Four Down, 30 to Go: A Recap of Day One's Bowl Games

Day one of the bowl season is finished and it was quite an intriguing first impression of is what to come.

EagleBank Bowl

Navy and Wake Forest would lead off the 2008 bowl season in the Inaugural Eagle Bank Bowl. It was an exciting one in our nations capital as Navy's offense dominated the first half over a sleepy Wake Forest defense.

The first points would come early with a 40 yard field goal by Navy's Matt Harmon. Navy would continue it's scoring streak only minutes later after Rashawn King recovered a fumble and returned it 50 yards back for a TD. Wake would start it's scoring strike late in the first half with a rushing TD by Adams, but they would still be down 13-7 at half time.

Wake would take the lead away from Navy in the third to make it a one point game, 14-13. Navy would come back and take the lead again but that would be it for the Navy Midshipmen. Wake would keep Navy scoreless the rest of the game and take over the game with two more TD's. One would be a Riley Skinner TD pass and a late 35 yard TD run by Rich Belton to seal the game up 29-19.   

New Mexico Bowl

The New Mexico Bowl would be the second bowl of the day, it would be a nail bitter between the Fresno State Bulldogs and the Colorado State Rams that would go down to the final minutes

Lonyae Miller would light up the field for the Bulldogs in the first half with 2 rush TD's which included a 69 yard-er. The Colorado State Rams made it a close one going into half time thanks to a Strucker rush TD and a Billy Farris pass TD, accompanied by a couple of FG's.

The second half would be all Colorado State especially their star running back, Gatrell Johnson. The Rams would score 20 unanswered points in the fourth (2 Johnson TD's) to put away the Bulldogs. Fresno State did come back late with a TD but it wouldn't be enough as CSU wins 40-35.

St. Petersburg Bowl

We're half way there, only two bowls games left, one being the St. Petersburg Bowl featuring the South Florida Bulls and the Memphis Tigers. USF went into the St. Pete bowl being a heavy favorite and they would live up to that statement.

The first half would be dominated by Matt Grothe who threw two touchdowns, a 13 yard TD and a 36 yard TD. The Memphis tigers weren't backing down. Before the half would end Arkelon Hall would score 2 TD's, one rush TD and one pass TD. This would still keep them in it at half time with a score of 24-14.

The second half would literally be all Bulls. The Bulls would not let the Memphis Tigers score for the rest of the game. USF would build on their lead late in the third after yet another Grothe TD pass this time to Bogan. USF would continue to pound Memphis with another TD in the fourth, by Plancher,  to close the game out and win 41-14.

Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl

It's been a decade since the Arizona Wildcats have been in a bowl game, it is BYU's 4 straight Las Vegas Bowl. Both teams had something to prove and they both came out strong.

In the first half the football was all over the field. Finally Arizona put together an amazing drive that went for 97 yards and ended with a rush TD by Grigsby. BYU would answer with a 1 yard TD run by Unga to bring them within three points before halftime with a score of 10-7.

BYU came back strong in the second half. After a long controversial review Max Hall threw his first TD pass to George to take the lead 14-10.

Willie Tuitama then broke the game open with 2 TD passes in the third. One to Dean and a 24 yard pass to Gronkowski. With almost 6 minutes left on the clock Tuitama rushes the ball in for yet another Arizona TD to give them a three score lead of 31-14.

 BYU would make a small comeback late in the fourth with another Max Hall TD this time being a rush TD. BYU would see some more late magic as they recover a fumble to give them good field position. BYU would see it's magic end when Payne misses his second field goal of the night with 2 minutes remaining.

Arizona would end day one of the 2008 bowl season with a big win over BYU, thanks to an great offensive performance.