Historic Day for College Bowls

A couple of teams recorded bowl wins to break long losing records on the last day of 2008. University of Houston and Vanderbilt each recorded bowl wins. The Cougars ended an 8 game post-season skid dating back to 1990. More impressive was Vanderbilt’s upset win over Boston College. Vandy hadn’t won a bowl game in over 50 years…last time they won in post-season – Eisenhower was president and there were only 48 states. Heck, most of our participants weren’t born. (I could have said “all” except for Rusty.)

Fly Boys Falter
The Bell Helicopter “Armed Forces” Bowl, the Houston Cougars outlasted the Air Force Academy 34-28 in what turned out to be the best game of the day. It was the first bowl win for the Cougars since 1990. Houston never trailed in the game after the Falcons fumbled the opening kickoff and the Cougars scored only 93 seconds into the game. Houston scored on all three first-quarter possessions, going ahead 17-7. Talk about shock and awe!!

Air Force ended the season with three consecutive losses, including the regular season finale last month on the same field when the Falcons lost 44-10 to TCU. These two teams actually met during the regular season…a game moved to Dallas by approaching Hurricane Ike. Air Force won that one 31-28.

Fourteen pickers (59%) got this game right. ‘Vegas had Houston as a 3-point favorite.

Sun Bowl Shutout
In the lowest-scoring bowl game in a half-century, the Oregon State Beavers shut down Pittsburgh 3-0 in the Sun “I want my money back” Bowl. Three points, 20 punts and 10 sacks. The game highlights included…Nada, zero, zilch. It was a freaking 3-0 game.

Eight participants (36%) got this one correct. ‘Vegas was right on the money here favoring Oregon State by 3.

Music City Blues
That’s what Boston College was singing after the nation’s longest bowl winning streak came to an end. Vanderbilt won a bowl game for the first time in 53 years beating the Eagles 16-14 on a 45-yard FG with 2:30 to play. Last time Vandy won a bowl game, there were only 48 states. The difference in the game proved to be Boston College's three turnovers. Vanderbilt didn’t even score an offensive touchdown. Instead relying on 3 FGs and a punt that bounced off a BC player and then was recovered in the end zone for their one and only TD. Vandy hadn't even played in a bowl since 1982. The “Commodores” in the Music City Bowl…come ‘on and sing along…”she’s a brickhouse, She's mighty mighty, Just lettin' it all hang out.”

Only seven pickers (28%) got this game correct. ‘Vegas missed this one also.

Jayhawks Dine on Gophers in the Desert
Kansas' offense scored on a 60-yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage to start an offensive onslaught that sparked the Jayhawks to a convincing 42-21 win over Minnesota Gophers in the Insight Bowl at Tempe, Ariz. The Jayhawks scored touchdowns on four of their first five drives to take control, producing the scores on drives of 60, 80, 69 and 86 yards. All of those drives were capped by Todd Reesing's (Lake Travis grad) touchdown passes as he rifled four scoring strikes in the first half.

The Golden Gophers came to Tempe hoping to erase memories of its last Insight trip, two years ago. The Gophers led Texas Tech 38-7 midway through the third quarter, only to watch the Red Raiders rally for a 44-41 overtime victory -- the biggest comeback in major-college bowl history (that one’s for David). Minnesota's loss dropped the Big Ten to 0-3 in bowls, while the Big 12 improved to 2-1, with both victories coming against Big Ten schools.

Nineteen prognosticators (86%) got this one right. ‘Vegas favored the Jayhawks by 10 points. I do have a question for Bass, Ryan and Rusty…what the hell were you thinking?

Tigers Route Yellow Jackets in Chick Bowl
In the last bowl game of 2008, the LSU Tigers made short work of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in a 38-3 blowout. The Tigers exploded for 28 points in the second quarter to put away the Yellow Jackets. When asked about the outcome, Bass replied…”that’s’ just peachy.” (Both his favorite teams won big in their bowl games.) Special teams doomed the ‘insects from the beginning. LSU not only recovered an onside kick but also a GT fumble on a punt and stopped the ‘jackets on a fake punt deep in GT territory. LSU improved to 5-0 in Chick-fil-A Bowls (formerly known as the Peach Bowl).

Ten pickers (45%) went against the ‘Vegas line and got this one correct.

Standings
Garreth went 5-0 yesterday to break away from the pack. He’s sitting on an impressive 17-5 record…guy knows his college football. The ‘Vegas line on the other hand is a paltry 13-9. A trio of others (Loel, Jason and David W.) is tied for second, three games back. Jason went 4-1 to move out of the pack and into the 2nd place tie. Leslie W. on the other hand went 1-4 and is likely seeing her “Wii winnings” slip away. At the other end of our “leader board,” Trent Heg also went 5-0 to separate himself from the rest of the family. ‘Papa Heg and Bryce remain at the bottom but have the company of Dale and our newest cellar dweller Tom “Jack”. Keep your eyes on Kainer…his “Oh fer five” has him heading downstream.

The college bowl season reaches a fevered frenzy today with another 5 games starting at 10:00 with Outhouse Bowl. The Rose Bowl is at 3:30 (abc) and the Orange Bowl tonight at 7:30 (Fox). Keep your fingers crossed the games are more exciting than yesterday’s and that somehow Garreth slips or our little contest will be over…except for the “Mirror” watch.

2008 Bowl Standings
Garreth 17
Loel 14
Jason W 14
David W. 14
Bryan 13
Fanchon 13
Bass 12
Rich W 12
Brooke 12
Trent Heg 12
Ben H 12
Leslie Wii 12
Matt 11
Rusty 11
Jerry 10
Kainer 10
John 10
Angel M. 10
Dale 9
Tom Jack 9
Tom Heg 9
Bryce Heg 9