2007 Bowl Preview:
Week 1
In this first part of the Bedlam on Baltic Avenue 2007 Bowl Preview, I will take the time to preview the first week of action in the bowl season. After a turbulent football season which saw upsets, a battle royale for the best team in America, and one team going through the paces unscathed...we now enter the postseason.
Utah vs. Navy
San Diego
Thursday, Dec. 20 (ESPN, 9 ET)
This is a tantalizing way to start the college bowl season. The Mountain West runner-ups against an option system led by Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada.
From the AP...
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Utah coach Kyle Whittingham knows all about wild December games in San Diego, having played in the first four Holiday Bowls with BYU.
Now he'll be bringing his Utah Utes to town to play Navy on Dec. 20 in the Poinsettia Bowl, which will kick off the bowl season with a matchup of 8-4 teams at Qualcomm Stadium.
"We're elated. We can't wait," Whittingham said Sunday. "It should be a great matchup."
The Midshipmen clinched a berth in the bowl by virtue of their sixth win back on Nov. 10, when they beat North Texas 74-62 in the highest-scoring game in major-college history.
Navy, a natural to play in a bowl game in a Navy town, played in the inaugural Poinsettia Bowl in 2005, beating Colorado State 51-30 as the teams combined for what was then a bowl-record 1,183 yards.
"San Diego's a great Navy city," Midshipmen coach Paul Johnson said. "We couldn't ask for a better destination. Everybody's excited."
The Midshipmen routed Army 38-3 on Saturday, their unprecedented sixth straight win in the big rivalry. Earlier this season, Navy beat Notre Dame for the first time in 44 years, 46-44 win in three overtimes.
"To have two teams with 8-4 records, both of which are having exciting seasons, we couldn't be happier," said Bruce Binkowski, executive director of both the Poinsettia and Holiday bowls.
"The interesting thing here is Utah has a very strong defense and Navy has an amazing offense, so I think we're really going to see a great matchup," Binkowski said.
Binkowski hopes the Poinsettia Bowl can mirror the Holiday Bowl's history of crazy finishes.
While Navy has played some wild games this year, Johnson isn't so sure.
"You can never tell," he said. "We played our best defensive game of the year Saturday. Our last two efforts on defense were our best two, and our last two offensively might not have been."
The Utes, of the Mountain West Conference, will be making their fifth straight bowl appearance. They have won their last six bowl games dating to 1999, the second-longest postseason winning streak in the country.
While this will be Utah's first bowl game in San Diego, Whittingham needs no introduction. He returned a kickoff 16 yards and had one carry for three yards in BYU's 23-16 loss to Navy in the first Holiday Bowl in 1978, then played as a linebacker in the next three games.
He had 16 tackles in 1980, when Jim McMahon rallied the Cougars to a memorable 46-45 win over SMU.
"I was tackling Eric Dickerson, but 10 of the 16 were probably 20 yards downfield," Whittingham said.
Whittingham said Navy's option offense is similar to the one run by Air Force, one of Utah's conference rivals.
"The best way to defend an option offense is to keep it on the sideline," Whittingham said.
The Utes won seven straight games before losing its regular-season finale to MWC champion BYU.
I believe that Navy is going to wear down Utah, pounding and grinding their way to the win.
Memphis vs. Florida Atlantic
New Orleans
Friday, Dec. 21 (ESPN2, 8 ET)
This should not be any different, as Florida Atlantic, once a semifinalist in the Division I-AA (FCS) playoffs, now are the Sun Belt Champions, and face off against the Memphis Tigers in the first of three postseason games to be held at the Louisiana Superdome।
Florida Atlantic didn't even start playing football until 2001. Now, the Owls are going to a bowl after winning a share of the Sun Belt title. Veteran coach Howard Schnellenberger has brought this program along quicker than anyone could have imagined. Memphis started out 2-4 and went through the tragic shooting death on campus of one of its players, Taylor Bradford. But the Tigers rebounded to win five of their last six games.Rusty Smith and Charles Pierre have their work cut out for them, but should have enough firepower against Memphis. Not even the spirit of Taylor Bradford can stop the Owls.
