Woody’s Senior Bowl Pick
January 24, 2009
Senior Bowl
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Woody’s East-West Game Pick
January 17, 2009
Here’s a quick pick for this afternoon’s game. Last chance to see some of these guys ever, and others we won’t see for a few years. Please Login or Register to read the rest of this content.
NBL Post Season Sweep 01/11/2009
January 12, 2009
Hello again, Bootlegger! Well, this is the final episode of the 2008 season, but fear not, we will be returning periodically throught the off season to provide insight and mindless banter regarding the finer things in life, such as signing day, the NFL draft, spring football, and the occasional conversation regarding other interesting college sports, like mens lacrosse, hockey, basketball, etc. But right now, lets wrap this season up by starting off with some news around the league.
Quick Hits
At the time of this recording, there are 36 players that have declared themselves draft eligible. Now some came as no surprise and others are leaving us scratching our heads a bit. Some of the more notable players to step up to the big show (or abandon ship, depending on the situation) include
- Bama running back Glen Coffee and offensive tackle Andre Smith will attempt to move on to the next level. At the same time, Alabama positions themselves for continued success. We knew Smith was heading out, but Coffee’s departure is a little stunning considering the good position Bama is in for next year and considering the heavy competition amongst running backs heading into the 2009 draft.
- Connecticut’s Donald Brown will attempt to take his success as running back to the next level, leaving some big shoes to fill.
- The departure of Knowshon Moreno and Matthew Stafford from Georgia will leave a gutted bulldog offense. Even if Georgia continues to develop a fairly weak offensive line, who are they going to block for, considering Massaquoi is out as well.
- No surprise that Shonn Greene is leaving Iowa for the pros after such a great season for him at running back…and with the prospects of Hawkeye success a little bleaker, I cant say I blame him.
- Just as Ohio State has started to figure their offense out, Beanie Wells heads to the pros. A lot of young runners entering the draft and his opportunity to get out while he’s healthy, it’s a no-brainer for him to leave.
- Spurrier better figure something out…and fast. With Smelley transfering to pursue his baseball career, and now Emmanuel Cook, Jared Cook, and Captain Munnerlyn leaving early, the Gamecocks may be missing out on a big chance to resurge as a dominant force in the SEC.
- Michael Crabtree leaves Texas Tech for the Pros…and why not?
- P.J. Hill leaves Wisconsin and will make an attempt at the pro draft…turn back now P.J. It’s not so bad in Wisconsin and you wont have to compete against an army of other running backs that put up better numbers this year.
Alright…on to the final Naked Bootleg Top 20
1 Florida
2 Utah
3 USC
4 Texas
5 Oklahoma
6 Alabama
7 TCU
8 Penn State
9 Texas Tech
10 Boise State
11 Ohio State
12 Virginia Tech
13 Georgia
14 Oregon
15 Missouri
16 Ole Miss
17 Cincinnati
18 Rice
19 Oklahoma State
20 Oregon State
Receiving Votes: BYU, Iowa
And now…After Further Review…
The Fiesta Bowl – Texas did not look that great in this win, but Ohio State looked slightly less inspired. Not Colt McCoy’s finest performance, but effective nonethesless. what was stunning is how many attempts in the air the Longhorns took at the Buckeyes. Texas scrapes one out late in the game.
The GMAC Bowl – Tulsa showed up…where have they been of late, and what happened to that impressive Ball State squad? Tulsa’s running game demolished the Ball State defense in a match that wasn’t even close, and sure wasn’t worth waiting till after the new years to watch.
The BCS Championship – Congrats to the Florida Gators in a game that was not their finest performance, but a win is a win nonetheless. Tebow ends this one with 2 TDs and 2 INTs and over 100 yards rushing. Of course he had to carry the ball an ungodly amount of times to get their. Sooner QB Sam Bradford struggles against one of the toughest defenses in the nation, and as all of our high school coaches probably told us “offenses win games, but defenses win championships”…so worn out, but yet so true.
Alright, that about wraps it up. We will be back again right aroung signing day so check out the calendar in the main navigation on our website so see when we will be recording. We will catch up with you again soon!
Woody’s BCS Title Game Pick
January 8, 2009
Final pick of the ‘08-’09 season
Bowls YTD: 34-32 (sides 12-21, totals 22-11)Please Login or Register to read the rest of this content.
