As you guys have figured out I have been sharing my Bowl thoughts with ETG , Sammy Meatballs and Tee*Dub. With a few games will try to keep my thoughts here if anyone is interested. Try my best to not let outside opinions influence my thoughts so here we go. What I am looking is teams talent and competition played , motivation , situation and value in terms of the line.
12:30 - Air Force vs Cal in Fort Worth :
Two teams who finished in opposite directions. Cal fell apart with the loss to Oregon State at home which the Beavers proved to be a very solid team. That game Longshore missed and Forsett and Jackson also battled injuries afterward. The time off has helped them get healthy. Anyway they followed that up with a loss @ UCLA where a 1pt lead to end the 3rd turned into a 9pt loss. Now they have blown back to back games and travel to see ASU . Where they lead at half but get shutout 17-0 in the 2nd . Another odd ending. Then at home vs Wash St they were unimpressive but did handle Wash State fairly easily despite the final score. Cal was moving the ball but just seemed flat that day. Then hosting USC as 4 pt dogs they lost on a 4th quarter TD 24-17. Is that bad? They lost close games to 4 Bowl teams USC , ASU , UCLA and Oregon State. The last 2 losses there are no excuses for I imagine it was a team that was just defeated and could not put any momentum together. Also Jackson missed most of the final 2 road games. Earlier they won @ Oregon and had defeated Tenny .
These teams had CSU in common. As -14 pt favs Cal led 34-14 with 6 to play but allowed 2 late TDs that made the final seem closer then the game. Where as Air Force was 3 pt dogs @ CSU later in the year. However they did manage to beat the crap out of CSU that day.
In some odd twist the AF seniors 1st game was a drubbing by Cal 56-14 on 9-14-04. Can they complete there careers with a reversal of fortune? One will ask what is CAL's motivation here? I think this is a fresh start for a team with high expectations and almost the #1 ranking at some point. The Bears didnt really miss out on a Bowl in the sense there unraveling started midseason so they didnt have a big BOWL on there mind. In fact one of there players was wise to say they were lucky to even be in a bowl when other teams are still home. They have the motivation of not finishing with a losing record.
As for AF win or Lose there season will be rated a success. However looking at the teams they played and the schedule is there any suprise at there record? What would the SOS be of there home schedule? South Carolina State , TCU , UNLV , Wyoming , Army and SDState. I wont bother checking but I doubt there were 4 road wins from that bunch minus TCU. They got sort of luck vc TCU trailing by 2 TDS late managed to tie it in the 4th and win in OT. A fluke win where no one thought AF stood a chance. Then on the road someone will say they beat Utah. If youlook closer Utah lost there QB in the opener and this was Tommy Gradys game a tremendous droppf. Pluss Darrell Mack was still not the featured back and had 7 carries. Then they lose @ BYU . Okay who doesnt lose there but there were never in the game losing 31-6. Then @ Navy they didnt play that poorly but still lost by 10. Navy is a decent team with no defense . Then they lost a close game @ New Mexico which is a tough place to play. However NM didnt exactly have a great year . Close loss by 3 to a decent team. Is the win @ ND there marquee win? It may be. ND played sloppy as hell and won a week after Navy did on the Irish home field. They took that win and came home to blast a terrible SDST team.
We can slice it every way we want. Cal was almost #1 in the nation this year and they were not some fake ass #2 team they were legit. AF does not have the talent level of a Pac -10 powerhouse and thats not to say they cant beat them. However they also dont have the benefit of being a huge underdog here and having that mentality. What has really changed in these prgrams to make this meeting any different then the AF seniors first?
I think CAL comes to play here and with a history of playing well in bowls but not as big chalk I believe. Think Forsett in his last game near home will be motivated.
Cal had a players-only meeting after the regular season to address the issue of vocal leadership, but that's not something you can fake. Either you have it or you don't.
"I don't think we've had enough trust out there on the field," linebacker Zack Follett told the Contra Costa Times. "We all needed to talk amongst each other. [The meeting] was just setting leadership roles up for some of the guys who want to take it. Everyone took it in stride. Now we just go from here."
If you dont care why call a players only meeting after the season is over?
"We've got to go back and look at a lot of things," Tedford said. "There's injuries, there's schedule, things like that. We had a chance to be in every game and had an opportunity to win every game we played. And that's probably the most frustrating thing."
Under Tedford, the Bears have won three of their last four bowls, including a 45-10 win over Texas A&M last year in the Holiday Bowl. They also won 35-28 over BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl in 2005.
