1. 8C Sunday, January 11, 2009 www.star-telegram.com
M
BOWL REVIEW
Gators bowled ’em over Ranking the bowls
Staff writer David Thomas watched
all 34 bowls and ranks the games
from best to worst:
1. Fiesta: Texas 24, Ohio State 21 —
The college football bowl schedule almost reached three full weeks in length, with 34 games — including two
By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@star-telegram.com The legend of Colt McCoy grows.
new ones this season — over 20 days. We began with Wake Forest beating Navy in the first EagleBank Bowl and ended with Florida claiming the BCS national 2. Alamo: Missouri 30, Northwestern
championship by defeating Oklahoma. A look back, from start to finish, at the 2008-09 bowl games. 23 (OT) — Carroll grad Chase Daniel
overcomes three interceptions,
Top bowl rushers Top bowl passers Top bowl receivers throws for winning touchdown in OT.
Player, school No. Yds. TD Player, school C-A-I Yds. TD Player, school No. Yds. TD 3. Poinsettia: TCU 17, Boise State
Gartrell Johnson, Colorado St. 27 285 2 Colt McCoy, Texas 41-58-1 414 2 Hakeem Nicks, North Carolina 8 217 3 16 — TCU wipes out 13-0 deficit to
Donald Brown, Connecticut 29 261 1 Mark Sanchez, USC 28-35-0 413 4 Dezmon Briscoe, Kansas 14 201 3 hand Boise State its first loss.
4. New Orleans: Southern Miss 30,
Tarrion Adams, Tulsa 19 207 3 Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame 22-26-0 401 5 Golden Tate, Notre Dame 6 177 3
Troy 27 (OT) — Southern Miss over-
Jahvid Best, California 20 186 2 Colin Kaepernick, Nevada 24-47-2 370 3 Mike McCoy, Nevada 13 172 0
comes a 10-point fourth-quarter
Da’Rel Scott, Maryland 14 174 2 Graham Harrell, Texas Tech 36-58-2 364 4 Quan Cosby, Texas 14 171 2
deficit, then wins on a blocked field
goal in overtime.
5. BCS Championship: Florida 24,
Oklahoma 14 — If the title had not
been on the line, this would have
bordered on being a remote-clicker.
6. Gator: Nebraska 26, Clemson 21
— Nebraska caps a turnaround sea-
son with a second-half turnaround.
7. Holiday: Oregon 42, Oklahoma
State 31 — Another exciting, high-
Baugh Harrell
AP AP
scoring Holiday Bowl game, with five
Cotton Bowl then and now lead changes in the second half.
This marked the 73rd and final Cotton Bowl at 8. Meineke Car Care: West Virginia
the Cotton Bowl stadium, with next year’s game 31, North Carolina 30 — A 35-point
moving to Arlington. Comparing the first Cotton first quarter with four of the scoring
Bowl of 1937 and the final one in Dallas (* de- plays covering at least 35 yards.
notes bowl record): 9. PapaJohns.com: Rutgers 29,
1937 2009 North Carolina State 23 — North
TCU 16, Mississippi 47,
Score Carolina State leads 17-6 when QB
Marquette 6 Texas Tech 34 Russell Wilson injures a knee. Then
pfft.
22 81*
Total points
10. Emerald: California 24, Miami
Second-half 0 36
(Fla.) 17 — If Cal had a good passing
points
game to go with RB Jahvid Best (186
17,000 88,175*
Attendance
yards) ...
Threatening 68, clear and
Weather
11. Cotton: Mississippi 47, Texas
beautiful
Tech 34 — Texas Tech’s history of
Rushing yds 224 328 bowl comebacks keeps it interesting
Receiver Quan Cosby delivered the winning points for Texas.
283 656
Passing yds THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC/ROB SCHUMACHER VIA AP
for part of the fourth quarter.
3 11*
TDs 12. Armed Forces: Houston 34, Air
Staking their claim Where was With teammates
Dutch Meyer Houston Nutt
Winning Force 28 — Cougars’ running game,
the drama? like this ...
