January 10, 2010
Freshman year I missed eight bowl games because I was in New York with my cousins. I was devastated haha. Since then, I haven’t missed another one. 34 bowl games later this year, for the first time I decided to rank them from worst game to best game. Here they are.
No. 34: International Bowl
My Pick: South Florida 24-10
Result: South Florida 27, Northern Illinois 3
Both offenses were really sloppy in the first half while both defenses played well, but it was just a boring game to watch and USF QB BJ Daniels didn’t really come to life until the second half, but the jolt in the second half came from USF RB Mike Ford who put on a show with 200+ yards in the second half.
No. 33: St. Petersburg Bowl
My Pick: Rutgers 27-20
Result: Rutgers 45, Central Florida 24
This game was dominated by Rutgers on both sides of the ball. It was never close. The only reason to have watched was to see the freshman tandem on offense for Rutgers of Tom Savage and Mohamed Sanu. Rutgers was too fast and too athletic for Central Florida to keep up.
No. 32: Independence Bowl
My Pick: Texas A&M 40-33
Result: Georgia 44, Texas A&M 20
This game never lived up to the shootout hype. Georgia lived up to it, but A&M didn’t. A&M QB Jerrod Johnson struggled which is why the offense couldn’t get going. Got a taste of Logan Gray at the end of the ballgame, could possibly be Georgia’s starting QB next year but there will be a fierce competition for the job in the spring.
No. 31 Texas Bowl
My Pick: Missouri 41-16
Result: Navy 35, Missouri 13
Missouri was not ready for this game and that’s on the coaches. Navy’s offense is fun to watch and Missouri had a good time watching it. They had a poor game plan going into the game and didn’t work and they refused to run the ball despite the two man fronts from Navy and dropping eight back into coverage. Navy was giving Missouri all the space in the world to run the ball and they didn’t do it and couldn’t get things going through the air so it turned out to be not that exciting of a game.
No. 30 Papajohns.com Bowl
My Pick: South Carolina 23-20
Result: Connecticut 20, South Carolina 7
We were rooting for UConn to win this one to honor their fallen teammate Jasper Howard. UConn really pulled together after Jasper’s death and won five of their last six games including upsets here and against Notre Dame. It was a good battle of two defenses, but UConn’s run game just pounded away at South Carolina and UConn didn’t pass enough for us to see Eric Norwood’s pass rushing ability in this game.
No. 29 AT&T Cotton Bowl
My Pick: Ole Miss 33-24
Result: Ole Miss 21, Oklahoma State 7
Another supposed to be a shootout turned into a defensive struggle. Ole Miss didn’t really get going until the 4th quarter and Oklahoma State never got anything started. It was a dud of a game that had no excitement, no emotion, just no energy at all. It was one of those where you want to fall asleep and wake up with five minutes left in the game, cuz those were the most exciting.
No. 28 Holiday Bowl
My Pick: Arizona 19-16
Result: Nebraska 33, Arizona 0
Arizona’s defense looked so good all year, EXCEPT against the zone-read of Oregon. So what does Nebraska do in the two weeks they had to prepare for this game? They incorporated the zone-read into their offense, and I was actually surprised they did it because I actually went and typed up in my blog that the way Nebraska wins this game is if they use the zone-read. They did it, and they won, scoring quickly in the beginning with zone-read plays. Yes, it was a complete blowout, Arizona’s offense was bad, but as a fan you watch this game with enthusiasm because it was the last time you got see Ndamukong Suh in the Nebraska defense.
No. 27 Hawaii Bowl
My Pick: Nevada 41-30
Result: SMU 45, Nevada 10
June Jones brought SMU’s program back to life. That said, he crushed his former conference rival Nevada. This was supposed to be a shootout given Nevada’s nation’s best rushing offense vs. SMU’s nation’s worst rush defense and SMU’s big strike passing attack vs. Nevada’s nation’s worst pass offense. SMU delivered, Nevada didn’t. Nevada’s pistol offense didn’t pose any problems for SMU. This was just another classic case of good coaches having too much time to prepare, therefore, it results in perfect preparation and execution in SMU’s defense.
