UCLA vs. Virginia Tech, 2013 Sun Bowl: Bruins demolish Hokies

Manziel in the final three quarters: 19-for-21 for 285 yards, eight carries for 60 yards, five total touchdowns. Duke continued to move the ball offensively, but Manziel almost single-handedly kept A&M afloat in the first half, and the (justifiably) maligned Aggie defense finally began to make some stops in the second.

Average scoring margin for the day’s first three bowls. Hell, we really hadn’t had a good day of bowling since Friday. But then the Chick-fil-A Bowl came around.

Hundley was the star of the show, picking up big chunks of yards on scrambles and designed quarterback runs. The highlight of the game came midway through the second quarter, when Hundley avoided pressure, took off up the middle and raced 86 yards for a touchdown. The score gave UCLA (10-3) a 14-7 lead, an advantage the Bruins would never relinquish.

UCLA notched its first 10-win season since going 10-2 under Karl Dorrell in 2005.

Update:

Thomas played 46 games for Virginia Tech.

A bowl game is probably a good time to send a kicker out for his first-ever field goal attempt, right? It’s just a 46-yarder. That seems like the perfect opportunity, right?

Oh. Probably a bad snap. Or a bad hold. Maybe there was a localized hurricane that blew the ball off-course. That’s the only explanation I can think of for that missing.

It’s fitting, then, that on the five-year anniversary of this game, Virginia Tech would end up in El Paso. If there’s one team capable of spearheading a 3-0 bowl game this year, it’s the Hokies. Frank Beamer’s squad won four games this year while scoring under 20 points and lost a game while allowing 13. The Hokies have perhaps the best defense in the country and an offense that is, at best, below average. Tech can drag any opposing offense down and build any opposing defense up. The wind is supposedly going to stay away at game time, but if we’re going to have a 3-0 bowl this year, it’s this one.

Of course, we’re not actually going to have one. UCLA’s offense will make sure of that. The Hokies will have to score at least a little bit to take win No. 9.

But they are challenged to repeat that profit run as underdogs to UCLA on the Sun Bowl betting odds menu at OddsShark.com, whose computer is picking a 35-29 result in favor of the Bruins.

UCLA is just 1-4 straight-up in its last five bowl games and is coming off an embarrassing blowout loss in last year’s bowl game against Baylor. The Bruins are a seven-point favorite in this year’s Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas with a total at 47 in early wagering.

Our UCLA blog, Bruins Nation, is looking at the game as a comparison between head coaches Jim Mora and Frank Beamer. Mora has done better at UCLA than most would have predicted, but needs to keep up the pace if the Bruins want to take advantage of opportunities from weakened rivals.

Our Virginia Tech blog, Gobbler Country, took a look at the Hokies’ relevant history in bowl games against California teams, which is... not great. However, they have had some success playing bowl games in Texas.

Exum has excelled for the Hokies, but the later years of his career in Blacksburg have been marred by injuries. He tore his ACL in January while playing pickup basketball, but was able to make it back midway through the 2013 season. Exum’s return was short-lived, though, as this ankle injury took him out in November, leaving him with a senior season that spanned only three games. He’ll leave the Hokies with six career interceptions.

Update: Senior Kyle Fuller could be out too.

1. We know Frank Beamer loves to dance. 2. We know the Sun Bowl gets coaches dancing. 3. We know Virginia Tech is at the Sun Bowl to face UCLA. ERGO, here is Frank Beamer dancing:

Yes, in a sombrero. Of course he’s in a sombrero. Wouldn’t you be in a sombrero?

Former Alabama offensive coordinator Jim McElwain has taken Colorado State bowling for the first time since 2008, going 7-6 and finishing third in the Mountain division of the Mountain West. Out of those seven wins, none came against teams that finished with a winning record, but the Rams have a legitimate star in running back Kapri Bibbs. The sophomore led the nation with 28 touchdown runs this season on fewer than 20 carries per game, and has set school records in rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns and points scored.

Carr is one of the very best quarterbacks in the country, passing for 48 touchdowns and nearly 5,000 yards on the season. The Bulldogs started the year 10-0, with notable wins over Rutgers, Boise State and San Diego State before a dramatic Friday night loss to San Jose State. Fresno State still won the conference, defeating Utah State in the conference title game.

The ACC had 11 bowl-eligible teams this season, with Pitt tying for both the worst overall record (6-6, with North Carolina and Syracuse) and conference record (3-5, with Maryland) among them. The Panthers did beat three other bowl teams this season, with an early-year win over Duke and late-season victories over Notre Dame and Syracuse.

Ralph Friedgen’s final game as Maryland’s head coach came in the 2010 Military Bowl -- the game was also the Terrapins’ last bowl game. Athletic director Kevin Anderson made the change from Friedgen to Randy Edsall, saying he wanted the program to go from “good to great,” and three years later, the Terps get to go to the same place.

The Sun Bowl is one of the oldest bowl games in college football, dating back to 1935. The first-ever game involved the El Paso All-Stars taking on Ranger, which was apparently a university in Texas. With a ton of history and strong conference ties to the Pac-12 and ACC, the game tends to be a good one on New Year’s Eve.

Interestingly enough, the Sun Bowl is one of only two bowls not shown on ESPN’s networks -- you can catch it on CBS.