The Numerical: LaVon Brazill, Temple’s Defense And Special Teams When It Counts

1: Bowl wins in Ohio’s history. Frank Solich took over the Bobcats’ program in 2005 and has led them to their most sustained level of success. They had won nine games in a season just once before Solich, and they have done so three times in the last six years. But they couldn’t break through in the postseason. They were 0-6 in bowls and MAC championships under Solich, a run that included four double-digit losses and a blown 20-point lead in this year’s MAC title game. But they overcame a slow start and a 23-10 deficit to pull in their first bowl trophy. All you really want as a minor bowl is an exciting finish and an ecstatic winning team. I would say that Idaho’s potato commission got what they paid for this year. And yes, that was a fun sentence to write.

35: Bowls on the 2011-12 docket. Some of them will be completely and totally uninteresting (like, for instance, the Gildan New Mexico Bowl for non-Temple fans). But the more bowls you have, the more great finishes you’ll have. We got two in three games yesterday. Are there too many bowls? Probably. Did I care yesterday? Hell no. Did I love both the finish and the “Mr. Hankey” looking mascot in yesterday’s Idaho Potato Bowl? Hell yes. More, please.