The Front Porch - Online Edition

Just two games today as we gear up for the New Year’s Eve / New Year’s Day bowl marathons.  One nail-biter and one blowout.

I honestly did not watch a whole lot of the Humanitarian Bowl, but I did have the pleasure of watching the last 2 minutes.  It was crazy.  First of all, both teams put up a lot of points in this matchup.  With less than a minute to go Bowling Green completed what appeared to be a game winning touchdown.  The extra point was good and they took a 7 point lead.  I pretty much conceded that I had lost this pick.  However, Idaho bounced right back and answered with a quick touchdown of their own.  With 4 seconds on the clock, the Vandals could kick the extra point to tie the game or go for 2 to win.  Idaho opted for the 2 point conversion and the win.  The attempt was successful to cap off an exhilirating 2 minutes of football.

The late game featured Nebraska and Arizona in the Holiday Bowl.  From the opening quarter, Nebraska came out ready to play and simply out-matched Arizona all night.  The Huskers defense stood out as expected, but the offense put up some impressive numbers as well.  Most all of us picked Nebraska, so this game pretty much went as expected.  I anticipated it would be closer, but the Corn Huskers decided to make quite a statement.

So, at the end of the night, here are our current standings:

Rambo - 8-7
Bacon 9-6
Rebecca 9-6

Leader (12-3) - Rick Reeves
2nd Place (10-5) - Paige Fierbaugh, Chris Jimenez, Allison Russell
3rd Place (9-6) - Kelsey Weed, Teressa Munday, Sarah Collins, Houston, Bennett Davidson, Maggie Davidson
Notables - The next 2 days should provide lots of movement.  Good luck to everyone.  BTW, Scuttle is up to 4 victories, so some might say she is making a comeback.

Well, there have been about 5 games since the last update, so we have a lot to catch up on.  I’ll keep it brief but try to bring everyone up to speed on the current status of the Bowl Picks Contest.

Clemson was the hands down favorite among the entries in our contest for the Music City Bowl.  It seems the Strong Rock Nation doesn’t have a lot of confidence in the football prowess of the Kentucky Wildcats.  Though this game was not as lopsided as you may have thought, the Tigers did come out on top with a solid victory and CJ Spiller had a great night in his final college game.

In the Independence Bowl predictions, we pretty much had a split with even a few Bulldog faithful choosing A&M.  However, Georgia showed up in a big way and seemed somewhat like a different team than we have seen all season.  The Bulldogs pulled away for a huge victory and sent many of us to bed with a blemish on our Bowl Picks.

In the sleeper Eagle Bank Bowl, most of you sided with Bacon and chose UCLA to come out on top.  It’s a good thing you did.  However, Temple gave a big scare as they took a 21 - 7 lead early in the game.  UCLA finally woke up and scored 23 unanswered points to take the victory.

Finally, in the Champs Sports Bowl, most of us chose Miami to come out on top.  This game was not as close as the final score indicates, but Miami did bring some last minute magic to give many of us some short-lived hope.  Wisconsin put huge pressure on the Miami quarterback all night and smothered the Miami offense.  Wisconsin played a solid game all around and probably should have won big, but a few key turnovers kept Miami in the game.  At the final buzzer though, the Badgers were able to take a knee to run out the clock.

With all that said, here are the current contest standings:

Rambo 7-6
Bacon 7-6
Rebecca 7-6

Leader (10-3) Rick Reeves - impressive record!
2nd Place (9-4) Paige Fierbaugh
3rd Place (8-5) Teressa Munday, Chris Jimenez, Allison Russell, Maggie Davidson
Notables Three campers are tied for last place at 2-11.  I’m happy to report that all of our staff have finally made it out of last place, though Scuttle is only 1 step ahead at 3-10.

Merry Christmas!!

Well, it has been a few days since the last update so lets see if we can’t catch you all up on the current standings.  The Poinsettia Bowl featured Utah vs. California and proved to be quite a disappointment to many of us as the Golden Bears dropped another one.  Utah on the other hand won its 9th consecutive bowl game, so I guess those of us who picked against them probably didn’t do very good research.

Out in the beautiful state of Hawaii, we had a major upset in the Hawaii Bowl.  It may have not been a huge upset, but as far as our contest is concerned, only about 5 people picked SMU to beat Nevada.  This was never really a game.  SMU jumped out on top early and never backed down.  Nevada had a good season, but this game was just a pure embarrassment for their program.  On the bright side, at least most all of us lost this game together.

Here is an update of where we all stand.  Things are getting a little ugly for the office crew.

Rambo 2-4
Bacon 2-4
Rebecca 2-4

Leaders (4-2) - Rick Reeves, Maggie Davidson
2nd Place (3-3) - Caitlin Weed, Mike Caffrey, Paige Fierbaugh, Dill, Allison Russell, San Diego
Notables - Scuttle and Peeps are still winless at 0-6.  Before you laugh, there are a couple of campers with that same record.  If you don’t win soon, we will have to reveal your identity.

Day 3 - BYU destroys The Beavers 44-20

Again, just a 1 game day in the contest and what a game it was.  This was destined to be the best matchup of the early bowl season with 2 highly ranked teams meeting in Las Vegas.  Unfortunately for football fans, this game did not live up to expectations.  BYU started out hot and Oregon State looked like they did not even belong in the rankings.  The Beaver team that showed up for the Civil War at the end of regular season must have stayed back in Oregon.  This Beaver team was a disappointment.  BYU fans were able to get excited early as the Cougars jumped out to a 23-7 halftime lead.  Most of you guys picked with us, so we almost all lost this game.

Here is the updated standings:

Rambo 1-3
Bacon 2-2
Rebecca 1-3

Leader (3-1) - Caitlin Weed
2nd Place (2-2) - Mike Caffrey, Paige Fierbaugh, Dill, Chris Jimenez, Rick Reeves, Ruthie Davidson, Maggie Davidson, Cricket, San Diego
Notables - Last Place is still a tight race but slowly getting more separation.  Holding on for dear life we have T-Bone, Trip, Scuttle and Peeps.

Rutgers Routs UCF

So much for being the “home” team.  As Rambo predicted, the Scarlet Knights finished on top in the battle of the Knights.  Mohamad Sanu proved to be a very solid, versatile weapon for Rutgers as he accounted for 3 touchdowns and virtually left UCF wondering how to stop him.  Bowl experience probably played a factor in this game as Rutgers has now won 4 straight bowls and is becoming a decent post season force.  UCF did have quite a turn around season, improving from a 4-8 record last year, but just couldn’t compete tonight.

As for the contest, this game was about a 50/50 split among all of your entries.  Congrats to those of you who went with Rambo on this one.

Rutgers - 45
UCF - 24

Wyoming Shocks the Nation (including Strong Rockers)

Very few of you all agreed with Bacon on this game, so about 85% of our contestants started out the bowl season with a loss.  On paper, you probably made the right choice, but it is bowl season and anything can happen.  This did end up being a great game to start out the post-season as Wyoming had to force a fumble and create some magic with a fake punt to even take this game into overtime.  In the first OT, the Cowboys made an incredible goal line stand to keep Fresno State out of the endzone, but couldn’t convert their field goal attempt on the offensive end to seal the victory.  The second OT saw Wyoming put together a good drive for a touchdown, leaving the Bulldogs in need of a score of their own.  However, Fresno State came up short and the Pokes fans stormed the field to celebrate the first upset of the Bowl Season.

Great game to get us started.
Wyoming - 35
Utah - 28