These next three days are college football’s bowl season at its best. We have five great matchups today and the Chick-fil-A Bowl between Virginia Tech and Tennessee will be the last college football game of the decade. Hard to believe isn’t it. Then on New Year’s Day the BCS gets started with the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl in Tim Tebow’s and maybe even Urban Meyer’s last game for Florida. Then Sunday brings us five more bowl games including the coveted Cotton Bowl and the Alamo Bowl where we will see how Texas Tech’s players respond on the field to the firing of Mike Leach.
So that’s it, 15 games in these next three days and then there will only be four games left of the college football 2009 season ending with Thursday’s national championship game between Texas and Alabama.
Bowls Blog
Bowls Blog Part 2
Thursday, December 31
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, 12pm on ESPN
Houston Cougars (10-3) vs. Air Force Falcons (7-5)
It’s a rematch of last year’s Armed Forces Bowl as Houston and Air Force will meet up for the third time in two seasons. Houston spent the majority of the season ranked in the Top 25 for the first time in a while and was ranked as high as No. 12 before being upset by Central Florida and again by East Carolina in the Conference USA Championship Game. In this game last year, Houston quarterback Case Keenum was held under 300 yards passing which is a rarity, but the Cougars won 34-28. In that game, Houston stuffed the triple-option offense of Air Force. This year, Houston has a defense that is almost nonexistent aside from outside linebacker Marcus McGraw. Houston’s D cannot stop the run at all and Air Force has the 4th best rushing offense in the nation again with their triple-option, but they have a sophomore quarterback in Tim Jefferson that is much like Josh Nesbitt of Georgia Tech, he can run the option really well, but he can also really throw the ball. But to stop the option, it’s all about assignment football and Houston should use the time off before this game to study their assignments. With time to prepare, I think the option is easier to stop than a pure downhill running game.
To make this matchup even more intriguing, Houston comes in with the No. 1 passing offense while Air Force boasts the No. 1 passing defense. Houston scores 43.9 points per game, while the Falcons of Air Force surrender 15.3. Something has to give, and it’s going to be Air Force’s defense. Keenum is a seasoned veteran at quarterback now and limits his mistakes and had a monster season in which he was also in Heisman contention, and had his team not lost to UTEP despite Keenum’s 536 yards passing and 5 touchdowns, Keenum might have won the Trophy. But, as mentioned, Houston cannot stop the run, and in the 58-41 loss to UTEP, Donald Buckram ran for a career high 262 yards against the Houston defense, but again keep in the back of your mind that that’s very different from the option.
I expected this game to be just as close as the last two times these teams have played each other, but Keenum is the master in college of leading late comebacks, including the remarkable comeback at Tulsa that I remember like it was yesterday, so if this game is close at the end, trust Keenum to find his receivers with his main target being James Cleveland. Keenum and Cleveland were among the top tandems in college football this season, after Cleveland sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules.
Prediction: Houston 45, Air Force 38
Result: Air Force 47, Houston 20
In this game last year, Case Keenum was held to his lowest passing total of the season. The same happened today against a very surprisingly good Air Force pass defense and they showed today why they are the number one pass defense in America.
It's not like they have a dominant defensive line and got constant pressure on Keenum, Air Force actually had a good gameplan and good execution. They respected the Houston offense and played a deep zone coverage every snap that didn't allow Keenum to have any opportunities to throw the ball downfield and it also took away a lot of the intermediate throws too and Keenum could only check down for short gains and then Air Force made solid tackles that didn't allow these explosive Houston receivers to get yards after the catch.
The defensive line of Air Force knew they wouldn't be pushing through the Houston offensive line, so they played smart football and read Keenum's eyes and got their hands up when he let go of the ball which resulted in two tipped passes that were intercepted. Keenum threw three interceptions in the first half, the first was tipped by his own receiver James Cleveland, but all three were tipped balls. The Houston offense never really rebounded from those turnovers.
Houston was also very undisciplined on defense and did not hold their assignements well, which results in making the triple-option offense seem unstoppable.
Air Force was also smart on kickoffs keeping the ball away from Tyron Carrier who is second all-time in kick returns for touchdowns, but Houston adjusted in the second half and switched Carrier with the other return man before the kick and Air Force inadvertently kicked it to Carrier and he returned it 79 yards for a touchdown. I thought Houston would get a boost from that but they quickly got deflated again as they gave up a touchdown on the very next kickoff.
Houston had a day to forget and Case Keenum really did. Speculation of him entering the NFL Draft early probably ends after this game Keenum has to come back for his senior year. Houston pressed in the second half since their defense badly let them down and Keenum forced throws and threw three more interceptions, he had never thrown more than three in a game until his six today.
