Posted on 01/05/2009 3:23:06 PM PST by Kid Shelleen
Texas Coach Mack Brown has a theory about bowl games.
"If the teams are fairly even, the team that wants to be there the most and has the edge and is more motivated usually wins," Brown said.
Third-ranked Texas would much rather be in Miami preparing to face Florida for the Bowl Championship Series title. But the Longhorns still have plenty of motivation against No. 10 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl tonight in Glendale, Ariz.
"Really, what's going through our minds is, 'Let's just put on a show, basically,' " Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo said. --snip--
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
USC out gained UT in both passing and rushing that day, as I recall. It was a close hard fought game all the way and UT came out on top. Yes, that was a loss, anyone can read a scoreboard, but it was not what I would term a "choke".
A "choke" defines a certain kind of loss, such as Oklahoma losing by over four touchdowns in a BCS game title game, or a favored team getting the butts kicked.
I would not define every loss as a choke.
USC out gained UT, as I recall. It was a close hard fought game all the way and UT came out on top. Yes, that was a loss, anyone can read a scoreboard, but it was not what I would term a "choke".
A "choke" defines a certain kind of loss, such as Oklahoma losing by over four touchdowns in a BCS game title game, or a favored team getting the butts kicked.
I would not define every loss as a choke.
I hope that the Buckeyes don't choke like they did the last couple of years in bowl games. I think they were overrated for a couple of seasons, and hopefully, are humbled enough to not be overconfident.
Got to root for the home team, even though I'm no longer an Ohioan.
You're half correct. UT fared better than USC in the rushing game.
"I would not define every loss as a choke."
Are you kidding? I'd most certainly define that loss by USC as a "choke", given the hype and obnoxious bias by ESPN and just about every other sports media outlet in the country for the month+ leading up to that game. "The 2005 USC team were the best college team, EVER" according to most of the "experts". It was a choke of the highest magnitude. And the sweetest victory by any Longhorn team in my lifetime.
That game was one of the best ever and could have gone either way and almost did.
USC played a hell of game, the Longhorns were a step ahead of them at the end.
It was no where close to the choke job of Oklahoma to which I referred to earlier.
The 2006 Rose Bowl game was no “choke.” I believe the outcome would have been different if only Pete Carroll hadn’t taken Reggie Bush out on that fourth-and-one play late in the fourth quarter. When he did, everyone on Planet Earth knew that White would get the ball.
A “choke” is something like the 1974 USC-Notre Dame game, when the Domers blew a 24-0 lead and lost 55-24.
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