For Whom the Cowbell Tolls: FanPosts

The Best of Today's #ifiwasa5star Tweets

2012-01-31T00:56:49Z

With National Signing Day just a few days away, friend of the blog Blake McCollum thought up an idea for normal people like you and I to tweet out what how they would announce their school if they were a 5 star recruit. The results were pretty impressive/hilarious. Here are the best of the #ifiwasa5star tweets from today:

@hadbrains (tweet)

#ifiwasa5star id go wwe style. Have coaches present, announce for TSUN & celebrate only to clothesline Freeze & high five Dan

@RWaldrop89 (tweet)

#ifiwasa5star I'd use @SBCoffeehouse's sign to announce my decision.

@DMacJr (tweet)

sky writing plane. parachute out after and let plane crash and burn on opposing school's campus. #ifiwasa5star

@Jeff_Walker1 (tweet)

(#ifiwasa5star) I would do some Kenny powers style video and pull the hat out of a watermelon I just chopped in half w/ sword

@michael_boler_ (tweet)

#IfIWereA5Star I would have a weird creature (octupus, spider, tiger) pick the hat for me

Great work ladies and gentlemen. All around.

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Truman (the Tiger) Meets SEC

2011-11-13T06:19:03Z

Note: I posted this over on Rock M Nation--the Mizzou SB Nation site--originally, when the MU to SEC deal seemed to be done but wasn't official yet; I've made a few modifications now that it's a done deal. It's not a serious "these are our (MU's) traditions, etc." piece; more of a semi-humorous, entertaining piece.

Me personally: I went to Mizzou and was there for some horrible football (like the 5th down game) and awesome basketball in the late 80s/early 90s and Mississippi State for some semi-horrible football (Derrick Tate era under Coach Sherrill, post Peach Bowl) and awesome basketball (like the '95 trip to the Sweet 16 and '96 trip to the Final Four).

Truman Tiger is buying a new house in a new neighborhood, and goes up to one of the new neighbors' houses.

The following is how his conversation goes with one of the 12 neighbors on the street and in the new cul-de-sac.

(Knocks on door)

(Door opens)

Hi! I’m Truman Tiger, and I just bought that new house up the street. I thought I would stop by and introduce myself to the neighborhood.

I’m recently divorced and looking to get on with my new life in a much more stable environment. No kids, so that should make it an easier transition. My home life was pretty stable for a long time, but when we adopted 4 orphans from Texas things started to go downhill. One of them turned out to be a real bully, and ran off a couple of my older siblings and even ran off one of the orphans—Reveille Aggie—we adopted: Reveille’s moving into that other new house up the street. He’s OK, just doesn’t like to sit down and is obsessed with the number “12” for some reason.

Oh: our new house. Glad you asked about that. We had some problems selling our old house. It turns out that the buyers are having some legal problems which is keeping them from buying it, which in turn is kept us from getting rid of it. I talked to my attorney, and apparently my assets are too great to have a short sale on it, but the bank representative said that they'd be OK if we just moved out and they'd be OK without us. I’m worried about what kind of hit to my credit it's going to give. Crazy, isn’t it?

What’s that: you have a Sugar Bowl? Well, originally my Bowl was healthy: an Orange Bowl. However, when my family adopted the Texans, our health declined as we traded in the Orange Bowl for a bowl of tortilla chips. They tried to jazz up the name a bit with the name “Fiesta”, but it was still a bowl of chips. You do use all natural sugar in your bowl, correct? I’m trying to get the preservatives out of my diet that my family was consuming to try to keep us together when it was clear it was over.

We’ve heard some really strange things from some of the realtors and people down at the grocery store. They said things like “we won’t fit in just right”, or “we’ll try to buy a new house in a different neighborhood that they think we’d like better”, or “we won’t take care of our house the way the rest of the neighbors do”. That’s silly. I understand their skepticism: I’m pretty skeptical myself. I think that’s part of my genetics. That’s OK: I’m from Missouri, so you’ve got to show me; I’ll show you because that’s just the way I am and wouldn’t expect anything less.

You should try some of this barbeque I made. I also make a pretty mean spaghetti sauce. It just depends on which side of the kitchen I’m cooking on. Oh, have a beer, too: I made this myself as well.

Funny Video Of Nick Saban Impersonation

2011-11-12T06:18:38Z

Saban Impression by Rob Ezell (via MrParlay2000)

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2011-10-08T09:16:48Z

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Want to see the Mullen and Smoot Chest Bump as a .gif? Here ya go

2011-09-20T02:23:12Z

That just happened

#HailState

Basketball Preseason "Madness" Event in the Works?

