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Bowl season full of comebacks

Posted at 9:30 pm on Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007 by Vince

Regardless of the outcome of the handful of remaining bowl games, if was I asked to summarize this year’s bowl season with just one word, I would say comeback. (Or is that two words?) So far there have been 6 teams to win their bowl games after being down by 8 or more points.

  1. Florida State was down by 10 in the 2nd quarter and down by 7 at the half in their victory over UCLA in the Emerald Bowl.
  2. In the Sun Bowl, Oregon State was down by 14 early in the 4th quarter before beating Missouri 39-38 with a 2 point conversion after their final touchdown with 23 seconds left in the game.
  3. Texas Tech was losing to Minnesota 38-7 midway through the 3rd quarter in their overtime victory in the Insight Bowl. No, that’s not a typo. The Red Raiders were down 31 points with less than 23 minutes left in regulation and proceeded to hold the Golden Gophers scoreless during the remainder of regulation while scoring 4 touchdowns and a field goal to force overtime.
  4. In the Meineke Car Care bowl, Navy held an 8 point lead in the 3rd quarter over Boston College, but the BC Eagles scored a touchdown midway through the 4th quarter and a game-winning field goal with the clock expiring to beat the Midshipmen 25-24. While this would have been a huge victory for Navy, it still was a feel-good win for Boston College. Steve Aponavicius, a walk-on who was in the stands last year, kicked the 37 yard field goal that won the game.
  5. No Hokie will forget Georgia’s second half comeback in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. The Bulldogs were down by 18 at halftime before scoring 28 unanswered points in the second half to beat Virginia Tech 31-24.
  6. West Virginia, also down by 18 in the 3rd quarter, scored 21 unanswered to beat Georgia Tech 38-35 in the Gator Bowl. Ironically, 38-35 was the final score in their upset win over Georgia in last year’s Sugar Bowl.

That list doesn’t include Oklahoma forcing overtime after coming back from an 18 point halftime deficit before losing to Boise State in last night’s Fiesta Bowl. I have no doubt that will have been the best game of this year’s bowl season. Oklahoma refused to quit in the second half and clawed their way back to take a late 7 point lead. What was even more impressive was that Boise State responded with equal guts and determination. Shame on you if you didn’t see that game!

Even if the remaining bowls are snoozers, I think this still will be one of the most exciting bowl seasons ever.

Categories: College Football
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