No. 26 FedEx Orange Bowl
My Pick: Iowa 31-24
Result: Iowa 24, Georgia Tech 14
A BCS bowl ranked so low? Why, you ask? I start with asking were these two BCS bowl quality teams? Iowa proved so, Georgia Tech did not. Iowa’s defense was stout and shut down Georgia Tech like I knew they would given a month to prepare for the spread option. Georgia Tech’s defense was exactly what we thought it was, nonexistent.
No. 25 Emerald Bowl
My Pick: USC 34-10
Result: USC 24, Boston College 13
This game got off to a hot start with a quick 14-0 USC lead and it looked like a blowout that wouldn’t be worth watching but Boston College did its best to keep it interesting and USC struggled down the stretch to make it anyone’s game but BC couldn’t capitalize.
No. 24 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl
My Pick: Ohio 21-17
Result: Marshall 21, Ohio 17
I predicted the score of this game right, just swap the two teams and I got it right on the money. It looked like Marshall was going to run away with it at the beginning, but Ohio fought back and a late rally wasn’t good enough.
No. 23 Armed Forces Bowl
My Pick: Houston 45-38
Result: Air Force 47, Houston 20
A 27 point lead is never enough when playing Houston. Most teams learn that the hard way. It was just a rough day for Houston QB Case Keenum though as he threw an ungodly six interceptions and the Houston offense never found a rhythm. I guess Air Force really was the number one pass defense in America despite who they played against in conference.
No. 22 Maaco Las Vegas Bowl
My Pick: Brigham Young 38-34
Result: BYU 44, Oregon State 20
BYU came into the game as the higher ranked team, but the underdog. It doesn’t happen very often, but BYU came out hot and showed up Oregon State’s defense that hasn’t been good all year. None of the Pac-10 defenses were really any good other than Arizona. Max Hall had a great finale to his BYU career and we wanted to see him off in a good way like that.
No. 21 Champs Sports Bowl
My Pick: Miami 31-24
Result: Wisconsin 20, Miami 14
This game actually wasn’t as close as the score suggests, but Miami’s very late rally made it one of the better games. A failed onside kick attempt iced the game, but Miami almost pulled it off after Wisconsin had dominated the entire game and the defense shut Miami down. Miami QB Jacory Harris had a rough day with his offensive line unable to block at all and Miami lost RB Graig Cooper to a torn ACL and MCL in the second quarter.
No. 20 Insight Bowl
My Pick: Iowa State 21-20
Result: Iowa State 14, Minnesota 13
Well, I got the one point margin of victory part right. This game had a majority of dull moments, but the end is what most people remember and that’s what matters and that’s what made this game better than the others.
No. 19 EagleBank Bowl
My Pick: UCLA 31-14
Result: UCLA 30, Temple 21
Temple was so excited to be in a bowl game. It’s a huge step forward for their program, but they couldn’t match up with a UCLA team that’s filled with skilled athletes. Temple stayed in it though and went toe-to-toe with the Bruins after jumping out to a quick lead. They had a chance to win it at the end, but an Akeem Ayers pick six right along the goal line was one of the top plays of bowl season and sealed the win for UCLA. A loss would have been drastic for the UCLA recruiting circuit.
No. 18 Poinsettia Bowl
My Pick: Utah 31-24
Result: Utah 37, California 27
Another team from the Mountain West and another win. Utah was another one of those teams that was ranked higher, but labeled as the underdog. Utah freshman QB Jordan Wynn grew up ever since the TCU game and had a great night putting on a show for his hometown in San Diego. Cal didn’t have Jahvid Best, but Shane Vereen broke off a few big runs. The Utah defense stepped up big. This was one of the better early games.
No. 17 Capital One Bowl
My Pick: LSU 27-24
Result: Penn State 19, LSU 17
This game came down to a last second field goal by Penn State, yet it wasn’t all that exciting. The weather was bad, the field was torn up, there was mud puddles and chunks of sod all over the field and it felt miserable seeing it through the TV. The conditions were so bad, both teams struggled mightily, LSU receivers dropped passes everywhere. LSU thought they won tho with a go-ahead field goal at the end, but Penn State was able to set up a game-winning field goal for themselves.