NBL Post Season Sweep 01/04/2009
January 5, 2009
Welcome Bootleggers to yet another episode of the Naked Bootleg’s Post Season Sweep. As I’m sure you are eagerly anticating, we will be reviewing our picks from last episode and providing our analysis of the three remaining bowl games of the season, including the Fiesta Bowl, the GMAC Bowl, and the BCS National Championship game. As before, this is sure to be a long one, so hang in there…here we go.
Review
Humanitarian Bowl – Maryland 42, Nevada 35
Nevada’s offense didn’t seam to show up like we thought it would, and their defense couldn’t seam to stop a persistent Maryland attack. And it only went from bad to worse for them when Friedgen finally put Da’Reel Scott in the game during the second quarter. Give them credit though…they stayed in the fight till the end, but it was a little to much for them to muster up.
Texas Bowl – Western Michigan 14, Rice 38
Western Michigan was never even in this game. In fact, Rice already had every one of there 38 points scored by the time Western Michigan got in the board mid way through the 4th quarter. Chase Clement threw the ball great for the Owls with 307 yards on the day, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. Great way to finish the season for this years NBL honorable mention.
Holiday Bowl – Oklahoma St. 31, Oregon 42
With Masoli driving the Oregon offense, the Ducks dominated the 4th quarter. Still, this was a great game to watch and I enjoyed every minute of it. It is worth saying that Zac Robinson had a great game for Oklahoma State, accounting for 383 yards in offense, and the Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant put up an astonishing 168 yards on 13 catches.
Armed Forces Bowl – Houston 34, Air Force 28
Houston finally got one. They haven’t managed a bowl win since 1980. And it was a hard fought win at that. The Falcons threw everything they had at the Cougars…well, mostly running, but it was surprising how much we saw Air Force throw the football. Still, Houston got the lead early on and aside from a few answered scores, the Cougars never gave up the lead.
Sun Bowl – Oregon St 3, Pittsburgh 0
What an amazing defensive battle…ugly offensively, yes…but defensively to only allow 3 points, create 5 turnovers, get 10 sacks and force 20 punts throughout the game between both teams, is nothing short of astounding. Beavers won this one on a 44 yard second quarter field goal. And they won without either one of the Rogers brothers who were both out with injuries.
Music City Bowl – Boston College 14, Vanderbilt 16
Vandy won this one, the way they had won all the big early season games…persistence, consistency, determination, and a fair amount of special teams rolled into the mix. And like the rest of their season, this bowl win was long over due. It has literally been 53 years since they won a bowl game. And aside from their special teams, credit the Commodores defense for this win. Vandy forced 3 eagles turnovers, including a pivotal last minute interception to keep Vandy in the lead and give them the win.
Insight Bowl – Kansas 42, Minnesota 21
This one was just all Kansas, like we though it would be. Todd Reesing looked great in this one throwing 27 of 35 for 4 touchdowns and only 1 interception. Dezmon Briscoe had an amazing game with over 200 yards receiving on 14 grabs…with 3 touchdowns on the day. Big outing for the Jayhawks. At this point, it would be worth mentioning that in spite of their late season slump, Minnesota did finish their season at 7 wins and 6 losses…this coming off a 1 and 11 season last year…not a bad turnaround.
Chick-Fil-A Bowl – Georgia Tech 3, LSU 38
True to form, LSU’s run defense…their speed and power totally crushed Tech and really forced them out of their game. Tech went to the air more that they would have liked to, obviously with minimal success, but what else are you going to do if the ground game isn’t working, if you can’t hang onto the football and if your special teams play looked absolutely atrocious and if you left to watch Charles Scott run up and down the field nearly untouched.
Outback Bowl – Iowa 31, South Carolina 10
Iowa dominated the ground game and South Carolina couldn’t get much going at all offensively. Carolina scored their one touchdown via an inconsistent and under-impressive passing performance. For Iowa, Doak Walker award winner Shonn Greene gained 121 yards on 29 carries for 3 touchdowns and became the only player this season to rush for over 100 yards in each game.
