10 January 2010

Bowl Wrap-Up 2009-10

This was one of the best bowl seasons I can recall. It just seemed to have more close games and surprises than usual and its this un-predictability that keeps college football so darn fascinating. Here is my commentary on a few of the bowls...

SUMMARY
Though not known for their bowl playing skills, BYU made quite an impression as they man-handled Oregon State(after a sluggish start) 44-20 and started the MWC off to a 4-1 bowl season.

The Georgia-Texas A&M game was rather odd: zero scoring in the first 27 minutes but a final score of 44-20, dawgs being the victor.

Though much was said about the TCU-Boise match-up it was one of the most enjoyable games IMHO. The highly touted and favored TCU team seemed still upset about the missed opportunity to play a team from an AQ conference - they looked confused, plan-less, had no answer for a very good BSU defense, and simply did not play with the intensity that carried them throughout their un-defeated season. It was a huge let down to TCU fans and proponents as the cream-of-the-MWC-crop did not play as expected.

Now take nothing from Boise State. They had a plan, played with confidence and seemed to never doubt their right to be on that stage nor their chances of winning. The BSU defense was the highlight of the game for me. And the O-line made TCU's Hughes a non-factor. BSU is the only team to beat two conference champs and deserve to be higher than their final #4 ranking.

Although the injured McCoy put a bit of a damper on the expected close NC match-up it was still a game that highlighted very good defenses, Alabama's abilities, and Texas coaching adjustments for a new QB. It still had all the flavor of a NC game with added drama that seemed almost scripted.

I was surprised by the Big 10 wins, especially Ohio State over Oregon and Penn State over LSU. I enjoyed the OT Arkansas win, surprised at the Oklahoma win over Stanford, and not surprised at Nebraska over Arizona. The PAC-10 results (2-5) were interesting since they did so well last year.

ENDZONE
There were 34 bowls played, of which, there were seven Top 25 match-ups with the higher ranked team winning only two of the seven. Of the 11 other Top 25 teams that played un-ranked teams, eight won their games. The conference results were as follows:

ConferenceSchoolsRecordPercentage
Independents (1)Navy1-01.000
MWC (5)AF,BYU,TCU,Utah,Wyom4-1.800
Big East (6)Cincy,Pitt,Rut,UConn,USF,WVU4-2.667
SEC (10)Ala,Ark,Aub,Flor,Geor,Ky,LSU,Miss,SCar,Tenn6-4.600
Big Ten (7)Iowa,MichSt,Minn,NWstrn,OSU,PSU,Wis4-3.571
Big 12 (8)ISU,Mizzou,Neb,OU,OklaSt,Texas,TexA&M,TT4-4.500
WAC (4)BoiseSt,FresSt,Idaho,Nev2-2.500
Sun Belt (2)MidTen,Troy1-1.500
ACC (7)BC,Clem,FSU,GT,Miami,UNC,VT3-4.429
C-USA (6)ECU,Hou,Marsh,SMU,SoMiss,UCF2-4.333
Pac-10 (7)Ariz,Cal,Ore,OreSt,Stan,UCLA,USC2-5.286
MAC (5)BGreen,CMich,NIU,Ohio,Tem1-4.200

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