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Posted on 12/14/2006 5:43:54 PM PST by MikefromOhio
The college football bowl season is upon us. Some of these games are worth watching, others are pure and simple money grabs. That said, I do like the fact that there are bowl games for all of the conference winners. However, I do NOT understand why the 6th place Big Ten team or the 8th place SEC team has a bowl game to go too. It’s all about the money. Almost all of these games will be on ESPN or ESPN2, but I will highlight the channel that these games are on. This thread will cover all non-National Title games. I’ll put all of the minor bowl games first and separate the BCS games after that. I’ll be doing a separate thread for the BCS National Title game.
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Garrett Wolfe and Northern Illinois can regain some of the national respect it had early on this season when it ran the ball on Ohio State and it appeared that Wolfe was going to challenge some of the records that Barry Sanders set. Meanwhile TCU has climbed all the way back up and into the top 25 after a bit of a slump to start out the year. Remember TCU was one of the favorite picks as a small conference school to make it to the BCS. This one appears to be a bit of a clunker.
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BYU could really make a case for it being in the top 20 for NEXT year with a convincing win here. Oregon is again looking for some momentum to carry into the 2007 season. This game may be the best game of the early bowl games. Of course that might not be saying much.
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This game is so obscure that I had trouble finding the right helmet for Troy State. This is a game where the Sun Belt champion, Troy, is getting a reward for winning their conference. That’s fine with me. Rice, however, was a decent Conference USA team, but really this match-up isn’t exactly going to put butts in the seats or eyes on the TV sets across the nation. Troy does provide a bit of a local flavor as they are from Alabama, so expect a bit of a home crowd for them.
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South Florida has put in an impressive season, with victories over West Virginia and Pittsburgh. East Carolina’s best claim to fame is either the victory over a bad NC State team or maybe the 5 point loss to Navy. For whatever reason, I don’t think that this game will be very watch-able. I will say, however, that if South Florida puts on a good show, there is a very good chance that they will be in the top 25 to start next year.
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I’m sure sean327 will be thrilled to see his Lobos in a bowl game. However, I am having issues figuring out WHY this game is being played. But since it is, I’m also having issues figuring out WHY New Mexico is a 4 point favorite here. San Jose State took Boise State to the limit. Now during the regular season I was 2-5-1 when picking New Mexico games so maybe sean327 will like this pick.
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This may be one of the better early bowl game match-ups. These two teams seem to be about even, yet both play hard. Tulsa was supposed to contend for the CUSA championship this year but didn’t get it done. Utah was in a rebuilding mode and I’m sure the extra 3 weeks of practice have been welcomed by the coaches.
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CFN predicted that this game may be one of the best games to watch this year. I agree. ASU can’t stop anyone on defense and Hawaii is a WAC team – meaning they are prone to giving up points in bunches as well. This should be a fun one to watch on Christmas Eve, especially if both offenses show up. Also watch for Hawaii QB Colt Brennan to launch his 2007 Heisman campaign with a good showing here.
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One of the stupidest things about the bowl lineup is that a team that did not win their conference outright, as MTSU did NOT do in the Sun Belt, ends up getting into a bigger money bowl game than the actual champion (Troy) did. This opportunity was given to them because the Big Ten did not have enough eligible teams to fill out their bowl lineup with Ohio State and Michigan making the BCS. This game comes down to whether MTSU can slow down the Central Michigan offense. I don’t think that will happen and this game has bad match-up written all over it.
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FSU has struggled with active and athletic defensive fronts all year long. Guess what they drew in this match-up? The very same defensive front which beat on USC all day of course. Not a good sign for Florida State. Expect a boring game.
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I can’t imagine Alabama being ready to play this game. It means nothing, chances are they won’t have a coach at this point and they will still have issues throwing the ball. Oklahoma State, on the other hand, can throw on anyone. Sometimes they have issues stopping the other guy from doing the same thing.
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For Cal, this is about building for next year. For Texas A&M, it’s about building off of the surprising Texas win and proving that they can play with the big boys in a consistent basis. I think A&M will keep it close, but I wonder if they will score enough to hang with the playmakers that Cal can bring to the table.
