A final look at the past college football bowl season
The most bloated college football postseason is in the books. After 34 bowls over 20 days, four teams are claiming they're No.1.
It's time for one last rewind of the 2008-09 bowl season through the only way college football knows how to communicate: rankings. In honor of Florida, Utah, USC and Texas, The Birmingham News presents its "Top Four" from this season's bowls.
1. BCS National Championship Game. Florida-Oklahoma wasn't a classic. But it was a four-quarter game in the only bowl that really mattered. 2. Fiesta Bowl. Nothing's more dramatic in college football than a last-minute drive such as the one Colt McCoy orchestrated for Texas against Ohio State. 3. Meineke Car Care Bowl. North Carolina-West Virginia had a one-point result, lots of offense, near-perfect performances by Hakeem Nicks and Pat White, and Bill Stewart's marriage proposal to ESPN. 4. Poinsettia Bowl. TCU-Boise State had a one-point result, plenty of defense, the end of Boise State's perfect season ... but alas, no marriage proposal by Boise's Ian Johnson.
WORST GAMES
1. St. Petersburg Bowl. If a bowl game lands at Tropicana Field and no one notices, is it really a bowl game? South Florida 41, Memphis 14 put that question to the test. 2. Sun Bowl. Pittsburgh and Oregon State each averaged almost 39 points a game in the regular season. So they went to El Paso and produced the lowest-scoring bowl since 1959 (Oregon State, 3-0). 3. Hawaii Bowl. Congratulations, Notre Dame. You snapped your nine-game bowl skid by beating a Hawaii team whose best win came against Louisiana Tech. 4. Orange Bowl. Remember when New Year's Day from Miami meant something? Virginia Tech-Cincinnati produced the lowest-rated Orange Bowl in the 11 years of the BCS.
LONGEST GAMES
(BIG 12 EDITION)
1. Alamo Bowl, 3:54. Missouri 30, Northwestern 23 (overtime). 2. Gator Bowl, 3:52. Nebraska 26, Clemson 21. T-3. Humanitarian Bowl, 3:46. Maryland 42, Nevada 35. T-3. Cotton Bowl, 3:46. Ole Miss 47, Texas Tech 34.
SHORTEST GAMES
(ACC EDITION)
1. EagleBank Bowl, 2:58. Wake Forest 29, Navy 19. 2. Meineke Car Care Bowl, 3:06. West Virginia 31, North Carolina 30. 3. Champs Sports Bowl, 3:10. Florida State 42, Wisconsin 13. T-4. New Mexico Bowl, 3:14. Colorado State 40, Fresno State 35. T-4. Poinsettia Bowl, 3:14. TCU 17, Boise State 16. T-4. Insight Bowl, 3:14. Kansas 42, Minnesota 21.
STRANGEST MOMENTS
1. Rey Maualuga's provocative dance. USC's star linebacker danced behind unsuspecting ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews at the Rose Bowl. USC apologized for Maualuga, who became a YouTube hit. 2. Tim Tebow becomes a Muslim. Tebow's face mistakenly popped up on FOX during the Orange Bowl as Cincinnati right tackle Khalil El-Amin. Who can't Tebow be? What can't FOX mess up? 3. Cincinnati ditches Diddy. Fearing distractions, Cincinnati moved out of its Miami Beach resort after rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs arrived at the same hotel. Cincy lost the Orange Bowl anyway. 4. BCS trophy company goes bankrupt. Waterford Crystal, the company that creates the famous crystal football, filed for bankruptcy. No, the BCS won't join them.
LARGEST REPORTED CROWDS
1. Rose Bowl, 93,293. USC vs. Penn State. 2. Cotton Bowl, 88,175. Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech. 3. BCS Championship Game, 78,468. Florida vs. Oklahoma. 4. Meineke Car Care Bowl, 73,712. West Virginia vs. North Carolina.
SMALLEST REPORTED CROWDS
1. New Mexico Bowl, 24,735. Colorado State vs. Fresno State. 2. St. Petersburg Bowl, 25,205. South Florida vs. Memphis. 3. Humanitarian Bowl, 26,781. Maryland vs. Nevada. 4. EagleBank Bowl, 28,777. Wake Forest vs. Navy.