Waiting to see how this line acts possible going CAL ML or laying -4 clearly hoping for -3 in some fashion. Interested in if the AF fans travel here and what a 43 day layoff did to AF. Last game 11-17 for them!:cheers:
12:30 - Air Force vs Cal in Fort Worth :
Two teams who finished in opposite directions. Cal fell apart with the loss to Oregon State at home which the Beavers proved to be a very solid team. That game Longshore missed and Forsett and Jackson also battled injuries afterward. The time off has helped them get healthy. Anyway they followed that up with a loss @ UCLA where a 1pt lead to end the 3rd turned into a 9pt loss. Now they have blown back to back games and travel to see ASU . Where they lead at half but get shutout 17-0 in the 2nd . Another odd ending. Then at home vs Wash St they were unimpressive but did handle Wash State fairly easily despite the final score. Cal was moving the ball but just seemed flat that day. Then hosting USC as 4 pt dogs they lost on a 4th quarter TD 24-17. Is that bad? They lost close games to 4 Bowl teams USC , ASU , UCLA and Oregon State. The last 2 losses there are no excuses for I imagine it was a team that was just defeated and could not put any momentum together. Also Jackson missed most of the final 2 road games. Earlier they won @ Oregon and had defeated Tenny .
These teams had CSU in common. As -14 pt favs Cal led 34-14 with 6 to play but allowed 2 late TDs that made the final seem closer then the game. Where as Air Force was 3 pt dogs @ CSU later in the year. However they did manage to beat the crap out of CSU that day.
In some odd twist the AF seniors 1st game was a drubbing by Cal 56-14 on 9-14-04. Can they complete there careers with a reversal of fortune? One will ask what is CAL's motivation here? I think this is a fresh start for a team with high expectations and almost the #1 ranking at some point. The Bears didnt really miss out on a Bowl in the sense there unraveling started midseason so they didnt have a big BOWL on there mind. In fact one of there players was wise to say they were lucky to even be in a bowl when other teams are still home. They have the motivation of not finishing with a losing record.
As for AF win or Lose there season will be rated a success. However looking at the teams they played and the schedule is there any suprise at there record? What would the SOS be of there home schedule? South Carolina State , TCU , UNLV , Wyoming , Army and SDState. I wont bother checking but I doubt there were 4 road wins from that bunch minus TCU. They got sort of luck vc TCU trailing by 2 TDS late managed to tie it in the 4th and win in OT. A fluke win where no one thought AF stood a chance. Then on the road someone will say they beat Utah. If youlook closer Utah lost there QB in the opener and this was Tommy Gradys game a tremendous droppf. Pluss Darrell Mack was still not the featured back and had 7 carries. Then they lose @ BYU . Okay who doesnt lose there but there were never in the game losing 31-6. Then @ Navy they didnt play that poorly but still lost by 10. Navy is a decent team with no defense . Then they lost a close game @ New Mexico which is a tough place to play. However NM didnt exactly have a great year . Close loss by 3 to a decent team. Is the win @ ND there marquee win? It may be. ND played sloppy as hell and won a week after Navy did on the Irish home field. They took that win and came home to blast a terrible SDST team.
We can slice it every way we want. Cal was almost #1 in the nation this year and they were not some fake ass #2 team they were legit. AF does not have the talent level of a Pac -10 powerhouse and thats not to say they cant beat them. However they also dont have the benefit of being a huge underdog here and having that mentality. What has really changed in these prgrams to make this meeting any different then the AF seniors first?
I think CAL comes to play here and with a history of playing well in bowls but not as big chalk I believe. Think Forsett in his last game near home will be motivated.
Cal had a players-only meeting after the regular season to address the issue of vocal leadership, but that's not something you can fake. Either you have it or you don't.
"I don't think we've had enough trust out there on the field," linebacker Zack Follett told the Contra Costa Times. "We all needed to talk amongst each other. [The meeting] was just setting leadership roles up for some of the guys who want to take it. Everyone took it in stride. Now we just go from here."
If you dont care why call a players only meeting after the season is over?
"We've got to go back and look at a lot of things," Tedford said. "There's injuries, there's schedule, things like that. We had a chance to be in every game and had an opportunity to win every game we played. And that's probably the most frustrating thing."
Under Tedford, the Bears have won three of their last four bowls, including a 45-10 win over Texas A&M last year in the Holiday Bowl. They also won 35-28 over BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl in 2005.
Waiting to see how this line acts possible going CAL ML or laying -4 clearly hoping for -3 in some fashion. Interested in if the AF fans travel here and what a 43 day layoff did to AF. Last game 11-17 for them!:cheers: