Bowl Season Kicks Off

The first day of the 2008-09 bowl season got underway with four games, two in their inagural state. The winners were Wake Forest, Colorado State, South Florida (see picture) and Arizona.

Navy losing to Wake Forest was my disappointment of the day. The midshipmen were playing as close to home as possible in Washington DC. They got out to a two touchdown lead, but saw the Deamon Decons dominate the rest of the way.

Fresno State lost to the hands of Colorado State. The Bulldogs should have fared better this season, but never recovered from its loss to Wisconsin. FSU needed a win more than any other team on this day. What was once a promising season has turned into quite the disappointment.

South Florida dominated in their game with Memphis. It should've have in the inagural magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl in nearby Clearwater / St . Pete. The Bulls are better than what the Big East gave them in bowl assignments, but they need to attain a BCS birth. In a conference that isn't among the nation's elite USF has had their chances to take that next step, but have faltered.

Finally Arizona made the Pac 10 begin a respectable streak of winning bowl games. This is an impressive win over BYU and is a good start for the conference. Other games it should win include Oregon over Oklahoma State, and USC over Penn State.

College Football Week 6

Kind of a slow week for college football, but it did set up some interesting match-ups for week seven. Before we get to that, a couple of items from the past week.

Still undefeated--There are still a few teams that continue to win and stay unbeaten. Many may have seen the monumental victory for Vanderbilt over Auburn. Another school of higher education that had the week off yet is undefeated is Northwestern. One team gaining their first appearance in the top 25 for many, many years is Ball State. With Brady Hoke leading the Cardinal, Ball State has steadily improved and is 6-0 this season. The former Michigan Asst. Head Coach may be proving he was the best candidate for the job in Ann Arbor.

Surf's Up--A team looking for an identity is Fresno State. They began the season with a convincing win at Rutgers as well as a double OT win at Toledo. The Bulldogs had every chance to upset Wisconsin at home, but couldn't make the necessary field goal. This past weekend they hosted a Hawaii team far from it 2007 BCS form and lost to the islanders.

The fourth of October--When returning from Michigan State this past weekend, Iowa radio play by play personality Gary Dolphin phoned his wife while waiting for the plane to depart East Lansing. As the conversation continued Gary's wife Cindy kept reminding him how great the fourth of October is. Finally Gary called her on it and found out it was their 33rd wedding anniversary. (However Cindy was incorrect. She told him it was their 38th.) Gary promised to take Cindy to dinner the following night. Here's hoping Gary called her by the right name.

Many interesting games this weekend. Among a few to keep tabs on:

• Oklahoma v Texas at Dallas in the Cotton Bowl. The winner has control of their destiny in the hunt for the national title game.


• LSU at Florida. Can Florida keep their title game hopes alive with the Tigers heading to the Swamp


• Notre Dame at North Carolina. The Irish have struggled winning on the road with Charlie Weiss. North Carolina may be for real and will need to prove so with a win this weekend.

College Football Week 4

The Hawkeyes would be an easy target to criticize after losing on the road to Pittsburgh, but we'll put that to rest and look at a few other items from this past weekend.

Game of the Week that wasn't on national television: Fresno State at Toledo. Two teams from non-BCS conferences engaged in an double overtime shootout finding Fresno on the victorius end of a 55-54 contest. After fighting for over 60 minutes, Toledo Head Coach, Tom Amstutz went for the victory in the second overtime while noticing his players had little left to give. The two-point conversion pass was knocked down and the Bulldogs won.

Conference of the Week: SEC. There is no doubt the Southeast has the best football in 2008. While USC should be able to win out and earn a spot in the title game, the representative from the SEC should provide tough competition after playing a near top-ten team close to every week.

Cheat of the Week: Notre Dame and Charlie Weis. During the first quarter in East Lansing, Michigan State reported a laptop in the coaching booth of the Fighting Irish. Laptops are not allowed by the coaching staff throughout the game, yet one was found with the ND staff. Coach Weis blamed it on an intern in the booth, yet I can't believe this was an isolated incident.