2011-09-20T00:51:42Z

Earlier this evening OUR point guard Dee Bost tweeted out requesting MSU Athletic Officials to put together a "Midnight Madness" event due to the high expectations going into the season. Famous locals such as Strangebrew Coffeehouse, Whit Waide among others joined in asking MSU AD Scott Stricklin to consider such an event.

Now often times athletic directors and people in management positions in athletic programs tend to avoid replying to requests, criticisms, and other direct communications. Isn't it cool to have an AD who is just another person like you and I? About an hour after Whit Waide submitted the above request to Stricklin on behalf of he, Dee Bost (and the rest of us), our AD had this to say:

Maroon Madness??? Sounds like something I could get behind. It's hard to take this is a 100% promise that such a "Midnight Madness" type event is on the way, but it is an exciting glimpse at what MAY be to come. And as a side note, kudos to Stricklin for going against the grain and being an AD that is "among the people."

Also, I request that this "potential" event feature a Slam Dunk contest between the Gold Team. I'd love to be the celebrity guest dunker to join them, if they're willing to let me use a trampoline in aiding my dunks.

#HailState

Gameday Score Prediction Thread

2011-09-15T12:12:19Z

Nothing fancy here guys, just looking to hear your score predictions for tonight's game.

I'll say 28-17 State

#HailState

Coach Mullen Discusses First Practice...

2011-08-05T22:41:03Z

Dan Mullen 8.4.11

Thoughts on the upcoming football season

2011-07-18T12:13:10Z

With us writing all these game previews, position previews, etc. here at For Whom the Cowbell Tolls, we also want to know: what are your thoughts on this upcoming season? We are approaching the dreaded month of August: where football is so close you can taste it, but it's not quite here and oh by the way it's still 10000000 degrees outside. So lets start up a thread on expectations this season. It can be your expectations for the whole season, a single game, what you expect out of an individual player this year, anything really. Just come by here and share your thoughts with us.

GO.....

Road Dawgs Make Stop in Music City

2011-05-15T03:15:33Z

Offseason caravans give university and athletic department officials the chance to hit the road and spread the good word about the state of their programs. For Mississippi State and Coach Dan Mullen, it’s no different. In between doing somewhat awkwardly close interviews or playing Tiger Woods golf, Mullen and his maroon-clad contigent spent the last week dotting the Southeast on the annual Road Dawgs Tour. Since starting May 9, the tour made 12 scheduled meet and greets in Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia.

The group made their second-to-last stop in Nashville, hosted by the MSU Nashville Alumni Association. Here are a few notes…

In continuing the great "T oday. Tomorrow. Forever." push from the MSU marketing department, Mullen stressed the importance of a football-only complex. After explaining our facilities are “12-out-of-12 when it comes to the SEC,” Mullen noted that his office is in the Bryan Building, while his players converge at the Holliman Athletic Center and the Palmerio Center. “The players are never around the coaches’ offices,” Mullen said. “And if I call them to see me, they start getting paranoid.”
Renderings of a newly expanded Davis Wade Stadium have excited the fan base, but it still sounds like it is a few years down the road. “After (Athletic Director) Scott Stricklin finishes crunching the numbers, we are expecting to have around 3,500 names on the waiting list for tickets,” Mullen said. “Before we put shovels in the ground for expansion, we are going to have to wait until the demand for season tickets is around 10,000 and that looks to be in 2014.” He also alluded to the fact that once the endzone expansion is complete, it would be home to the student section, like at Ole Miss.
For those that are hitched, you have been told the cliché “happy wife, happy life.” Football fans know this. If a coaches’ wife doesn't get a good vibe about a town, she’ll put her foot down. For example, Rich Rodriguez’s wife + Paul Finebaum making fun of her 80s hairstyle = No thanks, T-Town. When Mullen opened the floor to questions, the first one was about his wife - “Is Megan happy?” After cracking a joke that she isn’t right now because he’s been on the road all week, he explained they both love the Starkville community. He stressed how generous and gracious people have been to his family since their arrival. Good to know, because I hear Happy Valley residents slaughter their young and is a hot-bed for terrorist activity. Please don’t take our coach, Penn State!
Depth will again be an area of concern as despite returning 17 starters, by the start of fall practice, true and redshirt freshmen will make up 39 of the 85 scholarships on the team. With the departure of seniors like J.C. Brignone and K.J. Wright, Mullen stressed a leadership void and a little immaturity issues. "It's up to us to make them grow up pretty quick," Mullen said. "And over the summer, there is a certain strength coach named Matt Balis whose job it'll be to shake, cry or sweat the immaturity out of them. What he doesn't get out of them, the other coaches will in August."
But the thing Mullen touched on throughout the speech was the state of the program is in pretty great shape but there is still work to be done. He's right. Winning nine games and the Gator Bowl is quite an accomplishment for a program that was one of the worst of the BCS conferences a few years ago. But we—and Mullen—want more. "The challenge is the immediate, not the future," Mullen said. "We have to keep asking ourselves 'are we satisfied?' I know I'm not. I want to keep climbing that mountain. It'll be tough but one day we'll get to the top." Here's hoping.