TOP PLAYS
1. Hakeem Nicks plays Houdini. The North Carolina receiver's behind-the-back catch in the Meineke Car Care Bowl might have been the catch of the year. 2. Taylor Mays unloads. USC's safety delivered a nasty hit on Penn State's Jordan Norwood - and a USC teammate - at the Rose Bowl. 3. The Bluegrass stiff arm. Ventrell Jenkins, Kentucky's 285-pound defensive lineman, made like a running back by shedding East Carolina quarterback Patrick Pinkney to win the Liberty Bowl on a fumble return. 4. McCoy to Cosby. Colt McCoy's game-winning touchdown pass to Quan Cosby with 16 seconds left won the Fiesta Bowl for Texas.
BOTTOM PLAYS
1. DeAndre Brown breaks his leg. Southern Mississippi's star freshman receiver suffered a gruesome injury in the New Orleans Bowl. 2. Oklahoma goes scoreless. The Sooners failed on two first-half drives inside the red zone when they need points during the national championship game. 3. Russell Wilson scrambles to injury. N.C. State's talented freshman quarterback injured his knee at the Papajohns.com Bowl, changing the complexion of a game Rutgers rallied to win. 4. Pick an Alabama passing play. John Parker Wilson was sacked eight times at the Sugar Bowl.
WINNERS
1. Tim Tebow. From his apology to Gator Nation in September to a national title, Tebow has cemented his status as a college football legend. Honorable mention: Urban Meyer, who has two BCS titles in three years. 2. Utah. The Utes aren't No.1 in any poll, but they established credibility and now most of the country loves them. 3. SEC. Only in the SEC could a down year result in a 6-2 bowl record and the conference's third straight national title. The last conference to win three straight AP titles? The SEC, from 1978 to 1980. 4. Mark Sanchez. USC's quarterback re-established himself in the Rose Bowl as a potential first-round draft pick. Big Ten defenses are always a good remedy.
LOSERS
1. Big Ten. They didn't even get blown out in the title game, and they still struggled to a 1-6 bowl record. The Big Ten has lost six straight BCS games and hasn't won a Rose Bowl since 2000. 2. FOX broadcasts. In a word: Horrendous. 3. Alabama. In an otherwise redemptive bowl season for the SEC, the Crimson Tide got waxed by Utah before a pro-Alabama crowd in New Orleans. 4. Nate Davis. Ball State's quarterback isn't ready to declare for the NFL early. Not after a 9-of-29, 145-yard performance vs. Tulsa at the GMAC Bowl.
WORST FOX MOMENTS IN
BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
1. Forgetting the downs. Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis couldn't tell the difference between second and third down and third and fourth down on a Florida goal-line stand. FOX's graphics had it right. 2. Barry Switzer's homerism. The former Oklahoma coach, now a FOX studio analyst, referred to the Sooners as "we" and "us." Who writes your check, Barry? 3. Four-headed monster. How many times did FOX have to subject us to quadruple screens of Oklahoma's offense? The coordinator signals to the coaches on the field who signal to Sam Bradford. We get it. 4. Mr. Sunshine. Brennaman told us he calls sideline reporter Chris Myers "Mr. Sunshine" because he grew up in Hollywood, Fla. Ugh.
BEST FOX MOMENTS IN
BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
1. FOX has only one more year of BCS games. ESPN can't come soon enough. 2. Ditto. 3. Ditto. 4. Ditto.
BCS GAMES IF THERE WERE
A PLUS-ONE THIS YEAR
1. Oklahoma over Alabama. No. 1 vs. No. 4. 2. Florida over Texas. No. 2 vs. No. 3. 3. Florida over Oklahoma. No. 2 vs. No. 1. 4. Utah overlooked. USC, too.
