College Bowl Season Week 3 Review: Part 2

BELL HELICOPTER ARMED FORCES BOWL: Rice 33 - Air Force 14

Rice completely dominated the game and accumulated over 500 yards of offence to put the Falcons to the sword. The telling stat of the day was the a Air Force team that prides itself on running the ball only had 22 minutes worth of possession.

Player of the Game: Driphus Jackson. A very nice day for Jackson who was pressed into action after McHargue went down, he had 264 yards passing and 2 TDs.

Players to Watch: Well, McHargue went down with an injury, but did have one TD pass, whilst Getz’s only had 7 carries and 35 yards. I think I jinxed them!

Pick: Wrong – 16 points lost. Another unsuccessful pick, does anyone else want to be the ‘expert’?

NEW ERA PINSTRIPE BOWL: Syracuse 38 - West Virginia 14

Whatever happened to the Mountaineers I will not know, but they got owned by the men in Orange and Prince-Tyson Gulley’s performance on the ground and looked nothing like the team that was meant to be an offensive dynamo.

Player of the Game: Tyson-Gulley. Accounted for 3 total TDs and had 208 yards on the ground.

Players to Watch: Geno Smith was very average but not poor, whilst Nassib also had a underwhelming performance under center. However, the weather conditions in New York were never going to lend themselves towards stellar QB play.

Pick: Wrong – 22 points lost. I guess I can look at the fact that I expect the game to be dominated by passing, which West Virginia would take 9 times out of 10. As it was, it was all about the run game and a great performance by Tyson Gulley.

KRAFT FIGHT HUNGER BOWL: Arizona State 62 - Navy 28

The blowout that most expected as the Sun Devils totaled up 648 offensive yards and made quick work of the Midshipmen.

Player of the Game: Taylor Kelly. Four touchdowns and 268 yards with his arm along with another 81 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Players to Watch: Reynolds had a shoddy day but did register a score whilst Magee had 9 tackles and a tackle for a loss.

Pick: Correct – 15 points won. I wonder why I didn’t put more points on this one, but in the end it’s points in the bag and adds to my total.

VALERO ALAMO BOWL:  #23 Texas 31 - #13 Oregon State 27

A fantastic game to watch as the Longhorns kept battling back from behind to win it late in the fourth quarter. Oregon State will be gutted to miss out on a 10 win season for the program but in the end the Longhorns made the plays when it mattered.

Player of the Game: David Ash. Having had a rough season, he accounted for three scores with his two TD passes coming in the fourth quarter.

Players to Watch: Gray didn’t get much of a look in for the Texas offence but did manage to catch the first of Ash’s touchdown passes whilst Mannion didn’t even play because Vaz got the start and had 2 picks. Maybe the Beavers should have listened to me.

Pick: Wrong – 26 points lost. I had a lot on this one and lost out big time.

BUFFALO WILD WINGS BOWL: Michigan State 17 - TCU 16

The Spartans and Horned Frogs didn’t disappoint me in what I predicted to be a close game by having the contest come down to Birmingham’s own Dan Conroy slot a 47 yard field goal to put Michigan State up by one (note, I know it’s not that Dan Conroy). In what is a rare sight for college football, it’s fun to see a primarily defensive battle turn out to be such a good game.

Player of the Game: Le’Veon Bell. It may have taken him a while to get going but in the end he reached 145 yards and had the touchdown that pulled the Spartans level in the 4^th.

Players to Watch: Boykin had one turnover on the night but didn’t do much to harm his team chances whilst Bell was the player I expected him to be by having a player of the game performance.

Pick: Wrong – 23 points lost. Once again I lost out by a very small margin but it’s still 23 points down the drain.