Happy New Year, everyone! With the college football bowl season wrapping up, we have the last three New Years Six games to cover, so lets get into it.
In the VRBO Fiesta Bowl in Glendale Arizona, #8 Oregon Ducks faced off against undefeated #21 Liberty in a game that wasn't even close as the Ducks stifling defense shut down Liberty's offense, while Oregon's quarterback Bo Nix, a potential top 20 NFL draft pick, went 28 of 35 passing, throwing for 363 yards, and five touchdowns to lead Oregon to a 45-6 victory. Nix set a new NCAA passing percentage record as he was able to throw at will against the poor Liberty secondary. Hats off to a bright future for this young man.
Next up is the oldest college bowl game (102 years), the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
#1 Michigan Wolverines faced off against #3 Alabama Crimson Tide. It was also a matchup of two elite quarterbacks, Michigan's J.J. McCarthy Alabama's Jalen Milroe. This had all the markings of a great college football game match-up. This was the first of the two semi-finals to get into the College Football Championship game week in Las Vegas.
The Tide opened the scoring after recovering a muffed punt by the Wolverines punt returner.
Michigan then marched right back on 1 five-minute 10 play, 75 yard drive with a touchdown pass to all-star running back Blake Corum to tie the game 7-7. And that is how the first quarter ended.
The second and third quarters saw both teams tighten up their defenses, with only nine points scored. Michigan had the lead, 13-10 heading into the last quarter. Alabama came out quick and scored a touchdown to make it 17-13 Alabama, then added a late field goal to up the score to 20-13. In the late minutes of the game though, Michigan marched down the field in eight plays to tie the game, and send it into overtime! All-Pro running back Blake Corum took the ball from game MVP quarterback McCarthy and ran for 17 yards into the end zone to give Michigan the lead, 27-20. Now it was the Crimson Tide's turn, and where the most exciting part of the game occurred. Alabama got the to the Michigan 1 yard line, and on fourth and one, the Michigan defense came up with perhaps the greatest goal-line stand of the season and stuffed Alabama, sealing the win for the Michigan Wolverines and punching their ticket to Houston for the Championship game!
This game lived up to the hype of a clash of the titans, and from everything I've seen and read, fans were thrilled with such a power-house game. Maybe not so much if you wear the crimson tide red, though.
Here is the final three minutes of this great Rose Bowl game:
We now wrap up the semi-final night as we head to the Big Easy, with #2 Washington Huskies taking on the #4 Texas Longhorns in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. My personal pick for the Heisman, Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr. facing off against the hot hand of Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers and a stingy Texas defense.
Both teams traded touchdowns in the first quarter, and the trend continued in the second quarter, with the score tied 21-21. The third quarter saw the Huskie defense tighten up, keeping the Longhorns offense off the score sheet and taking a 31-21 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Heisman runner-up (still grinds my gears), Penix Jr. as he had throughout the game, was letting the ball fly; he eventually finished 20 of 38, for 430 yards and two touchdowns, as Washington held off a late surge by Texas to win the Sugar Bowl, 37-31. Washington has now punched their ticket to Houston for a match-up with the Michigan Wolverines (who, as of this writing, are 4.5 point favorites) for the College Football National Championship next Monday night!
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