Houston's defense had a tough day, missing assignments, and having trouble getting off blocks. Like JC Pearson of ESPN said, you can't simulate cut blocks in practice because of fear of injury, and Air Force executed perfectly on all their cut blocks.
Keenum has led so many 4th quarter comebacks this season for Houston, but Jared Tew's 71 yard touchdown run late in the 4th quarter put the game way out of reach as Houston stuffed the box with everyone knowing Air Force would just want to run out the clock, and it was just a simple dive play for Tew that broke through and then there was no one in the secondary back to tackle him. It was just that kind of day for Houston.
With this win for Air Force, the Mountain West Conference is still undefeated in the bowls with one team left to play: TCU. Things are looking good for the Mountain West.
My Player of the Game: Chris Thomas, Air Force Safety
Honorable Mention: Anthony Wright, Jr., Air Force Cornerback
Honorable Mention: Tim Jefferson, Air Force Quarterback
Brut Sun Bowl, 2pm on CBS
Oklahoma Sooners (7-5) vs. No. 21 Stanford Cardinal (8-4)
Last year’s Sun Bowl only featured three total points from Pittsburgh and Oregon State combined, but this year’s has a lot more offense in store, hopefully. For all the Oklahoma fans out there, look on the bright side, you don’t have to worry about losing another BCS game. Oklahoma has lost its last five bowl games, all of the BCS variety, and Stanford is just trying to rejuvenate the program with its first winning season and bowl game since 2001 as the Cardinal finished tied for second place in the Pac-10.
Stanford freshman quarterback Andrew Luck was believed to be out after having surgery on his finger on his throwing hand, but new reports on Dec. 30 said Luck had the screws removed from his hand and might play. The report quoted Stanford coach John Harbaugh as “optimistic” about Luck’s chances of starting. If Luck can’t go, he’ll be replaced by senior Tavita Pritchard who was the starter at the beginning of the season. Not having Luck would be a big blow to the Stanford offense, but Pritchard has some ability if he stays away from throwing interceptions, remember it was Pritchard that orchestrated the major upset over USC in 2007. But the Stanford offense revolves around its run game with Heisman Runner-Up Toby Gerhart, the nation’s leading rusher with 1,736 yards and 26 touchdowns.
Most of the country’s fan base is picking Stanford to win this game, but Oklahoma should be the favorite. The Sooners’ 7-5 record does not reflect the team’s capabilities, they are still one of the best teams in the country. Some key injuries really hurt, like the season ending knee to tight end Jermaine Gresham and shoulder injury to quarterback Sam Bradford, both are moving on to the NFL next year, but Oklahoma has an explosive offense with Landry Jones at quarterback running the same system Bradford did and throwing to Ryan Broyles and Brandon Caleb with DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown in the backfield. Everything is the same except that Landry Jones is not Sam Bradford. Jones, the redshirt freshman, threw for five or more touchdown passes twice, but also has thrown interceptions in key situations including five picks thrown in the 10-3 loss against Nebraska. Oklahoma’s 3 points was the lowest point total for them this decade, but Oklahoma has not placed any restrictions or cut down the playbook for Jones. The key is Landry Jones and how he shows up in this game, because his inconsistency is the only thing keeping the Sooners from going into every game as a double digit favorite.
If Jones struggles against a weak Stanford secondary, then this will be a low scoring game. Toby Gerhart hasn’t faced a defense like Oklahoma’s which ranks seventh in the nation. Oklahoma’s front seven is as good as anybody’s anchored by Gerald McCoy in the middle (the junior has already declared he will enter the 2010 NFL Draft, is #2 DT available). Gerhart is a big physical runner, something teams in the Big 12 don’t see and Oklahoma is well aware that they will have to gang tackle Gerhart, but without the threat of big plays through the passing game for Stanford, Oklahoma can load up the box and stop Gerhart with a defense that only gives up 88.6 rushing yards per game.
Prediction: Oklahoma 33, Stanford 20
Result: Oklahoma 31, Stanford 27
Andrew Luck did not play for Stanford, and Tavita Pritchard didn't exactly have a good game. Pritchard's first throw was tipped and intercepted by Travis Lewis and that led to a quick Oklahoma touchdown drive.
I praised Oklahoma's defense and as I much hate as I have for Oklahoma I've seen how good that defense is on several occasions, but they haven't faced a physical running attack like Toby Gerhart before. Stanford went into halftime with a 24-17 lead and had 100 yards rushing as a team in the first half alone.
