I’ve been out of the loop for the last couple of weeks as the rest and relaxation that goes along with the holidays got the better of me. Because of that I’ve decided to go over the last two weeks of football action in this column. These have been the pivotal two weeks in the football calendar with the bowl season, end of the regular season, wild card round in the NFL, and of course, the BCS.
Patriots Complete 16-0 Regular Season, Await Jacksonville
It was another comeback, but like all of the Patriots comebacks this year, it was in spectacular fashion. Having trailed for the majority of the game, there were two possibilities for what would happen in the final quarter: the Giants would do what the Colts, Ravens, and Eagles couldn’t do and hold onto their lead or the more likely possibility: the Pats would find a way to win like they always do.
Well, the Pats did find a way to win, and it wasn’t a surprise who came up with the big play: Randy Moss. At around the eleven minute mark of the fourth quarter, Randy Moss caught a Tom Brady pass and turned it into a 65-yard touchdown play which (with a two-point conversion) put the Pats up 31-28. A Lawrence Maroney touchdown (his second of the night) put them up by ten and they would not relinquish that lead.
Moss would finish with 100 yards on six catches with two touchdowns passing Jerry Rice’s single-season touchdown record with his second. Brady would pass Dan Marino’s season pass touchdown mark in route to going 32/42 for 356 yards and two touchdowns on the night. The Pats also passed the NFL record for scoring in a season with their 38-point output.
With a week off the Pats got to sit back and wait for their Divisional round opponent to come to them. That opponent would up being the Jacksonville Jaguars who beat the Pittsburgh Steelers for the second time this year—both times in Pittsburgh—31-29 after one of the wildest fourth quarters in recent playoff history.
At the end of three quarters, the Jags held onto a 28-10 lead and the Steelers faced a 4th & 12 at Jacksonville 37. Having no choice but to go for it, Pittsburgh struck back when Santonio Holmes scored on the 4th down from a Roethlisberger pass. Heath Miller would catch another Roethlisberger touchdown pass and Najeh Davenport would run in a touchdown to give the Steelers a 29-28 lead.
However, it was David Gerrard’s own 4th down magic that would give the Jags the win as he converted a 4th & 2 at Pittsburgh’s 43 yard line and proceeded to gut out a 32-yard run setting up Josh Scobee’s game-winning field-goal.
With the fourth quarter chaos and last-minute magic, Maurice Jones-Drew’s multi-position night was largely ignored. Drew ran for 29 yards on eight carries with a touchdown, caught a 43-yard touchdown, and returned a kickoff 96 yards setting up a Fred Taylor touchdown run in the first quarter.
Smith Falls Short of Single Season Rushing Record
Going into the Liberty Bowl, only one thing was on people’s minds: whether or not Kevin Smith would break Barry Sanders’ single-season NCAA rushing record. Going into the game, Smith was 181 yards short going into the game, but would only gain 119 on the day.
Smith would not even score as Mississippi St.’s defense turned this game into a struggle the entire way holding Central Florida to only 219 yards of total offense and forcing the Knights to go 4-17 on third downs.
The main statistic of the game was the fact that Mississippi St. forced four turnovers, three of them interceptions, with one leading to the game-winning touchdown. Derek Pegues intercepted two passes and Keith Fitzhugh provided the other interception on the day for the Bulldog defense.
Anthony Dixon ran in from one-yard with 1:54 to play to give the Bulldogs a 10-3 win in front of 63,816 fans.
Joe Pa Celebrates 500th Game As Penn St. Coach The Old Fashioned Way: With a W
In Joe Paterno’s 500th game as Penn St. coach—and The Alamo Bowl—the Nittany Lions took home a 24-17 win the way Joe Pa likes it: with a lot of running and a lot of heart.
The Nittany Lions rushed for 270 yards to Texas A&M’s 164. Daryll Clark and Evan Royster rushed for touchdowns with Royster’s ending up to be the game-winner. Royster ended with 65 yards on nine carries to go with his touchdown while Clark ended with 50 yards on six carries to go with his touchdown. The bulk of the Nittany Lions rushing came from Rodney Kinlaw who rushed for 143 yards on 21 carries, but never got into the end zone.
