Best and worst take their places

Marie MacKay
Sports Editor

After a resignation from a coach, debris on the field and a hope for a fair running to share the national title, the rankings of the best college football teams have been decided.

The rush of adrenaline and competition has faded after the many unexpected and expected predictions from the college bowls come to an end with final bowl game, the national championship Rose Bowl.

Whether sports fans wanted it or not, the scores still stand to go down in the history books and to be added to another year of college bowl statistics.

Here is a highlight of the best and worst aspects of the yearly bowl tradition: Rose Bowl.

It was never a question of who would win but rather by how much. As the Miami Hurricanes swept away the Nebraska Cornhuskers, they left the competition wondering why Nebraska was in the running for the national championship anyway.

Miami brought in a 34-0 lead in the first 30 minutes of the game, leaving television viewers to flip the channels knowing they weren’t missing much.

But the Cornhuskers fought back, putting 14 points on the scoreboard before the game was over. Miami was named the national champion with a 37-14 win.

Fiesta Bowl

After a quick win by Oregon against No. 3 Colorado with a final score of 38-16, they were put on the back burner waiting to see if Nebraska would take out Miami so Oregon could share some of the glory of the national title.

Many saw who won when Colorado played Nebraska back in November and knew they should have an equal share of the national title if Nebraska won the Rose Bowl. But their hopes were empty when the inevitable occurred and Miami won.

Sugar Bowl

Records were shattered as No. 12 LSU won a school-record fifth straight bowl to put themselves in the limelight as a progressing team to stand among the great teams in college football.

With a final score of 47-34, No. 7 Illinois hoped to be placed in the limelight as well, but their hopes were dimmed by the overpowering offense and defense of the Tigers.

The support of the fans almost proved to be another problem as a cup was thrown into the end zone after a 4-yard touchdown midway through the first quarter. Officials feared that it would be a repeat from the incident in mid-December when 13 people were arrested at the Superdome after throwing beer bottles and debris on the field, but no further disturbances occurred.

Orange Bowl

No. 5-ranked Florida also broke several records in a 56-23 win against No. 6 Maryland. Florida’s Rex Grossman threw for 248 yards and four touchdowns and third receiver Taylor Jacobs caught 10 passes for 170 yards; both became Orange Bowl records.

Florida’s Head Coach Steve Spurrier announced his retirement Jan. 4 after 12 years as a head coach at a college. Spurrier plans to pursue a head coaching job in the NFL.

Liberty Bowl

A 12-1 season for BYU coming into the Liberty bowl wasn’t enough to match up to the No. 22 Louisville Cardinals whose strong defense prevailed with a final score of 28-10, leaving No.17 BYU to think about what they did wrong.

The game proved to be BYU’s lowest point total of the season. On the other side of the spectrum the Cardinal’s victory allowed them to finish off the best season in their school’s history. Dave Ragon threw for 228 yards and three touchdowns and the defense came up with five sacks and three interceptions.

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