Game 1: #5 Texas Christian 28, #1 Alabama 20
Alabama rolled in from Tuscaloosa to nearby Atlanta, and racked up many more yards than
Texas Christian, but the Horned Frogs turned big plays into points, and
advanced to the Championship Game.
Alabama scored first on Adam Griffith’s 27 yard field goal
mid-way through the first quarter. But
TCU struck pay dirt as Trevone Boykin hit wide open RB Aaron Green on an
80-yard TD pass play, and the Horned Frogs grabbed the lead, 7-3.
Early in the second frame, Blake Sims answered for the Tide,
and hit Kenyan Drake on a 25 yard touchdown pass, and Bama grabbed the lead
back. However, TCU defensive back Chris
Hackett’s 69 yard interception return for a diving to the pylon TD mid-way
through the second quarter gave TCU a 14-10 halftime lead.
The Tide came out rolling in the second half, as Blake Sims scored
from 3-yards out to give the lead back to Alabama with 6 minutes left in the
third. A 43-yard Griffith field goal in
the early moments of the fourth put Bama up 20-14, and tide seemed to favor a
Nick Saban win.
But a crazy play midway through the fourth turned the tide
for TCU. Horned Frog QB was sacked,
fumbled, and Alabama recover, and ran the fumble to near the TCU 20, as it
looked like Bama would be in control.
But the Bama defender fumbled, and Boykin recovered. It was a 29 yard loss, but TCU had the ball
back. Another big play ensued, as Boykin
hit Deante' Gray for a 70 yard pass down to the three-yard line, and two plays
later, Green plowed in for a touchdown. Instead of scoring a touchdown or field goal
to extend a lead, the Tide found themselves down 21-20 with six minutes
remaining.
The Horned Frogs were not done as TCU’s Trevorris Johnson scored
on a 28-yard touchdown run, and lead 28-20 with just under four minutes
remaining. Alabama never seriously
threaten, and Texas Christian advanced.
Home cooking awaits as Fort Worth’s TCU will vie for the championship in
the palatial home of the Dallas Cowboys in Irving, Texas.
Game 2: #3 Oregon 20, #10 Boise State 15
Game two was featured Heisman winner quarterback Marcus
Mariota versus the always interesting Boise State Broncos, back again at Football’s
Final Four. At first, it seemed like it
would be a Duck scorefest, as Oregon took the opening drive straight down the
field, capped with a Keanon Lowe TD on a 7 yard pass from Mariota, and
expectation of a game that would short out the electronics of the score board
seemed perfectly reasonable. However,
most of the first half involved an aggressive Oregon defense forcing turnovers,
but also Oregon offense forced mainly to punt, unable to take advantage. With less than a minute in the half
remaining, Oregon finally scored again on an Aidan Schneider 26 yard field goal,
and the Ducks held the 10-0 halftime lead.
The halftime instructions must have been persuasive in the
Oregon lockeroom, on both sides of the ball.
A Boise State interception lead to a Byron Marshall 70 yard TD reception
from Mariota, then a Bronco fumble on their next drive resulted in a Schneider
23 yard field goal, and voila, Ducks were in control 20-0.
The Ducks offense resumed its punt resulting drives, in addition
to one Mariota interception, but generally the Broncos could not
capitalize. Finally, the Boise State
broke the goose egg on the scoreboard, and Jay Ajayi finished the third quarter
with a 9 yard TD scamper, and Boise State’s two point conversion brought the
game to 20-8 entering the final frame.
Boise could not close the gap until the end of the fourth
quarter though. On their final drive of
the game, the Broncos finally showed their offensive prowess on a stellar movement
down the field, and Grant Hedrick masterfully passed BSU to scoring position. Ajayi scored from 1 yard out with 28 seconds
to play, and the score was 20-15.
However, Oregon easily recovered the onside kick, and advanced to the
Championship Game.
No comments:
Post a Comment