In Case You Weren't Aware About What Was At Stake For The Losers Of Spring Game...

2011-04-10T15:51:05Z

SB Nation College Bowl Pick Em' Recap

2011-01-12T17:04:46Z

Well, the SB Nation College Bowl Pick Em' game ended as of January 11th, about 12:30 A.M. EST. That last win by Auburn was enough to push hothot Louisville Cardinals to win the game. Congratulations. I for one know that it will look like I picked pretty badly, but in reality I picked pretty well, picking 23 of 35 games correctly. Unfortunately, Almost all of those were under 25 confidence points and 75% or more of my losses had a confidence of 25 or higher...

Anyway, here is the final Top 10:

1. hothot Louisville Cardinals
2. Reba's Son
3. Miller
4. mizzou123
5. jerjharris
6. St. Pete Jacket
7. Easy 1
8. Gamehenge Multibeasts
9. BroncoBuffaloBill
10. B5Q Adam T

The game that killed everyone:

Nebraska vs. Washington

Full Final Standings

SB Nation College Bowl Pick Em' December 18th Recap

2010-12-20T00:17:56Z

If you would like to know when an update is posted about the College Bowl Pick Em' game, follow me on Twitter. I'll be tweeting the link to each update.

SB Nation College Bowl Pick Em' had 135 people sign up. Although the slogan says "Don't sign up if you're not going to play," 21 people did not pick any games. We can theoretically now elimnate them leaving 114 people actually playing the game.

Of those 114, only 17 people correctly picked BYU over UTEP, Northern Illinois over Fresno State, and Troy over Ohio. That includes our leader, FlaGators. FlaGators is leader due to not only him correctly picking all three games, but having them in high confidence. He had a Troy win at a confidence of 30, Northern Illinois at a confidence of 29 and BYU at a confidence of 22.

For those of you that had a bad first day to the bowl season, just remember that there are 35 games, not 3, in the bowl season and everyone still has a chance.

Here is what the Top 10 of the standings looks like:

1. FlaGators

2. COUGS

3. Wurtland Warriors

4. The Gary Carter's

5. hothot Louisville Cardinals

6. Miller

7. mojo133/2

8. nebraskasux

T9. Hilary Lee (Off Tackle Empire)

T9. forum8usa

For the complete standings, click here.

Here are the recaps done by SB Nation on each of yesterday's bowl games and a preview on today's Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl.

New Mexico Bowl, BYU vs. UTEP: Cougars obliterate Miners, 52-24

The following is Miner Rush's (SB Nation's UTEP Blog) recap of the game.

Maybe, there are too many bowl games. Maybe, teams that lose 5 of their last 6 shouldn't be rewarded with a bowl appearance. I don't know about all that, but I do know that all 6-6 teams are not equal. The BYU Cougars were better than the UTEP Miners in every facet of the game in the 5th Annual New Mexico Bowl.

From the opening kickoff, it was apparent that Bronco Mendenhall's football team was better prepared and just better than their C-USA counterparts. Mendenhall has never had a losing season in six seasons at BYU and the Cougars have played in bowl games every year since 2006. The Cougars arrived to University Stadium ready to play a football game. The UTEP Miners arrived midway through the second quarter.

UTEP's opening drive lasted all of four plays. UTEP had a first down on a Marlon McClure quick screen and then followed it up with a nice 5 yard gain by Joe Banyard. Then, Mendenhall sent a blind side screen with cornerback Andrew Rich. Rich took down Trevor Vittatoe for a huge loss and the Miners drive stalled. BYU's Cody Hoffman nearly returned the ensuing punt for a touchdown. Four plays later, Bryan Kariya walked into the end zone from four yards out to put BYU up 7-0.

After another drive stalled, Jake Heaps hit Luke Ashworth for a 9 yard touchdown pass. The teams traded field goals, including a booming 52 yarder from Dakota Warren, before BYU took complete control of the game behind two Heaps touchdown passes to Coffman. WIth 8:55 to play in the first half, the score was 31-3. UTEP had -22 yards rushing and -1 yard overall. And, the New Mexico Bowl was effectively over.

