From: crs@stein.u.washington.edu (Cliff Slaughterbeck)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.college
Subject: Pac Ten Review (Bowls Edition)  Plus Pundit's Pool Champ Crowned
Date: 4 Jan 1993 18:50:23 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
NNTP-Posting-Host: stein.u.washington.edu


The Freedom Bowl (Anaheim, CA 12/29)
Fresno State 24, Southern Cal 7

USC was embarrassed to be in this game against Fresno State, and once the
game started, they were even more embarrased on the field.  The Trojans 
came out with little emotion and lost even that as the Bulldogs rolled up
a huge win for the WAC over the PAC.  The Bulldogs entered the game with
the #1 ranked scoring offense in the nation, averaging 40.5 ppg.  They didn't
score anywhere close to that, but didn't need to, as the Bulldog defense
held the Trojans to a mere 183 yards and seven points.  Bulldog head coach
Jim Sweeney had criticized the defense, saying that they were the worst
defensive team in the last six years at Fresno State.  During the regular
season, they had given up 30 points per game.  Offensively, Ron Rivers was
the hot player for the Bulldogs, with 19 carries for 104 yards and a 5-yard
clinching TD in the final minutes.  The game was completely dominated by
Fresno St, as the total yardage tells:  FSU 405, USC 183.  Some of the
Trojan faithful had been making noises like they "would never even schedule
Fresno St. if this wasn't a bowl game...".  They were right, if for the
wrong reason.

The Copper Bowl (Tuscon, AZ 12/29)
Washington State 31, Utah 28

Once again, the WAC gave the Pac Ten just about all it could handle in
this game, as the Utes tried to prove their worthiness in being selected
to a bowl game with a 6-5 record out of a conference that is traditionally
considered fairly weak.  Still, this game belonged to junior QB Drew Bledsoe
of the Cougars.  He completed 30 of 46 passes for 476 yards and two TD's
in leading the Cougars to a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and
then to victory in the game.  Eight of those completions went to WR CJ Davis,
who ended up with 134 recieving yards, and Philip Bobo chipped in with 7
catches for 212 yards.  Shaumbe Wright-Fair held up his end of the offense
rushing for 123 yards and two TD's on his 27 carries.  It was fortunate that
the Cougar offense was connecting on all cylinders, because so was the
Utah offense.  The Utes Frank Dolce connected on 21/40 attempsts for 316
yards and two TD's of his own--a 10 yarder to S. Williams and a 49 yarder
to Lusk.  K. Williams had 13 carries for 112 yards and one 25 yard romp for
a touchdown as well.  One other statistic of importance wa penalties--the
Cougars were penalized 18 times for 136 yards, compared to the Utes 7 flags
for 55 yards.  Total offense in this game was incredible, as the Cougars
racked up a Houston-like 636 net yards while the Utes ran passed for an
extremely respectable 495.  Dee-fense?  We don't need no stinkin' deefense!

The Independence Bowl (Shreveport, LA 12/31)
Wake Forest 39, Oregon 35

Wake Forest scored 29 unanswered points in the second half to come back from
a 29-10 deficit and win their first bowl game since 1946.  The Demon Deacons
had dug a substantial hole in the first half by turning the ball over six
times in the first half.  Oregon's defense held strong until the 9:43 mark
in the third quarter.  Up 29-10, the Demon Deacons had a net -7 yards in
their previous six posessions.  They scored on four straight possesions to 
earn the victory.  Wake Forest rolled up 516 yards in total offense, led
by John Leach's 21 rushes for 116 yards and Keith West's 15-27 for 262
yards through the air.  Todd Dixon caught five balls for 166 yards to win
offensive player of the game honors.  Oregon's Herman O'Berry who forced
two fumbles and recovered them both (returning one of them for a TD), and
also intercepted a ball, was voted defensive player of the game.   The
Ducks ended up with 338 yards of offense, most of it on the back of Danny
O'Neil, who through 40 times, completing 20, for 227 yards.

The John Hancock Bowl (El Paso, TX 12/31)
Baylor 20, Arizona 15

Coach Grant Teaff went out a winner in his final game as the head coach of
the Baylor Bears.  Melvin Bonner caught five passes for 166 yards and two
TD's to lead Baylor to victory in El Paso.  Baylor tried a number of trick
plays early in the game which were not successful, but apparently loosened
up the Arizona defense for the rest of the game.  On the first play from
scrimmage, the Bears tried a flea-flicker which was unsuccessful when the
QB dropped the ball.  They also faked their first punt unsuccessfully.  The
Wildcats were able to move the ball, generating 418 yards of offense, but 
only managed one TD.  They were stymied in the red zone all day, failing
on a fourth and one in the fourth quarter and twice kicking field goals
with the ball inside the Baylor five yard line.  Arizona QB George
Malauulu had a career day, throwing 38 passes and completing 20 for 292
yards.  Other than Bonner, Arizona's defense did a pretty good job of
stopping the Bears.  If you subtract those five passes Bonner caught, then
the Bear offense generated only 83 yards.

The Blockbuster Bowl (Miami, FL 1/1/92)
Stanford 24, Penn State 3


The genius beat the legend in the coaching matchup that the Blockbuster Bowl
had set up.  Bill Walsh's Cardinal held Penn State to just 263 yards on 75
plays to win Walsh's third consecutive bowl victory.  The victory gave the
Cardinal their first ten win season since 1940.  Ellery Roberts led Stanford
offensively, rushing for 106 yards on 17 attempts.  Stenstrom completed 17
of 28 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns.  The game MVP was Stanford
DB Darrien Gordon, who had six passes defended to go with seven tackles.  Only
45,554 showed up for the game, and their are rumors that the Blockbuster
Video Company will pull it's sponsorship next year.

The Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA 1/1)
Michigan 38, Washington 31

Defense, my ass!  This game was supposed to be somewhere in the low 20's.
The game was one of those classic shootouts in which you are sure that the
team who has the ball last will win.  There were two big stars of this
game...Tyrone Wheatley and Mark Brunell.  Wheatley ran the ball 15 times
before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with back spasms.  He had
three touchdowns and 235 yards.  His TD runs were all long ones as well, a
56 yarder in the second quarter, a Rose Bowl record 88 yarder on the first
play from scrimmage in the second half, and a 24 yarder late in the third
quarter.  Most of Wheatley's runs came on two different running plays--a
draw trap that sprang him most of the time in the first half, and a straight
draw that the Wolverines switched to when the Husky linebacking corps 
adjusted to the draw trap.  He was absolutely incredible, flashing his 10.3
100 yard time in the secondary on virtually every other run.  For his part,
Mark Brunell wa almost no less incredible, throwing 30 passes and completing
18 for 308 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions.  Time and again
Brunell used his footspeed to escape the Wolverine pass rush and complete a
long pass, ala John Elway.  He had several passes which were easily 65 yards
to 70 yards in the air.  The Wolverines did an exceptional job in taking
away the Husky ground game, however, holding the Huskies to just 105 yards
on 43 rushing attempts.  Napolean Kaufmann was really held in check, gaining
just 39 yards on 20 carries.  Brunell chipped in 32 yards on ten scrambles
and option plays.

Pac Ten Pundits Pool

Pundit			USC/FSU	WSU/Ut	UO/WF	UA/Bay	St/PSU	UW/UM
Gidi Avrahami		25/17	30/20	19/17	20/6	24/23	25/27
Bob Willers		33/20	31/17	30/21	16/9	17/24	31/21
Eric Jaderlund		28/7	38/17	21/24	9/0	23/17	35/10
Brian Hiegel		31/28	42/21	17/29	17/6	37/27	17/28
Randall Rhea		41/21	25/27	31/10	19/6	16/14	24/27
Marc Tremblay		28/13	31/17	24/21	17/6	27/24	20/17
Greg Garbe		24/3	54/21	21/10	13/3	21/13	35/31
Eric Arendts		34/24	38/30	16/17	17/6	20/14	24/20
Yong-Qin Lu		37/28	35/21	24/14	17/6	31/17	34/14
Cliff Slaughterbeck	31/10	35/7	17/14	21/3	33/28	21/20
Vegas Line		USC-8	WSU-8	UO-4	UA-6	even	UW-2.5

Pick of the week honors as follows:  Eric Arendts for WSU over Utah,
Brian Hiegel for Wake Forest over Oregon, Greg Garbe for Stanford over
Penn State, and Gidi Avrahami for Michigan over Washington.  None of
us picked Fresno State over USC or Baylor over Arizona.  The record for
the week must go to Brian Hiegel, who was the only pundit over .500 at
4-2.  Way to go Brian.  And now for the moment you've all been waiting
for....the winner of the Pac Ten Pundit's Pool and owner of a dirt
cheap University of Washington baseball cap is:



Marc Tremblay.  I will contact you to find out how to get it to you.  And
no, you can't get a Stanford cap instead, even if they were co-champions.
UW went to the Rose Bowl, therefore you get a stickin' UW cap.  And no
I am not bitter...

Final Standings in the Pac Ten Pundit's Pool:
(Remember that bowl games counted double).

Marc Tremblay:		40-22-0	(2-4 this week)		.645
Eric Jaderlund:		40-22-1	(3-3)			.643
Yong-Qin Lu:		39-23-0	(2-4)			.629
Eric Arendts:		39-23-0	(3-3)			.629
Gidi Avrahami:		37-25-1	(2-4)			.595
Cliff Slaughterbeck:	40-28-1	(2-4)			.587
Greg Garbe:		28-26-0	(2-4)			.519
Bob Willers:		34-34-1	(1-5)			.500
---------------------------------------  not enough games to qualify 
Mark Choi:		 9- 2-0	no entry this week	.818
Brian Hiegel:		29-14-0	(4-2)			.674
Shaham Parrin:		 4- 2-0	no entry this week	.667
Dave Bakken:		12- 9-0 no entry this week	.571
William Tell:		20-16-0	no entry this week	.556
Randall Rhea:		 4- 8-0 (2-4)			.333

Minimum 2/3 games necessary for qualifiying for the grand prize
of a hat given to the winner of pundits picks poll.

Final Standings 

                    		   Conference     All Games
                                W  L T Pts OP    W  L T Pts OP
Washington                      6  2 0 219 117   9  3 0 337 186
Stanford                        6  2 0 184 130  10  3 0 320 197
Wash. St.                       5  3 0 191 193   9  3 0 337 281
USC                             5  3 0 183 153   6  5 1 264 249
Arizona                         4  3 1 131  87   6  5 1 232 113
Arizona St                      4  4 0 153 135   6  5 0 235 185
Oregon                          4  4 0 134 140   6  6 0 265 222
UCLA                            3  5 0 112 197   6  5 0 201 228
California                      2  6 0 197 204   4  7 0 284 284
Oregon St.                      0  7 1  88 236   1  9 1 163 363

****************************************************************************
Cliff Slaughterbeck           * 
Dept. of Physics, FM-15       *   There is no such thing as "rock bottom".
University of Washington      *   
Seattle, WA 98195             *
****************************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.college