December 30, 2009
Yesterday's two games were probably the best ones so far except for the Wyoming double overtime win over Fresno State back on the 19th. It's been a long time since that first bowl game though and there's two more today, and 19 from Dec. 31 to Jan. 7. This is when it gets crazy, right before New Year's, I believe we have nine games between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. The only down side: two of the best games on New Year's Day, the Gator Bowl and the Capital One Bowl are on at the same time, so I'm gonna have to go back to my methods of Saturday's during the regular season and switch to the next game every commercial break, it sucks to miss some plays, but you gotta do what you gotta do. And how about Bobby Bowden, it's coming to a sad end of an era at Florida State, ESPN is providing coverage of his final practice today before Thursday's Gator Bowl.
But let's focus on today, we've got Bowling Green vs. Idaho in the Humanitarian Bowl. I've sparingly seen both these teams, I've watch Idaho play twice and Bowling Green just once. What a matchup of quarterbacks, Tyler Sheehan and Nathan Enderle are pretty much the same, except one has more weapons (Sheehan) and better protection up front (Enderle). The thing going for Bowling Green is Idaho's pass defense, non-existent? Idaho is 5th worst in the nation in pass defense and now they have to cover All-America receiver Freddie Barnes who only needs 5 catches for a new single-season NCAA record.
I like Arizona almost as much as I love Texas. That said, I pray they have a solution for stopping Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh tonight. Suh singlehandedly manhandled Texas' offensive line and Colt McCoy. Here's the thing: Nick Foles is no Colt McCoy. If he can't get protection, he's not scrambling away. But can Nebraska score against the Arizona defense? No. But below I provided a solution for them so they can score. If not, Arizona can win with defense, they might only need a touchdown to win. Nebraska receiver Niles Paul is a big weapon, but they can't get him the ball consistently enough and well, Arizona's got a guy named Devin Ross at corner, he's going to be a major steal in the 3rd or 4th round of the NFL Draft.
Anyway, there's the synopsis. Here's some more of my insight for each game.
Roady's Humanitarian Bowl, 4:30pm on ESPN
Bowling Green Falcons (7-5) vs. Idaho Vandals (7-5)
Both teams are here are new success stories and have 7-5 records, but Bowling Green is coming in with four straight wins and Idaho, who finished 2-10 last year, has lost three straight and given up an average of 50 points to its opponent in the last five games. Idaho is playing in its first bowl since 1998, while the last time Bowling Green played in a bowl in 2007, they were blown away 63-7 by Tulsa.
If you’re a fan of offensive linemen, watch Idaho’s left guard Mike Iupati #77. I haven’t seen much of him, only seen Idaho on tv twice this year, but Todd McShay of Scouts, Inc. has Iupati has the number one offensive guard on the draft board.
This is a virtual home game for Idaho as they play in their state capital of Boise on Boise State’s blue turf, but Bowing Green is a very good road team winning their last four bowl games and keeping the first two very close with Missouri and Marshall.
There’s also a good quarterbacks matchup here as Bowling Green senior Tyler Sheehan and Idaho junior Nathan Enderle are almost identical physically. Both quarterbacks have had outstanding years compared to their former seasons and Sheehan looks like he could be a late-round NFL Draft pick with all the physical tools to play at the next level. In this game, however, only one quarterback will prosper, that’s Sheehan. Bowling Green has improved its defense, particularly its passing defense, and already held two great quarterbacks—Blaine Gabbert of Missouri and Dan LeFevour of Central Michigan—to under 200 yards passing. The Falcons defense will have to be wary of Idaho’s run game too as they’ve got a trio of backs who all average 5.0 or more yards per carry.
On the flip side, Idaho ranks 114th in the nation in pass defense and Bowling Green’s All-America receiver Freddie Barnes is only five catches away from setting the new FBS record for receptions in a single season. Barnes currently has 138 and the record is 142. Against this Vandals’ defense, Barnes and Sheehan should put up big numbers.
Prediction: Bowling Green 45, Idaho 28
Result: Idaho 43, Bowling Green 42
What a game this was. First, let's acknowledge the history that was made, Bowling Green wide receiver Freddie Barnes had 9 catches for 111 yards in the first half, his fifth catch of the game set the new FBS record for receptions in a season with 143. Barnes finished with 17 catches for 219 yards and three touchdowns to finish with 155 catches this season. His last catch was this close to being the most memorable one. Barnes ran a go route and got wide open on a busted coverage and Tyler Sheehan put the throw right on the money to cap an 80 yard drive on the Barnes 51 yard touchdown reception with 32 seconds left to put Bowling Green up 42-35. It was over. So they thought.
