3/4 Bowl Game Review

My thoughts on the bowl games that I have watched, or at least seen the highlights of a million times.
(In no particular order)
Fiesta Bowl: [joined it at the start of the 3rd quarter] Man what a game, exactly what I thought it would be, two well-coached teams playing good defense down to a tense, close finish. I had expected TCU to win this one, as they have a good QB in Dalton and some NFL late round pick WR's. BSU's running back had a crazy whirling, how'd-he-do-that, acrobatic TD for the game clincher from about 3 yards out in the middle of the fourth that was set up by one of the better fake punts I've ever seen. TCU had a good shot at tying it up, but Dalton threw his 3rd (uncharacteristic) pick of the game over on the left sideline. To the TCU cheerleader shown crying after the final whistle: buck up kiddo, you're kinda cute, wanna grab a coffee sometime?

Rose Bowl: [watched whole thing] I predicted Oregon by, like, 50 in this one. I had read during the week that Pryor (or toilet paper as I like to call him, referring to the T and P tattooed on his triceps) was injured. No way OSU was gonna score more than 14 pts was my thought. Well, tough defense on the part of the Buckeyes and Robot Football Command Unit Jim Tressel having been uploaded with plays for his offense that originated after the invention of the forward pass led to a pretty exciting game.

Outback Bowl: [watched almost all of it] Poor Northwestern. They're everybody's kid brother here in the big 10/11, so it's really hard to see them lose a heartbreaker like that. I wasn't worried for them at all down 21-7 because I know Pat Fitzgerald is a great coach and he's got some smart guys playing for him that will never be out of a ball game. The field didn't look to good either. That McFadden guy for Auburn is one heck of a ballplayer: even hobbling to the locker room with an injury he sees that the defense is going back on the field and turns right around and gets back out there. Way to man up!

Liberty Bowl: [watched most of it] Man, ECU's kicker must be a pretty down guy right now. I didn't blame him when he missed three different potential game-winning field goals because the game was played in Canadian-like conditions (which means the kicker better have a cinder block for a foot, cause that ball is HARD). But, I know it hard to hurt pretty bad when the Arkansas kicker won the game in overtime on his first game-winning attempt. Other notes from the game: Skip Holtz looks nothing like his dad, Ryan Mallett: stay for your senior year, you don't wanna go to the NFL and end up looking like Curtis Painter, the NFL's greatest backup QB, and finally, ECU: I like you guys, you've got a nice mojo and some good momentum as a program the last couple of years, it's just a shame you couldn't win this one.

Gator Bowl: [watched highlights] I called it. IU beat Purdue in the bucket game playing for their dearly departed coach Hep. Purdue beat IU in the bucket game (62-10) the next year playing in Coach Tiller's final game, and lo and behold FSU (not the better team on any other occasion in my opinion) beat WVU in Bobby "they're good kids" Bowden's final game. Did I mention that I called this one?

Lopsided Bowl: (you know, that one where Tim Tebow walked on water, turned water into wine, and then ascended into heaven if you listen to my esteemed colleague) [watched as much as I could stand] It started off looking like maybe Cincy (who I was rooting for) might have a slim hope, there were some good position matchups, and things even looked good early on... then they kicked off. The Florida D was too much for Cincy, but maybe that was just doctor's orders to keep the game as a low stressor for Urban Meyer. Tim Tebow had a good day, my favorite comeback story, Mardy Gilyard, had an OK day, and the game wasn't even watchable by halftime.

Alamo Bowl: (aka, the "team that handles distractions best" bowl)[watched the first half] Good game, maybe even great game. The announcers even managed to keep Mike Leach and player suspension references out of their broadcast for the most part. TTU's offense was potent and exciting and MSU's offense even had some big plays. TTU ended up winning in a game I fell asleep during halftime of. Congrats.

That bowl where Clemson stud CJ Spiller was a stud: [watched bits of it] I was on vacation in SC at the time, so I felt compelled to check in on a guy who has been a human highlight reel throughout his career at Clemson, and his last game didn't disappoint. Late in the game you could see in how he was carrying himself and encouraging his teammates that he wanted one more TD and refused to lose that game. Good for him.

My two big bowl picks: GT over Iowa by 14 Why? Because Iowa's defense is good and will likely be OK against the triple option, but their offense will be slow and out of sync.

Texas over Alabama by 3 in overtime... check, make that 4 OT's. Why? Because it's late, im tired, and I must be dreaming, because that would be a damn fine game.