BYU made a game of the Las Vegas Holy War despite the worst opening imaginable
Bronco Mendenhall’s BYU goodbye started as poorly as possible, and Kenneth Dixon’s LA Tech goodbye couldn’t have been sweeter. Here’s what to know from bowl season’s opening Saturday.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
1,082 yards’ worth of big-play touchdowns
Including a delightful Celebration Bowl between NC A&T and Alcorn State — a 41-34 A&T win — there were eight return touchdowns (three punt returns, a kick return, three interception returns, and a fumble return) and 10 touchdowns on gains of 30-plus yards in Saturday’s six bowls.
Eighteen touchdowns via defense, special teams, or huge gainer, combining to gain 1,082 yards. Are you not entertained?
32 instant points, in an average game
One way to look at the value of turnovers is to hone in on the value (in equivalent points) of the field position lost by one team and gained by the other.
On BYU’s first five possessions in the Las Vegas Bowl, the Cougars ran 15 plays. Five of them resulted in turnovers. Three were tipped interceptions. Two were returned for touchdowns, and one was returned to BYU’s 1.
Equivalent point value of these five first-quarter turnovers: 32 points. BYU handed Utah 32 equivalent points (and 35 actual ones) in the first 10 minutes.
Kudos to Utah for applying pressure, getting hands on the ball, and being ready to execute. And kudos to BYU for losing 35-28 instead of by 100. After the most crippling possible start, the Cougars kept playing strong defense and, after three three-and-outs to follow the turnover streak, figured out some offense.
Utah managed to take a 35-point lead while running 12 plays for 65 yards. But the Utes managed only 132 yards in 51 plays the rest of the way.
In his final game as Utah's quarterback, Travis Wilson averaged 2.8 yards per pass attempt (including sacks). But he did rip off a 20-yard run to finish the first-quarter scoring, and Utah did gain 24 yards in five plays to generate two first downs on the game's final possession. That allowed the Utes to run out the clock on BYU's impressive comeback.
With so many return scores, Saturday’s bowl action was punctuated by stark momentum shifts and plot twists. While it set the stage for a lovely comeback, it was almost disappointing (for anyone other than Utah fans, anyway) that BYU’s performance went off the rails so quickly. This was the marquee game of the first day, and while the fourth quarter became interesting, the middle was easy to skip. We wanted a Holy War in capital letters, and we only got half a game.
Alas, these two former conference rivals play again next September 10 and are signed up for the next five years. Our Holy War needs will be met.
Unfortunately for Bronco Mendenhall, this was his last chance. He was hoping to score his 100th win as BYU’s head coach before taking over as Virginia’s, but his team made too many mistakes. That the Cougars rallied was admirable, but he’ll move to Charlottesville with 99 wins.
Utah finishes with its first 10-win season since 2010, its last year in the Mountain West. The season was bittersweet because of the way it began; the Utes got to third in the polls with a 6-0 start and wins over Michigan and Oregon before losing to USC, then succumbing to injuries and losing to Arizona and UCLA as well. But despite constant turnover on his assistant coaching staff, Kyle Whittingham engineered an impressive season, and the Utes will end up ranked pretty close to the AP top 15.
22.8 yards every time Arizona threw at him
Cayleb Jones caught four of eight passes for 182 yards and a touchdown in the Wildcats' wild 45-37 win over New Mexico. That's a healthy 22.8 yards per target average, and it helped give Arizona enough to overcome an effective ball control performance by the Lobos.
New Mexico rushed for 333 yards and scored on a 92-yard touchdown late in the first half; the Lobos snapped the ball 91 times to Arizona's 56. But the Wildcats picked off quarterbacks Lamar Jordan and Austin Apodaca three times and scored on drives of two plays and 80 yards, three and 77, four and 53, four and 51, and four and 75. They built a 42-24 lead before allowing UNM back in, then registered their third and final interception in the closing seconds.
