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Friday TIME: US | UK WEATHER: US | UK HOME THE NEIGHBORHOOD "Life in the UK" American Groups Essential Contacts Money Education Driving WHAT'S ON US Group Events Diary Dates Music Live FEATURES Politics blog SPORTS Features Sideline blog NFL Draft THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE ONLINE |
SIDELINE ARCHIVE Unnecessary Hits To The Pocket / Upset: BYU October 17, 2008 Romo's Pause / Seattle Seahawks October 15, 2008 Weekend Prep: Red River and More October 10, 2008 College Football's 'Crossroads' Weekend October 9, 2008 Gramatical Error October 7, 2008 Turning The Page September 30, 2008 So Cal 'Quizzed — But Who Will Answer? September 26, 2008 3rd Tuesday Panic Button / Forté Yard Dash September 23, 2008 Two and Oh; Oh and Two September 22, 2008 No More NCAAffeine September 11, 2008 Week 1 College Football September 6, 2008 How To Spell Heisman / Chad Ocho Cinco September 1, 2008 Why the Favre story STILL won't go away August 18, 2008 Olympic Notes / Ricky's Still Relevant August 14, 2008 Committee Meetings August 9, 2008 Let the QB Battles Begin August 8, 2008 Slinging The Slinger — More Favre August 6, 2008 Welcome to the 2008 season July 28, 2008 Plus One May 27, 2008 Draft: The Morning After April 28, 2008 Draft: Thinking the Unthinkable April 25, 2008 Draft: Ready For The Long Haul April 23, 2008 Sofa–bound Sport April 16, 2008 Post–Winter Wonderland April 11, 2008 Six Impossible Things February 4, 2008 Brady's Misdirection Play February 3, 2008 Colorful Language January 23, 2008 Let the Romo–bashing begin: Dallas lost January 14, 2008 Bowl Bites: The Wrap January 10, 2008 All About The Coaches January 1, 2008 Bowl Bites 3 and A Communication Breakdown December 29, 2007 Bowl Bites 2 December 27, 2007 Bowl Bites 1 December 23, 2007 The Empty Chair - Coach Situations Vacant December 22, 2007 For Some, The Playoffs Are Now December 15, 2007 A Certain Lack Of Welcome December 13, 2007 Unrelated Notes November 29, 2007 Two Thanksgiving thoughts November 22, 2007 Halftime: NFC November 9, 2007 Halftime: AFC November 8, 2007 London, Part 2 / A Tale of Two Chads / A Game of Intimidation November 4, 2007 Damp Squib / Other London Notes October 29, 2007 Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em / Dolphins – The Aftermath October 23, 2007 The Dolphins Did What? October 18, 2007 Notes on the Defenses October 13, 2007 Habits to be Broken October 12, 2007 Overtime October 13, 2007 This Week's Starters October 6, 2007: USF: Covering The Spread / Fantastic Football September 27, 2007: Grossman: The Final Act? / McNabb, the Epilogue September 24, 2007: Eagles QB in Slight Controversy September 21, 2007: Leftwich's Parting Gift to Jacksonville? / Boos cruise September 18, 2007: Notre Dame M.I.A. September 16, 2007: Looking Beyond NFL Wk. 1 September 12, 2007: Best Hope For Heisman September 10, 2007: Coaching Hot Seats / AP Poll Feeling ’Appy September 7, 2007: The NFL’s Prime Cuts September 5, 2007: Michigan Falls to Killer Apps September 3, 2007: Look Out Couch / The Taint's On You, Bud September 1, 2007: |
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SPORTS SIDELINE 
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale BOWL BITES: THE WRAP And when the dust settled, the LSU Tigers were champions, deservedly. Well, probably. For our take on such controversies as fans of the USC Trojans or Georgia Bulldogs might suggest, see our imminent print edition, where we gather up our final thoughts on the BCS Championship game itself. For now, however, final thoughts on the pick of the New Year bowls and beyond. Michigan 41, Florida 35 As a sometime–fan of Wolverines football, I'm excited about the end of the Lloyd Carr era, and yet happy for him that he went out a winner in probably one of his best games ever. Good decisions, good coaching. If only the whole year had been like this. Similarly, Chad Henne's best game as the Wolverine QB at the end of a career that largely hasn't lived up to expectations. But on this day, he upstaged the Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Tebow. Wow, without looking up the all–time stats, it seems like Heisman winners get a real hangover in bowl games, doesn't it? That's certainly a three game skid right now. Missouri 38, Arkansas 7 And another Heisman finalist gets upstaged. With an anger that befits a Missouri team denied a BCS berth, the Tigers stomped the Razorbacks. McFadden managed 105 yards, sure, but Tony Temple was the story with 4 scores, 281 rushing yards. Away from McFadden, the Razorbacks produced nothing, and I can't help but feel that the Petrino era at Arkansas is going to be nothing but ugly without McFadden. Texas Tech 31, Virginia 28 3 scoring passes and a 400 yard game from Graham Harrell included 17 straight points in a come–from–behind victory. Early on, this one looked like it was going all Virginia's way, and while everybody reported Tech's great offense and wide receiver Michael Crabtree, it was the mental determination of the Raiders to climb back into it that really impressed here. All the same, Virginia were a different team before and after passer Jameel Sewell got dinged in the fourth quarter, coinciding with the Red Raiders' comeback. Sewell has been rock–solid in key moments this year, and not having him was the key to the result. USC 49, Illinois 17 With all the talk of the national championship being open to a split decision, should LSU top Ohio State in a scrappy finale, USC played their part in any future controversy by dominating Illinois in the Rose Bowl. But while USC rolled and proved that their talent–base will again be at the top of the preseason polls next season, Illinois running back Rashard Mendenhall tallied 155 yards in a losing effort – a 9.1 yard average. Tack on 5 catches for 59 yards, and there's reason to think McFadden might not be the only stud underclassman RB in the draft. In fact, Ray Rice of Rutgers and Johnathan Stewart of Oregon also declaring early, this is shaping up to be quite a year. Georgia 41, Hawaii 10 People were wondering if Hawaii belonged, or whether they could pull a 'Boise State'. Apparently, they didn't belong. Now people are wondering if coach June Jones made the right choice by leaving outsiders Hawaii for an SMU program that, while storied, lives in an even more obscure conference, and is as bad now as Hawaii was before Jones arrived out on the islands. My thoughts are that no matter how bad SMU's fortunes since the 'death penalty', any team living in Texas, even one down on it's luck, will have an easier time of recruiting than one in the middle of an ocean; that SMU is desperate enough to give a coach with June Jones' resume facilities and assistance he could only have dreamed of at Hawaii; and that for all the years without a bowl game, never EVER would an SMU team look as much like a deer in the headlamps as Hawaii did in this game. West Virginia 48, Oklahoma 28 Commentators gushed about how good Georgia and USC looked in their BCS games, and how they might get a slice of the national title. Yet West Virginia impressed me more. Sure, Bob Stoops and Oklahoma helped West Virginia a little too, but with Steve Slaton out of the game, Pat White reminded everybody what a dual–threat looked like before Tim Tebow, and WR Darius Reynaud and RBs Noel Devine and Owen Schmitt showed us how much talent there is in West Virginia. Bill Stewart had this team ready, and one day later the 'interim' was removed from his coaching title. In what turned out to be a pretty good bowl season with plenty of tight games, I didn't enjoy any blow–out more than this one, because the Mountaineers truly earned this one. Kansas 24, Virginia Tech 21 One comment covers what I thought of this result: Mark Mangino, the butt of many jokes due to his girth, was voted coach of the year and this game showed why – it's rare that somebody out–Beamers Frank Beamer. Amazing to think that this team, the only one–loss team other than Hawaii, still finishes the season ranked no.7. Hoorah for the lone AP voter who gave them a no.1. LSU 38, Ohio State 24 Sorry folks, you gotta read the print version for this one. I will say this, though: despite USC being our consensus preseason No.1 when the talent was evaluated logically, our college football preview was actually colored purple and gold, and we illustrated with a picture of Les Miles holding up a trophy. I guess sometimes you just have to go with instinct! |
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