(c)2009 The Birmingham News
Longhorns Hope to Further Muddy the National-Title Picture
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- If Southern California's thumping of Penn State planted a few more seeds of doubt about whether the two best teams are playing for the national championship next week, Texas would not mind dumping a mound of fertilizer on that notion Monday night, when it plays Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.
Of course, in the Longhorns' view, the Bowl Championship Series formula spit out the wrong name when it pitted Oklahoma against Florida for the BCS title game.
The Longhorns' victory over Oklahoma on a neutral field in October was seemingly forgotten except by those proclaiming the 45-35 score of that game on T-shirts, placards, a Web site and a banner flown by a plane over a Sooners game.
"We were disappointed," Texas quarterback Colt McCoy said Friday. "We're human."
The Longhorns will not play Florida, but at least they have been given some motivation by the possibility - however slim - of using an impressive victory in front of a national television audience as a springboard to finishing atop the Associated Press poll, which is no longer part of the BCS formula.
And what better fodder for swaying voters than playing Ohio State, which has served as a punching bag for Florida and Louisiana State in the last two national championship games and was trounced by USC earlier this season?
"If we can at least win the writers' vote, that's the biggest motivation you want to have," Texas linebacker Rashad Bobino said.
There is a precedent. In the 2003 season, USC was shut out of the national championship game, but it gained a share of the title with LSU, which defeated Oklahoma in the game between the top-rated teams in the BCS standings. The AP voters chose the Trojans as the national champion. But there was a key difference that year: the Trojans were ranked No. 1 in the AP poll and the coaches' poll at the end of the regular season.
Texas slipped to third after Oklahoma's victory over Missouri in the Big 12 championship game. In the final AP poll, Oklahoma was second with 1,540 points and 9 first-place votes; Texas was third with 1,530 points and 6 first-place votes.
USC could siphon off a few votes after its impressive Rose Bowl victory. Utah will no doubt garner some votes after beating Alabama, 31-17, in the Sugar Bowl on Friday night to finish the season as the only unbeaten team in the Football Bowl Subdivision. But the Longhorns - whose only loss was on the final play at Texas Tech - are in position to sway even more votes their way.
If Oklahoma beats Florida in an ungainly fashion, it could open the door for Texas to capture a share of the title.
"What we've told our kids is we're one of the top teams in the country playing a great team in Ohio State that's a top-10 team at a great place," Texas Coach Mack Brown said. "So let's forget about that stuff. It's all a mess. Let's just have fun. If somebody thinks you're good enough, they'll throw your name up there at the top at the end. Right now, it's so crazy. It's hard to really figure out who No. 1 is going to be. Everyone's going to have an opinion next week."
Brown was asked if he was an advocate of the plus-one model, which calls for playing the traditional bowls, then choosing two teams to play for the championship.
"I'm a plus-something advocate," said Brown, whose team won the 2005 national title by beating another unbeaten team, USC, in the Rose Bowl.
"I don't like what we've got," he said. "In years like 2005, when there are two undefeated teams, it's easy. In years like this, how do you possibly say that SC doesn't have a claim?"
The Longhorns routed Texas A&M on Thanksgiving Day to conclude the regular season with an 11-1 record. After learning Texas would not play in the Big 12 title game and again after learning it would be out of the picture for the BCS title, Brown gathered his team in meetings that were more like group therapy sessions.
McCoy sent a text message to his teammates reinforcing Brown's message: It is OK to be disappointed, but remember there is still plenty to play for.
"We got over that a while ago," Texas cornerback Ryan Palmer said. "This is our national championship on Monday. We're going to go out there with a mind-set we have something to prove. We're going to try and put on a great performance."
Palmer, like many of his teammates, steered clear of analyzing what that might do for Texas.
"I'm going to have something to say," Palmer said, laughing out loud. "But I'm going to wait until Monday."
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Is it a bowl when you're home for the holidays?
As Cal plays Miami in San Francisco's Emerald Bowl tonight, ask yourself this question: Does a bowl defeat its purpose when it picks a school from its home market?
As a school, you never want to turn down a bowl game because it might bite you down the road, especially if you're on the bubble for a good bowl.
