Here is the final rankings for the 2009 season of college football. Congrats to the HelmetNation National Champions: the Boise State Broncos.
We will be posting a bowl season recap next week and our blogs will be happening about once a week for a bit.
1) Boise St. – Bowl game: Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Beat #4 TCU 17-10. As far as I am concerned, the Broncos are the National Champions. They beat Oregon and TCU. And I am fairly sure they would have beat Alabama. Of course that is anyone’s guess since they will never have a chance to play thanks to the crooksters of the BCS. However, they looked faster, meaner, and more disciplined than any other team I saw in the Bowl games. Oh yeah, all but 1 starter returns for 2010.
2) Alabama – Bowl game: BCS National Championship Game. Beat #5 Texas 37-21. This team got lucky that Colt McCoy got injured on the first series for Texas. McCoy plays and they most likely win. Alabama didn’t look well coached (fake punt, onsides later in game, etc) and they looked nervous for much of the first half. If not for equally poor coaching by Mack Brown, the Longhorns still might have won with a freshman QB.
3) Florida – Bowl game: AllState Sugar Bowl. Beat #9 Cincinnati 51-24. Even after all the hubbub about Coach Meyer, the Gators annihilated the Bearcats in a game that was never close. I think the game was more an indication of the Bearcats playing with their hearts ripped out than it was Florida domination. Although, I am sure that it being Tebow’s last game, also helped the Gators. Now begins life after Tebow.
4) TCU – Bowl game: Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Lost to #1 Boise St. 10-17. I honestly expected the Horned Frogs to beat the Broncos. You could still see how great their defense was in holding Boise St to just 17 points. I think the loss to Boise was more an indication of just how good the Broncos are rather than saying anyting about TCU.
5) Texas – Bowl game: BCS National Championship. Lost to #2 Alabama 21-37. I wasn’t pleased to see Texas in this game; however, it would have been much more interesting to see the game played with Colt McCoy at QB. I honestly believe that the Longhorns could have won the game had he played.
6) Ohio State – Bowl game: Rose Bowl. Beat #11 Oregon 26-17. Terrelle Pryor finally looked the part of the ballyhooed recruit he has been against Oregon. I will admit the Big 10 surprised me during bowl season with several victories I didn’t expect. This was one of them.
7) Iowa – Bowl game: Fedex Orange Bowl. Beat #12 Georgia Tech 24-14. The tough Hawkeye defense stymied the GT option game for most of the night. Iowa often plays well in bowl games and they did so here.
8) Nebraska – Bowl game: Pacific Life Holiday Bowl. Beat Arizona 33-0. Clearly the most dominant performance of the entire bowl season as the Huskers posted the first shutout in several ways; 1) first shutout in a bowl by a Big 12 team since the conference was formed, 2) first shutout in the history of the Holiday Bowl, and 3) first shutout in 46 bowl games for the Huskers. The offense showed some creativity with the use of freshman Rex Burkhead in the wildcat formation and the defense was dominant all the way around.
9) Cincinnati – Bowl game: AllState Sugar Bowl. Lost to Florida 24-51. Some might claim that Cincinnati didn’t deserve to be in this game. Even I haven’t been a Bearcat believer this season and their defense towards the end of the year wasn’t what it was to start the year. However, all that being said, this team had its heart ripped out when Brian Kelly left to take the Notre Dame job. Even their interim coach took the head job at Buffalo so all the players knew nobody was returning for them next season. They played like it. If Brian Kelly and staff are around for this bowl game, I think the result is much closer.
10) Virginia Tech – Bowl game: Chick-fil-A Bowl. Beat Tennessee 37-14. Virginia Tech clearly dominated every phase of this game. Ryan Williams was tough as usual.
11) Oregon – Bowl game: Rose Bowl. Lost to #6 Ohio St. 17-26. This was a surprising result. Ohio State was able to negate Oregon’s speed and contain their playmakers.
12) Georgia Tech – Bowl game: Fedex Orange Bowl. Lost to #7 Iowa 14-24. The YellowJackets had a tough time running up the middle against the stout Iowa D-line and their passing game wasn’t strong enough to loosen up the Hawkeyes defensively.
13) Brigham Young – Bowl game: Maaco Las Vegas Bowl. Beat Oregon State 44-20. Another surprising result as BYU completely shut down the Beavers and simply played faster and more aggressive than Oregon St.
14) Utah – Bowl game: San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. Beat Cal 37-27. This game was not as close as the score. All Utah does is win bowl games (this is 9 in a row) and the future looks bright for the Utes with QB Jordan Wynn. After throwing an early pick-6, all he did was have a career best day in yards, etc.
15) Pittsburgh – Bowl game: Meineke Car Care Bowl. Beat North Carolina 19-17. Dion Lewis continued to impress as Pittsburgh won on a late FG with :52 sec left.
16) Penn State – Bowl game: Capital One Bowl. Beat #17 LSU 19-17. The Nittany Lions did just enough to beat the Tigers on a field that the groundskeepers should be embarrassed about.
17) LSU – Bowl game: Capital One Bowl. Lost to #16 Penn St. 17-19. The weather and field conditions completely negated the speed advantage the Tigers would have on an artificial turf. The game was sloppy and dominated by the defenses. I still believe if you play this game 10 times, LSU wins 7 of them.
18) Central Michigan – Bowl game: GMAC Bowl. Beat Troy 44-41. Dan LeFevour showed why he should get a shot at being drafted as he brought CMU back from a two score deficit late in the 4th Q and took his team to a victory in OT.
19) Texas Tech – Bowl game: Valero Alamo Bowl. Beat Michigan State 41-31. After an incredible week, filled with more distractions than one could imagine with TT firing Head Coach Mike Leach just days before the game, the Red Raiders played as a team under interim coach Ruffin McNeill (who I think should have gotten the head job that was given to Tommy Tuberville, who isn’t black) and rallied to beat the Spartans in a back and forth game.
20) Wisconsin - Bowl game: Champs Sports Bowl. Beat Miami 20-14. Miami played listless and Wisconsin came in fired up. It was shocking to see Wisconsin hang with Miami’s speed, but the Hurricanes were clearly outplayed.
21) USC – Bowl game: Emerald Bowl. Beat Boston College 24-13. Matt Barkley had one of his better games of the year in working steadily past a pesky BC team.
22) Navy – Bowl game: Texas Bowl. Beat Missouri 35-13. The Tigers had no answer for the Navy option game and inexplicably the Tigers refused to run the ball against Navy’s 2-down lineman defense. Navy played with heart and passion, just what we expect from our future military leaders. The option is beautiful when it is working.
23) Oklahoma – Bowl game: Brut Sun Bowl. Beat Stanford 31-27. Oklahoma wr Ryan Broyles went off for a career day against the Cardinal in a very close game. Oklahoma was able to salvage a down year with a nice bowl victory over a quality opponent.
24) Mississippi – Bowl game: AT&T Cotton Bowl. Beat Oklahoma State 21-7. The Rebels rode their all-purpose back Dexter McCluster to a win over an OSU team that finished their season very disappointingly.
25) Rutgers – Bowl game: St. Petersburg Bowl. Beat Central Florida 45-24. Rutgers looks like they could be good for a while as they rode some young freshman players to a nice bowl victory over the Golden Knights.
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