Improved to 5-7 in bowl games. Hope to break .500 and then some today with five games on tap. Va Tech 37, UT 14.
Redshirt frosh Ryan Williams rushed for 117 yards on 25 carries with 2 tds. Tyrod Taylor, their versatile junior qb, passed for 209 yards, none more important than his bomb down the field with nine seconds left in the half that put the Hokies at the Vols' four. The Hokies kicked a field goal to go ahead 17-14 going into halftime. They kept the momentum from there. Typical Frank Beamer ball. Hard-nosed defense, solid running game, good special teams and only one miscue. Va. Tech finished their season with their sixth 10-win season in a row. That man can coach. Look for the Hokies to be one of the top teams in the country next year with Taylor (presumably) and Williams returning and a host of others.
VT 10-3, UT 7-6
Oklahoma 31, Stanford 27
Great game. Redshirt frosh Landry Jones was huge completing 30-of-51 passes for 418 yards and three tds. Ryan Broyles, a sophomore, caught 13 passes for 156 yards and three tds.
Stanford senior Toby Gerhart finished off a brilliant career with 32 carries for 135 yards and two tds. I would love to see him get a shot at the NFL. Stanford was a bit unlucky as starting qb Andrew Luck missed the game with a broken finger. Senior Tavita Pritchard took his place and was serviceable, but they missed Luck.
OU finished 8-5 as did Stanford.
Air Force 47, Houston 20
Air Force's number one pass defense in the nation intercepted Case Keenum six times and they rushed for 402 yards. Jared Tew rushed for 173 yards and Asher Clark added 129.
Air Force finished 8-5. Houston finished 10-4.
Iowa State 14, Minn. 13
Iowa State came back from a disastrous two seasons to finish 7-6 in their first year under former Auburn dc Paul Rhoads. Alexander Robinson ran for 137 yards. Maybe the turnaround was due to the combination of Gene Chizik's recruiting and Rhoads' first year coaching. Chizik has a big game today.
Minnesota finished 6-7 for the year.
Navy 35, Missouri 13
How about the job Ken Niumatalolo is doing? The Navy finished 10-4 on the season. Niumatalolo could be a candidate for a bigger job down the road, though it would be cool if he stayed at the Academy and built a national program. The Midshipmen ran for 385 yards. Quarterback Ricky Dobbs, a junior, carried the ball 30 times for 166 yards and 3 tds. He threw for another. Marcus Curry carried it 12 times for 109 yards and a score. This was one of the best stories of the year. Navy was so close to beating Ohio State at Columbus and beat ND again as well as the Army for like the seventh or eighth straight time. The Naval Academy hasn't missed a beat with Niumatalolo taking over for Paul Johnson.
Games today.
Outback Bowl:Auburn vs Northwestern: Pick-AU
Capital One Bowl: LSU vs Penn State: Pick-Bengal Tigers
Gator Bowl:West Virginia vs FSU: Pick-Mountaineers
Rose Bowl: Oregon vs Ohio State: Pick-Ducks
Sugar Bowl: Cincy vs Florida: Pick: Cincy (Shaky, but I picked them at the beginning, so going to stick with it. Somebody offered me a steak dinner if I got this right, and that would work).