Bowl Roundup So Far
The MRI took its first loss last night in the *Insert Sponsor Here* Las Vegas Bowl when Wyoming beat UCLA by scoring a touchdown with one minute remaining in the game. The MRI can not be faulted as everything went Wyoming's way in the second half to give them the win.
Late in the first half, UCLA quarterback Drew Olson was hit as he threw the ball away and sprained his left knee. Out for the game, back-up quarterback David Koral was able to do a fairly decent job of leading the team. Still, you could see that Koral was not comfortable in the pocket. At the same time, it appeared that the offensive line for the Bruins was actually a little more worried about blocking for Koral. They seemed to do a great job blocking on running plays, but the pass protection was not up to par.
With one major weapon out, the Bruins still should have won this game. They were having a great game on the ground once it got started in the second quarter. Sophomore running back Maurice Drew had a great game, gaining 130 yards on the ground. He probably could have gone for more if not for the great play of Wyoming safety Ron Rockett. Rockett made two open field tackles one on one which saved the Cowboys twice from giving up long touchdown runs. Wyoming was also missing their top two running backs and the third string was nursing an injury all game. The Bruins were also doing it on defense with great plays from Justin London who seemed to be close to the ball on every play.
The real mistake happened with one minute remaining in the 3rd Quarter. On a windy night in Las Vegas, both teams were trying to do as much as they could with the wind as possible. In order to take advantage and come back from a 14-10 half time deficit, Wyoming took the wind to start the second half. Little did they know that UCLA would run off two big drives and score a touchdown which would take away most of the time that the Cowboys had to work in the 3rd. After failing on another drive, the Cowboys punted and UCLA ran off a good return which most coaches would have been satisfied with. A holding penalty on Wyoming instead gave UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell a choice. He could either take the field position and continue to run the clock as he did for the whole of the 3rd quarter, or back up Wyoming and make them punt again from within the end zone, hoping for a block. Dorrell chose to go for the block and that was the moment this game changed.
The low line drive punt was not block and instead sailed toward Senior return man, Craig Bragg, who looked ready to catch it and run for another nice return. At the last minute, you could see Bragg take his eyes off the ball and look for the seam to run. The ball caromed off his face mask and bounced away ten yards in front of him. In the mad scramble that ensued, Wyoming recovered and the game was never the same.
Re-energized, Cowboy quarterback, Corey Bramlet, led two scoring drives through the air against the wind. He got a major contribution from junior receiver Jovon Bouknight who was a major weapon all game. Bouknight threw a touchdown to JJ Raternick in the 4th quarter to cut the lead to 21-17, a play that UCLA knew Wyoming was going to run and still couldn't stop. The final touchdown pass came up the middle to cap a 72 yard drive and give Wyoming a three point lead with only a minute left on the clock. Koral couldn't manage to drive the Bruins within field goal range before time expired.
In the other two recent bowl games, the MRI fared much better. Gino Guidugli did come back and play for Cincinnati, one the major keys to them winning. Last night, playing with a busted hand, he still threw for close to 240 yards and two scores. Cincinnati was able to knock off Marshall 32-14 to win the Fort Worth bowl. Bowling Green also got a major contribution from quarterback Omar Jacobs who threw for 365 yards and 5 touchdowns in their win over DeAngelo Williams and the Memphis Tigers in the GMAC Bowl. Bowling Green won the game by pulling away in the second half, 52-35.
The MRI is now 4-1 in bowl game picks this year.