The entire Nittany Lion team provided the heart as A&M jumped ahead 14-0 early, but Penn St. did not stumble and lose control; quite the opposite as they put up seventeen unanswered points in the second quarter to go into halftime ahead and then prevented A&M from retaking the lead in the fourth quarter with a stop on 4th & Goal from the 2 with eight minutes to play.
The win was Paterno’s 23rd bowl win at Penn St.
Illinois Doesn’t Have the Juice As Trojans Dominate Rose Bowl Once Again
I wrote when predicting the BCS bowl games for this season that the Rose Bowl was USC’s game; on New Year’s Day, they proved exactly why that was an accurate observation. On the heels of a Rose Bowl record 633 yards of offense the Trojans had no trouble putting Illinois down 49-17. The 49 points also tied a Rose Bowl record with Michigan who scored 49 in 1901 and 1947. Their 1947 opponent: USC.
When Pete Carroll hyped this year’s recruiting class as one of the best ever, he probably had Joe McKnight in mind. McKnight’s main concern as a player this year was breaking away from the shadow of Reggie Bush, something most believed he would have to deal with for at least his first year as a Trojan. However, a 206-yard day (125 rushing, 45 receiving, 36 return yards) with a touchdown has vaulted McKnight out of the shadow and into the spotlight and sky’s the limit when the 2008 season rolls around.
John David Booty bid farewell to the Trojans the only way he knew how: with a command performance. Booty threw 255 yards on 25/37 and three touchdowns. Booty also played a part on the one Trojans passing touchdown that he wasn’t credited for—a fleaflicker that saw Desmond Reed catch a 34-yard touchdown from Garrett Green.
The Trojans built a 21-0 lead into the second quarter before the Illini even got onto the scoreboard. And even after Illinois scored 10 unanswered to make the game close, they wouldn’t score again until there was nearly four minutes left in the game. In that time, the Trojans would put up 28 unanswered and turn the game into another USC Rose Bowl rout.
Georgia Wears Black, Spoils Hawaii’s BCS Party
While Colt Brennan did get a lot of publicity—as did his school—for his BCS appearance, it was the Georgia Bulldogs that showed why they probably should’ve been playing for the national title in New Orleans’ other BCS bowl game. Instead, the Bulldogs had to settle for sacking Brennan eight times in route to a 41-10 slaughter.
The Bulldogs defense was the story in this game sacking Brennan eight times and forcing six Hawaii turnovers resulting in 21 points for Georgia. The most telling indication of the Bulldogs’ defensive dominance was Marcus Howard’s fumble recovery touchdown in the third quarter which saw Howard recover a Brennan fumble (one that he forced) in the end-zone after the Bulldogs penetrated the Warrior offensive line and laid a vicious shot on Brennan causing the fumble. Howard had three sacks and another forced fumble to go with the one that gave him a touchdown.
Penalties, third down conversions, and time of possession played no part in this game as both teams were basically equal in all of those categories.
Despite out-gaining the Bulldogs through the air, the Warriors were held to –5 yards rushing.
The true irony of Colt Brennan’s season is that he broke NCAA records in passing, was invited to the Heisman Trophy presentation as a candidate, lead his team to an undefeated season and a BCS bowl berth, but was did not throw a touchdown in the Sugar Bowl.
Hawaii’s only touchdown came when Tyler Graunke connected with Ryan Grice-Mullen from sixteen yards with 10:32 remaining.
Mountaineers Run All Over Oklahoma in Fiesta Bowl Upset
With all of the controversy surround West Virginia concerning the departure of coach Rich Rodriguez to Michigan, few people (myself included) believed that they stood a chance against a motivated and very capable Oklahoma team in the Fiesta Bowl. Not only did the Mountaineers stand up to Oklahoma, they outright beat them up to the tune of 48-28 in a game that showcased West Virginia’s rushing attack for what it has been for all, but one game this year: spectacular.