Oklahoma rallied during halftime and made a statement in the third quarter scoring two touchdowns and shutting out Stanford. Stanford tried to get Gerhart going again and went to the wildcat a lot more, but there were no opening for Gerhart against that Oklahoma defensive line filled with All-Americans. Gerhart did what he had done all year in being physical and running people over, but late in the game I saw it in him that he had quit, maybe he just didn't want to risk getting hurt before the NFL Draft. He stopped running people over, he had one run where he went out of bounds instead of taking on Quinton Carter one-on-one.
I made it clear that Landry Jones had to have a good game for Oklahoma to win. He did throw an interception on the second possession, but rebounded after that and had an excellent game despite all the offensive line troubles for Oklahoma and it's a shame that Stanford's coach Jim Harbaugh has less character than even Bob Stoops. I'm going to support Oklahoma on this one, Stanford burned its last timeout with two minutes left and Oklahoma was just using Landry Jones to run around and kill the clock but on the final play Stanford called a backside blitz and Jones got nailed and rolled his ankle as the game ended. Oklahoma's had a bunch of injuries, in fact All-America left tackle Trent Williams was the starting center today because the first three centers on the depth chart for Oklahoma all got hurt, and during the game the Sooners also lost defensive linemen Jeremy Beal and Frank Alexander.
I was surprised tho that Oklahoma could not run the ball against Stanford. DeMarco Murray had some big gains but they were on runs after a catch. Oklahoma's longest run came from Chris Brown on a 12 yard gain in the first quarter and they kept trying to run the ball, to take pressure off of Jones, but Jones won the game with his 416 yards through the air.
My Player of the Game: Landry Jones, Oklahoma Quarterback
Honorable Mention: Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma Receiver
Texas Bowl, 3:30pm on ESPN
Navy Midshipmen (8-4) vs. Missouri Tigers (8-4)
The main difference in the Big 12 Conference this year was the improvement of the defenses on each team after last season was dominated by explosive offenses. Among those teams that upgraded on defense was Missouri. After battling Big 12 offenses all season, now Missouri has to go against the triple-option attack of Navy led by quarterback Ricky Dobbs. Dobbs has 24 rushing touchdowns this season breaking the record set by Florida’s Tim Tebow. Navy averages over 300 yards per game on the ground while Missouri has a top 15 rush defense. The first key to stopping the option is to take away the handoff to the fullback up the middle. The interior of Missouri’s defense with Will Ebner at middle linebacker is a strength. Ebner is a solid tackler so Navy might not get many chances for big plays up the middle. Along the outside Mizzou has All-American linebacker Sean Weatherspoon and Big 12 Freshman of the Year, defensive end Aldon Smith who was third in the conference with 12 sacks.
Missouri’s sophomore quarterback Blaine Gabbert should finally be 100% again after playing with an ankle injury most of the season. He has some big targets to throw like the nation’s leading receiver Danario Alexander. Alexander started the seasons low, but has up big numbers in his last eight games. But keep in mind, Navy upset Notre Dame earlier this year and in that game they took away both Irish receivers Golden Tate and Michael Floyd. I don’t think they can stop Alexander at 6 foot 5; Navy has struggled to cover bigger receivers like Jonathan Baldwin of Pittsburgh and Greg Salas of Hawaii, both those guys had huge games against Navy so look for Alexander do put up numbers.
Prediction: Missouri 41, Navy 16
Result: Navy 35, Missouri 13
You have to honor and respect our armed forces. Our great Naval Academy has a large number of seniors that are about to begin their careers of serving our military.
Navy's football team came out and dominated Missouri to get its 10th win of the season that ties a school record for wins. It was Ken Niumatalolo's first bowl win in three tries at Navy.
Navy's defense had only given up one pass play of over 40 yards this season, and the second play of the game for Missouri was a 58 yard hookup between Blaine Gabbert and Danario Alexander for the touchdown and it looked like Missouri was well on its way to a high scoring game. Looks are deceiving.
Given a month to prepare for the triple-option I expected Missouri to be able to stop Navy's offense, especially because Navy is one of the option teams that like to run outside more and Missouri has good lateral speed on its defense, but Navy came out with a few wrinkles and quarterback Ricky Dobbs kept the ball for 30 carries and picked apart the middle of the Missouri defense that's normally anchored by Will Ebner, but the young linebacker bit on a lot of fakes and was out of position when Dobbs ran by him.