No. 16 Sugar Bowl
My Pick: Florida 45-24
Result: Florida 51, Cincinnati 24
Why does a blowout get ranked so high? I just found this game to be really really entertaining. I enjoyed seeing Cincinnati get blown out and I enjoyed seeing their defense picked apart. It made me rejoice in knowing that I was right all along about how horribly overrated Cincinnati was all year. It was Tim Tebow’s final college game, so that was another reason to keep watching, to watch his farewell, and boy did he put on a show with the best game of his career. And if it wasn’t for that one last extra touchdown before taking Tebow out of the game, I would guessed this score perfectly dead on.
No. 15 Gator Bowl
My Pick: Florida State 34-30
Result: Florida State 33, West Virginia 21
You knew there was no way Florida State could lose Bobby Bowden’s last game, right? The Noles were 6-6 going into this game, and through Bowden’s 34 years of coaching at FSU he had NEVER had a losing season. A loss in this one would have been his first and it would been a very distasteful ending but the football gods were with him and his team as they handled a good West Virginia offense even though the Mountaineers lost their QB in the first half. It was more surprising that Florida State scored so easily against the WVU defense, but it was winnable for WVU at the end, they just blew it, but we caught a glimpse of the future with Geno Smith at QB.
No. 14 Rose Bowl
My Pick: Oregon 30-21
Result: Ohio State 26, Oregon 17
There was so much hype about this Rose Bowl because Ohio State was in it and USC wasn’t. Oregon didn’t even get much love, it was all about how Ohio State made it and how USC didn’t and Oregon ended up there. Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor had the best game of his career setting himself up for a breakout season next year. Oregon’s offense was slowed down by Ohio State, but got a big gain here and there and you never knew when the big burst would just come out of Oregon’s offense so it was worth watching all the way.
No. 13 Music City Bowl
My Pick: Clemson 30-17
Result: Clemson 21, Kentucky 13
Clemson RB CJ Spiller led the winningest senior class in school history. Spiller is one of my all-time favorites and you had to watch his final game. I’m still trying to find out how he wasn’t a Heisman finalist. Kentucky had some playmakers of their own in this one and made it a tough game for Clemson to win.
No. 12 Chick-fil-A Bowl
My Pick: Virginia Tech 20-16
Result: Virginia Tech 37, Tennessee 14
Virginia Tech didn’t get the message that they were on upset alert, or did they? They came out on fire and torched this Tennessee defense. This is the same Tennessee defense that shut down both Alabama and Florida, but gave up 37 to Virginia Tech. This game was exciting just because the way Tech played with that swagger and the running of Ryan Williams is a great thing to watch. Despite the blowout, it was one of the games I enjoyed watching the most, not to mention it was the final college football came of the decade.
No. 11 New Orleans Bowl
My Pick: Southern Miss 31-27
Result: Middle Tennessee 42, Southern Miss 32
It wasn’t exactly the greatest matchup but it proved to be a great game highlighted by a great performance. Middle Tennessee QB Dwight Dasher went wild and showed he was the most exciting player in the Sun Belt Conference. Southern Miss never had an answer for Dasher’s running ability has he accumulated over 200 yards rushing despite twisting his knees on the artificial turf twice, and the Blue Raiders held off a late Southern Miss rally that kept the crowd the in the game.
No. 10 Alamo Bowl
My Pick: Texas Tech 41-28
Result: Texas Tech 41, Michigan State 31
All the media attention towards this game was about Michigan State’s eleven suspended players for a campus fight and about Texas Tech firing Mike Leach for locking Adam James in a closet. Yeah, yeah we still don’t know all the truths of the Mike Leach story and there’s a bunch of lawsuits, but the fact that Ruffin McNeill took over on an interim basis and had his team fired to play was great. Except for a MSU field goal, I had the score of this game dead on. Damn Brett Swenson. It looked Tech was going to blow the game late, but Steven Sheffield came in to relieve Taylor Potts and the crowd went crazy and Sheffield let the Red Raiders to the game-winning drive that included two fourth down conversions on gutsy calls by McNeill and he proved that he should have the interim labeled remove, but school officials apparently disagreed and hired Tommy Tuberville as their next head coach.
