UVA Finishes a Perfect Day with an Upset

For the first time in several seasons I did not purchase UVA season tickets, but chose to come to just a handful of key games. Undefeated #12 Georgia Tech and a sunny fall day seemed like the perfect time for a tailgate as well. While the Yellow Jackets came in touting an option offense that ran all over the Hoos in previous seasons, Virginia had the bye week to prepare for the gimmick. After jumping out to a 14-0 lead, the Cavaliers let the Rambling Wreck back in the game with a missed field goal and pick six. Then Coach London figured out what VT Coach Beamer had enjoyed for years, beating up on an Al Groh coached defense. The Hoos gave the Yellow Jackets and their former coach a taste of their own medicine by running for their highest total in seven seasons, while holding them to their lowest offensive output in 20 games. UVA was even able to run out the last six minutes of the game as students ran out onto the field:

Now that Virginia is 4-2, they are only two wins away from bowl eligibility and luckily have home games coming up against NC State and Duke. Heck, they even received three votes in the AP poll on Sunday, capping a great weekend.

Its Bowl Season!

While all the attention will be on the BCS Championship game between undefeated Auburn and Oregon, I will be focusing on two of the more unheralded bowls. No, it does not involve UVA, which will be playing in the “Spring” Bowl. Nor does it involve Ohio State, which despite only one loss will only be playing in the Sugar Bowl. My attention will be on two bowls with a combined 13 years of history between all unranked teams.

First, my only cousin’s Miami of Ohio team faces off against Middle Tennessee State in the GoDaddy.com Bowl. The Redhawks completed an incredible worst to first turnaround by winning the MAC championship game last week. Coach of the year hopeful Mike Haywood improved his squad by eight games, going 7-1 in the conference. Miami has reeled off five victories in a row, four of which on the road. Meanwhile the Blue Raiders are only 6-6 in the Sun Belt, but have better statistical rankings than the Red Hawks. Formerly called the GMAC Bowl, the game takes place in Mobile on January 6^th on ESPN. Despite being the 34^th ranked bowl game, it looks like there will be some fun activities planned, and I’m sure there will be plenty of Danica Patrick commercials on TV

Meanwhile eight days earlier in DC, Maryland and East Carolina face off in the Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman. My girlfriend and her company help manage the event, so maybe I’ll hang out with John Wall doing his dance while punching Dwight Howard for beating the Cavs. Now with a different major sponsor, hopefully there will be some sweet flyovers or cannon shots after each touchdown. RFK will be the site of a possible shootout since the 6-6 Pirates are 112^th in defense and 12^th in offense while the Terps are 42^nd or better in both. Strangely enough Maryland had the second biggest turnaround in the nation to Miami. Terps are bitter they are going to a lower seeded ACC bowl, but if you cannot attend a bowl game a couple metro stops from your campus, you do not deserve to play in warm weather. I’ll be going just to boo the Twerps the whole time.

What about the other bowls? Try naming all 35 of them first.