Late Thursday-Early Friday

Picking up where we left off...

WASHINGTON 19, NEBRASKA 7
Total Yardage: Nebraska 189, Washington 340
Yards-Per-Play: Nebraska 3.0, Washington 4.8
Rushing Yards: Nebraska 91, Washington 268
Passing Lines: Nebraska 10-21-1-98, Washington 6-19-0-72
Turnovers: Nebraska 2, Washington 0
Sloppiness: Nebraska 21, Washington 13
Stat Score: Nebraska 13, Washington 27

Perhaps the least motivated team in the history of bowls laid an unsurprising egg. Nebraska's defense was there...but lacked heart at the point of attack in the second half (because there's no way Washington should rush for 268 yards on THAT defense!). The offense fiddled around all night, with a QB still reeling from getting chewed out on national TV by his coach awhile back (and still hobbled). Washington scored only 17 offensive points with stats that should yield 27 (they had a safety too). That gives you a sense of how shaky their offense is, and how unready Jake Locker is for the NFL. Nice of Todd Blackledge to report the opposite all through the second half. Show me an NFL QB who was 6-19 passing in his senior year bowl game! Basically a replay of Nebraska/Texas (as I imagined it from the boxscore because I was in Italy at the time). Nebraska had that late punt return TD vs. Texas or the scores would have been almost identical. If Nebraska doesn't break any big plays, they have no offense. It's not a team that can drive the field for points if you've manned up against them.

SOUTH FLORIDA 31, CLEMSON 26
Total Yardage: S. Florida 278, Clemson 296
Yards-Per-Play: S. Florida 4.3, Clemson 4.4
Rushing Yards: S. Florida 90, Clemson 50
Passing Lines: S. Florida 19-27-1-188, Clemson 24-41-2-246
Turnovers: S. Florida 2, Clemson 2
Sloppiness: S. Florida 18, Clemson 27
Stat Score: S. Florida 16, Clemson 16

South Florida led 31-13, then fell asleep late. Clemson scored a TD with just under two minutes to go....then recovered an onside kick and scored again. That helped even out the yardage, ypp, and stat score stuff when SF had an earlier edge. It wasn't really much of an edge though. Somehow a statistical defensive struggle became a high scoring game. It wasn't from super-cheap points either. South Florida either had a long drive for a TD, or punted all day. Pretty much the same for Clemson. Kyle Parker broke some ribs (Clemson QB), just before going back to baseball. Little things like this are going to loom over tournament talks eventually...when the players demand compensation for their risk in extra games.

NOTRE DAME 33, MIAMI 17
Total Yardage: Notre Dame 397, Miami 405
Yards-Per-Play: Notre Dame 5.2, Miami 6.2
Rushing Yards: Notre Dame 202, Miami 86
Passing Lines: Notre Dame 16-30-0-195, Miami 26-40-4-319
Turnovers: Notre Dame 0, Miami 4
Sloppiness: Notre Dame 14, Miami 34
Stat Score: Notre Dame 27, Miami 22

Notre Dame led 27-0 before Miami kicked a late field goal before halftime. Miami won the second half 14-6 when both teams were kind of playing out the game. That messes up the stats a bit. The first half was your basic "motivated running team moves relatively easily vs. flat passing team" script that we've seen variations of already. Disappointing renewal of an old rivalry. I guess one of the big disappointments in terms of game quality considering hyped matchups. At least you could tell early that Miami wasn't all there. Sometimes the interim coaches get the kids fired up. Sometimes, they'd all rather be home doing something else. Do you think kids from Miami wanted to be in El Paso for New Year's? LeBron took his talents to South Beach for a reason!

CENTRAL FLORIDA 10, GEORGIA 6
Total Yardage: Georgia 279, Central Florida 241
Yards-Per-Play: Georgia 4.0, Central Florida 4.0
Rushing Yards: Georgia 81, Central Florida 125
Passing Lines: Georgia 21-38-2-198, Central Florida 16-30-2-116
Turnovers: Georgia 2, Central Florida 2
Sloppiness: Georgia 27, Central Florida 24
Stat Score: Georgia 16, Central Florida 16

Basically a replay of South Florida/Clemson! Both games had stat scores of 16-16. Both games had 2-2 in turnovers. Both games saw both offenses fail to reach 300 yards. How can one game end 31-26 while the other ends 10-6? Depends on how theyardage clusters, and whether or not teams can cash in their scoring opportunities. Georgia had an early VERY long drive end with a field goal. That was part of it. Nature of the beast. That's why handicappers try to win more than they lose rather than trying to win every single game. You can't win every single game because there's so much internal variance from game to game.

It's New Year's Eve, so I'm not coming back tonight for SC/FSU. Will include that in the first report Saturday...which will probably be after the Rose Bowl the way the day is shaping up. Hope you have fun responsibly this evening. HAPPY NEW YEAR! See you early Saturday evening...