No. 9 Sun Bowl
My Pick: Oklahoma 33-20
Result: Oklahoma 31, Stanford 27
This was one of the most anticipated matchups to see if Stanford’s physical power running game with Toby Gerhart could work against the strong Oklahoma defense. Despite having eight potential first day NFL draft picks on that Oklahoma defense, Gerhart fared pretty well, but he couldn’t do it by himself. Oklahoma got off to a quick start so I thought they were going to prove right away they’re still a top team, but they tailed off and Stanford rallied at the end. You can’t help but wonder, would Stanford have won at the end if they had QB Andrew Luck (was out with a broken finger on his throwing hand)? Oklahoma did not assert itself as the potentially dominate team they could have been, and Stanford proved their season was not a fluke and Gerhart raised his draft stock.
No. 8 Meineke Car Care Bowl
My Pick: Pittsburgh 27-21
Result: Pittsburgh 19, North Carolina 17
We knew it was going to be a defensive struggle and this was an all around exciting game. We had some big plays here and there from both offenses, but in the end both defenses triumphed. It was fun to watch Pitt RB Dion Lewis try to shed tackles from the outstanding UNC linebackers, and after the game, Bruce Carter, Quinton Sturdivant, Deunta Williams, Marvin Austin—all those studs on the UNC defense announced their returning next season rather than opting for the NFL. It might make UNC the sleeper team to watch in the ACC next season. Dion Lewis still got his hard earned 100 yards in this game, but QB Bill Stull struggled and WR Jonathan Baldwin was neutralized and after UNC took a late lead, Pitt won it with a Dan Hutchins field goal as time expired.
No. 7 Liberty Bowl
My Pick: Arkansas 44-21
Result: Arkansas 20, East Carolina 17 (overtime)
Five missed field goals in this game. Five of them. Four of which were by East Carolina’s Ben Hartman and ultimately cost ECU the win. Arkansas was supposed to blow out the Pirates, but the weather was freezing and Arkansas’s passing attack couldn’t get going and receivers had frozen hands and weren’t used to that and dropped passes every which way. Ryan Mallett needed a huge day to be a first round NFL draft pick, didn’t have it, and will return for his junior year. The Arkansas offensive line could not protect against ECU’s very underrated defensive front. The two defenses kept the game close, but and ECU could have won it, but in a 17-17 tie, Hartman missed a field goal with over a minute to go, and ECU got the ball back, and Hartman missed a field goal as time expired that would have won it. Then ECU started with the ball in overtime and Hartman missed another game-winning field goal and Alex Tejada nailed a 36 yarder (I think it was) to win for Arkansas.
No. 6 New Mexico Bowl
My Pick: Fresno State 38-17
Result: Wyoming 35, Fresno State 28 (overtime)
Bowl season got off an exciting start with this game on Dec. 19. Fresno State came into the game as the heavy favorite and I had only seen Wyoming play once (against Texas) and back when I watched that game, Austyn Carta-Samuels was not Wyoming’s quarterback, so I had never seen him. Well that true freshman put on a show and his dual talents kept Fresno’s defense on its heels. In Dave Christenson’s first year as Wyoming head coach he got them bowl eligible at 6-6 and then pulled off the huge upset of Fresno State in an intense overtime game.
No. 5 Fiesta Bowl
My Pick: TCU 27-20
Result: Boise State 17, TCU 13
The “Buster Bowl” with two undefeated BCS busters playing each other. It was the first BCS game where two undefeateds were playing for something that’s not a national championship so that made it worth watching. I mean it was a rematch of last year’s Poinsettia Bowl that TCU won 17-16 despite gaining 200 some more yards than Boise. In this game though, neither team dominated offensively, it was a very even game with two strong defenses. We knew we’d see tricks from Chris Peterson and Boise and their fake field goal pass extended what ended up being the game-winning drive for Boise. Despite the lack of flashyness and explosive plays in this game, both teams proved that this matchup was better than say a Boise-Iowa and TCU-Georgia Tech.
