2008 Independence Bowl - Louisiana Tech Tops Northern Illinois, Notches 7th Comeback Win of Season

You can excuse the good people of Ruston, Louisiana if they feel that any game played by their Louisiana Tech Bulldogs is not over until the Bulldogs come from behind to win. That would be because the Bulldogs logged their 7th come-from-behind victory of the season in the Independence Bowl Saturday (12-28-08), beating Northern Illinois 17-10.

The win was sweet for Derek Dooley as it represented his first bowl victory as a head coach. Dooley is none other than a former protégé of Alabama head coach Nick Saban and son of the legendary Georgia coach and athletic director Vince Dooley. Young Dooley used his special teams, defense and a running game to turn back Northern Illinois.

Senior defensive back Weldon Brown proved to be the Bulldogs big stopper. Brown stopped one Husky scoring threat with a shoestring tackle to set up a 4th down, then batted down the ensuing pass. He also recovered a fumbled punt to set up a field goal attempt, and ended one of two late Husky drives with an interception when the game was on the line. Brown finished with 14 tackles and the Most Valuable Defensive Player award.

On special teams, sophomore wide receiver Phil Livas took a kickoff return to the house for a 97-yard score, and junior running back Dan Porter rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown.

The postseason win was Louisiana Tech's first in 31 years; their last win also came in the Independence Bowl in 1977. The victory left the Bulldogs with their first 8-win season in 9 years. They finished the year at 8-5 while Northern Illinois slid to 6-7.

Louisiana Tech was not even expected to be in a bowl game but was selected when neither the Southeastern Conference (SEC) nor Big 12 could produce a participant.

Derek Dooley inherited a team that went 3-10. He improved the Bulldogs to 5-7 last year and now has them at 8-5 and a bowl victory in his second full season. Dooley's Bulldogs upset Mississippi State to kick off this season and then won 4 of their last 5 games to get to the Independence Bowl and generate more glory for the Bulldog faithful.

Louisiana Tech and Derek Dooley are on the way up. We know this because the Bulldogs scored 8 non-offensive touchdowns this season to tie for the most in major college football. When you score on defense or special teams, everyone gets excited.

In addition to Livas' 97-yard TD return in the Independence Bowl, he returned 2 punts for touchdowns during the regular season. The last player to return a kickoff for a touchdown in the Independence Bowl was a guy named Deuce McAllister who did it for Mississippi 10 years ago.

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

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Read my other detailed, knowledgeable, interesting articles on college football, including:

"So Who Are the Current Worst Players in Division 1-A Football in the Nation?"

"Tulsa the 19th Best Team in Nation? You Must Be Kidding and Here Is Why"

"4 AP Top 25 Teams Have Some Proving to Do-Missouri, Texas Tech, South Florida and Kansas"

"Meet the Illinois Fighting Illini - The Most Overrated Team in the AP's Top 25 Poll"

"Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi, Knute Rockne and Lou Holtz During Football's Annual Bowl Season"

"How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss"

"The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them"

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http://www.edbagleyblog.com/Sports.html

Will the Oakland Raiders Make the NFL Playoffs Next Season?

Although JaMarcus Russell didn't get a lot of playing time last season, you have to think that the Oakland Raiders are a lot better than they were with an offensive threat like Russell taking the snaps.

Last season, it was painfully obvious that the Raiders really had no chance of getting to the post season even with the AFC West being as bad as it was, but with the little time that their first pick got in on the action, you could tell times were a changing for fans of the Silver & Black.

In the off season, the Raiders, believe it or not, made some pretty prominent changes to make the team much better for the up coming season like signing both wide receiver Javon Walker and corner DeAngelo Hall. With these two Pro Bowl type football players, the Raiders have upgraded both on defense and on offense.

Personally, I think the Raiders biggest problem last season was scoring points. They had a decent defense as they always seem to have, but when it came to the offensive side of the ball, they were for the lack of a better word, useless, but with JaMarcus taking all the majority of the snaps, Justin Fargas becoming a better running back in terms of efficiency, Javon Walker being a down field threat and DeAngelo Hall shutting down Pro Bowl wide receivers, the Raiders a damn good chance of at least getting the Wild Card next season.