How select coaches and players
coach not its passing, hurts Air Force most.
weighed in on the “Who’s No. 1?” Texas’ game-winning TD Colorado State running back
13. New Mexico: Colorado State 40,
Sammy Baugh Graham Harrell
Late-game debate after their games. with 16 seconds remaining Gartrell Johnson rushed for
Fresno State 35 — An entertaining
reinserted at attempted
fan-pleaser Florida coach Urban Meyer: “I’ll in the Fiesta Bowl made 285 yards against Fresno
game, but far from a football clinic.
quarterback drop-kick tell you, we’re going to enjoy a big the Longhorns the only State in the New Mexico Bowl
CSU’s Gartrell Johnson rushes for
win, we’re going to enjoy the nation- team to come from behind — the second-best rushing
285 yards and two TDs.
Making al championship. Let someone else to win in the final two day in bowl history. He also
14. Las Vegas: Arizona 31, BYU 21
statements worry about that. Gators are No. 1.” minutes of a game. Only 11 had 90 yards receiving, for a
— After four consecutive Las Vegas
A look at the Utah coach Kyle Whittingham: “I winning teams trailed at Division I record 375 total
Bowl appearances, you think BYU is
records for states know where I’m voting us. I’m voting any point in the fourth yards. But after the game,
ready for a different bowl?
with at least three us No. 1. End of story.” quarter, and only four of Johnson was taking plenty of
15. Humanitarian: Maryland 42,
bowl teams: USC coach Pete Carroll: “With all those were behind in the heat from teammates for
Nevada 35 — Teams combine for 940
4-1 Florida due respect, [Florida and Oklahoma] final seven minutes of being caught from behind on
yards of offense and almost that
4-1 Texas are two great programs, I don’t think regulation. Southern Miss, a 57-yard run and a 57-yard
many missed tackles on defense.
2-1 California anyone can beat the Trojans.” which trailed Troy by 10 reception. “I’m not going to
16. EagleBank: Wake Forest 29,
1-2 Oklahoma Texas quarterback Colt McCoy: “I points, was the only team give him credit,” teammate
Navy 19 — Wake QB Riley Skinner
1-3 North Carolina don’t think there’s anybody in the to overcome more than an Tommie Hill joked, “because
Florida’s Tim Tebow walked
completes all 11 of his passes, and
0-3 Michigan country who can beat us at this eight-point deficit in the he got run down twice.”
off as a champion. AP
the Demon Deacons score 14 points
point.” fourth quarter.
in the final eight minutes.
The bowl Mendoza line
17. Rose: USC 38, Penn State 24 —
Eight teams entered their bowl games with 6-6
Nittany Lions score 17 points in the
By the numbers Conference calls
records, and three lost to finish the season be-
fourth quarter to make it respect-
s The SEC has won the past three
low .500. How the 6-6 teams fared, with their games decided by three
7 able.
opponents’ final record: BCS national championships.
points or fewer.
18. Independence: Louisiana Tech
Team Result Opponent s The Pac-10 had the best confer-
games decided by
16 17, Northern Illinois 10 — Louisiana
Florida Atlantic W 24-21 C. Mich. (8-5) ence record at 5-0.
seven points or fewer. Tech comes from behind to win for
s The SEC had the most wins of
Kentucky W 25-19 E. Car. (9-5)
of five BCS bowl games
1 seventh time in ’08.
any conference, going 6-2.
Memphis L 41-14 S. Fla. (8-5) (Fiesta) decided by 19. Music City: Vanderbilt 16, Bos-
s Big Ten teams went 1-6 for the
N.C. State L 29-23 Rutgers (8-5) fewer than 10 points. ton College 14 — Vandy’s punt cover-
worst record among the six BCS
No. Illinois L 17-10 La. Tech (8-5) age team scores the Commodores’
of 12 January games conferences.