UTEP finally got something going when VIttatoe hit Kris Adams on a 67 yard bomb with 8:38 to play. 31-10. A Trevaun Nixon interception gave the Miners hope of going into the half down only 14. Nixon intercepted the Heaps pass on the UTEP 12 yard line and returned it 43 yards to the BYU 45.

With 0:51 on the clock, Vittatoe methodically moved the Miners down the field. First, he rushed for 10 yards, Then, he hit Pierce Hunter for 11 yards. After a bad drop by Marlon McClure, VIttatoe hit Corey Trisby for 9 yards. Two plays later, he hit Trisby again to get it to the 15. After a terrible drop on the goal line by Kris Adams, Trevor scrambled for four yards, with 11 seconds to play, but was hit late by a BYU defender. The penalty gave the Miners the ball on the BYU 3 yard line with 4 seconds to play. Mike Price made a gutsy call, and one I agreed with, when he decided to have the Miners go for it.

As Miner fans know, a good call by our coaching staff is usally followed by a bad one. And, of course the bad call was the decision to throw a fade to Kris Adams who was clearly double covered. The pass sailed out of bounds and any momentum UTEP had ended as the pass sailed out of bounds. UTEP had a timeout and the double team was apparent. But, instead of using the timeout and calling a different play, Aaron Price and Trevor Vittatoe decided to try the fade anyway. Ballgame.

In the second half, Trevor did manage to hit Kris Adams on two big touchdown passes. Here are the rest of my thoughts, bullet style:

Which One Was the Freshman? Offensive MVP Jake Heaps looked like Tom Brady against the UTEP defense. Heaps was a killer 25/34 for 264 yards with 4 touchdowns and only 1 interception. Trevor Vittatoe, playing of course with an injured ankle, limped his way to a 14/29 performance for 245 yards. Vittatoe tossed three touchdowns and had three more interceptions.
No Pick 6 At Least: For the second time this season, Trevor threw three interceptions. He also had three picks in the UAB loss. In UTEP's first six games, TV only had two interceptions.
Was He Injured? As BYU began to take control of the game, Aaron Price unsurprisingly abandoned the run. Coming off his biggest game as a Miner, starting running back Joseph Banyard carried the ball only two times for 11 yards. Donald Buckram picked up 6 carries in the second half for all of 10 yards. The Miners rushed for -12 yards overall. I'm not saying Banyard could have won the game, or even averaged more than 2 yards a carry, but I do think it would have been worthwhile to lean on him a bit more early on to see if UTEP could keep BYU's offense off the field.
No Tricks Up His Sleeve: Let's face it. UTEP had nothing to lose in this one. The Miners were 13 point underdogs and everyone in the country pretty much expected them to lose. I figured the Miners would embrace this underdog role and try some new wrinkles to catch BYU off guard. Maybe more Wildcat? Maybe some new ways to use Marlon McClure? Nope. We saw a cornerback blitz on the defense's first play that worked well with Trevaun Nixon. Other than that, we had a vanilla game plan. No trick plays. Nothing new. Nothing fresh.
Same Old Story: For the 5th straight season, the UTEP Miners have finished with a losing record. Mike Price is the first coach to take UTEP to three bowl games since 1954 (Mike Brumbelow) but he has been unable to get that elusive bowl win.
Highlights: Kris Adams had a key drop on that second quarter drive, but he also had 153 yards on three receptions (all TD's). Receivers like him simply don't come to El Paso very often. Dakota Warren hit a nice field goal from 52. Trevaun had that interception but he was also beat in coverage for two Cody Coffman touchdowns. Speaking of Coffman, his career high was 74 receiving yards. He had 137 and three touchdowns against UTEP. Wiston Jeune played good, aggressive football. Marlon McClure had some nice returns.
Lowlights: Anthony Morrow had a silly roughing the passer penalty. Marcus Bagley, a DT, went offsides on a key 3rd down despite being on top of the ball. And just about everything else.

The following is the Sports Network's official recap of the New Mexico Bowl.

Albuquerque, NM (Sports Network) - Jake Heaps completed 25-of-34 passes for 264 yards and four touchdowns, as BYU thumped UTEP, 52-24, in the fifth annual New Mexico Bowl.

Cody Hoffman snagged eight passes for 137 yards and three scores, while Joshua Quezada ran for 101 yards and a touchdown for the Cougars (7-6), who won five of their last six games to close the 2010 season. JJ Di Luigi added 98 yards and a score on the ground.

