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Showing posts from December, 2009

NFL Sunday

Football Headlines Dwight Dasher scores 4 touchdowns as Middle Tennessee State beats Southern Miss 42-32 in New Orleans Bowl Mike Wallace catches desperation pass as Steelers shock Packers 37-36 4th down conversion, run defense lead Raiders by Broncos 20-19 Chargers lock up AFC West, beat grieving Bengals 27-24 Titans blow big lead, then beat Dolphins in OT to improve to 7-7 Texans hold off Rams 16-13 to keep playoff hopes alive Moss catches TD as Patriots inch closer to AFC East title with 17-10 win over Bills McNabb scores 2 TD's as Eagles lock up playoff spot with 27-13 win over 49ers Gonzalez catches 4th down TD pass as Falcons keep slim playoff hopes alive with 10-7 win over Jets Cardinals blow big lead, then come back to beat the Lions 31-24 Carolina defense leads them by Minnesota 26-7 Cribbs runs into record books as Brownns defeat Chiefs 41-34

Bowl games and Week 15 NFL Anaylsis

FOOTBALL HEADLINES Wyoming runs away with New Mexico Bowl in double overtime Rutgers stomps on UCF 45-24 to win St. Petersburg Bowl Ware's sacks help Dallas hand New Orleans their first loss New Mexico Bowl Under new head coach Dave Christensen, the Wyoming Cowboys were looking for a good football reputation. This win may earn them one. Wyoming rallied from an 11 point fourth quarter deficit and Austyn Carta-Samuels hit David Leonard for the GW touchdown pass. The Cowboys also held Fresno cold on 4 downs from the one yard line. After an interception set up a TD that had Fresno State up 28-17, Austyn Carta-Samuels threw a TD pass to David Leonard and he found Greg Bolling for 2 and Wyoming trailed 28-25. But Fresno State had a good punt return and they were facing third and four at the Wyoming 32. Ryan Mathews of Fresno State got the first, but the ball was stripped and recovered by Wyoming.

Ingram wins Heisman

Alabama running back Mark Ingram has won the Heisman by 28 points over Toby Gerhart of Stanford, making him the first Alabama Heisman winner. Ingram got the ball 249 times and he ran for 1536 yards and 15 touchdowns. His yards per carry average was 6.1, highest in the nation. The Bama big guy scored 3 receiving touchdowns and he showed his RB skills during a 69 yard reception against Florida that set up his 3 yard touchdown run. Other than the Auburn game in which Ingram rushed for 30 yards, his stats are mind-boggling. However, playing for Alabama and him being more popular than Stanford's Toby Gerhart might have given him an important edge. Ingram beat out Gerhart in first-place votes 227 to 222, and he won the closest Heisman race ever by beating Gerhart in points 1304 to 1276. Colt McCoy got 203 first place votes and 1145 points, Ndamukong Suh got 161 first place votes and 815 points and Tim Tebow got 43 first place votes and 390 points.

Heisman Trophy 2009

There are players from 8-4 teams and 12-0 teams that are stars, but the Heisman Trophy defines everything. Will it be Mark Ingram? Colt McCoy? Ndamukong Suh? Let's find out. Finalist descriptions Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama Ingram is a power running back that can break many tackles and score touchdowns on a run that most NFL running backs would get 2 or 3 yards. Alabama is going to the BCS Title and they are favored to win so I like Ingram's stock to rise there. He is also more popular then some finalists and he will get an edge there. Colt McCoy, QB, Texas McCoy struggled vs. Nebraska, but he was there for his Longhorns when they needed him most of the time, like vs. Texas Tech and Texas A&M. McCoy gained 478 total yards in a 49-39 win over arch-rival Texas A&M and he played big in most clutch situations. McCoy threw for 3512 yards and he threw 27 touchdown passes and he also ran for 348 yards and 3 scores on 128 carries. McCoy wants revenge in his senior year

Steelers vs. Browns recap

6-2. Tied for the division lead. Games vs. Oakland, Cleveland and Kansas City coming up. 0-5 was unimaginable for Steelers fans. Now they know it's true. Josh Cribbs rushed for 87 yards out of the Wildcat formation, Chris Jennings rushed for 73 yards and a score as Cleveland defeated Pittsburgh 13-6. With 7:20 in the first half, Cleveland had a 6-0 lead. Then, they finally got their offense going with 4:16 in the half. Facing 3rd and 3 at their own 33, Joshua Cribbs rushed 37 yards into Pittsburgh territory, and Chris Jennings found a hole to the left and scored to put Cleveland up 13-0. Pittsburgh fought right back, scoring on the last play of the first half to make it 13-3. The Steelers hadn't scored any points for the first 29:59. More defense occured until Pittsburgh scored a field goal with 0:08 left in the third quarter, and after 3 Cleveland led 13-6. After a big penalty took Pittsburgh out of field goal range, Cleveland got the ball. They got a first down an

Cal vs. Utah preview

This should be a very exciting game with Best or without Best, but the real challenge for Utah is to figure out what Cal team will show up. Will it be the team that got crushed at Washington or the team that beat Stanford. We'll see. Even without Jahvid Best, who gained 867 yards this season, Cal should be able to survive because Shane Vereen has ran for 830 and he has put up big numbers against Arizona and Stanford. Kevin Riley has played great in Cal's wins, but he and the rest of the Bears have played terribly in Cal's losses. For Cal to win, the Bears need to run the ball well, pass it well and play good pass defense, the main key. Terrence Cain has had a nice year for the 9-3 Utes, who are coming off of a stunning 26-23 OT loss to arch-rival BYU. But they need to stop Cal's rushing game and they need to take advantage of Cal's mediocre pass defense. 1032 yard rusher Eddie Wide will face the tough secondary of California, who have held superior rushe