3
Notre Dame W 49-21 Hawaii (7-7) only touchdown.
s Of the Big 12’s four wins in its
decided by fewer than
20. Sugar: Utah 31, Alabama 17 —
Southern Miss W 30-27 (OT) Troy (8-5) 10 points. seven games, only one victory came
Undefeated Utes clean up on low Tide.
Vanderbilt W 16-14 Bos. Coll. (9-5) from a South Division team (Texas).
blocked extra-point
3 21. Liberty: Kentucky 25, East Caro-
s Mid-American teams finished
attempts in the Liberty
lina 19 — Replay wipes out Kentucky
0-5 and were outscored by an
Out in the cold Bowl between Kentucky
fumble return for the winning TD.
average of 17 points.
It’s no surprise that the Humanitarian Bowl in and East Carolina.
Wildcats return another fumble for a
s Virginia Tech’s win over Cincin-
Boise, Idaho, had the coldest temperature at
TD three plays later.
nati in the Orange Bowl broke the
kickoff of the bowl games, at 38 degrees. But
Streakers 22. Motor City: Florida Atlantic 24,
ACC’s eight-game losing streak in
Fort Worth’s Armed Forces Bowl and the Sun
The longest current Central Michigan 21 — FAU coach
TCU safety Stephen Hodge BCS bowls.
AP
Bowl (of all bowls) were among the eight games
bowl winning streaks Howard Schnellenberger calls the win
that kicked off with sub-50-degree readings.
among this season’s his program’s “most meaningful
TCU: No running allowed Odds and trends
Bowl Site Temp.
bowl teams: game.”
s BCS Top 25 teams were 0-5
Humanitarian Boise, Idaho 38 Consider this the annual “You can’t
8 Utah 23. Capital One: Georgia 24, Michi-
run on TCU in a bowl game” note. against unranked teams. In games
Music City Nashville 39 5 Oregon State gan State 12 — Bulldogs dominate
The Horned Frogs held Boise State between ranked teams, the lower-
EagleBank Washington, D.C. 40 5 Texas the second half after trailing 6-3 at
to 28 rushing yards on 20 carries in ranked team won six of 10 games.
New Mexico Albuquerque 41 4 California halftime.
s Teams that played in their home
the Poinsettia Bowl. That makes
Independence Shreveport 44 4 LSU 24. Insight: Kansas 42, Minnesota 21
four consecutive years that TCU state were 9-5, including national
4 TCU
Las Vegas Las Vegas 44 — Gophers can’t handle Reesing to
has held its bowl opponent to champion Florida.
4 West Virginia Briscoe, or Reesing to Meier.
Armed Forces Fort Worth 47 s The team that scored first won
fewer than 35 yards rushing. Over
... and the longest bowl 25. Orange: Virginia Tech 20, Cincin-
Sun El Paso 48 those four games, opponents have 21 of the 34 games.
losing streaks among nati 7 — FedEx should ask for some
s The top-10 finishers in the Heis-
rushed for a total of 74 yards on
this season’s bowl sponsorship money back.
104 attempts. That is 0.7 yards per man Trophy voting had a 5-5 record.
Milestones tracker teams: 26. International: Connecticut 38,
carry and 18.5 yards per game. Sam Bradford of Oklahoma was the
Comparing individual milestones from this sea- 6 Northwestern Buffalo 20 — UConn wins despite
only of the three finalists to lose in a
son’s bowls to the previous two bowl seasons 5 Ball State being minus-5 in turnovers at halftime.
Houston: Twice the fun bowl game. Texas’ Colt McCoy and
(note: there were 32 bowl games in 2006-07 and 4 Georgia Tech 27. Champs Sports: Florida State
Rice and Houston had never given Florida’s Tim Tebow won.
2007-08): 4 Western Michigan 42, Wisconsin 13 — Florida State’s
s Three of the regular season’s top
their home city two bowl victories
’06-07 ’07-08 ’08-09
defense outscores Wisconsin’s of-
to celebrate in the same season. five rushers — MiQuale Lewis of
100-yard rushers 22 36 24
fense, two TDs to one.