BYU played in its final game as a member of the Mountain West Conference, which it joined in 1998; it will become a football independent starting in 2011.

Trevor Vittatoe threw for 245 yards and three touchdowns, all to Kris Adams, on 14-of-29 efficiency for the Miners (6-7), who ended their campaign by dropping six of their last seven games.

JD Falslev's 43-yard punt return set up BYU at the UTEP 37, from where it cashed in just four plays later to begin the scoring onslaught.

Heaps hit Hoffman for 31 yards to the Miners' 11 two plays before Bryan Kariya ran up the middle four yards to the end zone to make it 7-0 just 4 1/2 minutes into the contest.

After UTEP went 3-and-out, BYU put together a 12-play, 78-yard-drive that culminated in Heaps' nine-yard scoring toss to Luke Ashworth with 4:37 left in the period.

Marlon McClure brought the ensuing kickoff back 72 yards to the BYU 22, leading to a 52-yard field goal by Dakota Warren with 2:42 to go in the opening quarter.

Mitch Payne booted a 38-yard field goal for the Cougars with 34 ticks left in the quarter to make it a 17-3 contest.

Brand Ogletree intercepted Vittatoe on the first play of the second quarter, and BYU scored on its next play when Heaps found Hoffman open in the end zone from 31 yards away.

The Cougars then made it 31-3 slightly less than six minutes later on Heaps' three-yard scoring toss to Hoffman in the back of the end zone.

UTEP needed only one play to score on its next touch, as Vittatoe and Adams hooked up on a 67-yard catch-and-run.

The Miners drove all the way to the Cougars' three-yard line before a Vittatoe incompletion in the end zone brought the first half to a close.

Di Luigi's two-yard scoring run and a 29-yard scoring strike from Heaps to Hoffman sandwiched a 37-yard scoring reception by Adams that gave the Cougars a 45-17 lead after three quarters.

Quezada's eight-yard TD dash finished the scoring for BYU before Adams caught a 49-yard scoring strike from Vittatoe with just under 10 minutes remaining.

BYU played in a bowl game for a sixth straight season under head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who was recruited by UTEP head coach Mike Price. Price at the time was the head coach at Weber State...The Cougars are 11-17-1 in bowl games, while the Miners dropped to 5-8...UTEP was playing in its first postseason game since the 2005 GMAC Bowl...BYU leads the all-time series, 29-7-1...The MWC entrant has won this game the last four years...Kariya finished with 18 yards on six carries...Joe Banyard was UTEP's leading rusher with 11 yards on two totes, while Donald Buckram carried six times for 10 yards...Adams totaled 153 yards on his three scoring catches...McClure made four grabs for 38 yards.

Humanitarian Bowl, Northern Illinois vs. Fresno State: Huskies Roll Past Bulldogs, 40-17

The following is the Sports Network's official recap of the Humanitarian Bowl.

Chandler Harnish ran for two touchdowns and passed for another score, as Northern Illinois crushed Fresno State, 40-17, in the 14th annual Humanitarian Bowl.

Chad Spann added 95 rushing yards and a pair of TDs for the Huskies (11-3), who snapped a three-game skid in bowl games, having lost last season to South Florida in the International Bowl. Harnish connected on 17-of-26 passes for 300 yards and rushed for 72 more for Northern Illinois, which was coming off a loss to Miami-Ohio in the MAC championship game.

Tom Matukewicz, who guided the team as interim head coach, was given a celebratory punch bath by his players in the final seconds. Starting in 2011 Dave Doeren, who has spent the last five years as an assistant at Wisconsin, will take over the NIU football program. Jerry Kill left NIU to take the vacancy at Minnesota.

"Our motivation was through the roof," Tom Matukewicz said. "It couldn't have been better. We had a lot to play for. I feel sorry for Fresno because they hit the perfect storm."

Ryan Colburn threw for a pair of scores for the Bulldogs (8-5), who have lost three straight postseason games, including the previous two at the New Mexico Bowl. Colburn finished 28-of-38 for 288 yards.

The Bulldogs denied Harnish on a fourth down pass in Fresno State territory early in the first quarter, and NIU fell behind 7-0 courtesy of Colburn's 11- yard TD strike to Jamel Hamler with 5 1/2 minutes left in the stanza.

Harnish, though, completed a 39-yard pass to Martel Moore, and two plays later the junior QB scored on a seven-yard run. The extra point try was no good.

A 28-yard run by Harnish into the end zone early in the second quarter gave NIU the lead for good, and it became a nine-point margin after Michael Cklamovski's 45-yard field goal with over nine minutes left until halftime.

"Give Northern Illinois a lot of credit. They really took over the game after our first drive," Fresno State coach Pat Hill said. "We couldn't get much going on offense and we couldn't slow them down on defense. We knew they were a very good football team and they proved that tonight."

Kevin Goessling connected from the same distance inside four minutes to go for Fresno State, but Harnish found Kyle Skarb for a 22-yard score in the final minute of the half. NIU went to the break holding a 23-10 lead after Goessling missed poorly on a 43-yard field goal attempt.

Cklamovski split the uprights from 51 yards away early in the third and NIU capitalized on a fumble from Colburn on the next series. Spann powered into the end zone from 18 yards away for a 33-10 cushion late in the third.

Spann scored on an eight-yard run in the opening moments of the fourth before Colburn found Rashad Evans for an 11-yard TD pass with 5 1/2 minutes remaining to account for the final margin.

Northern Illinois set a record for wins in a single season...NIU moved to 3-3 all-time in Division I bowl games, having beaten Fullerton State (1983 California Bowl) and Troy (2004 Silicon Valley Bowl)...Fresno State, which made its 11th bowl appearance in the last 12 seasons, is 11-12 in postseason contests...NIU is 3-2 all-time against Fresno State...Robbie Rouse was held to 32 yards on 14 carries for Fresno State...Willie Clark and Moore each had 88 yards receiving for NIU, while Hamler had 87 on seven grabs for the Bulldogs.

New Orleans Bowl, Ohio vs. Troy: Trojans Skin Bobacts, 48-21

The Following is the Sports Network's official recap of the R + L Carriers Bowl.

Corey Robinson passed for 387 yards and four touchdowns, as Troy built a big lead before recording a 48-21 victory over Ohio in the New Orleans Bowl.

Robinson completed 32-of-42 passes and threw three of his touchdowns in the second quarter to help the Trojans (8-5) carry a 38-7 lead into halftime. Troy then held on in the second half and earned the program's second bowl victory -- the first since the 2006 New Orleans Bowl.

DuJuan Harris ran for 105 yards and a touchdown, while Jerrel Jernigan rushed for a score in the rout. Troy nearly doubled Ohio's total yardage, outgaining the Bobcats by a 602-308 margin.

"We prepared well," Troy head coach Larry Blakene said. "I think our kids, after coming back off some really tough losses in the last half of the season, and then getting two wins and the help to get a co-championship, really helped us prepare well. I wanted to make sure it wasn't just the excitement of being in a bowl."

Boo Jackson passed for 209 yards and three touchdowns for Ohio (8-5), which fell to 0-5 all-time in bowl games.

Jernigan ran for a 12-yard score just over five minutes into the game, capping a 78-yard drive and getting Troy on the board. Ohio countered with a score, as Jackson found Steven Goulet on a 34-yard strike.

However, the Trojans scored the next 34 points to take control.

Robinson's 31-yard TD pass to Tebiarus Gill with 1:57 left in the first quarter put Troy back on top for good. Robinson hooked up with Jernigan for a 16-yard score a little more than two minutes into the second quarter, and Michael Taylor's 50-yard field goal made it a 24-7 game with 8:33 left.

Robinson connected with Gill for touchdowns of 17 and 26 yards in the final three minutes to turn the game into a blowout at the break.

Taylor's 33-yard kick three minutes into the third quarter completed Troy's run and left Ohio unable to come back without a minor miracle.

Jackson followed Taylor's field goal with a five-yard touchdown pass to Donte Foster, but Harris answered with a two-yard running score only two minutes later.

Jackson's 18-yard TD to Riley Dunlop with 5:07 left in the game completed the scoring.

"It's clear that we had trouble controlling them from the very start in terms of what they were all about," Ohio head coach Frank Solich said. "They pretty much threw at will, they made plays after the catch and that opened up the ground game for them. That's not what you look for in terms of keeping people from putting points on the board."

Jernigan finished with a game-high seven catches for 48 yards...Dunlop ended with four receptions for 91 yards...Ohio gained 99 rushing yards...Jackson completed 14-of-21 passes, was intercepted once, and was sacked four times...Troy earned a 41-17 victory over Rice in the 2006 New Orleans Bowl. The Trojans had lost to Central Michigan in the GMAC Bowl last season...Ohio lost to Marshall in last season's Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.

Southern Miss makes its ninth straight post-season appearance against Louisville

The following is the Sports Network's official preview of the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl.

