While Nebraska used its stifling defense to record the 2009 bowl season's only shutout (a 33-0 victory over Arizona), six other bowl winners used their defense to achieve victories--Iowa, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Boise State, Marshall and Connecticut.
We are defense, claimed coach Kirk Ferentz and his 10th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, and they proved it again by holding Georgia's high-powered, triple-option offense (2nd in the nation in rushing and 11th in scoring) to 12 yards passing and forcing a team-high 7 punts while beating the 9th-ranked Yellow Jackets, 24-14, in the BCS Orange Bowl.
It was the same Iowa defense that had held 4 bowl-bound teams to 10 points or less during the regular season. Georgia had only 14 three-and-outs during the season, yet failed to pick up a first down in their first 4 possessions against the Hawkeye defensive assault.
Iowa did not need a lot of offense to get the job done. True freshman Brandon Wegher ran for 113 yards in 16 carries (7.0 ypc) and a touchdown, and Ricky Stanzi, returning from a sprained ankle injury, went 17-for-29 and 231 yards passing.
The win was the Hawkeyes first in BCS bowl play, matched the school record for season wins (11-2), and gave them their highest national ranking in a half-century. Georgia finished at 11-3.
Sophomore Terrelle Pryor threw for a career-high 266 yards, had 2 TD passes and rushed for 72 yards, but it was the Ohio State defense that held Oregon's explosive offense in check as the Buckeyes whipped the Ducks, 26-17, in the Rose Bowl. Ohio State was ranked 8th coming into the game and Oregon 7th.
The Buckeye defense held Oregon QB Jeremiah Masoli and his no-huddle offense to only 81 yards passing, and held star running back LaMichael James to only 70 yards.
The victory was oh-so-sweet, not just for a struggling Terrelle Pryor trying to come of age, but also for Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, who won a national championship and then lost 3 straight BCS bowl games. The monkey is now off of Tressel's back.
Pryor made some early mistakes (already forgotten in winning), but when it counted in the 4th quarter, he came up big during a 13-play, 81-yard drive eating up 6+ minutes of time, and ending with a 17-yard TD strike to DeVier Posey to put the Buckeyes up 26-17, the final score with approximately 7 minutes to play.
Wisconsin, ranked 24th coming into the Champs Sports Bowl against 14th-ranked Miami, brought its big and slow Badger linemen to face the Hurricanes fast and speedy offense. Someone forget to tell the Badgers they were too slow to catch the Hurricanes. The result was a 20-14 upset victory that left Wisconsin 10-3 after the game and Miami 9-4.
The Badgers chased Miami's Jacory Harris around all afternoon, getting 5 sacks and holding the Hurricane runners to 61 yards on the ground. Meantime, John Clay rolled up 121 yards and scored 2 touchdowns in Wisconsin's victory. Clay was the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year.
Wisconsin was on offense for almost 40 minutes during the 60-minute game. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out if you got the ball longer than they do," said Badger coach Bret Bielema, "you have a better chance of scoring more points." Nicely said Bret, and thank your defense for keeping Miami off the field.
In the first ever BCS bowl game that pitted unbeaten mid-major teams against each other, 6th-ranked Boise State upset 3rd-ranked TCU (Texas Christian University), 17-10, in the Fiesta Bowl. Boise State came in at 13-0 and left 14-0; TCU came in at 12-0 and left 12-1.
It looked like this game might end in a 10-all tie, but a gutsy call by Bronco coach Chris Petersen for a fake punt on a 4th-and-9 at the Bronco's 33-yard line resulted in a 30-yard completion by punter Kyle Brotzman to a wide-open Kyle Efaw. That keep a drive alive that resulted in the winning Boise State touchdown on a 2-yard run by Doug Martin. The TCU Horned Frogs (I'm not kidding, that's their nickname) were caught with their pants down.
The play was called the "Riddler", and TCU had no joker to solve it.
Last year TCU beat Boise State 17-16 in the Poinsettia Bowl. This year's BCS contest pitted two high-scoring offenses as Boise State led the nation with 44 points a game, and TCU was scoring 40 a game. However, both teams, thanks to defensive play, ended up punting 8 times.
TCU never seemed to recover after Boise State's successful fake punt play led to the touchdown that spelled the difference. The Broncos ended up one of only two unbeaten teams following bowl competition, finishing at 14-0. Alabama won the national title with the same 14-0 mark.
The victory was Boise State's second in BCS play, and gave them as many BCS wins as Michigan, Penn State and Alabama have combined.
Marshall's Andre Booker returned a punt 58 yards for one touchdown, and Mike Ward rushed for 72 yards on 9 carries (8.0 ypc) and scored two TDs to put the Thundering Herd up 21-zip as Marshall held off Ohio to beat the Bobcats, 21-17, in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. Marshall finished the year at 7-6, and Ohio was 9-5.
Marshall was led by interim coach Rick Minter after Mark Snyder resigned. Snyder will be replaced by John "Doc" Holliday, the West Virginia assistant coach who was an assistant to Urban Meyer when Florida won the national championship in 2006.
South Carolina (7-6) played its worst game of the year in the Papajohns.com Bowl as Connecticut (8-5) put the hurt on the Gamecocks, 20-7. South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said after the game, "I'm embarrassed. Blame me. It was a sad, sad effort, especially the offense."
Man, he was not kidding. The Gamecocks, playing in the heart of SEC country at Birmingham (AL), were sucking major Louisiana pond water. Connecticut held them to 76 yards rushing, 129 yards passing and forced them to punt 7 times. Stephen Garcia fumbled once and was intercepted once.
Connecticut led 20-0 and darn near got a shutout as South Carolina finally scored a TD with 3:24 left in the game. The Huskies' Andre Dixon picked up 126 yards on 33 carries and scored a touchdown. Connecticut players were motivated to win following the stabbing death of cornerback Jasper Howard, who was killed in a fight outside a school-sponsored dance in October.
Copyright © 2010 Ed Bagley
Read more of my 2009 college football coverage, including:
Fourteen consecutive weeks of NCAA Division I wrap-ups covering the top teams and key upsets.
Fourteen consecutive weeks of Ed Bagley's Top 25 Poll (heck, I figure I am as good at picking them as the writers and coaches who pick the AP Top 25 and the Coaches' Top 25 Polls, plus, I add some humor to lighten the load).
Coverage of the Washington Husky and Michigan State Spartan football programs, including Washington's stunning 16-13 upset of Southern California early in the season.
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/Sports.html
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