Top 5 Bowl Games

1 TCU vs. Boise State I'm not going with the BCS Title here because I think Alabama has a huge shot of obliterating the Longhorns and Kellen Moore and the Boise offense will provide a real challenge for Jerry Hughes and the TCU defense. Andy Dalton is a great leader for TCU and he has led the Horned Frogs to wins over Clemson, Air Force, BYU, Wyoming and Utah, all bowl game qualifiers. This game is very exciting and it should be even more intense then last year's game, a 17-16 TCU win. I like the Frogs 35-31 in a very intense battle. 2 Alabama vs. Texas It will be interesting to see how Alabama's pass defense will perform vs. Colt McCoy, who had a very disappointing night in Texas's Big 12 Title win over Nebraska. On paper, Alabama seems like they could kill the Horns, because their defense would hold and Mark Ingram and Greg McElroy would get points on the board for Alabama. I like Bama here 34-17 and I think Mark Ingram is very worthy of a Heisman. 3 Iowa vs

Emerald Bowl Preview

Well, the Emerald Bowl won't feature any Toby Gerhart or Bobby Bowden, but Pete Carroll will take USC up to San Francisco to take on Frank Spaziani and Boston College. Matt Barkley lost a shot at the Holiday Bowl after Arizona upset the Trojans in the Coliseum 21-17, however the Emerald Bowl selected the Trojans instead of Oregon State, who fell at USC but still had one more conference win then the Trojans. BC freshman QB Dave Shinskie threw for 14 TD's and 13 interceptions but still played very well in clutch situations like in the Maryland game. He has a star running back in Montel Harris, who had 13 rushing touchdowns and rushed for 1355 yards. USC and Boston College both have weapons at receiver, USC having Damian Williams and Ronald Johnson and Boston College having Rich Gunnell. Gunnell is a threat, having caught 54 passes for 750 yards and 6 touchdowns, while Williams is a real dynamic threat. Ronald Johnson missed over half of the season due to injury. Joe M

Bears likely headed to Sun Bowl

Prior to the 2009 season, Cal fans said the Sun Bowl was "unacceptable". At this time, apparently they can accept it. With a win over Washington on Saturday, Cal has almost a guaranteed Sun Bowl berth. If Cal and USC win, the Bears can book flights to El Paso. If Arizona upsets USC and Cal wins, Cal might get picked over Arizona to go to the Holiday Bowl. If not, the Sun Bowl would pick them for a New Year's Day game versus probably Oklahoma. The Bears are the only team that has never been to the Sun Bowl, but Cal fans shouldn't get too excited. Their next opponent, Washington, beat USC and Arizona at home and they are coming off of a win over Washington State in the Apple Cup. I think Kevin Riley outplays Jake Locker and Shane Vereen has a big day and Cal will take the Huskies 37-17. Sun Bowl scouts and officials are very interested in bringing Cal to the game vs. a quality Big 12 opponent on New Year's Eve. Sun Bowl Pick: Cal 23, Oklahoma 17

Thursday Night Football Civil War

For the first time ever, the winner of the Civil War game was guaranteed a Rose Bowl berth. Jerimiah Masoli wanted to make sure that the Ducks were winners. Masoli threw for 201 yards and a 73 yard touchdown, and he made some key plays in Oregon's 37-33 win over Oregon State to win the Civil War and an invatation to play Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. LaMichael James ran for 3 touchdowns, including a 52 yard touchdown where he outran 3 Beavers to the end zone for a score. LeGarrette Blount ran for 51 yards and a touchdown where he broke 2 tackles and dove over a defender for a 15 yard score. An early interception helped Oregon State score early, but LaMichael James rushed for a 1 yard TD to tie it up at 7. OSU got a FG and the score was 10-7 after 1. Masoli found Jeff Maehl, who outran a defender to get the score. 2 Beaver field goals, 1 set up by a turnover had the Beavs up 16-14. LaMichael James found a hole after a nice drive and put the Ducks up 21-16, but Sean Canfield

Patriots vs. Saints recap

Drew Brees and the Saints knew that they would have to play their toughest game of the year to improve to 11-0 and 2-0 on Monday Night Football. They did just that. Drew Brees threw for an amazing 371 yards and 5 touchdowns, about 44.84 fantasy points. New Orleans is now 11-0 facing the Washington Redskins. His first TD was mainly Pierre Thomas, who took a screen pass, stayed in bounds and dove into the end zone for a touchdown. 3:02 later, Devery Henderson caught a 75 yard touchdown pass and Robert Meachem caught a 38 yard TD pass to put NO up 24-10 at halftime. Laurence Maroney cut the lead to 24-17, but Brees found Darrell Dinkins 1:22 later to make it 31-17 Saints after the third quarter. Brees found Marques Colston to seal the game and take a 38-17 decision. Laurence Maroney lost a fumble for New England but he scored 2 touchdowns and he rushed for 64 yards and he had some big gains early on, and he put the Patriots up 7-3 after the first quarter. The 7-4 Patriots p