For the ninth straight season Southern Miss is making a postseason appearance, as the Golden Eagles will collide with the Louisville Cardinals on December 21st in the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Golden Eagles might have racked up eight wins this season, which is clearly good enough for a bowl game, but their year began and ended the same way, with a loss. After falling to South Carolina in their opener, the Golden Eagles responded with four straight wins. The following three-game stretch saw the team drop two contests to East Carolina and UAB, and both setbacks came by a one-point margin. With the loss to the Blazers in the rearview mirror, the Golden Eagles exited the loss column, and racked up three consecutive wins. However, the regular season closed out with a 56-50 loss to Tulsa.

The Golden Eagles are no strangers to playing in bowls, having made a postseason showing in 12 of the last 13 years, including eight straight seasons. Last year Southern Mississippi fell to Middle Tennessee, 42-32, in the New Orleans Bowl. The Golden Eagles are 7-5 in bowl action during their recent stretch, but overall in the program's history, Southern Miss is just 9-11. Despite the recent run, coach Larry Fedora remains humble.

"We are extremely excited about the opportunity to play in St. Petersburg in Florida," said coach Fedora. "It is a great area with great weather and we have the opportunity to play a quality opponent from the Big East. We are thrilled about being able to play another game."

The last time the Cardinals went "bowling" they defeated Wake Forest in the 2007 FedEx Orange Bowl. Louisville, which is 6-7-1 all-time in bowl games, will be making its 15 appearance in postseason play, but it will be the first for Charlie Strong as a head coach.

"For us to go get a bid to play in the bowl game was really big for the program because we needed that for the confidence of this program. Anytime you change a staff, you want something good to happen. We talked about getting this program to a bowl game and then make this program better each year from there."

Strong, who came from the coaching staff of Urban Meyer at Florida, did not have an overly impressive inaugural season, but still claimed Co-Coach of the Year honors in the Big East along with Connecticut's Randy Edsall. Louisville claimed wins in four of its first seven matchups and the three losses all came by eight or less points. Sitting at 4-3 the Cardinals proceeded to suffer losses in three of their next four games, and the lone win was a slim, 28-20 decision on the road against Syracuse. Fortunately, coach Strong's squad was able to go on the road in the season-finale and properly handle Rutgers to the tune of 40-13, giving the team the six wins needed to become bowl eligible.

The Golden Eagles currently own an 18-9-1 edge over Louisville in the all-time series, but the Cardinals have won the last four meetings, including a 25-23 decision last year thanks to a last minute field goal.

Ask any coach at any level of football and they will be the first to explain how having a balanced attack is the key to any successful offense. Having the ability to run and pass, keeps defenses guessing, and gives defensive coordinators fits. Coach Fedora can rest easy at night knowing his offense is very potent on the ground and through the air.

Taking care of the passing attack is Austin Davis, who was selected to the All Conference-USA Second Team. Davis completed over 60 percent of his throws this season, and racked up the yardage, averaging 241.5 ypg. He has thrown for 18 touchdowns, but more importantly, the veteran gunslinger does not make many mistakes, tossing just six interceptions. Kelvin Bolden has hauled in a team- high six touchdowns, but the main target has been Johdrick Morris. Morris, who was the First Team selection at tight end in the league, has collected a team- best 46 receptions for 663 yards.

Clearly Davis is a very effective quarterback, and makes life easy for coach Fedora, but what has kept opposing teams guessing is the ground game, which has dominated the competition for 203.4 ypg. There is not one main option that Southern Miss relies on, which is another advantage for this offense, as it showcases a few different talented backs. Kendrick Hardy has been the most successful, churning out 855 yards and seven scores, while Desmond Johnson, who also has seven touchdowns, has rumbled for 509 yards.

The offense received most of the attention on the season, and rightfully so, but the Southern Miss defense has also played a vital role in the team's success. Sure, on paper this unit is surrendering 29.4 ppg, which is a terrible number, but when peering deeper into the stats, there are plenty of things that make this a dangerous entity.

Opponents might be churning out 113.3 ypg on the ground against the Golden Eagles, but that is not an overwhelming amount, and when combined with the 3.6 yards per carry this front line has held opponents to, it is rather an impressive showing. A big reason for the team's success is the play of defensive linemen Anthony Gray and Cordarro Law. Both were selected to the league's Second Team, and will have their hands full against a tough Louisville ground attack.

Clearly if a team is allowing close to 30 points per matchup there are issues, and in the case of Southern Miss that comes in the defensive backfield. The Golden Eagles has been torched on the year for 248.1 ypg and 26 touchdowns, and the lone reason why both numbers are not higher is because this unit has been fortunate enough to grab 17 interceptions. Four of those interceptions were hauled in by Justin Wilson, who joins Law and Gray on the C-USA'a Second Team roster.