No. 4 BCS National Championship Game
My Pick: Texas 23-20
Result: Alabama 37, Texas 21
You’d look at the score and then heart Colt McCoy got knocked on in the first quarter and think to yourself Alabama must have dominated. That wasn’t the case, this was a very close game that if you turned it off at halftime during an Alabama 24-6 lead, you made a mistake. Texas true freshman QB Garrett Gilbert found a rhythm after removing the jitters at halftime and almost led Texas to one of the greatest comebacks in history. Questionable coaching decisions in the first half by both staffs almost cost Alabama the game, but then gave it right back to them. It was a 24-21 game at with three minutes to go in the fourth quarter thanks to the Texas defense that lost all its energy in the first half after being shocked of McCoy’s depature, smothering Alabama in the second half, but then ultimately it came down the experience factor of the freshman not being able to read defenses with the mind of a seasoned veteran and Gilbert didn’t read the backside blitz, admitted it was a bad read by him and one that Colt would have made, and Alabama recovered the fumble scored again, and put the game away to stop the late Texas rally.
No. 3 GMAC Bowl
My Pick: Central Michigan 38-30
Result: Central Michigan 44, Troy 41 (double overtime)
Dan LeFevour’s last game for Central Michigan sure was a thrilling one, but you count on him winning it. These offenses started out real slow in the first half but the shootout began after intermission. Troy’s offense actually fared better than Central Michigan’s and Troy’s defense was a little better, but hey that’s why we have special teams. Antonio Brown’s touchdown return put Central Michigan within one score of tying and then LeFevour did it with a perfect throw to send it to overtime. Both teams scored in the first overtime, CMU on a LeFevour 13 yard run, but in the second overtime, CMU blocked a Troy field goal which set up Andrew Aguila to win it for the Chippewas and send LeFevour out a winner. This game was a great precursor for the national championship the following night.
No. 2 Outback Bowl
My Pick: Auburn 34-17
Result: Auburn 38, Northwestern 35 (overtime)
This was just a crazy game. First of all, Auburn prepared for the physical Northwestern running game, and didn’t get it. Northwestern QB Mike Kafka attempted over 70 passes and threw four touchdowns, along with five interceptions. Auburn capitalized on the first few turnovers and had a 21-7 lead at halftime and looked like they’d put Northwestern away, but the Auburn offense fell asleep in the third quarter, and so did the defense as Kafka found a rhythm. Then Auburn took control in the fourth quarter only to turn it over at the end let Auburn score twice in three minutes to tie the game and then a Ben Tate fumble and Auburn penalties put Northwestern in position for a game-winning field goal but Stefan Demos missed it. It went to overtime, and Demos missed another one, but that wasn’t all that happened in overtime. Auburn rushed the field three times thinking they had won, at first on a fumble recovery, then on a field goal miss, then on a Kafka fumble recovery, but the first was overturned and ruled incomplete, then the field goal miss didn’t count because Auburn got flagged for roughing the kicker, then the Kafka fumble that Auburn recovered was overturned as Kafka as ruled down before the ball came out. Then Northwestern lined up to try the tying field goal but faked it and didn’t make it into the endzone. It was a crazy finish and Auburn finally won and rushed the field for a fourth time in about five minutes.
No. 1 Humanitarian Bowl
My Pick: Bowling Green 41-28
Result: Idaho 43, Bowling Green 42
Here it was, on Boise State’s blue turf, the most best bowl game of 2009 was played. Both offenses scored at will. It was mostly a back and forth display of the two explosive offenses going against poor defenses. Bowling Green QB Tyler Sheehan almost put threw for 400 yards while Freddie Barnes had 17 catches for 219 yards to break the FBS single season record for catches. Barnes’ big day looked like it would lead Bowling Green to the win as his 51 yard touchdown reception with 30 seconds left in the game gave the Falcons a 42-35 lead. 30 seconds? No problem said Idaho. Idaho QB Nate Enderle got pressured and heaved up a deep ball to Preston Davis and Davis somehow came down with it and that put Idaho within striking distance of the endzone with the clock ticking down. Max Komar was Idaho’s leading receiver and he was shut out the whole game, but Enderle hit him in the endzone with a second left to make it 42-41, and what do you know, it’s bowl season, you have nothing to lose, so Idaho coach Robb Akey called for a 2 point play to win the game and there was Preston Davis in the back of the endzone to win it 43-42 in the best finish of bowl game this year. Akey told the audience through ESPN’s cameras at halftime with enthusiasm to “watch the second, you’re gonna love it!” Akey was right.
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