The St. Petersburg bowl was, from everybody’s perspective but UCF’s, a great success. A sellout crowd of over 29,000 gave the game the atmosphere you might expect from a more prestigious bowl, and the game was fairly interesting for a couple reasons as it evolved. The first half was fairly competitive until it wound down, with UCF keeping pace with Rutgers and even taking some of the momentum as they closed the score to 21-17. Unfortunately, a pick-six handed Rutgers what would wind up being the winning touchdown.
The second half was simply a coming out party for freshman QB and RB Tom Savage and Mohamed Sanu. If these guys are as good as UCF made them look, Rutgers is loaded to be a Big East powerhouse in the very near future.
Rutgers won the game by blowing up UCF’s strengths- defense and a power running game. Through the third quarter, UCF had 20 rushes for 2 yards. Things improved slightly in garbage time, but Rutgers was on cruise control by then.
The game in a nutshell was defined when UCF scored to close the gap to 14 with just under 3 minutes to play- the onside kick attempt took a funny hop, right into the arms of a Rutgers returner who had 40 yards of open turf in front of him, which ran the score out to the final of 45-24.
Overall, the St. Pete bowl was impeccably well organized- the city provided a shuttle that ran fast and often to move around town, traffic exiting the area seemed to be fine, although I did lag behind the masses a bit, and the stadium staff really welcomed the football crowd- maybe just happy to get a day’s work in during December, but every last one of them was pleasant and helpful.
As for the implications, it’s hard to say exactly- UCF might have just been extra flat. But if the game is an indication of how the conferences stack up, the Big East could be beastly this winter, while Conference USA teams might be in some trouble- UCF was the #2 team in the league this year.
Elsewhere, Wyoming obliterated confidence pools around the country with their double OT win over Fresno State, and showed remarkable grit to pull it off- they stopped Fresno State on four consecutive goal-line attempts in the first OT period, only needing a FG to win it there. Their kicker missed, but the team responded immediately with a quick touchdown in the 2nd go-round. The defense held again, and Wyoming is now on a two-bowl winning streak.
Tonight, Southern Mississippi squares off against Middle Tennessee State in the New Orleans bowl on ESPN. As is often the case with these games, this game could come down to preparation and motivation, in which case it seems like MTSU could have an edge- looking for a record 10th win while Southern Miss is playing in the bowl for the 4th time in 6 seasons, and can’t be thrilled with a 7-5 season mark.