Louisville has the potential on the roster to possess a balanced attack, but that was not the case for the Cardinals, who fell way short of expectations in 2010. A major reason for the team's short-comings was due to injuries to a couple of key players in Bilal Powell and Adam Froman.

Powell only missed one game on the year, but spent most of the season dealing with nagging injures. However, that did not stop the running back from rumbling for 1,330 yards and 10 touchdowns on 6.3 yards per attempt. As a whole, the ground game for Louisville produced a robust 180.5 ypg, and because of that impressive display the Cardinals were able to either grind out wins, or keep matchups close down the stretch. Powell's success on the season did not go unnoticed, as the powerful back (6-0, 215) earned a spot on the Big East Conference's First Team.

Unfortunately, Froman's injury was much more severe, and kept the quarterback from competing in four games, while limiting him in other key matchups. Obviously, losing a quarterback is never easy to deal with, especially one as talented and experienced as Froman. In eight games, the signal caller completed just over 60 percent of his throws and tossed 11 touchdowns against four interceptions. However, in Froman's stead was Justin Burke, who performed admirably. Burke threw eight touchdowns and completed 56.7 percent of his passes, and as of right now he will be getting the nod on Tuesday over Froman.

"(Adam) Froman is practicing, but (Justin) Burke is still the starter. You still have all three guys with Froman, Burke and (Will) Stein. You watched Froman go down early in the season and then Burke came in to lead the football team. Burke went down in the Rutgers game and Stein came in. This is good because all three guys understand the system and you are comfortable with all three guys."

With the Louisville offense not reaching its full potential this year, the defense had to enhance its play to get to six wins and remain competitive in league play.

The biggest factor in the defense's success was Hakeem Smith. The redshirt freshman stepped into the safety position and led this defense with his physical and emotional style of play. The hard-hitting playmaker paced Louisville with 80 tackles, and his play on the field earned him a spot on the conference's Second Team, but more importantly led to the honor of being named Big East Rookie of the Year. Smith was not alone in the secondary however, as Johnny Patrick also played a huge role, collecting a team-high five interceptions. With those picks and his ability to be a shut down corner, Patrick was named to the league's First Team and helped Louisville limit the opposition to just 162.5 ypg via the pass.

If there was an issue with coach Strong's defense it has come against the run. Louisville is not being abused from game to game, but the team is surrendering 142.2 ypg, which clearly suggests there are holes to exploit in the frontline. Louisville is holding opponents under 20.0 ppg on the season, and if the team wishes to keep the Golden Eagles from crossing that plateau, than the Cardinals will definitely need to fill the gaps up front.

The biggest difference in so many bowl games is the play of the defense. Usually the team with the more consistent unit will win, and if that theory is true than the Cardinals should be flying high by the final whistle.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Louisville 31, Southern Miss 24

SB Nation College Bowl Pick Em'

2010-12-18T02:31:04Z

This would have been up yesterday evening, but due to a 1 day moratorium on posting after joining that is enforced on this blog, I was unable to post this until today.

I know that this is very late, but I am organizinga Pick Em' group that is open to all SB Nation college blogs. I have put this post up on every SBN College site and all are invited to join the group. Here are the steps on how to join:

1. Click this link to go to the group home page.

2. Sign in or create a Yahoo account.

3. Click "Join this group" to become a part of the group.

4. Yahoo will ask you to create a pick set, fill out the information and press "Create Pick Set" to complete the process.

Once you have done that, the site will redirect you back to the group's home page. I would suggest you put this in your bookmarks for easy access, but you can access it just by going to the Yahoo Fantasy Sports Home Page and signing in. Good luck picking!

Mullen not heading to Miami

2010-12-10T03:36:18Z

According the ESPN Bottom Line ticker. Dan Mullen is out of contention for the Miami job. Hopefully in the coming days the same can be said about the Florida job...

Some of the speculation about the Florida job includes Jim Harbaugh, Bo Pelini, Jon Gruden (probably not going to happen), Bobby Petrino. In my opinion Harbaugh might be the lead candidate for job whose name is not Mullen. He runs a tight ship and would certainly bring some discipline to a Florida team that badly needs it. (lol Cam Newton, Chris Rainey, et al.) I will be crossing my fingers that at least one of those aforementioned names get the job.

If Mullen does leave, then I feel that it would decimate our recruiting class, and set back our team another few years. It's been mentioned here before. Mullen has a chance to make himself into a legend by building a respectable program that has long been a laughing stock of the SEC. I want to stay proud of being a Bulldog outside of the state. I do not want to go back to being the forgotten team.

Hail State!