Well, who expected that? I guess I should have - you know what they say about Mormons and beavers...
I really didn't think the Beavers would allow themselves to still be suffering from a Civil War hangover, but losing out on the Rose Bowl seemed to have State deflated before they even touched the turf in Vegas. They scored the opening TD, sure, but it felt somewhat perfunctory given their speed. However, the Cougs came to win and made the appropriate adjustments, reeling off 37 unanswered points en route to a 44-20 blowout. Oregon State's vaunted rushing attack was contained for a mere 91 yards and the Rodgers brothers were unheard of for most of the night. Little brother Quizz had his first career fumble returned for an early BYU score that seemed to turn the entire game. Add in a Chicago-style wind that howled all night, ruining the Beavs' kicking (including two sub-10 yard punts!) and giving BYU great field position, and it was a recipe for a Mt. West win. In the end, BYU seemed to want it more and the Beavers bowl streak had to end sometime. I'm not sure if this really serves as validation for BYU or their conference; we all know the Mountain West is a good conference and BYU consistently wins 10 games a year. Tonight certainly tells us a great deal about where Oregon State thought they should be, though...and it's not in Las Vegas.
Let's see if Cal rights the PAC-10 ship against MWC Utah tomorrow night. I must admit, though, that after tonight, I'm rethinking my pick on the Poinsettia Bowl...
I did have the Fightin' Murphs winning this one...only based on that heartbreaker in the Civil War, like you said, they felt like they deserved to be elsewhere...I'm with you on Cal with th win on the next one though
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