OT Win In New Orleans Bowl

Our first overtime game of the 2008 bowl season saw the Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi upset the Troy Trojans 30-27 in the New Orleans Bowl last night. Southern Miss is now 3-0 in the New Orleans Bowl, having also won the 2004 and '05 editions. The win allowed Southern Miss to end with another winning season (7-6), their 15th consecutive. Turns out their kicker, named Britt Barefoot (I don’t make this stuff up…well, not all of it), was the difference in the game as he kicked 3 field goals greater than 30 yards – including one to tie the game and the winner in OT. During the regular season, he was only 6 for 12 and didn’t have any field goals greater than 28 yards.

Troy lead most of the game but went cold and inconsistent in the forth quarter with a 10-point lead. Southern Miss tied the game with just over 2 minutes to play on a 46-yard FG. They had the ball first in OT and had to settle for a 39-yard FG by “barefoot” that bonked off the right goal post but fell through the uprights. Troy moved the ball on their possession but stalled at the 11 yard line. Their FG attempt was blocked by the left-side “wingman” who went prone and blocked the kick easily.

No bowl games today (Monday) but the much anticipated Poinsettia Bowl is Tuesday which has undefeated Boise State against TCU. The matchup offers an interesting contrast with the potent Broncos offense (39 ppg) facing the stingy Frogs defense (11 ppg). This appears to be one of the better match-ups of the bowl season. ‘Vegas has the Frogs as a 3-point favorite, as go 12 of our 22 participants. In case you haven’t caught on, all these early bowls are on ESPN. It’s not until New Year’s Eve do the other networks get in on the action.

Talk about interesting…our leader board is lead by a guy (Rusty) that hasn’t watched a college game since the Aggies had a winning season, followed by a 9-year old girl (you go Brooke) and an English lady (Franchon). Parity blows!! So far, the ‘Vegas line is 3-2. Dale on the other hand is still in the running for a “perfect Mirror” Award at 0-5. FYI…both Dale and Rusty utilized the “quick pick” method for their picks.

Here are our standings after 5 games. Holler back if you find any mistakes.


2008 Bowl Standings
Rusty 5
Brooke 4
Fanchon 4
Loel 3
Bass 3
Kainer 3
Garreth 3
Bryan 3
Bryce Heg 3
Ben H 3
David W. 3
Jerry 2
Matt 2
Jason W 2
Rich W 2
John 2
Trent Heg 2
Tom Jackson 1
Angel M. 1
Tom Heg 1
Leslie W. 1
Dale 0