Interesting day on land & in air
Not a bad day of football watching considering I spent four hours in the air and three hours at an airport. I landed at Kansas City just before the Cotton Bowl kickoff and flew out just before game’s end. I got to my hotel room in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at halftime of the Sugar Bowl. So I got to see 75 percent of two very interesting games.
Sugar Bowl
* Boise State lives! Utah’s 31-17 upset of Alabama was every bit the equal of Boise State’s knockoff of the Sooners two years ago, if not quite as dramatic.
This Alabama team is better than that OU team was. This again proves that the little guy deserves a spot at the table. Come clean: wouldn’t you be a lot more intrigued by a Boise State-Texas game than the Texas-Ohio State Fiesta Bowl?
Anyway, the Utes even paid homage to Boise State with a later hook-and-lateral that sealed the game.
Utah dominated. Bama stayed in the game only because of a punt return for a touchdown and a rash of penalties in the second half.
* One reason Utah won? It had the better quarterback. Brian Johnson far outplayed John Parker Wilson, continuing a bowl theme. Good quarterbacking matters.
Johnson completed 27 of 41 passes for 336 yards and three touchdowns.
After Ole Miss made a case for those good SEC defenses with a victory over Texas Tech, Utah made the SEC’s best defense look weak.
* So here’s the lesson to learn concerning the Big Bowl. Yes, it makes a big difference when you play a good defense. It also makes a big difference when you play a good quarterback.
* Good thing OU’s playing Brigham Young and not the Utes next year.
Cotton Bowl
* Tech’s defense was good for a half against Texas and good for a game against OSU, but it wilted against OU and Ole Miss.
Mississippi had the ball for more than 35 minutes. It totaled 515 yards and scored 38 offensive points. Play like that, and there’s not much comeback when SEC teams start yapping about Big 12 defenses.
* Graham Harrell didn’t reach the end zone with his mad-dash scramble that finished the first half, but he may have made himself some money. Harrell showed some good footwork and almost scored in scrambling 44 yards.
* Great homecoming for Jevan Snead. Beaten out by Colt McCoy at Texas in 2006, Snead was the best quarterback on the Cotton Bowl field. Snead completed 18 of 29 for 292 yards and three touchdowns. Snead did this season what McCoy failed to do: beat Texas.
* Ole Miss has some athletes. Brandon Bolden, Dexter McCluster, Mike Wallace. You can see sort of see how Florida had trouble with the Rebels.
* Houston Nutt is a heck of a coach. Going from Ed Orgeron to Nutt is not so much different than going from John Blake to Bob Stoops.
* I love hearing Pat Summerall’s voice. It’s a throwback to simpler times. Makes me feel good. But he can’t call a game anymore.
* Who knew the Kilgore Rangerettes were still kicking. Which begs the question, whatever happened to the Apache Belles?
Liberty Bowl
* I saw none of it. I was in the air, flying to Fort Lauderdale, so Kentucky beat East Carolina 25-19 without my help.
* But good for Rich Brooks. The guy obviously can coach. He built Oregon into a winner. He’s been solid at Kentucky; not earth-shattering, but solid.
* Tulsa’s giveaway to East Carolina in the Conference USA title game cost the Golden Hurricane this: a shot at an SEC team on a neutral field, which doesn’t come around very often. Instead, Tulsa is stuck in Mobile, Ala., for the GMAC Bowl against Ball State, which should be a heck of a game but will do nothing for TU’s reputation.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
Hey Berry, I think your fingers failed you today. You wrote:
“Snead did this season what McCoy failed to do: beat Texas.”
I think you meant Texas TECH.
Otherwise, great posting, as usual.
Hey, Berry, the Kilgore Rangerettes are as much a part of the Cotton Bowl as the football game, I think! The reason one wonders if they’re still around is STUPID CAMERA WORK. We live in an age where camera men are obsessed with intense close ups, and while the Rangerettes were doing their thing at halftime, the shots we get during the performance are close ups of a high school flag girl in the endzone, and then a baritone player on the 25 yard line. Then we get a four-second shot of the actual Rangerettes, where the camera only briefly discovers that with a synchronized routine, the effect is completely missed if you spend it in close-up. Dudes, the whole point is to see the entire line! I hate when viewers get left out of the great spectacles that make college football so grand because the people running the cameras have no clue.
Utah beating Alabama is a much bigger deal on the national stage than Boise State beating OU. The 2006 OU team was not rated #1 for several weeks of the regular season and was in a BCS bowl by virtue of a Texas meltdown versus Texas A&M. Is Utah much better than advertised or is Alabama overrated?