Write On Sports LLC - "Football Week 16, Bowl Games Part 1" by Tom Zuck

Football Week 16, Bowl Games Part 1

2007-12-21 00:03:51 | By: Tom Zuck

So the past few weeks have certainly been interesting. First, the local WPIAL teams took three of four Pennsylvania championship games. So I guess I have to give a big shout out to my cousins Louie and Jimbo, as well as Gooch Massaro and Mark Benish, and their Central Catholic Vikings for the Class AAAA championship. Central recorded the first shutout ever in a PIAA championship game.

Thomas Jefferson in Class AAA and Jeannette in Class AA also brought home titles with little difficulty. The only WPIAL team to lose was Serra Catholic in Class A.

And since we last spoke the coach carousel has gone completely haywire! Yesterday Rich Rodriguez was named the coach at Michigan, one of the top jobs in football. Bobby Petrino bailed, or should I say quit, on the Atlanta Falcons. And there were some others as well. Heck, in the past two and a half years Petrino has signed contracts that were good for around 20 years or so. I guess we know what his signature is worth. The two biggest positions to be filled are UCLA and WVU and those will be interesting hires..

Personally I feel Michigan hired a snake. Coaches are a slick group but Fraudriguez has taken it too a new level, he's even going to fight to get our of his buyout.that he just signed last year! It's one thing for a guy to take a job at his old school. But to screw your own school is a completely different ball of wax. I hope WVU can get a guy who will do well there. I like WVU being good, because it makes for a great rivalry with Pitt.

Finally Pitt seems ready to get back to playing football so hopefully we hold up our end of the bargain. From a purely Pitt perspective it is amazing how the victory over WVU has wrecked that program, for the short term of course, and also had an impact all over college football. That loss will haunt them UNTIL they get to a National Championship Game.

Personally I would like to see Penn State's Tommy Bradley get the job. He is a terrific guy but maybe after 30-plus years on campus maybe he is seeing that he will not be JoPa's successor.

When Greg Schiano of Rutgers turned down Michigan people started speculating that he is waiting for Penn State to open up in a couple seasons. We shall see. But Bradley is a terrific guy and he has been as loyal to Penn State as can be. But he is not getting younger. I think it was the 1979 Sugar Bowl team that "Scraps", as Bradley is called, served as Special Teams Captain. That is a long time to be on one campus to then possibly be turned aside when the biggest coaching change in the 50 years of college football occurs.

But anyway, this is one of the best weeks in the football schedule. Yes Christmas is coming and that's pretty good too, but Bowl Week is really fun if you have the time to catch some of the games, even the early ones can be quite entertaining.

I hope that you all have a great Christmas and try to be safe!

The season's record of 153-64 was easy compared to the craziness of Bowl Week. So here goes, Bowl Games Part 1.

Poinsettia Bowl
Utah (8-4) vs. Navy (8-4)
9 p.m. Thursday

Navy can run on anyone. Utah is wide open. The Naval Academy has a new coach, Ken Niumatalolo, the guy who was the assistant head coach so don't look for much of a change, if any. Navy has an incredible seven players who have rushed for over 400 yards this year. When Utah allowed over 136 yards rushing this year they lost. So there is your key. Utah had a rough start to the season with three losses in the first four games. The seven-game winning streak was stopped by BYU in the season finale. Utah has won six straight bowl games. I think that streak ends in what should be a very exciting game. Anchors Aweigh Commander Kennedy! Navy wins in front of a HUGE Navy crowd.

New Orleans Bowl
Florida Atlantic (7-5) vs. Memphis (7-5)
8 p.m. Friday

Quick, who is the coach at Florida Atlantic? It's Howard Schnellenberger who has done a great job building a football program from scratch. The Owls are not a bad team. They beat Troy this year and that is a nice victory. Memphis has two very bad losses this season, Arkansas St. and Middle Tennessee. Even so I am going to go with the Tigers in a close one. Memphis wins.

Papa John's.com Bowl
Southern Mississippi (7-5) vs. #20 Cincinnati (9-3)
1 p.m. Saturday

Cincinnati is a good football team. They have a very good coach, Brian Kelly, who was being talked about for the UM job. He just signed a new contract, for whatever that is worth. The Bearcats are very aggressive on defense and that sometimes gets them in trouble; mostly though it leads to big plays. Southern Mississippi is playing the final game with Jeff Bower as the head coach. Will there be a letdown or a fighting spirit? I think Cincy is just a better team; Bearcats win!

New Mexico Bowl
Nevada (6-6) vs. New Mexico (8-4)
4:30 p.m. Saturday

New Mexico has not won a bowl game since 1961! Nevada puts up really big offensive numbers but when you are a .500 team there are some issues. The losses were to some pretty decent programs, Nebraska (stop laughing), Northwestern (again, stop laughing), Fresno St., Boise St. and Hawaii. So that explains some of it. The Hawaii and Boise losses were especially painful, both by two points. The records say New Mexico should win, but I am leaning towards Nevada and the Wolfpack. Nevada wins a wild one.

Las Vegas Bowl
BYU (10-2) vs. UCLA (6-6)
8 p.m. Saturday

BYU is close to being back. UCLA is in disarray after Karl Dorrell was let go. These two teams are going in opposite directions. Not a lot has gone right for UCLA since the Bruins beat BYU, 27-17, the second weekend of September. BYU's QB Max Hall is good and he had a nice game earlier against UCLA but the Cougars do more than throw and they are led by freshman Harvey Unga who has over 1,200 yards rushing and 1,800 overall. UCLA has big trouble at quarterback, namely who is healthy enough to play. The Bruins were beaten by the Catholics from Notre Dame and now they will lose to the Mormoms from BYU; Cougars win.

