2005-2006 Bowl Games

[Don Wassall]

One thing I used to like about LSU is that they played a lot of white wide receivers until recently (that stopped aboutwhen Nick Saban took over). Sammie Martin wasa topnotch receiver with elite speedin the late '80s who was royally screwed by the NFL. There were a couple of Becht brothers as I remember, including Brett who played a bit for the Saints when Mike Ditka was the head coach. Also Avram Booty, the brother of QB Josh Booty, who led the team in receiving as a freshman and then pretty much disappeared.


MaybeLSU isheading back in the right direction. They had 7 white starters tonight, whichmay bemore than the Tigers have had in many years.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Don, you are correct about those white LSU receivers. I saw Abram Booty perform in the 97 Independence Bowl against Notre Dame. I watched him at Evangel Christian in high school too. He had led LSU in receiving that year and then did well again when he played in 98. What I just found out was that in the 98 season, he had a back injury that pretty much forced him to give up football. He decided to transfer to D2 Valdosta State in 2000 and tried to play again in 2001. He did play some in about half their games, and caught a TD against Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi in 2001, while I was in the crowd. To my shock, the PA announcer called out his name after the score. I had no clue he was playing again until then.

That game ended DSU's unbeaten streak and our repeat National Championship hopes. Abram has national receiving records that shattered the old records so badly most experts say they may never be broken. He had the priviledge to be thrown to by 3 future 1-A college QB's, his brother Josh (National Passing record holder in high school, who later went to LSU), Phillip Deas (North Carolina), and Brock Berlin (Miami). I had the priviledge of watching all these guys play at Evangel in Shreveport, the mostly white Class A powerhouse that has turned out countless college players since starting a football program in 1990.

 

[Don Wassall]

Todd Blythe, Iowa State's great wide receiver, just blew past TCU's defensive backfield and made a 48 yard touchdown catch. Of course the color announcer had to ruin the moment by adding a racist qualifier: "He's not the fastest wide receiver out there. . ." Only fast enough at 6-5 to average 20 yards per reception, but the obligatory racist remark still had to be made.

 

[whiteCB]

Todd Blythe is one bad mofo. This kid is just as good a pro prospect as Samardjiza. Yeah Don your right that remark just put a sour taste in my mouth. Who was that announcer anyways?

 

[Colonel_Reb]

The Liberty Bowl did not live up to my expectations as far as Garrett Mills was concerned. Tulsa seemed content to not throw to him very much. He had just 4 catches for 52 yards and a 7 yard kickoff return that was botched by his teammate. This was too little action for a national record setting TE to have, IMHO. Senior WR Landon Keopple had a 6 yard catch. Tulsa QB Paul Smith showed he could run, with 45 yards and a TD. Fresno State used WR/PR/KR returner Adam Jennings quite a bit. He had 2 PR's and 2 good KR's, plus 2 catches for 20 yards. QB Paul Pinegar ran well with the ball, having 3 carries for 27 yards. Blocking FB Matt Rivera had 2 hard runs for 7 yards and a 19 yard catch. Both of his runs were also for first downs. One of Fresno's big TE's, Bear Pascoe, had 2 catches for 10 yards. The other TE, Jesus Tapia, had a 6 yard catch. Overall, it was an exciting game, but I was hoping to see more of Mills. I saw a guy wearing a Larry Csonka jersey while leaving the game and had a short conversation with him. I also ran into a Tennessee fan who said most of the Volunteers don't like current QB Erik Ainge who he says is not a leader for the team, and that he hopes they bring in a freshman next year who everybody likes and who can lead the team. I just thought I'd throw that in at no extra charge.

 

[Sean Carlisle]

Concerning the LSU game, its going to be hard for them to justify keeping Flynn off the field next year. Although all the rave is about Russell and Perilloux the two all everything highly touted golden boys (figurative of course as both are black.) Flynn was cool under pressure throwing the ball away when nothing was there, running decisiviely and sliding or stepping out and delivering passes of all distances with precision and touch. He played like he had been starting for four years.


Hester is a big(232lbs) running back who runs a consistant 4.6 but the announcersgave those stereo type designations when talking about him. I saw him run back a kick off in the LA high school championship game against all black Hahnville High. He is undeniably fast.


I saw mention hereof ole Sammy Martin. Actually he was a starting running back for most of his career at LSU and stepped in at receiver too. He retruned kick offs too with great success.As a kid I saw him run in New Orleans high school football. He was running a legit 4.3 when that was really rare in the mid 80s. Once the Saints cut him in 1993 I lost interest in the team. He would have been a great receiver for the Saints after playing about 7 years for the Pats.


The LSU coach, Les Miles, likes Hester as he brought him up in a press show when the hosts listed LSU's running backs and failed to include Hester. They have worked him in plays this year but he finally got enough touchesin the bowl game to show what he can really do.

 

[Don Wassall]

I think anyone who can watch an entire bowl game from beginning to end is either a zombie or has a son playing on one of the teams. These games have been from 3 1/2 hours to 4 1/2 hours in length. Ridiculous! The Penn State-Florida Stateovertime matchup last night, a game in which both teams went nearly the entire third quarter without being able tomuster a single first down, was almost five hours long.


It's theever increasingamount of commercials that are responsible for the marathon length of the games, but the NCAA needs to follow the changes the NFL made -- not stopping the clock on first downs or on out of bounds plays except at the end of a half -- because we know the number of minutes given to advertising will never be decreased.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Good point about the length of games and advertising Don. I can't stand how long these games are getting. I didn't watch the game last night, and I don't even know who won yet, but I know the Liberty Bowl was 3 and a half hours long. My back was killing me when I got in my car to come home, and I'm not that old, yet.