Long-drive
This season, they won bowl games Ball State, Javon Ringer of Michigan
200-yard rushers 0 4 3 28. Hawaii: Notre Dame 49, Hawaii
competition
on back-to-back days. Rice won its State and Kendall Hunter of Okla-
300-yard passers 15 13 15 21 — Hawaii outmatched in a match-
first bowl game since the 1954 homa State — rushed for fewer
The longest drive ...
100-yard receivers 26 22 26 up of six-loss teams.
Cotton Bowl, routing Western For yards: 99, Oklahoma than 50 yards in their bowl games.
200-yard receivers 3 0 2 29. Texas: Rice 38, Western Michigan
Michigan 38-14 in the Texas Bowl. State (11 plays, 4:37, All three of their teams lost.
14 — Rice dominates, leads 38-0
s Texas had the worst starting
The Owls had lost four consecutive touchdown)
midway through the fourth quarter.
Drought breakers bowl games. The next day, Houston For plays and time: 18 field position of all teams, starting
30. Outback: Iowa 31, South Caroli-
Previous bowl wins for some of this year’s win- won the Armed Forces Bowl 34-28 and 8:37, Air Force (51 on average at its 19-yard line.
na 10 — Iowa leads 31-0 entering the
ners (with bowl record since last win in paren- over Air Force. It was the Cougars’ yards, field goal) Houston had the best, at its 46.
fourth quarter.
theses): first bowl victory since the 1980
31. Chick-fil-A: LSU 38, Georgia
Rice: 1954 Cotton (0-4) Quote marks
Garden State Bowl and ended an
Tech 3 — Having a month between
Vanderbilt: 1955 Gator (0-1-1) eight-game bowl losing streak. “I had more confidence in a 58-yard field-goal try than going for
games helped LSU figure out ’Jackets’
La. Tech: 1977 Independence (0-2-1) it on fourth-and-8.”
spread-option offense.
Houston: 1980 Garden State (0-8) Who else? — Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt, explaining his decision
32. St. Petersburg: South Florida
Notre Dame: 1994 Cotton Bowl (0-9) It figures that Missouri and North- to try a long field goal in a 3-0 loss to Oregon State in the Sun
41, Memphis 14 — Mismatch as ugly
Arizona: 1998 Holiday (last appearance). western went overtime in the Bowl.
as the patchwork Tampa Bay Rays
Colorado State: 2001 New Orleans (0-3) Alamo Bowl. Both entered the
home field they played on.
game having won eight overtime “I think the turning point in the game was when we lined up and
33. GMAC: Tulsa 45, Ball State 13 —
Chick-fil-A nuggets games — tied for the most among kicked it off.”
This was supposed to help us get
LSU’s 38-3 rout of Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Division I teams. Missouri improved — Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson on the Yellow Jack-
from the Fiesta Bowl to the champi-
Bowl improved LSU to 5-0 in the game. Georgia to 9-3 in overtime with its 20-17 ets’ 38-3 loss to LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. For the rec-
onship game?
Tech dropped to 0-4. Among Georgia Tech’s four win. Northwestern is 8-2. North- ord, that opening kickoff landed out of bounds.
34. Sun: Oregon State 3, Pittsburgh
losses in the Chick-fil-A (or Peach) Bowl, the western lost in double overtime at
0 — But, hey, CBS showed the Village
Yellow Jackets have had halftime deficits of 38-6 TCU in 2004, meaning both of the “It was just exciting. I’ve never been in the end zone before.”
People singing Y-M-C-A at halftime.
(1971 vs. Mississippi), 34-7 (1978 vs. Purdue) Wildcats’ overtime losses have — Navy defensive back Rashawn King, on his 50-yard
and 35-3 (2008 vs. LSU). occurred in Texas. fumble return for a touchdown.