After controlling the game and stepping up the defense in the last 20 or so minutes of the game, the Bowling Green secondary lost its grasp on the receivers. Idaho QB Nathan Enderle was scrambling around with the game on the line and threw a deep ball up for grabs and it fell into the lap of Preston Davis at the 20 yard line with 16 seconds left. After another incomplete pass, Enderle found his go-to man in Max Komar who had been shut down the entire game but made a great clutch catch for the touchdown with 4 seconds left in the game. Then Robb Ackey made the gutsy call for Idaho, what a job Ackey has done with the program that went 2-10 last season. Ackey decided to go for the win and Enderle found Preston Davis again the back of the endzone.
The 43-42 score and GW 2-pt conversion just made me immediately think of the Boise State-Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl. This was that kind of game.
My Player of the Game: Freddie Barnes, Bowling Green Receiver
Honorable Mention: Nathan Enderle, Idaho Quarterback
Honorable Mention: Preston Davis, Idaho Receiver
Pacific Life Holiday Bowl, 8pm on ESPN
No. 20 Arizona Wildcats (8-4) vs. No. 22 Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-4)
It is the same story before the Nebraska-Texas game: two teams that play excellent defense, and the higher-ranked team having an untested offensive line. Nebraska and Arizona last met in the 1998 Holiday Bowl that Arizona won 23-20. Expect this game to be just as close. In what should be a defensive battle like Nebraska’s 13-12 loss to Texas, Nebraska can win the game easily if they can muster up any kind of offense. Just a little more offense and they would have upset Texas.
Arizona will have its hands full with that offensive line that has only surrendered 11 sacks all year going up against Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, the best player in the country. Suh manhandled the Texas offensive line breaking through double and triple teams. Unless Arizona sees a flaw in Suh’s game that they can hit him with, expect the Wildcats to continuously put multiple bodies on Suh. But Suh’s play opens up chances for his linebackers and his buddy in the middle Jared Crick. Suh is the key to Nebraska’s success, if Arizona can slow him down (because no one can stop him), they’ll have a chance at running their offense with up-and-coming star quarterback Nick Foles and they also have top tailback Nic Grigsby back healthy.
Of these two teams that were one win away from BCS bowls, Arizona might only need a single score to win the game with the way Nebraska’s offense has been playing. Take away Roy Helu, Jr. and the Cornhuskers’ run game and you’ve shut them down. Nebraska quarterback Zac Lee might end up throwing the ball in the Pacific Ocean (as Pat Forde put it). While I’m rooting hard for my Arizona Wildcats to get the win, my solution for Nebraska’s offense is this: you have a true freshman quarterback named Cody Green, start him. Zac Lee is not the future, Green is; there’s no better time than now. Nebraska has a few weeks to prepare for this game and instead of spending those days working out the kinks with Lee, they should be working Green into the offense. Green is also a dual threat while accurate on short-to-intermediate throws (I haven’t seen him throw any deep balls). With Green, the Huskers can also run the zone-read which Arizona struggled with against Oregon.
Prediction: Arizona 20, Nebraska 17
Result: Nebraska 33, Arizona 0
The very first play for Arizona, Nick Foles was under heavy pressure and threw an interception that led to an easy Nebraska touchdown. The story never changed for the rest of the game as each snap Foles had Nebraska linemen in his face, and the Huskers didn't even have to blitz. The domninance of the middle with Jared Crick and The Ndamukong Suh opened up the outsides to come around and get to Foles because the O-Line was focused too much in the middle.
Arizona offensively could do nothing. They never had a chance against the Nebraska defense. When Nebraska didn't get heavy pressure on Foles, they still took him down on coverage sacks. If not for a Keola Antolin 36 yard run in the fourth quarter with most starters out of the game on Nebraska's defense, then they would have held the Arizona offense under 100 total yards. Nonetheless, they got the shutout.
Most people will look at this and not be surprised by Arizona's goose egg, but will be surprised with Nebraska's 33 points. Credit to the Nebraska coaching staff and what they did during the layoff for this game in preparing and installing the zone-read option. I stated that Arizona, the best defense int he Pac-10, only had trouble against Oregon's zone-read offense. That said, I advised Nebraska to use it with Cody Green. Nebraska did use the zone-read, but they did it with Zac Lee and Lee showed his ability to keep and run the ball. Next spring's quarterback competition between Lee and Green should be a good one. Green did come into the game at times to run the zone-read but it was mostly for reps purposes and not because Lee was struggling. The zone-read opened up some big passing plays for Lee and he came out firing accurate balls, something we haven't seen from him all season. And I expected Arizona corner Devin Ross to be able to keep Niles Paul from making big plays, but Ross dropped two chances for an interception and got beat by Paul on a 74 yard touchdown pass for Nebraska's final score.
My Player of the Game: Niles Paul, Nebraska Receiver
Honorable Mention: Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska Defensive Tackle
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