Upsets Abound

WOW! Upsets ruled the day as all three underdogs won in yesterday’s bowl games. Somewhat surprisingly, two were blowouts – the big one being Utah’s dismantling of once #1 Alabama (10-point favorite). We were a dismal 13 correct out of a possible 66 picks on the day (20%). Two (Angel & Bryan) of our 22 picked the Ole Miss upset of Tech and only our perennial cellar dweller Dale picked Utah (how many snakes did you hang on the fence for that one?).

Ole’ Miss in High Cotton
Mississippi used a potent running game and speed to withstand an early Tech volley across the bow, then poured it on in the second half for an easy win (47-34) over the favored Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 73rd rendition of the Cotton Bowl. Early in the game, it looked as if Texas Tech was on the way to a blow-out of their own. They jumped to a 14-0 just 10 minutes into the game and had a 14-7 first quarter lead despite having the ball for only 3:20. Poor tackling by Tech and poor footing on the newly laid sod seemed to favor Ole’ Miss.

Receivers and defensive backs were constantly slipping as they tried to cut or stop. Heck, even the quarterbacks were slipping as they tried to plant their feet. Eventually, Ole’ Miss got their offense on track and took a 24-21 lead with 1:11 to go in the half. Tech made it interesting just before halftime as they moved down the field but the half ended on a 50-yard scamper by Harrell, who was tripped up on the 3-yard line as time expired.

The wheels fell off in the 3rd quarter…a 65-yd interception run back for a TD, a punt returned to the 9 2/3 yard line (Miss missed the FG), and another scoring run. Tech wasn’t able to mount a serious comeback attempt…shooting themselves in the foot time after time.

Fox dug up Pat Summerall to announce the Cotton Boil. And I mean dug up literally, Pat looks like a zombie now-a-days. I think he might have actually announced the initial Cotton Bowl game 73 years ago.

Kentucky comes back to sink Pirates.
The Wildcats outscored the East Carolina Pirates 22-3 in the second half to win the Liberty Bowl 25-19. Trailing 16-3 at halftime, Kentucky ran the second half kickoff back 99-yards for a TD. The winning TD came on a defensive “scoop and score” with 3 minutes left in the game.

Crimson Tide Rolled in Sugar Bowl
The Utah Utes finished off a perfect season by beating the second best SEC team, Alabama, in the Sugar Bowl Friday night. Most thought the Tide would roll over the Mountain West champion easily. Not even close. The Utes scored three first quarter touchdowns and controlled the game from the start. Utah's defense was the difference, intercepting the Alabama QB twice and sacking him eight times, with the seventh sack forcing a fumble that sent Alabama fans streaming for the exits with more than five minutes remaining. After surging to No. 1 in the rankings with a 12-0 regular season, Alabama closed with two consecutive losses.

Standings
It’s all but a lock for “money bags” Garreth (21). David W. (18) needs 3 out of the 4 remaining games to also be upsets in order to challenge Garreth. Possible but highly unlikely. There are numerous scenarios at the other end of the spectrum…Dale and two of three Hegs are currently tied with 12 correct picks. And, there are five others within 2 games of the bottom-feeders. Dale avoided locking up the Mirror Award with his upset pick of Utah over Alabama and has today’s favorite Connecticut in the International Bowl. My hopes and dreams are hanging on a Bull upset.

Only one bowl game today – the International Bowl between Connecticut and Buffalo. It’s an 11:00 kickoff on ESPN2.

Sat., Jan. 3, 2009
2008 Bowl Standings
Garreth 21
Loel 19
David W. 18
Jason W 17
Rusty 17
Bryan 17
Fanchon 16
Leslie "No Wii for me" 16
Matt 15
Rich "bye, bye Mirror" W 15
Brooke 15
Angel M. 15
Trent Heg 15
Ben H 15
Bass 14
Jerry 14
Kainer 13
John 13
Tom "Jack" 13
Dale 12
Tom Heg 12
Bryce Heg 12