Navy had a good gameplan for Missouri's high-powered offense. They had a bunch of schemes with only two down linemen and dropped eight into coverage and gave Blaine Gabbert nowhere to throw and it resulted in him pressing and forcing throws and he threw two interceptions.
Navy had a handful of turnovers too including a few fumbles by Dobbs, but again Navy's defense held up and that group on the Navy sideline was never fazed.
With the two man front, Missouri still did not run the ball early in the game and I can't help but to wonder why. Running would have opened up the passing game more which is what we saw late in the third quarter when the Tigers began to run the ball a little more and it opened up a big screen pass to Wes Kemp for a huge gain down that set up a first a first and goal, but Missouri only got a field goal out of it because again they tried to run the ball with Derrick Washington lined up at receiver and coming across running a sweep and it didn't work. A simple handoff up the middle to Washington might have got it done because they had some success with that but got away from running the ball, and then it was too late for Missouri's offense to play catch up. You could tell the offense wanted to score early and often to jump out to a big lead that would have forced Navy out of its gameplan. Missouri scored early, but not often.
Ricky Dobbs for Navy at a had a huge day and Missouri had no answer for him, he is a heck of a ball player and a great leader, this is a guy they said that wants to be President of the United States in 2040.
And this also ended the career of Missouri receiver Danario Alexander who finished with 6 catches for 137 yards. Alexander at one point at Missouri was ahead of former Missouri receiver now with the Philadelphia Eagles, Jeremy Maclin. But injuries delayed Alexander's success at Missouri, but he will be a solid second round draft pick come April.
My Player of the Game: Ricky Dobbs, Navy Quarterback
Insight Bowl, 6pm on NFL Network
Minnesota Golden Gophers (6-6) vs. Iowa State Cyclones (6-6)
I haven’t seen much of these two teams, Minnesota three times and Iowa State just once. The only reason to watch this matchup is to see whether Iowa State can complete its turnaround and finish with a winning season after going 2-10 last year and losing head coach Gene Chizik to Auburn and replacing him with Paul Rhoads. Minnesota is a tough opponent but they have had such a disappointing year and the best player on the team, the only top NFL prospect in this game, wide receiver Eric Decker, will not play as he recovers from a knee injury and does not want to get hurt again before the NFL Combine so Decker’s career as a Golden Gopher is over. Iowa State has a couple young guys that are electrifying at times in quarterback Austen Arnaud and running back Adrian Robinson. Arnaud is a dual threat, but surprisingly polished as a passer from what I saw and what I’ve heard. Minnesota does have a decent run defense to slow down Robinson, but neither one of these teams can speak much about their defenses since both have more points allowed than points scored for the entire season.
Prediction: Iowa State 21, Minnesota 20
Result: Iowa State 14, Minnesota 13
Iowa State is another one of those teams who took outstanding strides in turning around the program during the offseason. This team that went 2-10 last year capped off its season with a one point victory over a formidable opponent from the Big Ten.
I had faith in the Cyclones after I watched them beat Nebraska earlier this season, but it was ugly in the first quarter with two interceptions by Austen Arnaud. In the second quarter, Iowa State got into a rhythm offensively going high speed up tempo and not letting Minnesota sub and get set defensively. Arnaud used his legs to pick up big first downs and perfectly executed the zone-read that led to a touchdown run by him. After a Minnesota three-and-out, Iowa State got the ball back with 1:23 left and a minute late Arnaud had a touchdown pass to Jake Williams and the Cyclones took a 14-3 lead into halftime.
Minnesota needed to run the ball better because quarterback Adam Weber had been inaccurate with every throw, he had a couple chances to hit receivers for big plays but his throws were off. He had one chance int he second quarter at a touchdown on the best throw of the ngiht for him, but the receiver fell down and the ball was intercepted.
Minnesota tried to rally in the second half and started moving the ball with the run game and that opened up a play-action pass for Weber to hit his tight end Nick Tow-Arnett on a seam for a touchdown.
Iowa State struggled to keep the offense moving in the second half. They got big gains by Alexander Robinson and Arnaud continued to pick up first downs, but they couldn't capitalize and score points, all while Minnesota continued to move the ball. Minnesota seemed to get big plays out of MarQueis Gray, the true freshman backup quarterback, but they put too much trust in the young guy and with four minutes to go in the fourth quarter and in field goal range already (a field goal would have won the game), Gray fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Ter'ran Benton of Iowa State and that was it. What a job Paul Rhoads has done with that team in his first season as head coach.
