BCS Bowl Games 

            The hope of every college football team is to make it to the National Championship game, but if not that, then a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) game is the next best prestigious offer.  The BCS games were played in the first week of January.  There are five BCS games: the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and the BCS National Championship game.

            In the Rose Bowl, the eighth-ranked the Penn State Nittany Lions faced off with the fifth-ranked USC Trojans.  The Trojans jumped out to a big lead of 24 points at the half.  But the Lions rallied in the fourth quarter outscoring the Trojans 17 to 7, but it wasn’t enough.  The Trojans took the game 38 to 24.  “I thought the game was a good one, but I don’t like how USC gets to play in their home stadium for the bowl games,” Jory Criner ‘10 said.

            In the Fiesta Bowl, the Texas Longhorns took the Ohio State Buckeyes on.  It was tight game with one team scoring right after the other.  The scoring was capped off by an Ohio State field goal, scoring the only points of the first quarter.  At the half, the Buckeyes had a lead of 6 to 3; both defenses kept the opposing offenses out of the end zone.  In the third quarter, the Longhorns scored two touchdowns to take the lead 17 to 6.  The Buckeyes answered back with two touchdowns and a field goal of their own to make the score 21 to 17.  Then Texas scored a touchdown on a 26-yard pass to win the game.  “I was really happy to see the Longhorns take the victory.  I got kind of worried when the Buckeyes scored and took the lead.  But the horns were just too much to handle,” Devan Schmidt ‘09 said.

            Playing in Louisiana at the Sugar Bowl the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Utah Utes butted helmets.  Alabama had been ranked number-one for five straight weeks until the SEC Championship game where they lost to Florida.  The Utes jumped right out to a 21-0 lead after their first three possessions.  The Alabama offense just couldn’t hang with the power of the Utes. 

            The Orange Bowl in Florida featured the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Cincinnati Bearcats.  With Cincinnati driving the ball 72 yards for a touchdown on the opening drive, it looked to be a good game.  But Tech’s defense stepped up and the Bearcats didn’t score again for the whole game.  Tech won the game 20-7.

            In the spotlight of the college football nation, the BCS championship game had the #1 Oklahoma Sooners and the #2 Florida Gators.  Oklahoma had scored 60 or more points in its last five games.  Very surprisingly neither team was able to put the ball in the end zone in the first quarter.  However, within the first three minutes of the second quarter, both teams scored; at the half the score was 7 to 7.  Florida scored again in the third quarter making the score 14 to 7.  Both the Sooners and the Gators scored in the fourth quarter.  But the Gators were just too much to handle.  The Gators were crowned the national champs beating the Sooners 24 to 14.  “I was very surprised that the game was so low scoring.  It made me mad that the Gators won because (Quarterback Tim) Tebow was talking smack before the game,” Senior Jordan Roseborough said.

            College football is over for another year now, but who knows what will happen in 2009. Will Florida be able to defend its title, or will Nebraska be in the top ten?  “I think that Florida will have a good chance at defending their title next year, since their quarterback, Tim Tebow is coming back for his senior year,” Colton Stone ‘10 said.  “I think the Huskers will be rated in the beginning of the season, but they will lose and drop out of the top 25 just like every other season,” Freshman Ian Shada said.

By: Steven Boettcher

Fairbury Jr/Sr High School
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Fairbury, NE 68352
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