Plus, Emerald Bowl director Gary Cavalli told the San Jose Mercury News that Cal-Miami was the matchup he wished for six months ago.
But inviting a local team to a bowl creates a no-win situation for all involved. The bowl doesn't get the benefit of two sets of fans visiting the city and buying hotel rooms. The local team doesn't get the true bowl atmosphere, as much it may try. And the opponent doesn't feel like it gets the benefit a neutral-site game, which is what a bowl is supposed to be.
The worst-case scenario of this was the Fiesta Bowl, which was created expressly to give a bowl game to Arizona State - a school that was was continually snubbed by larger bowls during the 1960s.
All that said, this should be a pretty good game today. However, it's a matchup that shouldn't have been made.
Copyright (c) The Sacramento Bee
Attractive Matchup Increases Interest In Poinsettia Bowl
SAN DIEGO -- Organizers expect a crowd of about 40,000 at Qualcomm Stadium and a record audience on ESPN for Tuesday's Poinsettia Bowl, as the matchup between undefeated Boise State and twice-beaten Texas Christian has boosted interest in the four-year-old game, both in the San Diego area and nationally.
Bruce Feldman, a senior writer of ESPN The Magazine, has billed the Poinsettia Bowl as the fourth most intriguing of this season's 34 bowl games, behind only the BCS National Championship Game, the Fiesta Bowl and the Rose Bowl.
Feldman wrote on his blog that 12-0 Boise State has "a charm to them and now they'll face a hard-hitting, physical defense that is looking to build on its own rep." Bruce Binkowski, the game's executive director, calls it "one of the premiere television bowl matchups."
The Poinsettia Bowl was expected to have a higher profile this year with a Pacific-10 Conference team playing in the game for the first time. Bowl organizers reached an agreement with the conference giving them the sixth choice of Pacific-10 teams after the Bowl Championship Series games made their selections.
However, as it became increasingly apparent this fall that the Pacific-10 Conference would not have seven teams winning at least six games to become bowl eligible, the Poinsettia Bowl reached an agreement with the Western Athletic Conference to provide a team.
That team turned out to be Boise State, one of only two undefeated major college football teams, and ranked ninth in The Associated Press poll. Texas Christian is 10-2 and ranked 11th. Only four other bowl games match two teams in The Associated Press Top 11.
"Both of these schools are putting the Poinsettia Bowl on the national map," Binkowski told City News Service. "We're not just another one of those pre-Christmas Bowl games now. We are a bowl game that has a lot of national interest."
Bowl organizers are "not disappointed" by the absence of a Pacific-10 team "because we kind of had an idea it could happen," Binkowski said.
"We had Plan B in place and it worked out pretty well for us," Binkowski said.
This was the fourth time in the past five seasons the Pacific-10 Conference has not had seven bowl-eligible teams. There will be a larger chance of a Pacific-10 Conference team playing in the Poinsettia Bowl next year, as the game will get the fifth choice after the Bowl Championship Series games.
A Mountain West Conference team has played in each of the four Poinsettia Bowls.
Bowl games combine ticket purchases from fans of the participating teams and the area the game is played. The recession has caused "a little downturn in the fans' ability to travel to San Diego," but "it's not bad," Binkowski said.
"You can tell there are a few more returned tickets, not as many fans staying (in hotels) as long as you would like," Binkowski said.
Each school is required to purchase 7,500 tickets, which are then resold. Boise State sold more than 5,000 of its tickets, while Texas Christian sold more than 4,000, Binkowski said. The unsold tickets are donated to various San Diego-area charitable groups.
Last year, Navy sold all 16,000 tickets it was allocated, thanks in part to the response from San Diego's Navy community. Utah sold about 5,000 of its 10,000-ticket allotment, Binkowski said. The game had a record announced crowd of 39,129.
The Poinsettia Bowl's San Diego-area marketing efforts concentrates on families, selling a "Family 4-Pack" of four Plaza Level tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas and a game program for $120.
"For a pre-Christmas bowl game on a Tuesday night like this, we are very happy with the local interest and the possible sales that we'll have," Binkowski said.