Not to mention, the Raiders have another high pick in the NFL Draft this year with the #4 pick in the first round, which gives the Raiders a good chance of getting Arkansas running back phenom Darren McFadden. With McFadden in the mix for the Raiders, we can start talking snatching the AFC West from the San Diego Chargers.

Get all the latest Oakland Raiders news, highlights, rumors and more at my blog Raidernation4Life

Famous Quotes by Knute Rockne During Football's Annual Bowl Season

College football's annual bowl season is full of surprises and spectacular moments. Famous coaches have had some memorable remarks about American's most popular sport, and here are some of them by legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne, who many consider to be the best of the best.

Knute Rockne's head coaching record in college football was second to none, and his won-loss percentage is better than any other college or pro coach ever.

In 13 years with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Rockne's regular season won-loss percentage was 90% (105-12-5), his winning percentage among all games was 86%, and he led Notre Dame to 6 national championships, winning titles in 1919 (9-0), 1920 (9-0), 1924 (10-0), 1927 (7-1-1), 1929 (9-0) and 1930 (10-0). Five of his 6 national championships came from undefeated teams.

Along the way he coached the immortal George "Gipper" Gipp, whose multiple skills lifted Notre Dame to national fame, and the "Four Horsemen" backfield of Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley and Elmer Layden that led the Fighting Irish to a 28-2 record.

While covering a Notre Dame football game, sportswriter Grantland Rice penned the famous opening story line-"Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again"-that has become legend in sports history.

Rockne's influence on the game of football was immense. He is credited with helping popularize the forward pass, initiating intersectional rivalries, building a national schedule, and instituting the "Rockne Shift", a backfield T formation that quickly shifted into a box formation to the right or left as the ball was snapped.

He was also the first coach to realize the market potential of football as an entertainment medium and openly promoted Notre Dame football by courting the media for free advertising so Notre Dame's football program would be financially successful.

Knute Rockne was a Norwegian immigrant who graduated magna cum laude from Notre Dame in 1914, played end for the Fighting Irish that defeated the highly-ranked Army team for the first time in 1913, and was a graduate assistant in chemistry before eventually becoming Notre Dame's head coach in 1918. A Protestant, he converted to Catholicism later in life.

Following his undefeated, 6th national championship team in 1930, Rockne died at age 43 as a passenger in a tragic Fokker airplane accident that would help revolutionize the transportation business and lead to the all-metal Boeing 247 aircraft. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 as a charter member.

Here are some of Knute Rockne's best known quotes:

"Four years of football are calculated to breed in the average man more of the ingredients of success in life than almost any academic course he takes."

"At home we're the hosts, and I never liked the idea of being embarrassed in front of our friends."

"On the road we're somebody else's guests - and we play in a way that they're not going to forget we visited them."

"We count on winning. And if we lose, don't beef. And the best way to prevent beefing is - don't lose."

"Let's win one for the Gipper."

"I've found that prayers work best when you have big players."

"It isn't necessary to see a good tackle. You can hear it."

"One loss is good for the soul, too many losses is not good for the coach."

"Show me a good and gracious loser and I'll show you a failure."

"Yes, I know that you feel you are not strong enough. That's what the enemy thinks too. But we're gonna fool them."

"The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven."

"One man practicing sportsmanship is better than a hundred teaching it."

"Most men, when they think they are thinking, are merely rearranging their prejudices."

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Ed Bagley's Blog Publishes Original Articles with Analysis and Commentary on 5 Subjects: Sports, Movie Reviews, Lessons in Life, Jobs and Careers, and Internet Marketing. My intention is to inform, educate, delight and motivate you the reader.

Read my other articles on football, including "Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi During Football's Annual Bowl Season". "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss", "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them" and my 14 consecutive weekly wrap-up articles on the 2007 College Football Season.

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http://www.edbagleyblog.com/Sports.html