My Player of the Game: Austen Arnaud, Iowa State Quarterback
Honorable Mention: Alexander Robinson, Iowa State Running back
Chick-fil-A Bowl, 7:30pm on ESPN
No. 11 Virginia Tech Hokies (9-3) vs. Tennessee Volunteers (7-5)
This is a dream matchup for the founders of the Chick-fil-A Bowl. In a way, one team underachieved and another exceeded expectations. Virginia Tech was supposed to be a national title contender this year or, at the least, make the BCS again. Didn’t happen as they missed out on a chance to make a statement by losing to Alabama on Opening Night and then the loss to Georgia Tech during conference play really hurt, but let’s admit, the Hokies played a tough schedule this year. Most critics didn’t even expect to see Tennessee in a bowl game this year in Lane Kiffin’s first year as coach. The outspoken Kiffin silenced a lot of his critics with the way his team has performed as of late winning four of five to become bowl eligible and nearly upsetting No. 1 Alabama.
These are two of the nation’s best defenses going at it. The Hokies main goal is to stop Tennessee backs Montario Hardesty and the Bryce Brown, the true freshman. They also want to get plenty of pressure on senior QB Jonathon Crompton. Crompton has stepped up his game this year after having to battle for his job over the summer, but when under pressure he becomes a flop of inconsistency and turns the ball over. Tennessee does have some talent at receiver with juniors Gerald Jones and the guy I like Denarius Moore. Another guy I like to watch Virginia Tech cornerback Stephan Virgil should be matched up with one of them, likely Moore. Tech also has All-ACC safety Kam Chancellor playing centerfield and is one of the best at it.
Both teams are going to want to run the ball, and Tennessee has a tougher task of slowing not only dual-threat quarterback Tyrod Taylor, but freshman tailback Ryan Williams who ran for an ACC freshman record this year with over 1,500 yards. I thought the preseason injury to Darren Evans was catastrophic for the Hokies, but Williams has really emerged and makes me wonder what’ll happen when Evans returns next season. The Hokies also have another excellent freshman back behind Williams with David Wilson who you’ll see get a few carries in this game.
Tyrod Taylor has become a better passer making him a complete quarterback, but he will have to keep an eye out for Thorpe Award winner Eric Berry and know where he is at all times. Berry, the ballhawking All-American safety, is a game changer and he will also come up to a linebacker spot and stuff the run. If Virginia Tech can’t get throwing early to keep Berry out of the box, depending how many points the Vols’ offense can score, they might win this one. The game features quite a few offensive stars, but also the #2-rated NFL prospect on defense and it will be a defensive game with two great coordinators at the helm: Virginia Tech’s Bud Foster vs. Tennessee’s Monte Kiffin.
Prediction: Virginia Tech 20, Tennessee 16
Result: Virginia Tech 37, Tennessee 14
Virginia Tech hasn't allowed anyone to score against them in the second half of games since Oct. 29. That trend continued today after the Hokies jumped out to a 14-0 lead before the momentum shifted to Tennessee and they tied the game in the second quarter, but the Hokies took a 17-14 lead into halftime and 23 unanswered points.
Virginia Tech running back Ryan Williams ran for a total of 117 yards giving the school record for rushing yards in a season with 1,655 and Williams also holds the ACC touchdown record, but the redshirt freshman left the game in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury.
Tennessee's two scores were really the only mistakes this Virginia Tech defense made. The first score came on a double move from Gerald Jones on Chris Hill that Hill bit on and left Jones open. Hill was in at corner replacing Stephan Virgil who was declared academically ineligible, but Virgil would not have made that mistake. The other touchdown was set up by a 47 yard run by Montario Hardesty after catching a screen and the Hokies just missed too many tackles there.
The second half was all ball control for Virginia Tech though as they accumulated over 230 yards on the ground and defensively shut down Tennessee's run game and with the six sacks of Jonathan Crompton included in the rushing totals for Tennessee, they were in the negative yards.
Tennessee had a golden opportunity to score in the fourth quarter as Denarius Moore, their deep threat, beat Kam Chancellor one-on-one and got open on a post route down the field but he dropped a good throw from Crompton. That possession ended with a sack and a fumble by Crompton recovered by Tech's John Graves and the Hokies' Matt Waldron made another 22 yard field goal. Tennessee got the ball again and even had their star Eric Berry deep as a return man for this game, but he wasn't able to make any big impact there. Tennessee moved the ball and got onto the cusp of the redzone before Crompton was sacked again on 4th-and-10.
Virginia Tech wins its first game in a dome since 2003 and surprisingly wins back-to-back bowl games for the first time in school history as they completed their 6th straight 10-win season that is second to only Texas' nine seasons.
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