Capital One Bowl – Georgia 24, Michigan St. 12
Where did the ground game go? Two of the best running backs in the nation barely combined for a 100 yards rushing. In fact, Knowshon Moreno had more receiving yards than rushing yards. Credit this one to Stafford’s passing attack and the Bulldogs defense’s ability to shut down any advances that the Spartans made. The dogs were in Michigan State’s backfield all afternoon. Stafford was 20 of 31 for 250 yards and 3 touchdowns…not a bad outing.
Gator Bowl – Nebraska 26, Clemson 21
Nebraska squeaked one by a pretty determined Clemson team. Where Clemson fell short was the same place they struggled all season, and that’s with offensive consistency. True to form, Joe Ganz stepped up after a shaky start and performed nicely in the second half to pace the Nebraska offense and lead them to a bowl win.
Rose Bowl – Penn St. 24, USC 38
Holy crap, this was a USC passing performance we didn’t really expect to see. 413 passing yards out of Mark Sanchez for 4 touchdowns…Penn State just didn’t know what hit them. On the other side of the ball, USC forced 3 turnovers and in spite of giving up 17 4th quarter points, it didn’t even matter. USC was just simply dominant.
Orange Bowl – Cincinnati 7, Virginia Tech 20
Va. Tech has been all over the map offensively this season, but they pulled it together when it counted, won another ACC championship and in this case, gained the ACC’s first BCS win since Florida State won the Sugar Bowl back in 2000. The Hokie running game was on fire against the Bearcat defense. At 258 rushing yards, this is the 3rd time this year that Virginia Tech ran for over 250 yards in a single game. But that’s just the offense, defensively, the Hokies held the Bearcats to only 1 touchdown and forced 4 turnovers, meaning that after an uninspired 1st quarter performance it was all Virginia Tech.
Cotton Bowl – Texas Tech 34, Ole Miss 47
This makes the 3rd time this season we saw a great upset come at the hands of the Rebels if you include wins against Florida and LSU. Ole Miss put up 515 yards in total offense that include 5 touchdowns and a field goal. And lest we forget the defensive contributions to the scoreboard, the Rebs defense ran back an interception for a TD and forced a safety.
Liberty Bowl – Kentucky 25, East Carolina 19
Kentucky didn’t exactly light up the board with their offense, but a big 99 yard kickoff return to get the 2nd half going and a late game fumble recovery ran back for a TD was enough to get a win. And one of the big ol’ tough guys got to run back that fumble for a touchdown. In spite of the Kentucky win, its worth mentioning the great game the Pirate QB Patrick Pinkney had as he managed to throw for a hair under 300 yards and one touchdown. He will be well missed by East Carolina next season.
Sugar Bowl – Utah 31, Alabama 17
When a team like Utah can pull off an undefeated season, it only adds more to the argument for revamping the BCS…and Utah earned this one big time. Brian Johnson had a great game throwing for 336 yards and 3 touchdowns and paced the Utah offense to give them the Sugar Bowl win. Bama’s quarterback, John Parker Wilson didn’t have the best showing, but I will attribute a lot of that to the fact that his offensive line was short of one key element…that would be Andre Smith. For proof that one man is important…Wilson found himself on his back 8 times during the game…a season worst, as was the pitiful running game Bama tried to pull together. The good news for the Tide is that they are in prime position for excellence in the coming season or two.
International Bowl – Buffalo 20, Connecticut 38
Buffalo put up a good fight, but Donald Brown would put up some big numbers…and keep the Bulls at bay. Brown ran for 261 yards and 1 TD on the day. But ultimately it was the huskies defense that kept the Bulls off the board during the second half that gets the win in this one. UConn held the Bulls ground game to only 24 yards and in spite of giving up 213 passing yards, they managed to keep the air attack relatively ineffective.
Previews
Fiesta Bowl – Ohio St. vs Texas
Eric’s Pick – Texas
Randy’s Pick – Texas
GMAC Bowl – Ball State vs Tulsa
Eric’s Pick – Ball State
Randy’s Pick – Tulsa
BCS Championship Game – Florida vs Oklahoma
Eric’s Pick – Oklahoma
Randy’s Pick – Florida
Woody’s Picks – Up to BCS Game
January 2, 2009
Bowl picks for Friday and Saturday Bowl Games. Picks for the remaining four Bowl Games coming soon.
Bowls YTD: 27-27 (sides 10-17, totals 17-10)
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