Fjoinkay
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and his Tar Heels wrapped a successful season yesterday which was great to see. The Tar Heels' offense had been the strength of that team all season, which was a bit inverted if you recall those great Mack Brown defenses back in the day during his first go as head coach in Chapel Hill. But yesterday the Carolina defense showed up in a big way. You have to wonder if those extra bowl practices were all coach Brown needed to tweak that defense to get them going. What a difference a year can make, and with Mack Brown at the helm you can bet that it is being done the right way. He's a class act, and now in his second act in Chapel Hill he has a chance turn that program around for a second time. That is not an easy thing to do, but he is making it look easy.
Going into the New Era Pinstripe Bowl I thought Wake Forest matched up really well with Michigan State especially with a healthy Jamie Newman playing QB for the Demon Deacons. I wasn't so sure that the Spartans' defense could contain Wake's offense enough to eek out a W especially considering how the Spartans' offense has consistently shot itself in the foot all season long. It turned out that notwithstanding some shaky Spartan offense in the red zone where they struggled all year, they were able to win time of possession by over 11 minutes and grind out nearly 500 yards of offense. The Spartans entered the game averaging just 361 yards of offense per game. They also surpassed their scoring average yesterday by 5 points despite leaving several points on the field with turnovers in the red zone. On the flip side, even with Jamie Newman Wake's offense struggled and couldn't find answers. They scored 11 points fewer than their season average and they managed just 349 yards of offense while entering the game averaging 473 yards per game.
The San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl was another great matchup as long as USC had a healthy Kedon Slovis playing QB. This season when Slovis ran the USC offensive the Trojans were very hard to beat. He has a bright future as long as he can stay healthy. Iowa may not have faced a QB at Slovis' level all season, and yesterday it was apparent how good Slovis is and how important he is to USC well into the 3rd quarter when unfortunately he had to leave the game with an apparent shoulder injury. At that time USC had scored 24 points against an Iowa defense that during the season had surrendered just 13 points a game. After Slovis left the game, however, USC didn't score another point.
Meanwhile, Iowa finished with 49 points. The Hawkeyes entered the game averaging just 24 points a game. The best defense USC had against the Hawkeyes' ball control offense was a surprise onside kick early in the third quarter. Other than that Iowa had it's way on offense. The yards aren't impressive, but the Hawkeyes executed and controlled the ball while scoring points. Kirk Ferentz has done a masterful job at Iowa over a span of more than 2 decades now. He is a total class act and a joy to see. A year ago in the Outback Bowl the Hawkeyes beat a good Mississippi State team with a great defense, and this season Iowa played a really difficult schedule and managed to get 10 wins. They don't have 5 stars or many 4 stars, but they are more athletic than people realize and they are really well coached, obviously.
The Academy Sports Outdoors Texas Bowl was a game where you had to wonder if Oklahoma State would be able to score enough points to beat Texas A&M because surely the Cowboys' defense would not be able to stop the Aggies offense especially with Jimbo Fisher as the coach. Well, as it turns out the Oklahoma State offense was not able to score enough points, but surprisingly the Texas A&M offense just managed to score enough points of their own to secure the win. This game turned out to be a battle of defenses. Earlier in the college football season I felt like I saw some improvement in the Big 12 defenses I saw being played, and I posted about this. The improvement I saw then wasn't saying much because Big 12 defenses have been really bad for quite some time now, but it did seem improved. Anyway, yesterday, at the very least, the defense that OK State played against Jimbo Fisher's Aggies is clearly an improvement for Cowboys over past years.
That said, the Texas A&M defense won the day. They held the Cowboys to just 21 points which is well below their season average of 33 points per game. And they also held OK State to 334 yards of offense which again is well below the 463 yards they averaged per game. What about the Texas A&M offense? The OK State defense held the Aggies to 24 points which is below their season average of 30 points per game and everyone knows that the Aggies play in the SEC against SEC defenses. They also held Texas A&M to 343 yards of offense when the Aggies averaged nearly 400 yards per game.
Unfortunately, I was unable to watch the Cheez-It Bowl between Air Force and Washington State.
I won't miss any games today though that is for sure!
Go Cuse!!
Going into the New Era Pinstripe Bowl I thought Wake Forest matched up really well with Michigan State especially with a healthy Jamie Newman playing QB for the Demon Deacons. I wasn't so sure that the Spartans' defense could contain Wake's offense enough to eek out a W especially considering how the Spartans' offense has consistently shot itself in the foot all season long. It turned out that notwithstanding some shaky Spartan offense in the red zone where they struggled all year, they were able to win time of possession by over 11 minutes and grind out nearly 500 yards of offense. The Spartans entered the game averaging just 361 yards of offense per game. They also surpassed their scoring average yesterday by 5 points despite leaving several points on the field with turnovers in the red zone. On the flip side, even with Jamie Newman Wake's offense struggled and couldn't find answers. They scored 11 points fewer than their season average and they managed just 349 yards of offense while entering the game averaging 473 yards per game.
The San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl was another great matchup as long as USC had a healthy Kedon Slovis playing QB. This season when Slovis ran the USC offensive the Trojans were very hard to beat. He has a bright future as long as he can stay healthy. Iowa may not have faced a QB at Slovis' level all season, and yesterday it was apparent how good Slovis is and how important he is to USC well into the 3rd quarter when unfortunately he had to leave the game with an apparent shoulder injury. At that time USC had scored 24 points against an Iowa defense that during the season had surrendered just 13 points a game. After Slovis left the game, however, USC didn't score another point.
Meanwhile, Iowa finished with 49 points. The Hawkeyes entered the game averaging just 24 points a game. The best defense USC had against the Hawkeyes' ball control offense was a surprise onside kick early in the third quarter. Other than that Iowa had it's way on offense. The yards aren't impressive, but the Hawkeyes executed and controlled the ball while scoring points. Kirk Ferentz has done a masterful job at Iowa over a span of more than 2 decades now. He is a total class act and a joy to see. A year ago in the Outback Bowl the Hawkeyes beat a good Mississippi State team with a great defense, and this season Iowa played a really difficult schedule and managed to get 10 wins. They don't have 5 stars or many 4 stars, but they are more athletic than people realize and they are really well coached, obviously.
The Academy Sports Outdoors Texas Bowl was a game where you had to wonder if Oklahoma State would be able to score enough points to beat Texas A&M because surely the Cowboys' defense would not be able to stop the Aggies offense especially with Jimbo Fisher as the coach. Well, as it turns out the Oklahoma State offense was not able to score enough points, but surprisingly the Texas A&M offense just managed to score enough points of their own to secure the win. This game turned out to be a battle of defenses. Earlier in the college football season I felt like I saw some improvement in the Big 12 defenses I saw being played, and I posted about this. The improvement I saw then wasn't saying much because Big 12 defenses have been really bad for quite some time now, but it did seem improved. Anyway, yesterday, at the very least, the defense that OK State played against Jimbo Fisher's Aggies is clearly an improvement for Cowboys over past years.
That said, the Texas A&M defense won the day. They held the Cowboys to just 21 points which is well below their season average of 33 points per game. And they also held OK State to 334 yards of offense which again is well below the 463 yards they averaged per game. What about the Texas A&M offense? The OK State defense held the Aggies to 24 points which is below their season average of 30 points per game and everyone knows that the Aggies play in the SEC against SEC defenses. They also held Texas A&M to 343 yards of offense when the Aggies averaged nearly 400 yards per game.
Unfortunately, I was unable to watch the Cheez-It Bowl between Air Force and Washington State.
I won't miss any games today though that is for sure!
Go Cuse!!
I clicked on this thinking he died or something...
