Largest Wins in Subsequent 4 2007 Bowl Video games – West Virginia and Kansas Jayhawks – Half 7

Listed below are the following 4 winners of this 12 months’s 2007 school soccer bowl sport outcomes:

BCS Fiesta Bowl – West Virginia stomps a mud gap in Oklahoma, 48-28

Anybody who thought Southern Cal or Georgia have been imply of their resounding bowl wins did not see West Virginia beat the Oklahoma Sooners 48-28 within the BCS Fiesta Bowl.

The Eleventh-ranked Mountaineers misplaced their head coach, Wealthy Rodriguez, to Michigan earlier than the Fiesta Bowl, misplaced their star backlog Steve Slaton to a leg harm within the first quarter, struggled beneath interim coach Invoice Stewart and managed to do all of it, after which some .

Quarterback Pat White rushed for 150 yards and threw one other 176 yards and a couple of touchdowns. Noel Devine stepped in for Slaton and rushed for 108 yards and a couple of touchdowns, one for 17 yards and one for 65 yards to win the sport within the 4th quarter.

Oklahoma’s sturdy offense, averaging greater than 43 factors per sport, was caught impartial in opposition to West Virginia’s protection at quantity 4. West Virginia’s offensive gamers — White, Devine and Darius Reynaud — appeared to run previous Sooners, who gave the impression to be watching relatively than tackling.

Clearly, a few of the prime has gone from Bob Stoops and his Oklahoma gamers, who’re a lot much less spectacular now with all their nagging. They have been embarrassed on the identical Fiesta Bowl final 12 months when Boise State made them look goofy with trick performs and a surprising shock. The Sooners must shut up, regroup and begin enjoying soccer once more.

For a group that ranked ninth in scoring protection and eighth in speeding protection, the Sooners appeared gradual when it mattered. You noticed the backs of many jerseys. Give credit score to the West Virginia Mountaineers; They teamed up when it mattered.

It was a few day earlier than the West Virginia Mind Belief determined that its nationwide seek for a brand new coach ought to maybe finish in its personal locker room, as Invoice Stewart was named the brand new head coach.

BCS Orange Bowl – Kansas defeats the mighty Virginia Tech Hokies, 24-21

So who mentioned Kansas was a paper tiger? A 6-6 group final 12 months that had no enterprise in a BCS bowl sport. All of the Jayhawks have performed this 12 months is have the sixth greatest offense within the nation and the second greatest offense nationally en path to an exhilarating 12-1 document after beating Virginia Tech 24-21 within the BCS Orange Bowl had defeated.

If Kansas coach Mark Mangino was in a crowded New York Metropolis subway station, he would not be the sort to complain and yell. He could be the man you would not discover aside from his massive presence, nowhere greater than on the sidelines when Kansas is enjoying soccer. Individuals are starting to study that jayhawks can fly, they are not chickens.

So that is the place Kansas comes into their BCS sport and the way do the Jayhawks win? With their protection. The Jayhawks picked up 3 passes and transformed them into 17 factors to defeat the Fifth-ranked Hokies. It was candy for Kansas, who received their first BCS sport and set a college document with 12 wins. Virginia Tech, which misplaced its fourth straight BCS sport, fell to 11-3.

It was a chilly and windy night time for each groups and the Hokies stayed within the sport, however the Jayhawks took a 17-0 lead and completed what they began. They performed like their future trusted it, and since they did, they’ve a greater future. So far as I do know, virtually each participant on the group is returning subsequent 12 months. As they are saying within the leisure enterprise, this may very well be the beginning of one thing massive.

Worldwide Bowl – Rutgers and Ray Rice run from Ball State in 52-30 rout

Ray Rice made historical past for a historic college by operating for 280 yards and 4 touchdowns in main Rutgers – who performed the primary sport of faculty soccer – behind Ball State 52-30.

Rutgers, in Toronto, Canada, for the Worldwide Bowl, marked his second postseason win within the college’s 138-year historical past and second straight win in two years along with his 37-10 win over Kansas State in final 12 months’s Texas Bowl .

Rice, whose 25 TDs this season and a couple of,012 speeding yards are each college data, was additionally the primary Massive East participant to interrupt the two,000-yard speeding barrier of the season. He is in fairly good firm as former Massive East gamers with NFL affect embody Edgerrin James, Clinton Portis and Willis McGahee, all Miami (FL) grads. Quarterback Mike Teel continued to assist Rutgers by going 16 of 25 for 303 yards and three TD passes.

Amongst Rice’s runs was a career-long 90-yard TD scamper. Rice, a junior, should now make a selection between going early to the NFL or returning to Rutgers for a senior season. He has till January 15 to announce his plans for the NFL draft.

Whereas Rice’s efficiency was nice, the Ball State speeding protection wasn’t. Ball State ranked 99th in speeding protection nationally. Ball State is not an actual killer in bowl video games both, having performed in 6 and never successful any. Such is the state of faculty soccer at the moment, when 32 bowl video games are performed with 64 groups and solely 119 to select from. Rutgers completed their season 8-5 (no massive deal) and Ball State fell to 7-6 (at the very least it wasn’t a shedding season).

GMAC Bowl — Tulsa advantages from foolish errors at bowling inexperienced, 63-7

Give Bowling Inexperienced some props to make it to the GMAC Bowl. They didn’t destroy the car they used to get to the stadium. They managed to decorate themselves. However that is about it. When it got here time to emerge, the Falcons managed to fumble 4 occasions within the first half and their opponent Tulsa rapidly scored 4 touchdowns to take a 35-0 lead at halftime.

The remaining was all downhill for Bowling Inexperienced as they misplaced 63-7 to finish the 12 months 8-5 (at the very least it was a successful document, that is greater than some bowl losers can say). The outcome was probably the most one-sided (56 factors) on this 12 months’s 32-game bowl program. Previous to the GMAC Bowl, Bowling Inexperienced had received its final 4 consecutive bowl video games.

“We have been out earlier than we have been in,” mentioned Bowling Inexperienced coach Gregg Brandon.

Tulsa introduced 3 issues to the GMAC Bowl: tenth greatest offensive line within the nation, third greatest offensive line within the nation, and #1 total offensive line within the nation. They confirmed why the Golden Hurricane can rating 63 factors in a single sport.

Quarterback Paul Smith rushed for 312 yards and 5 touchdowns whereas rolling up his 14th straight 300-yard passing play, breaking Ty Detmer’s document for Brigham Younger. En path to the blowout win, Tulsa turned the primary group in NCAA historical past to have a 5,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher, and three (depend them) 1,000-yard receivers. Tulsa mustered simply 562 offensive yards within the sport.

Tulsa first-year coach Todd Graham led the Golden Hurricane to a 10-4 document, the primary 10-win season for Tulsa since 1991, 18 years in the past.

(Editor’s be aware: That is the seventh article in a collection on 2007 bowl sport outcomes.)

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley