Bowling in Boise and Detroit

[lostinamerica]

2004 NCAA Regular Season: 55-49 (+3.58*)

2004-2005 NCAA Bowl Season YTD: 1-1 (-0.12*)


Virginia(-4') over Fresno State (1.50*)
- - My only quarrel with Virginia HC Groh is getting his studs to join the elite by beating the elite. Fully expecting Virginia to stand up and answer the December fury from Fresno.


Toledo(-3') over Connecticut (1.50*)
- - Connecticut's coaches and players have made proper strides this season (without much evidence of being a threat to bust out of the usual learning curve), and now they step up for their first exposure to the fury and emotional waves of games in this environment - and their defense can't make plays, whether you take it right at them or hit them with misdirection . . . Gradowski is special and his team gets my money here.


GL

*************************************


Idaho Statesman
(12/20/04):

Virginia will bring loads of talent to MPC



The University of Virginia in Charlottesville is about 2,400 miles from Boise.

The Cavaliers' football team is worthy of a closer look.

They have a national ranking, a stellar offensive line, a bone-crushing defense, and NFL talent.

The 18th-ranked Cavaliers (8-3) face Fresno State (8-3) in the MPC Computers Bowl at noon Dec. 27 at Bronco Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN.

"Their front seven, they could probably play with some NFL teams. ... They're impressive, impressive to watch. For us to beat them, we have to go in there ready to play physical football," Fresno State starting quarterback Paul Pinegar said.

The Cavaliers placed five players on the All-Atlantic Coast Conference first-team ? the most of any school. Virginia's only losses were to Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers played eight bowl-eligible teams. Six of those teams landed in bowl games.

"We're knocking on the door right now to really becoming one of the premier teams in the country," said Virginia senior running back Alvin Pearman, a first-team All-ACC selection.

Former NFL head coach Al Groh leads the Cavaliers. The fourth-year coach is a long-time prot?g? of NFL guru Bill Parcells. He worked under Parcells for 13 years in the college and pro ranks. Groh coached in two Super Bowls as Parcells' assistant, and was the head coach of the New York Jets in 2000.

"This whole season has been an exciting one. But really from the moment coach Groh decided to be the coach here, he has done an incredible job of evolving the whole mentality of the players, fans (and) student body to a winning one,? Pearman said.

On the field, the Cavaliers boast tight end Heath Miller. The junior, who is described by his coach as an NFL prospect, recently received the Mackey Award as the nation?s best tight end.

Sophomore Ahmad Brooks is one of Virginia?s ferocious linebackers. He was the youngest finalist for the Butkus Award, given to the nation?s top linebacker. His father, Perry, played for the Washington Redskins.

?I?ve been around the game my entire life. I?m 22 years old. All I?ve ever really known is football, and Ahmad Brooks is the best athlete that I?ve ever seen, period,? Pearman said.

The Cavaliers? offensive line is anchored by 6-foot-6, 338-pound guard Elton Brown.

Virginia probably could have played in the Champs Sports Bowl, but Groh and administrators said they weren?t interested in the Orlando, Fla., bowl game because more than 50 players have final exams Tuesday ? the date of the bowl game.

Groh wanted to make sure not only athletes, but student managers, student fans and band members, had adequate time to prepare for finals and to take them.

The students? reward for putting academics first is a missed date with Mickey Mouse and a possible encounter with Spuddy Buddy.

?It certainly emphasizes to the players ? or for anybody else for that matter who wants to look at the University of Virginia program ? that while we think football is very important ... the primary mission of the university is to educate. Part of the education process is the exams,? Groh said.

A commitment to scholarly pursuits has not slowed Virginia?s quest to become a major player in college football. Virginia was ranked as high as sixth in the nation before getting routed by then seventh-ranked Florida State 36-3 on Oct. 16.

The Cavaliers are No. 1 in the ACC and 12th in the nation in rushing offense (241.3 yards per game), behind 11th-place Boise State (242.7). Virginia also is first in the ACC in total offense (423.5).

The Cavaliers rank 11th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 15.9 points per game. Virginia is 15th in the country in total defense, allowing 300.27 yards a game.

?I?ve been here since Day 1. I felt the revolution happen. ... This team is destined for great things, and we?re in the midst of making it happen right now,? Pearman said.

 

[lostinamerica]

Idaho Statesman

(12/18/04):

Fresno State endures a year of ups, downs



The Fresno State football team spent time in the Top 20 this season.

The Bulldogs also visited the Western Athletic Conference cellar.

Which memory will linger throughout the offseason will be determined Dec. 27 when Fresno State tries to upset No. 18 Virginia in the MPC Computers Bowl at Bronco Stadium.

The Bulldogs (8-3) won their final five games by a combined score of 280-80 after a three-game losing streak that nearly ruined their season. They had won their first three games, including blowouts against Washington and Kansas State, to reach No. 17 in the polls.

"Overall, it was a fun season," junior defensive tackle Garrett McIntyre said. "It was a successful season. To start off with such a high and then drop to a low like that is real hard, but the last five games we came out of it well."

All three losses came against WAC teams, giving the Bulldogs an 0-3 conference start.

They went 42 uncomfortable, painful days between wins as the Fresno fans turned on coach Pat Hill and much-maligned junior quarterback Paul Pinegar.

"I had to stick close to my teammates, because nobody else was liking me," Pinegar said.

It was a sudden, and lengthy, fall.

The Bulldogs began the season with a typically daunting schedule. Hill prides his program on the willingness to play anyone ? usually on the road. The first two games were at traditional powers Washington and Kansas State, which had subpar teams this season.

Fresno went 2-0, passing BSU in the polls and attracting national buzz reminiscent of the Bulldogs' 6-0 start that BSU spoiled in 2001.

The Bulldogs added an ugly win over Division I-AA Portland State to get to 3-0. Fans and the media were talking about an Oct. 23 showdown between BSU and Fresno State for the WAC title and a shot at a Bowl Championship Series berth more than a month early.

Instead, the Bulldogs squandered a 13-0 lead at Louisiana Tech and lost 28-21. Pinegar tossed a pair of interceptions in the final 5 minutes, one to set up the winning touchdown and the other to kill the Bulldogs' final drive.

UTEP went into Fresno a week later and beat what Hill says was a "flat" Bulldogs team 24-21, and Boise State shut down the Fresno offense two weeks later in a 33-16 win at Bronco Stadium.

Pinegar had 12 interceptions in the first six games, but Hill stuck by him. "It wasn't all Paul," Hill said. "We had a lot of problems. We had receivers running routes short, missed assignments."

A bigger factor than Pinegar's play, Hill says, was his scheduling philosophy. The Bulldogs must begin the season on top of their game to handle opponents like Kansas State, Oklahoma and Tennessee. That can lead to an October lull.

"You either come out on a very high high or you come out trying to rebuild yourself," Hill said.

This year it was a "very high high," and the Bulldogs couldn't sustain it. Hill, however, says "we're never going to change our non-league approach."

The Bulldogs snapped out of their doldrums with a 42-0 whipping of SMU on Oct. 30, then went 4-0 in November. They became so dominant that in a three-game stretch capped by a 70-14 win over Hawaii the Bulldogs scored an amazing 16 TDs and one field goal on 18 first-half possessions.

Running backs Bryson Sumlin and Wendell Mathis led the charge ? they average nearly 180 yards per game combined ? and Pinegar tossed 12 TD passes against three picks in the closing stretch.

"Everybody fed off all the energy and all the playmaking," Pinegar said.

Fresno State is now 20-2 in regular-season games after October since 2000, and only one of the Bulldogs' final five foes finished with a winning record.

"These kids have always battled back in November," Hill said.

The MPC Computers Bowl represents their chance to battle all the way back. If the Bulldogs win, they likely will return to the Top 25. They beat Georgia Tech and UCLA in bowls the past two years.

"This is what we asked for, and this is what we've got," Pinegar said.

 

[lostinamerica]

Washington Post

(12/27/04):

Cavs Making the Most of Their Trip to Boise



The University of Virginia football team had heard all the bad stories about playing in Boise -- the woeful weather, the dead fowl on the blue turf of Bronco Stadium and playing an inferior team in a bowl game nobody really cares about. But the No. 18 Cavaliers seem to have made the best of their six days here, even if their holiday plans didn't originally include playing Fresno State in Monday's MPC Computers Bowl.

Since arriving Tuesday in Boise, the Cavaliers have experienced warmer than usual weather, haven't found any dead ducks on the stadium turf (which some locals say resembles a blue pond from the mountain sky) and the players say they've largely enjoyed their Western experience. Earlier this week, the players were taken on a snowmobile trip in nearby mountains, a first for most of them.



"I think our team was vulnerable to having a negative feeling attached to it," Virginia Coach Al Groh said. "The game is in Idaho; it's not in Florida. But once you've played in enough bowls, you learn that they're all the same. This has been a very positive thing for our team, the entire environment and experiencing something new."

At least it's not Charlotte, where the Cavaliers played in each of the past two Continental Tire Bowls. And Fresno State, which has won its last five games, scoring 50 points or more in each of the past four, could prove to be as formidable of an opponent as West Virginia and Pittsburgh, which Virginia beat in its last two bowl games.

With a victory today, the Cavaliers (8-3) would win three consecutive bowl games for the first time and they would become only the seventh Virginia team to win nine games in a season. And, depending on what happens in other bowl games, the Cavaliers could finish the season with their highest ranking -- they were No. 13 in the final Associated Press poll in 1951.

The game "has a world of opportunities for us," Groh said.

The game offers just as many opportunities for the Bulldogs (8-3), who recovered from a three-game losing streak in October to play in its sixth consecutive bowl game. Fresno State has won its last five games -- over Southern Methodist, Rice, Hawaii, Nevada and San Jose State -- by a combined score of 280-80. Its lowest scoring total during that stretch came in a 42-0 victory over the Mustangs. The Bulldogs are averaging 40.5 points per game, more than they scored when record-setting quarterback David Carr was leading their offense in 2001.

"I think there might be some better defenses in the ACC," Virginia defensive end Brennan Schmidt said of Fresno State's recent opponents. "But it doesn't matter who they're playing, averaging 56 points or whatever it is, that's pretty amazing."

Virginia's offense, meantime, largely struggled during the second half of the season, when the Cavaliers lost three of their final six games to fall out of the ACC race and a New Year's Day bowl game (Virginia was supposed to play in the Dec. 21 Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, but that game conflicted with the school's final exams).

During the final six games, quarterback Marques Hagans threw only three touchdowns, was sacked 12 times and threw for 200 yards or more only once. With its passing game struggling, Virginia ran the ball 40 times or more in four of those six games, including consecutive 61-carry efforts in victories over Duke and Maryland.

Running probably won't be as easy against the Bulldogs, who allowed only two opponents to run for 200 yards or more. They held Kansas State to only 59 rushing yards on 33 attempts in a 45-21 upset of the then-No. 13 Wildcats on Sept. 11. "This definitely isn't a game where we can come in and run the ball 75 times and score more points than the other team," Groh said.

The Cavaliers figure to face a Fresno State team playing with a chip on its shoulders. While the Bulldogs have won five of their last seven games against teams from Bowl Championship Series conferences, they say they're still being overlooked because they play in the lesser regarded Western Athletic Conference.

"I don't think Virginia has much respect for us, but that doesn't bother us too much," Fresno State offensive tackle Logan Mankins said. "All those big schools from the BCS look down on the schools from the smaller conferences. They all think they're better than us, but they'll find out."

 

[lostinamerica]

Fresno Bee
(12/27/04):

Bulldogs hope to measure up




Time to see how good these Bulldogs really are.


When Fresno State plays No. 18 Virginia in today's MPC Computers Bowl, all bar-stool and water-cooler arguments over the Bulldogs' place on the national football scene will be settled by game's end at Bronco Stadium.

Win, and the Bulldogs will prove themselves to truly be one of the nation's Top-25 teams.

Lose, and they are exposed as just another pretty good mid-major conference team with an 8-4 record.

"This is the best opponent we've faced all season," Fresno State quarterback Paul Pinegar said. "The talent they have is the best we've seen. This is what you play the game for, to put yourself up to the test and see how you hold up against a good opponent." Heading into the 12th and final game of the season, the Bulldogs need this game to establish their own identity.

It almost happened in September with big road victories against Washington and Kansas State. But what were then considered landmark moments were watered down in hindsight as both finished with losing records.

Fresno State refuses to think it's as bad as the team that blew a No.17 national ranking with three straight Western Athletic Conferences losses in October.

But it's hard to believe the Bulldogs are as good as the team that rolled up 50-plus points against four straight WAC teams in November.

Count on the Cavaliers, who were ranked sixth in the nation at midseason, to force the real Bulldogs to step forward.

"This is the matchup we wanted," Fresno State coach Pat Hill said. "We couldn't have asked for a better opponent. It's not about proving ourselves. It's about how we measure up. Virginia is a great measuring stick for us. Measuring up means winning or losing.

"This game gives us a chance to see where this team is really at."

That hadn't happened in the program's current six-year bowl run, the longest stretch of unbroken postseason play in the Western United States.

Silicon Valley Football Classic victories against UCLA and Georgia Tech the past two years were nice ways to wrap up the year, but couldn't mask the fact Fresno State was still a five-loss team both seasons.

Before those wins, the Bulldogs had lost the previous three bowl games under Hill. Only once in school history have they beaten a nationally ranked team from a Bowl Championship Series conference in the postseason: No.23 USC in 1992.

"Playing a high-caliber team like Virginia will help our program and be good for our conference," Bulldogs safety James Sanders said. "If we can beat them, it'll show we can beat anyone in the country."

Perception wise, the Bulldogs must win just to keep up with the top non-BCS teams in the country.

Utah is playing in the Fiesta Bowl. Boise State and Louisville will grab attention facing each other in the Liberty Bowl.

The only way Fresno State gets back in the national conversation is to take down Virginia. It's a golden opportunity, one that wouldn't have existed if the Bulldogs were back in the Silicon Valley Classic playing Northern Illinois.

In 1993, the Bulldogs had a season-defining game very similar to today's matchup when they put an 8-3 record up against No. 17 Colorado in the Aloha Bowl. The Bulldogs were convincing losers, 41-30.

"It's nice to play these games, but you have to win," Hill said. "That's the name of the game."

So is scoring points, which Fresno State must prove it can do against a strong opponent.

Its running game is 15th in the nation, but will be hard-pressed by Virginia's 18th-ranked rush defense.

Fresno State's scoring offense is fifth in the nation with 40.5 points per game, but no one has scored that many against Virginia. Not No.15 Florida State, not No. 14 Miami, and not No. 9 Virginia Tech.

The Cavaliers have watched film of Fresno State's high-flying exploits for three weeks. They, too, are eager to determine if seeing is believing.

"Fifty points a game is pretty amazing," Virginia defensive end Brennan Schmidt said. "It's something when you get that many points in a game, no matter who you play. That's something we're going to have to deal with."

 

[trolln4walii]

GL today lost. Once again, appreciate the analysis and great info. With you on Virginia but Buttin' on the Rockets.