Review: 2009 Fiesta Bowl

Well, it was definitely more painful than the Rose Bowl. But we as a conference should be proud (even if for only a day) of Ohio State and the effort the Buckeyes put forth last night against the Longhorns. It took a miracle play by Texas to pull out the win, similar to the Michael Crabtree catch to down the Horns on Nov. 1. But let's not get away from what the Fiesta Bowl really meant.

The Bad - The Big Ten still sucks. Yup, I said it. 1-6 in bowl games this season will earn us that distinction. Sure, one loss was in overtime, one to the latest "best team" in USC, and the other on a miracle in Glendale. But we still suck. I have a strong inkling that it's been really just bad luck for most of these woes. But we still suck. Terrelle Pryor still needs a lot of work on passing, since that's what a quarterback usually does. Penn State and Ohio State couldn't hack it in the end, though the outcomes were a bit different. Were they really? Didn't Ohio State lose by a larger margin to USC, in the same city? Doesn't matter. We still suck.

The Good - The bowl season is over. Lost in a horrid representation by the Big Ten in bowls (except you, Iowa), was the fact that it was a very exciting conference race, and regular season. When was the last time Penn State and Michigan State met, in the last game of the year, with the winner assured a Big Ten championship? Never, actually. Ohio State was still in the thick of things, making the 13-6 win in Columbus even more special for Penn Staters. Let's just hope the bowl committees don't plug ANY Big Ten teams into those at-large slots in 2009. Best to just let us play a normal lineup.

Overall - Jim Tressell can still out-coach your head man. Texas was obviously exposed–as was the entire Big XII this bowl season–as a great team, but not a national champion by any means. But were they really? I think Ohio State just came to play, and could have done that to USC, if all the cards fell right. The Buckeyes will lose a ton of talent this off season, but are they ever really out of it? This game was a good stepping stone out of the Big Ten dark ages. Thanks, Buckeyes.

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Preview: 2009 Fiesta Bowl

No. 10 Ohio State vs. No. 3 Texas

Texas

The Question on Everyone's Mind: Can Texas really do enough?

The Answer to Everyone's question: Not really. The only way Texas can impress the voters into a few No. 1 votes, is if the BCS Championship Game devolves into a sloppy, mistake-laden, 6-3 snoozer. That's not going to happen. Texas could beat Ohio State 63-0, but there's relatively no chance to break the BCS this year.

How the Longhorns can win: Just play their game. Remember (as if anyone will ever forget), 45-35! Texas is only playing in the Fiesta Bowl because the planets aligned for Texas Tech, for one second, on Nov. 1. Outside of that, the Longhorns were the most impressive team from top to bottom. There are plenty of tools on both sides of the ball to beat up on Ohio State, starting and ending with Colt McCoy and Brian Orakpo. Texas should be able to contain Chris Wells, and take advantage of a sketchy Buckeyes offensive line, just enough to win this one comfortably. And while the offense hasn't had a consistent running threat outside of McCoy, it can cause enough problems for the Ohio State defense to keep this one out of the Buckeyes' reach.

Ohio State

The Question on Everyone's Mind: Ok, how about now?

The Answer to Everyone's question: No, not yet, but almost. Ohio State said last year would be different. The Florida loss was just a bunch of snowballing problems, which led to the massive letdown in the championship game. The Buckeyes would be ready for LSU. Not so much. Then came the trip to Los Angeles. This time, no Beanie and a bad quarterbacking situation. Ohio State probably can't beat Texas in this, the fourth round of "yes, we can," but coming close would prove a lot.

How the Buckeyes can win: Well, in case anyone's forgotten, Ohio State is starting more than a few NFL Draft picks on defense. And Texas hasn't faced one like this all season. Terrelle Pryor will have to come up with a (dare I say it) Vince Young-like performance to keep the offense moving, but that could be a tall task for even an experienced quarterback. I have a sneaky feeling that the Ohio State defense will show up hungry and angry tonight, and prevent Texas from lighting things up the way most think. Colt McCoy had plenty of trouble against the active Texas Tech defensive front, and while Ohio State hasn't been super up front, the secondary is better than anything in the Big XII this year, which could make up for any lack of pass rush.

Predictions

What will happen: Figure that this game will look like a watered-down version of the Rose Bowl. Ohio State will hang tough, but a few big plays by McCoy will be just too much to overcome on offense. Texas won't hang 31 on the Buckeyes before the half, but it won't look good.

