Bowl Games (Not Done My Way lol)

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Papajohns.com Bowl

East Carolina: 20
South Florida: 13

ECU's James Pinkney was off to a fast start, throwing 5 for 8, accumulating 114 passing yards, and rushing for a nice 21 yard gain. However, when he got leveled on one pass play, which resulted in an interception, he was out for the remainder of the game. This forced backup Brett Clay who hadn't played a single down to step up and deliver in the bowl game. Although he was not on Pinkney's level, throwing for 128 yards on 7 completions out of 17 pass attempts, he kept East Carolina afloat. He took quite a beating as well, getting sacked 6 times, twice by USF's Stephen Nicholas.


Pinkney went down early forcing a Freshman QB with no previous snaps to take control.

Good thing Aundrae Allison was around to recieve. He caught for 105 yards on 3 receptions. Sadly, for USF, they were destined for 20 points as well to force a tie, but special teams' follies kept them from doing so. Although Matt Grothe threw for a 60% completion rate, 247 yards, and 2 touchdowns, Kicker Mike Benzer missed both fieldgoal attempts, and had an extra point blocked. Kicking didn't go over so well for ECU neither. Robert Lee missed a 23 yard fieldgoal attempt, but made a 53 yarder. Go figure.


Jackson couldn't keep a firm grasp on
the most important catch of the game.

Both teams were atrocious on 3rd down situations. ECU was 4 for 12, and USF converted on 2 of 8. That being said, both teams were evenly matched because of poor play, but resulted in a label of an ESPN Instant Classic which will air tomorrow on ESPN Classic at 8:00 PM ET. If you want to be surprised, stop reading here. If you want to know what happened, here it is: With 5 seconds left and 1 timeout, Amarri Jackson dropped a wide-open pass at the 3-yard line, resulting in a final play in which ECU was more prepared to stop. They did, and ECU won this classic battle. ECU is 5-3 in their bowl history.

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New Mexico Bowl

New Mexico: 35
San Jose State: 27


After a 4 game losing streak in bowl play, the New Mexico Lobos were able to climb out of their funk, and deliver, both offensively, and defensively in the clutch. Allowing zero combined 4th quarter points, both teams were aiming at victory, which made this game very close. San Jose State was back in a bowl game for the first time since 1990, and leading their charge was QB Adam Tafralis, who threw 19 for 29 completions. He amassed 398 yards with one touchdown pass. RB Yonus Davis didn't do a great job rushing through the collapsing O-Line (42 yards on 20 rushes), but he received the ball well, catching 5 passes for 91 yards. WR Chester Coleman caught for 84 yards on 4 receptions. In the 40:30 that San Jose State had possession, they tallied 21 first downs.


Yonus Davis received better
than he rushed.

QB Chris Nelson for New Mexico threw 9 for 21, picking up 325 yards with 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. RB Rodney Ferguson didn't rush much (7 carries), but he picked up an efficient 36 yards. The receiving team of Marcus Smith and Travis Brown picked up slack, catching 6 passes for 275 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Player of the Game Honor goes to Quincy Black of the defense. Black stuffed the backfield 3 times, and sacked Tafralis 2 times. He also forced a crucial fumble in which we will talk about later. All in all, the defense had 11 stuffs and 9 sacks.


Quincy Black was solid at
the line of scrimmage.

In the scoreless 4th quarter, San Jose State saw daylight to saving their season, when New Mexico kicker Kenny Byrd hit the crossbar and missed the fieldgoal to solidify the win. Down by 8 points (a nice even touchdown with the 2-point conversion), San Jose drove down the field to only run an option play at the 8 yard line and fumble it away with 31 seconds left and lose the contest. Coach Dick Tomey of the Spartans said "The play was designed to off-set the crashing goal-line defense (New Mexico) was setting up, but that's the whole risk of football. Sometimes things go your way, and sometimes they don't. Fate is harsh, and there is nothing we could have really done better."


Dick Tomey revived
the football program
and will be back for
2 more years.

A heartbreaker won by New Mexico in the inaugural game of the New Mexico bowl. Hopefully more great history is in store for this bowl game in the future.

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Armed Forces Bowl


Utah: 43
Tulsa: 34


Mel Kiper wishes he didn't say Tulsa QB Paul Smith was underrated. Although Smith passed for 310 yards, he only completed 13 of 37, and threw 4 interceptions which dwarfed his 2 touchdowns. However, teammate Idris Moss who caught for an average of 116.8 yards per game this season, took 145 yards in this contest on 5 catches and 1 touchdown. The big stat here though was that even with no FG attempts for Tulsa, they scored 13 Special Teams/Defense points, and 21 total points on offense.


Utah's defense hounded Tulsa's Paul Smith

Even more outrageous, Utah only scored 14 offensive points, and 29 Special Teams + Defense points, even with a FG blocked. Brent Casteel returned a touchdown from 107 yards out. Julian McGowan of Tulsa had a 99-yarder and 243 total return yards.


Whittingham has kept Utah in
good placement even after the
departure of Urban Meyer.

Although Nick Bunting for Tulsa had 3 stuffs and 2 sacks, Utah's Brent Ratliff was able to complete at least 11 of 25 passes for 264 yards and 2 touchdowns. His primary receiver was Derrek Richards who caught for 177 yards on 6 catches. Utah was known throughout the season to use many RB's in their arsenal, and today's game was the same. Although they didn't rush particularly well, QB Brent Ratliff said "It's just important that we win. 'You did this wrong, you did this right', none of that matters. A win is a win, and that's what we acheived."

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Catchup Score Wire:

Hawaii Bowl

ESPN Instant Classic

Hawaii: 50
Arizona State: 52

Motor City Bowl


Central Michigan: 63
Middle Tennessee: 21

Emerald Bowl

ESPN Instant Classic

Florida State: 23
UCLA: 29

Independence Bowl


Oklahoma State: 38
Alabama: 34

Holiday Bowl


Texas A&M: 51
California: 38