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I kind of enjoyed watching Rutgers this year. They came really out of nowhere and really had every opportunity to go undefeated. K-State knocked Texas completely out of National Title contention with a surprisingly explosive win. Rutgers has the defense to stop K-State, but can they throw well enough to get the job done? We will find out. This game is on the NFL Network.
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This should be a well attended game if nothing else. This game comes down to Clemson’s ability to run the ball. I don’t think Kentucky will be able to stop them. That will mean that Kentucky will have to play mistake free on offense to score enough to keep it close. Kentucky is light-years ahead of where it was last year, but it’s not on that level yet.
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Remember Missouri? You know, one of the last remaining unbeaten teams as late as the last week of October? Since their first loss on October 14th, Mizzou finished out the year losing 3 of their last 5 games. Oregon State, on the other hand, was about two week short of beating USC in one of the bigger shockers of the year. Little did we all know that Oregon State would finish 3rd in the Pac-10 this year at the time.
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Houston won the Conference USA and probably should be ranked at this point in time. South Carolina was in position to possibly get a win against Auburn, Arkansas AND Florida. That, along with the Steve Spurrier influence, is why I am picking South Carolina to win easily here.
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Holy Cow!!!! What a wild game-
Go TT!!!
..can you believe the Gophers gave up a 28 point lead?.. there is gonna be plenty of finger pointing in MN even if they win.....what a poor defensive display......
Woo Hoo!!! Congrats to your team!!!That was amazing!!
A 31 pt lead even, greatest comeback in a bowl game ever. Just wow, I wrote them off and decided to check back to see if they made it respectable.
Texas Tech has just posted the largest comeback in all of College Football Bowl history, defeating the Minnesota Golden Gophers 44-41, in OT by a Shannon Woods TD; coming back from a 38-7 deficit at halftime.
That was a crazy game. I invited a family of Tech fans to watch it at my house tonight because it wasn't televised locally and I have satellite, and they'll never forget this evening.
Great game. Incredible comeback. I'd hate to be a Golden Gopher fan.
This is equivalent to how the Bills came back to beat the Houston Oilers back in the playoffs in the early 90s.
This will be a college football classic. Sorry, Minnesota, but if you could have seen their long faces at halftime and the high fives at the end, it was a special moment.
It's one of those moments when you know college football is great.
Best bowl game ever!
I'll remember this evening forever.
That was really special.
At the half no one could have predicted that outcome...
"at least he didn't do as bad as Saddam Hussein did today.."
Outstanding! Tough game, Saddam.
Also, I didn't see any of the Texas Tech comeback, but the bottom line is, offenses seem to show up in these bowl games. Look at the scores. I remember 2 years ago when all these yo yo's were mocking Louisville and Boise State for playing a 44-40 game in the Liberty Bowl, but I don't see anything about South Carolina and Houston going 80 points in their Liberty Bowl today, and the only reason it wasn't more was Houston's incredible unforced 40-yard loss on 3rd and goal from the 6! Tough loss for the Gophers, but when you can pass the ball, you are always in the game, and for those who continue to embarrass themselves by taking shots at the Pac-10 or the other good passing teams in the country, educate yourselves.
What a game!
"Two teams that beat Texas get thumped tonight. Makes me wonder how Ohio State didn't beat UT by even more than 17."
Texas '07 survived because of the strength of "the program".
Texas '06 handed over the weapon of the century to the Tennessee Titans.
Texas is a younger team, especially with McCoy.
Coming from the fan of a team annually buried by UT in the second half of every game...that should count for something...:)
...of college football.
Great pictures, Bay. And thank you for the ping, hispana.
I was reading the Freeper Ghoul thread (Saddam's Death Watch) instead of watching the game after Tech went down 21 - 0 in the first quarter. By the third quarter, my son came downstairs and officially banned me from the game room, because I seem to be "bad luck" for the Red Raiders. I wasn't permitted to join them until the fat lady sung.
