Bowl Recap and the Last of the Picks

The Bowl picks started off really well but currently I'm 11-3 in getting them right. While I picking the finals right I'm not getting to many of the score predictions right. Utah pulled out a victory against Navy and FAU continued its USF like rise with a win over Memphis. The Tigers defense let them down again giving up five touchdown passes to Owl quarterback Rusty Smith. I see FAU using this as a stepping stone to bigger and better things.

Southern Miss coach Jeff Bowers hung around to coach the bowl but his players didn't get up to give him a proper send off as they lost to Cincinnati. The Bearcats acutally lost the turnover battle but Ben Mauk threw four touchdown passes in the 31-21 win.

The New Mexico Bowl is the first game I got wrong. I thought Nevada would have too much offense for the Lobos but New Mexico shut them out and completely dominated. I was way off.

BYU made me right by blocking a last second field goal. After UCLA had driven right down the field for what looked like the winning drive, Eathyn Manumaleuna got a hand on the kick. The Cougars escaped with a one point win and revenge on the Bruins.

I also thought Boise State would wear East Carolina out. I didn't bargain for Ian Johnson not playing or for ECU running back Chris Johnson having a record day in producing 408 all-purpose yards. Chris Johnson picked a bad time to have his first fumble of the season late in the game, but kicker Ben Hartman nailed a 34 yarder as time expired to finish the upset.

Purdue and Central Michigan's rematch in the Motor City Bowl looked a lot like their first matchup this season with the Boilermakers having their way. Purdue opened up a 34-13 halftime lead thanks to two Curtis Painter touchdowns passes and two more Kory Sheets runs. The Chippewas roared back with a 28 point third quarter riding the arm and legs of Dan LeFevour and tied the game a 41. The teams traded touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Purdue was able to pull out the win with Chris Summers 34-yard field goal to make the score 51-48. Painter set a school record 546 passing yards in the game and LeFevour with 292 yards passing and four touchdowns to go with 119 rushing and two more.

Arizona State is used to playing from behind but they had not done it against a team as talented as Texas who won the Holiday Bowl 52-34. The game looked over after Texas recovered a lateral by the Sun Devils but one of the sideline people for Texas "touched" the ball. This gave the ball back to ASU who scored to make the score 21-7. The game was never really close at all as the Sun Devils never had an answer for Jamaal Charles who finished with 161 yards and two touchdowns.

I thought BC would roll Michigan State in the Champs Sports Bowl but the Eagles probobly didn't want to be there and MSU was happy to be in the game. Matt Ryan came up with three touchdown passes in his last college game but MSU was able to keep the rushing game in check.

TCU's defense won the battle of Texas, Oregon St. defeated Maryland, Wake Forest shut out UConn in the second half to win, Mississippi St. kept Kevin Smith from breaking the rushing record and beat UCF, and Penn St. move Joe Pa closer to Bobby Bowden by beating Texas A&M.

I'll pick the rest of the games next post.