The inaugural Poinsettia Bowl in 2005 between Colorado State and Navy had an announced crowd of 36,842, while the 2006 game between Texas Christian and Northern Illinois had an announced crowd of 29,709.
Binkowski said he is "very satisfied" with the growth of interest in the Poinsettia Bowl
"This game will help us move forward to continue making the Poinsettia Bowl better year in and year out," Binkowski said. "Local fans who may not have been interested in the past are now they saying, 'Let's go to that game because it's got a great matchup. We've shown there is that possibility, every now and then, that we can get great matchups."
Copyright 2008 by City Wire.
Franklin says Brown, Trojans deserve all the credit for offensive success
TROY -- Tony Franklin could not be more proud of what his protege Neal Brown has accomplished as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Troy University this season.
Franklin coached Brown as a wide receiver at Kentucky and with the Lexington Horsemen of the National Indoor Football League.
It was Franklin who instituted the spread offense at Troy in 2006 and hired Brown to coach inside receivers. Franklin also hired Chad Scott, who played for him, as running backs coach and John Schlarman, who coached with him, as offensive line coach last season.
"They've done a phenomenal job, in which they deserve all the credit and I deserve none," Franklin said. "My No.1 goal when I hire coaches is to have people that I think are smarter than me and better coaches than me. And I think all three of them are smarter than me and better coaches than me."
Brown said he and Franklin talk on the phone three or four times a week. While the conversation is not always about football, Brown said he sometimes bounces ideas off of Franklin, mostly about new wrinkles to add to the Troy offense.
Brown expects football to be the main topic of conversation this week as the Trojans prepare for their New Orleans Bowl opponent Southern Mississippi, which Auburn beat 27-13 this season while Franklin was still offensive coordinator at Auburn. Franklin was later fired.
"He's really been a huge benefit to me in my coaching career," Brown said. "He's someone who I trust and who believes in the same things I do."
Franklin called Brown a "typical overachiever" and said he could see his coaching potential as early as his college days at Kentucky.
"Some people are threatened by players that are smarter than you as a coach, but I always welcomed that," Franklin said. "I felt he was smarter as a player than us coaches and if he decided he was going to go into coaching, he'd be successful."
And Franklin is not surprised that Brown picked up where he left off at Troy, especially when it comes to the run game. The Trojans rank 36th in the country with 175.4 rushing yards per game, their second consecutive season ranked in the top 40.
"There are so many misconceptions about how the spread is supposed to work," Franklin said. "The bottom line is we ran the football better than Auburn ever ran it when we were at Troy. And they (the Trojans) still do."
Brown declined to comment on his mentor's sudden departure from Auburn, but some of Franklin's former players at Troy believe he deserved more time to make the spread work.
"They should have given him another year to get some recruits in," said sophomore running back DuJuan Harris, who leads the Trojans with 1,241 all-purpose yards. "Something like that takes time."
(c) 2008 The Birmingham News
Houston Nutt agrees to extension with Mississippi
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi football coach Houston Nutt works fast, even when it comes to contract extensions.
Nutt turned around a moribund Ole Miss program in just a year, then came to terms on a new contract extension Friday that will keep him in Oxford until 2012 amid speculation he was a candidate for the Auburn vacancy.
Nutt and athletic director Pete Boone agreed to terms in the afternoon and the coach signed the deal right after practice.
Nutt's new salary was not released, but several reports peg it at around $2.5 million. That puts him in the middle of the Southeastern Conference's pay scale. His assistants also will get raises.
"I'm very excited about the terms we discussed," Nutt said. "I'm excited about the assistant coaches' salaries and I'm excited about the vision Pete Boone has. This helps recruiting and shows the direction our program is headed."
Nutt signed a four-year, $7.4 million contract when he took over at Ole Miss last season after resigning at Arkansas. He made $1.7 million this season while leading the Rebels to four straight wins and an 8-4 record.
The extension is for one year, pushing the deal to the maximum four years allowed under state law. The deal still must be approved by the state College Board, usually a formality.