So, really, I'm going to have to take credit for this record-breaking win...
Tech's comeback began just after 9 p.m. around the same time we heard Saddam was dead......coincidence?
Mike Finger: Red Raiders make their pirate cry
Web Posted: 12/30/2006 03:56 AM CST
TEMPE, Ariz. — Pirates aren't supposed to cry. They're not supposed to pillage the NCAA bowl record books, either. But Friday night, Mike Leach — the Sultan of Swashbucklers, the Baron of Buccaneers, the Prince of Peglegs — somehow managed to do both. Less than a month after nearly bolting to Miami and less than two hours after getting humiliated by Minnesota in the first half of the Insight Bowl, Leach watched his team storm back from a 31-point second-half deficit and complete the biggest comeback in bowl history. When it was over — after Texas Tech's Shannon Woods plunged into the end zone to punctuate the Red Raiders' dizzying 44-41 overtime victory — Leach stood near midfield unable to control himself. The gruff offensive innovator, who at various times has idolized Old West gunfighters and the bandits of the high seas, couldn't stop his voice from cracking, couldn't come up with his usual sarcastic quip, couldn't keep his eyes from welling up. And there, in the pandemonium of the celebration and the raw emotion of the moment, Leach had never looked more like a man who belonged at Tech. He arrived in Lubbock more than seven years ago as an anti-Spike Dykes, a mad genius who wanted to throw the ball on every down and preferred to spend his leisure time surfing instead of fishing. He changed the personality of the Red Raiders, won a few bowl games, beat Texas and turned Texas A&M into a personal whipping boy, but even after all of that, he was willing to jump at the opportunity to leave Tech for Miami. And when he interviewed for the Hurricanes' opening earlier this month? No one was getting misty-eyed about the possibility of him leaving the South Plains behind. But he fits with Tech, and Friday proved why. He thrives on the us-against-the-world mentality that drove the Red Raiders in the second half, and he wouldn't have found that dynamic in Miami. At Tech, Leach recruits overlooked, hungry athletes willing to buy into what sometimes looks like a crazy system, and things never seemed crazier than they did on Friday night. Early on, the only record the Red Raiders looked like they were threatening was Texas A&M's "Most Humiliating Bowl Effort of 2006" mark. Everything Tech did in the first half was a disaster, from Leach's decision to go for it on fourth down near midfield to an interception that defensive back Antonio Huffman fumbled into the Minnesota end zone for a touchback. The Red Raiders trailed 35-7 at the break, but the pirate didn't panic. "We talked at halftime about how we had a chance to make history," Leach said. "We didn't want to be behind. But as long as we were, we felt we might as well do something memorable." To make it even more dramatic, Tech allowed Minnesota to extend its lead to 38-7 in the third quarter, which was notable because it made the ensuing rally truly historic. The previous record for biggest comeback in a bowl was the 30-point deficit Marshall erased against East Carolina in the 2001 GMAC Bowl. Tech was still down 38-14 to start the fourth quarter, but the Red Raiders were never stopped again. With quarterback Graham Harrell finding a rhythm he hadn't enjoyed since the first half of this season's Texas game, Tech scored on five consecutive drives of less than three minutes, including an eight-play, 53-yard march that set up Alex Trlica's game-tying 52-yard field goal as the fourth quarter expired. "We're an offense that can score in a hurry," Harrell said. "Everyone knows that." Said a stunned Minnesota coach Glen Mason: "We couldn't stop them. What can you say?" If you were a Tech fan, where would you start? Would it be by talking about how amazed you were about what you had just witnessed? Or about how excited you were about next year, when for the first time in six years, Leach won't have to break in a new quarterback? Or about how Leach had probably created more goodwill at Tech with his record-breaking victory than Bob Knight will with his? Or maybe you'd start by talking about the tears of a pirate. A pirate you could call your own.
mfinger@express-news.net
We're still on cloud nine here! The first thing out of my husband's mouth this morning was, "Guess what? Tech won"
Thanks for the article.
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