-- Chris Low
Southern Miss vs. Cincinnati
Birmingham, Ala.
Saturday, Dec. 22 (ESPN2, 1 ET)
You probably could find Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly's name on the short list of just about every athletic director out there. It's not a question of "if" he's going to get a big job, but rather of "when." Southern Miss is looking for a coach after parting ways with Jeff Bower. Doubt Brett Favre will be tuning in. Word is he's not real happy with his alma mater for pushing Bower out the door.The Bearcats will blast the Eagles out of the water here. No pizza for you, Seymour d'Campus.
-- Chris Low
Nevada vs. New Mexico
Albuquerque, N.M.
Saturday, Dec. 22 (ESPN, 4:30 ET)
Is this the year Rocky Long's Lobos break through and get their first bowl victory in over four decades? BoBA thinks so.
The Lobos went 5-1 in Albuquerque this season, with two of those victories coming by three points apiece. Kicker John Sullivan has been automatic (26-of-29), which is doubly impressive because he has no ACL in his plant leg. Nevada's fortune turned on injury. Freshman quarterback Colin Kaepernick went 4-3 as a starter, with the three losses coming by a total of seven points.
-- Ivan Maisel
UCLA vs. BYU
Las Vegas
Saturday, Dec. 22 (ESPN, 8 ET)
For UCLA's Ben Olson, that day couldn't have come any sooner, with Karl Dorrell being sacked. BYU should be licking their chops in an opportunity to exact payback.
BYU's nine-game winning streak is the second-longest in the nation, and UCLA went 6-6, but there's little chance the Cougars will overlook the Bruins. UCLA defeated BYU, 27-17, in the second week of the season. Sophomore Cougars quarterback Max Hall has been a revelation, and the defense hasn't allowed a 100-yard rusher all season.They say it's tough to beat a good team twice. Brigham Young looks to make that adage true. Max power, Max Hall.
-- Ivan Maisel
SHERATON HAWAII
Boise State vs. East Carolina
Honolulu
Sunday, Dec. 23 (ESPN, 8 ET)
Thank God the Broncos won't be facing the Warriors on the gridiron until next year's meeting in Boise.
Boise returns to the Big Island, where a 39-27 loss to Hawaii on Nov. 23 ended the Broncos' hopes of a second straight BCS bowl game berth. Boise State still has a high-powered offense, with quarterback Taylor Tharp and tailback Ian Johnson. The Pirates lost to two ranked teams in the regular season: 17-7 at Virginia Tech and 48-7 at West Virginia.
-- Mark Schlabach
Purdue vs. Central Michigan
Detroit
Wednesday, Dec. 26 (ESPN, 7:30 ET)
The Chippewas won four of their last five games and beat Miami (Ohio) 35-10 in the MAC championship game. Quarterback Dan LeFevour is a dual threat, with 3,360 passing yards and 1,008 rushing. The Boilermakers lost their last three games, after an impressive 5-0 start, and finished 3-5 in Big Ten play.Shouldn't be any surprise that Joe Tiller will be on the hot seat next season. Unless he isn't.
-- Mark Schlabach
Arizona State vs. Texas
San Diego
Thursday, Dec. 27 (ESPN, 8 ET)
Rudy Carpenter faces off against Colt. But not the Colt he faced last year. This Colt's last name is McCoy, and Texas is looking to finish off looking like the Real McCoy.
Dust off the Longhorns-in-San-Diego jokes. Texas played in this game three times in four years (2000-01, 2003) before the magic of Vince Young swept them into national contention. All-Big 12 tailback Jamaal Charles became the Longhorns' most consistent weapon this season, as sophomore quarterback Colt McCoy had a bad case of the picks (co-leading the league with 18). Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter will enjoy watching the Texas defense, which allowed 275.5 passing yards per game.If at first you don't succeed against Colt, try and try again. That's what the Sun Devils will be keen to do.
-- Ivan Maisel