SEC โฆ.and disasters like Fridayโs 41-21 walloping by LSUโฆ.could become an all too frequent occurrence.โ
COMPASS BOWL: Pitt 27 – Kentucky 10
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Pitt fired HC Mike Haywood, the former TEXAS assistant, after being on the job a total of 2.5 weeks! He stands accused of felony domestic battery and Pitt thought that moving forward with Haywood wasnโt possible โunder the circumstances.โ Pitt blocked a UK punt in the 2nd quarter and game over. Cats QB Mike Hartline was suspended.
FIGHT HUNGER BOWL: Nevada 20 – Boston College 13
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There is a reason that Nevada is 12-1 and beat Boise Stateโฆโฆ.they are fast and good! BC didnt know what hit them. The only surprising thing about this was how close the score was?
BCS CHAMPIONSIP GAME: AUBURN 22- Oregon 19
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Oregon is fast and flashy. Auburn is an SEC team that will smack you in the mouth and then smack you in the mouth again for looking at them wrong! The difference in this game was Auburnโs defense took the โblurโ out of the Ducks speed option. This game was boring and a comedy of turnovers by both sides till the final five minutes with the score tied at 19. Auburnโs freshman RB Michael Dyer refused to fall and made a 4 yard run into a 37 yard run setting up the chippie FG for the win. The SEC has won the last FIVE football titles! They say that college football needs a โplayoffโ? There is one, itโs called the SEC championship game in Atlanta!
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