Happy New Year!

May 2012 be a blessed year for you and yours!

Review: TEXAS A&M 33 Northwestern 22 √
Texas A&M may have had trouble maintaining second half leads throughout the season, but they hung on to claim this one as Northwestern yet again failed to win in the post season. A&M scored 27 straight at one point in this match-up, on their way to breaking a 5-game bowl losing streak. A pretty impressive way to end their Big-12 tenure. Both teams did most of their damage through the air, only racking up 132 rushing yards combined.

Review: UTAH 30 Georgia Tech 27 X
I was hoping Wetumpka would make me proud. I'll admit I was a little let down. Tech had a 14 point lead entering the fourth quarter but let the Utes score two touchdowns to tie the game, leading to overtime. That final touchdown pass came on a 4th and 14 play that was good for 28 and the score. The Yellow Jackets were the first up in overtime, but they only managed to put three points on the board. When Utah got the ball, they knew a touchdown would seal it and sure enough, that's what they got.

Review: ILLINOIS 20 UCLA 14 √
I didn't see a snap of this game. That's surprising. The Illini managed to end a six game skid and handed UCLA their eighth loss of the season. Illinois' first touchdown came late in the third quarter off an interception returned 39 yards for the score. They tacked on 10 more in the fourth to cushion their lead. The win gave the Illini their first ever back-to-back bowl wins in school history.

Review: CINCINNATI 31 Vanderbilt 24 X
SEC? Disappointed. So much for going perfect in bowl season. I thought Vandy had a chance after a 68-yard touchdown pass from Larry Smith to Chris Boyd put the Commodores up 21-17, but on the ensuing kickoff momentum was taken out of Vandy's hands as the Bearcats Ralph Abernathy took the kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to put Cincy up for good. 17 of the 27 fourth quarter points scored with scored within the time frame from 14:41-13:51. 17 points in less than a minute of game clock. Cincinnati finished the year with ten wins for the fourth time in five years.

Review: AUBURN 43 Virginia 24 √
War Eagle, and Happy New Year! 2011 started with a National Championship for the Tigers, and ended with a bowl win. With how the 2011 season had gone, I'd consider that a success. Of course, I watched more of this game than the others on Saturday, so I have more to say. With Chizik being in charge of the defense after letting Ted Roof go, I was impressed by the fire this team seemed to be playing with. If this team had played like that all season, their record might've been a little better. Chizik will not only be looking to replace the defensive coordinator, but also the offensive coordinator as Gus Malzahn is heading to Arkansas State for his first head coaching position. He too seemed to be pulling out all the stops on New Years Eve. While offense and defense are important, special teams played a huge role in this game. Auburn had two blocked punts (one for a safety), a successful onside kick that the kicker recovered and they stopped a Virginia fake field goal. Barrett Trotter outdid himself after Clint Moseley was knocked out with an ankle injury in the first quarter. Did you see the 50 yarder to Emory Blake? This guy was good. Too bad the rest of the season hadn't been this good. At any rate, I was proud to be cheering for the tigers. It was an exciting match and they now are tied for the most consecutive bowl wins at five in a row.