It was a tough season in Tucson. Arizona dealt with a rough injury drought — thrilling defender Scooby Wright III was out for most of the season* and quarterback Anu Solomon and running back Nick Wilson were hobbled — then watched head coach Rich Rodriguez interview for the South Carolina job. But an explosive bowl allowed the Wildcats to finish with a winning record.
* Wright returned for the bowl and finished with 15 tackles along with 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. That we were deprived of watching him for most of the season was just cruel.
4.7 yards per play in Greg Robinson’s final game
Robinson was a head coach at Syracuse and a defensive coordinator for three NFL teams and four college teams; he was even UCLA’s offensive coordinator for a year in 1989. He coached UCLA senior Ron Caragher, who hired him 25 years later at San Jose State. It had been a while since Robinson was in charge of a truly good defense, but his Spartans sent him off in style.
Georgia State had averaged 6.7 yards per play during the four-game winning streak that earned bowl eligibility, but SJSU held the Panthers to 231 yards (4.7 yards per play) and a paltry 11 first downs. Nick Arbuckle, possibly the best college quarterback in the state of Georgia, completed only 14 of 29 passes, threw a pick, and took four sacks.
That the Spartans were selected for a bowl at 5-7 drew the ire of the “too many bowls!” crowd. But it wasn’t their fault they were selected, and they used the opportunity to end the season strong, winning 27-16.
3 minutes and 27 seconds of explosions in the Camellia Bowl
In the final 91 seconds of the second quarter, Ohio went from trailing Appalachian State 7-0 to leading 17-7. The Bobcats kicked a field goal, scored on a pick six, recovered a fumble, and scored on an AJ Ouellette run. When Jovon Johnson ripped the ball out of Ike Lewis’ hands midway through the third quarter and took it 45 yards for another touchdown, the Bobcats led 24-7.
Appalachian State was the superior team in the regular season, and the Mountaineers eventually stopped making mistakes. They scored three touchdowns in 116 seconds — a 17-yard pass that capped a 97-yard drive and drives of one and four plays following interceptions — to seize a 28-24 lead.
To put that another way, 38 of the game’s 60 points were scored over the course of 3:27.
ASU was under control until Johnson stuffed Marcus Cox in the end zone for a safety, and Ohio took a 29-28 lead on a field goal.
No worries. One more big play — a 32-yard run by Taylor Lamb — got ASU in field goal range, and Zach Matics nailed a game-winner at the buzzer.
This game was flawed for about 50 minutes; the other 10 were completely bonkers.
1, the new number for LA Tech’s star
Saturday's nightcap featured massive big-play potential. Unfortunately for Arkansas State, most of the big plays were pulled off by Louisiana Tech. In a 47-28 New Orleans Bowl win, the Bulldogs completed six passes of at least 20 yards (three of at least 50) and had eight rushes of at least 10. Tech averaged 9.3 yards per play and finished with the fifth most yards in bowl history: 687.
Kenneth Dixon's 27 touches (21 carries, six catches) gained 215 yards with four touchdowns. But it wasn't just Dixon. Boston Scott rushed four times for 106 yards, Trent Taylor caught 10 passes for 149 yards, and Paul Turner caught five for 97. Jeff Driskel finished his senior campaign by completing 26 of 38 passes for 458 yards, three touchdowns, no picks, and only one sack.
It was an exorcism for Driskel, who suffered through a miserable Sugar Bowl with Florida in the 2012 season. His final game in the Superdome was far more satisfying.
Dixon's four scores gave him 87 for his career, two more than Navy's Keenan Reynolds (who will have a chance to take the lead back on Dec. 28 against Pittsburgh). But perhaps his most impressive number was 1. Sophomore receiver Carlos Henderson, who wears the No. 1, was injured in the first quarter, and Dixon donned Henderson's number for the final quarter of his final game after his own jersey's number fell off.
Photos: USA Today and ESPN
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