Hawaii Bowl
#24 Boise State (10-2) vs. East Carolina (7-5)
8 p.m. Sunday

Boise State is a very good program and has now made it to six straight bowl games. After a few years of "blah" football ECU is clawing its way back to respectability, and Skip Holtz has done a very nice job. Sunday's weather forecast for Boise is rain & snow with a high of 36 degrees. It will be much nicer in Hawaii. Look for Boise to win.

Motor City Bowl
Purdue (7-5) vs. Central Michigan (8-5)
7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Purdue was hot in September but after a 5-0 start things went downhill fast; included in that 5-0 start was a 45-22 victory over Central Michigan. The Boilermakers have lost three straight and five of seven. Purdue scores a lot but in games against OSU, UM and PSU they did not. Of course Central Michigan is none of those teams. CMU has played three "big" teams this year, Kansas, Purdue and Clemson. They were ugly games where the defense gave up 52, 45 and 70 points. I might get bitten in the butt on this one, but Purdue wins.

Holiday Bowl
#12 Arizona State (10-2) vs. #17 Texas (9-3)
8 p.m. Dec. 27

The Holiday Bowl is always one of the most entertaining games each year. Just yesterday on ESPN Classic they showed the 1989 PSU-BYU game and that was a crazy one. This one looks like it could be just the same. Texas is a strange team, and probably given too much benefit of the doubt all season. When they run the ball first they can be lethal. When they try to turn Colt McCoy into Tom Brady it doesn't work, at least not to my eyes. Arizona St. had some great opportunities this year and they did not take advantage of them. USC exposed them A LOT in a 20-point beat down. In 1991 Erickson's Miami team went into Texas and destroyed the Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl. It wasn't so much that they beat UT, 46-3. My memory may be a bit off here but I think UM had about 200 yards in penalties, most were personal fouls. If I was Mack Brown I would show that game so today's Longhorns can see what an Erickson team is capable of doing. Texas can't stop teams from throwing either and ASU likes to pass and they do it well. This one will be a fun game, maybe the best of the bowl season. It would make sense to pick ASU but I am going to go with the Texas running game; Longhorns win.

Champs Sports Bowl
#14 Boston College (10-3) vs. Michigan State (7-5)
5 p.m. Dec. 28

Oh what could have been for Boston College? The Eagles were very close to some great things this year but Va. Tech got a measure of revenge and Matt Ryan in the second half of the season did not look like Matt Ryan of the first half of the season. The Eagles need to run the ball better; you can't just depend on Ryan. Michigan St. started out great but then stumbled, don't they always!? This one comes down to which defense can make the key stops. Both offenses are very good. MSU has more balance with Javon Ringer and Jehuu Caulcrick in the backfield. I am going to say Michigan State is a year away from beating this BC team. The problem is they play this week coming. I am going to say Matt Ryan goes out a winner. Boston College wins.

Texas Bowl
Texas Christian (7-5) vs. Houston (8-4)
8 p.m. Dec. 28

Houston is another team without its head coach from the season. Art Briles has accepted the Baylor job (I have no idea why) and he has been replaced by Oklahoma assistant Kevin Sumlin who will take over after the bowl. The Cougars score a ton of points, even when they lose. There is no "hang your hat on" victory this season. TCU was mid-pack in the Mountain West this year and the offense did not do a lot more than the defense allowed. Four of TCU's losses this year were to pretty good teams. Quarterback Andy Dalton did not much to distinguish himself this season. Marcus Jackson added a change of pace. The Horned Frogs must get production from backs Joseph Turner and Aaron Brown if they want to be in this one. We lived in Houston when my dad was in the USAF and I like the town so I am gonna stick with Houston; Cougers win.

Emerald Bowl
Maryland (6-6) vs. Oregon State (8-4)
8:30 p.m. Dec. 28

The luster was off of the Maryland Terrapins. Nobody "Feared the Turtle", that was until the Terps beat #10 Rutgers and then #2 BC making them one of just four teams to beat two top-10 teams this season. This game will not be pretty. It will be an old-school game. Maryland has two very good running backs, Keon Lattimore and Lance Ball, who both have over 700 yards rushing. The Terps need it because the quarterbacks have been less than stellar. Oregon St. allows 75 yards a game on the ground so that could be fun to watch. Yvenson Bernard's health is key for the Beavers. He needs to be in there for OSU to have a shot because OSU has also had some bad QB output. These two teams finished the season going in opposite directions; Maryland lost four of six and OSU won six of seven. I am going to stick with the hottest team; Beavers win.

TV Listings

Dec. 20
Utah vs. Navy, 9 p.m. ESPN

Dec. 21
Memphis vs. Florida Atlantic, 8 p.m. ESPN2

Dec. 22
Southern Miss vs. Cincinnati, 1 p.m., ESPN2
Nevada vs. New Mexico, 4:30 p.m. ESPN
UCLA vs. BYU, 8 p.m., ESPN

Dec. 23
Boise St. vs. East Carolina, 8 p.m., ESPN

Dec. 26
Purdue vs. Central Michigan, 7:30 p.m., ESPN

Dec. 27
Arizona State vs. Texas, 8 p.m., ESPN

Dec. 28
Boston College vs. Michigan State, 5 p.m., ESPN
Texas Christian vs. Houston, 8 p.m., NFL Network
Maryland vs. Oregon State, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

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