With 349 yards on the ground, it is amazing to think that Steve Slayton only saw one carry the entire night. Pat White did the bulk of the rushing for his team running for 150 yards on 20 carries. Even big man Owen Schmitt had a big night rushing for 64 yards on three carries with a 57-yard touchdown. Noel Devine, possibly the most popular player for West Virginia, rushed for 108 yards on 13 carries and two scores both of which served separate purposes: Devine’s first score (in the third quarter) killed Oklahoma’s temporary momentum, and his second (the final score of the game) finished things off.
White was just as potent through the air going 10/19 for 176 yards and two touchdown strikes. The first was a 21-yard play to Darius Reynaud to put the Mountaineers up 20-6 at halftime. His second was a 79-yard (Fiesta Bowl record) touchdown pass to Tito Gonzales, a play so well executed it caused Gonzales’ to begin to cry on the sidelines afterwards.
It is not as if Oklahoma played a bad game as their 419 yards of offense will tell you, but 13 penalties totaling 119 yards and the inability to stop West Virginia’s offense at any point were the two main factors contributing to their second straight Fiesta Bowl loss.
Through it all, the sight of now-head coach Bill Stewert riding on the shoulders of his players after the win may be the defining moment of the 2007 bowl season.
Kansas Proves They Are For Real With Orange Bowl Win
I did not believe that Kansas deserved their BCS bid (Missouri had a better résumé). However, the Jayhawks proved me wrong and made the most of their first BCS appearance with a 24-21 win over third-ranked Virginia Tech.
Despite Todd Reesing being the leader and main reason for most of Kansas’ wins this year, it was the Jayhawks’ defense that produced the win by forcing three Virginia Tech turnovers—including an Aqib Talib 60-yard INT return to open the game’s scoring. The other two Hokie turnovers came at the worst possible times; the first—a Chris Harris interception—came soon after the Talib touchdown and resulted in a Jayhawk field-goal while the second sealed the Hokies’ fate when Justin Thornton intercepted a Sean Glennon pass early in the fourth quarter returning it to the Hokie two yard-line. A few plays later, the game-clinching touchdown was scored.
The Hokies bad luck in Miami included a blocked field-goal in the third quarter, a stable of Beamer Ball, something that has rarely bit the Hokies this badly.
Despite Kansas’ defense stealing the show, Jayhawk QB Todd Reesing did turn in a good night going 20/37 passing for 227 yards, threw a touchdown and ran for a touchdown.
FINAL THOUGHTS
New Year’s Day is a special day for me. It’s not because it’s the beginning of a new year or the one day that I might actually keep one of my resolutions from complete and utter failure. Any football fan will concur with me that next to Super Sunday New Year’s Day is the best day of the year football. Every year, a football fan is treated to 12-14 hours of football on anywhere from 1-3 different channels with the games being played being the bowl games that are household names, not ones padding the number of bowl games. This year was no different as every game had a little something different for everyone. Tony Temple began the day with a breathtaking 281 yard, 4-touchdown performance (both Cotton Bowl records) in helping Missouri stomp Arkansas 38-7. With all the up’s and down’s that Tennessee has faced this season, they ended it right with a 21-17 win over Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl. In the Gator Bowl, Texas Tech proved that football can be a game of halves. After giving up two safeties, Tech went into the half down 21-3 only to come back and beat Virginia 31-28 with a last second field-goal. The two BCS games were a showcase for USC and Georgia to show why they are still two of the best in the land. And then there was Michigan. If any team can be cited as having a up and down season, Michigan is it. After suffering two embarrassing home losses to open the season, the Wolverines won eight straight before losing their final two and a trip to Pasadena, then their coach announces retirement and a new one is hired in what has been called a “Backdoor Deal.” Despite all of that, the Wolverines played spirited football and despite four turnovers, did not crumble, but instead stayed determined and stayed willing. Their offense—long cited as a problem that Carr couldn’t quite remedy—played their best game of the season compiling 524 yards with Mike Hart running for 129 and Adrian Arrington compiling career highs in catches (9), yards (153), and touchdowns (2). The end result was Michigan sending Coach Carr out the right way: with a win. When it comes to New Year’s Day, you can’t come in with expectations because it’s going to be different every time.