Score: Texas 26, Ohio State 17

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Nice Article on Charlie Jones

Unless you've been around college football longer than I've been alive, you never really knew how important Charlie Jones was to the sport, and the bowl game in which Penn State has had so much success, the Fiesta Bowl. (For those PSU-history-challenged, it's 6-0 all time in Tempe) CFN does a real nice job paying tribute to Jones, and much to Penn State fans' delight, Matt Zemek focuses on Jones' infamous calling of the 1982 and 1986 Fiesta Bowls. It's a very good read.

-CFN pays tribute to Charlie Jones, and his work in making the Fiesta Bowl one of the "Big Games."

By the way, my "longer than I've been alive" statement wasn't completely true. I was born in 1984, so I was in fact 18 days away from my third birthday when Penn State embarrassed Miami for the national championship.

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Okay, new plan...

I'll have Part 2 of "Schedule..." up today this week, but slightly different. Rather than go over what I think were the top five worst schedules of all the BCS teams since 2000--I really don't feel like going through all 70+ teams--I'm going to narrow down the criteria to the teams that actually made it to the BCS games, Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange since 2003--the last five years. I'm also going to go over the BCS Championship Game participants from 2006 and 2007. That should be real fun (that is, not that anyone reading this blog should be having fun), especially once the SEC folk finally wake up from their moonshine haze. See you all then.

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ZN's official ESPN's Bowl Mania picks

Here's my official entry for ESPN's Bowl Mania, in descending order starting with the highest confidence. Feel free to search for my entry, username ZombieNationPSU (really original, I know). I'm a member of BSD's group, Black Shoe Diaries. The password is joepa. BSD invites everyone to join. I offer a few comments below the picks.

32. Sheraton Hawai’i: No. 24 Boise St. over East Carolina
31. International: Rutgers over Ball State
30. Brut Sun: No. 21 South Florida over Oregon
29. Valero Alamo: Penn State over Texas A&M
28. Tostitos Fiesta: No. 4 Oklahoma over No. 9 West Virginia
27. Allstate Sugar: No. 5 Georgia over No. 10 Hawai’i
26. Papajohns.com: No. 22 Cincinnati over Southern Miss
25. Rose p.b. Citi: No. 13 Illinois over No. 7 USC
24. Motor City: Purdue over Central Michigan
23. Capital One: No. 12 Florida over Michigan
22. Gator: No. 20 Virginia over Texas Tech
21. AT&T Cotton: No. 6 Missouri over Arkansas
20. Outback: No. 18 Wisconsin over No. 16 Tennessee
19. Chick-fil-A: No. 23 Auburn over No. 15 Clemson
18. Insight: Indiana over Oklahoma State
17. FedEx Orange: No. 8 Kansas over No. 3 Virginia Tech
16. Gaylord Hotels Music City: Kentucky over Florida State
15. Texas: Houston over Texas Christian
14. Bell Helicopter Armed Forces: California over Air Force
13. GMAC: Tulsa over Bowling Green
12. Pioneer Las Vegas: No. 17 BYU over UCLA
11. PetroSun Independence: Colorado over Alabama
10. AutoZone Liberty: Mississippi St. over UCF
9. Meineke Car Care: Wake Forest over No. 25 UConn
8. Emerald: Oregon State over Maryland
7. Allstate BCS Championship: No. 1 Ohio State over No. 2 LSU
6. Champs Sports: Michigan State over No. 14 Boston College
5. San Diego County Credit Union: Utah over Navy
4. Pacific Life Holiday: No. 19 Texas over No. 11 Arizona State
3. New Mexico: New Mexico over Nevada
2. R+L Carriers New Orleans: Florida Atlantic over Memphis
1. Roady’s Humanitarian: Georgia Tech over Fresno State

--Of course I picked PSU with higher confidence.
--I really like Illinois to pull the upset. If Stanford can do it in LA, so can the Illini.
--Look, Ohio State has been hearing it for too long. Plus, Jimmy Tressel is too good of a coach to let this one get away.
--Even though Texas' defense is holier than Swiss cheese, I think they really show up for this one. Plus, ASU is still brooding that USC meltdown.

There you go. My picks for all the bowl games. Now let's see what happens.

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