While the total value of the deal remains unknown, it is by far the richest for an Ole Miss coach. Alabama's Nick Saban is college football's highest-paid coach at $4 million a year.
The Birmingham News reported Friday that Auburn was looking at Nutt to replace Tommy Tuberville, who resigned Wednesday.
It's unclear whether the extension was in the works before the Auburn job came open, but Nutt likely earned it after a stellar first season in Oxford.
The Rebels finished second in the SEC Western Division after winning just 13 games in their previous four seasons. The team likely will accept a Cotton Bowl berth in the next few days.
Each of Ole Miss' losses came by a touchdown or less and a total of 19 points. The Rebels knocked off then-No. 4 Florida and then-No. 18 LSU this season and thumped their archrival Mississippi State 45-0 for their most lopsided win in the long-running series since 1971. Bulldogs coach Sylvester Croom resigned a day later.
Nutt took over for fired coach Ed Orgeron last November and has re-energized a program that had fallen on hard times after the departure of Eli Manning in 2003.
He has received rave reviews from players and Boone has seen dividends, both financially and in the stands.
"Under Houston Nutt's leadership, the Ole Miss football program is returning to a position of national prominence," Boone said. "The quality of his assistant coaches and his ability to motivate are essential tools to having a successful program. Over the next few years, we expect to see significant results from the foundation which has been built this year."
The contract extension may have kept history from repeating itself for the Rebels. Tuberville coached Ole Miss for four seasons before moving to Auburn in 1998. He famously told reporters he had no intention of leaving Oxford and they'd have to carry him out of town in a pine box.
He left the next day and built one of the nation's most successful programs at Auburn, where the Tigers went 13-0 four seasons ago. But Tuberville, who made about $3 million a year, resigned after finishing 5-7 during a tumultuous year that included the midseason firing of his offensive coordinator and a lopsided loss to state rival Alabama. The school still paid him a $5.1 million buyout.
Copyright (c) 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Following successful surgery, Paterno plans to return
As the Penn State football team awaits its opponent in next month's Rose Bowl, coach Joe Paterno is recovering from surgery.
Paterno underwent hip replacement surgery Sunday Nov. 23, and was released from the hospital two days later, the university said in a press release.
At the time of the release, Nov. 25, Paterno was no longer experiencing hip-related pain, and will continue his rehabilitation at home.
He was expected to be walking by today, but there has been no word on his current condition. Penn State's football communications and branding director Guido D'Elia could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Paterno had surgery just one day following the Nittany Lions' 49-18 win over then-
No. 15 Michigan State.
The victory clinched a share of the Big Ten championship for the Lions and a secured a berth in the Rose Bowl, played annually on Jan. 1.
It was Penn State's second Big Ten crown in four years, third overall, and first trip to Pasadena since the 1994-95 season. It was also Penn State's 800th win in program history, becoming just the sixth program to achieve that mark.
After the win Paterno also said he has "no plans to leave."
Paterno also spoke during a pep rally at Rec Hall the Friday before Michigan State and said he would "run out of that tunnel" in 2009. Previously, the head coach has said he would
like to get on the road to recruit.
Paterno said he will sit down sometime in the next couple of weeks with President Graham Spanier and Athletic Director Tim Curley to decide a course of action. Spanier and Curley were standing nearby when Paterno made the remarks but left the room shortly thereafter.
"I'm planning on coming back, yeah," Paterno said back on Nov. 22. "I never planned otherwise. Everyone's making a big deal that I don't have a contract signed. I've never even asked to do that. ... Right now, I have no plans to leave, but we'll see."
Paterno has left indicators throughout the season he would be coming back -- his contract expires at the end of this season, and he will turn 82 in December -- but his comments reflected the first time Paterno made it clear he would like to return next season.
"This isn't the first time that the end of the season came and people didn't know if he was going to be back or not," wide receiver Deon Butler said. "We kind of just see him here as having an eternal life here, so we weren't bothered about it. We knew he would be back another year or so."
Copyright (c) 2008 Collegian Inc
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