Kellen Moore Tabs 50th Win as Broncos Dominate Sun Devils

Travis Stanaway celebrates his fumble return for a score.
(Sam Morris)

Boise State wasn't happy about being snubbed by the BCS and they seemed to take their frustrations out on Arizona State in the Maaco Las Vegas Bowl. Kellen Moore tallied his impressive 50th win as a college quarter back which has seen the Broncos as a staple in the BCS bowl games. He wasn't the only one making his final appearance at the Maaco Bowl. Dennis Erickson made his final appearance as the Arizona State coach albeit not to the same result as the Boise signal caller.

Boise State wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as Doug Martin took the opening kickoff up the sideline for a 100 yard kick return for 6. Martin would tally 151 yards on the ground and garner MVP honors for the game. It was all Broncos from that point on. The squads traded punts and then after a 3 and out by the Sun Devils Kellen Moore started leading the potent Boise offense down the field. Martin opened the drive with an 11 yard run and then the Moore show began. He completed 5 of 6 passes including the capping touch down pass to a wide open Tyler Shoemaker near the sideline.

The Sun Devil offense continued to shoot themselves in the foot through out the first quarter, starting their next drive with back to back false start penalties. ASU would go 3 and out and although the defense would intercept Kellen Moore on the next drive they were unable to capitalize when an errant snap forced the Devils back on third down.

Forced to punt, they would turn the ball back over to the Broncos after a touchback. Kellen Moore connected with Tyler Shoemaker again for a nine yard gain to end the first quarter and Boise was on the move again. Once the second quarter began, the Sun Devils would get a heavy dose of Doug Martin. Martin would account for 51 yards of his total on the drive and Kellen Moore would throw his second touch down pass of the day to Matt Miller from 2 yards out.

After another pair of three and outs from the offenses, ASU had their first quality sustained drive of the night. Brock Osweiler started finding his targets and the 11 play drive was capped off with a short field goal to put Arizona State on the board at 21-3. As they would through the entire game, Boise had an answer. Leading another drive down the field, the Broncos found themselves in the ASU red zone. The Broncos appeared to run a reverse when Matt Miller looked up field to Kyle Efaw who stood alone at the front of the end zone for another touch down with less than a minute in the first half.

The Sun Devils would not go quietly as the took the second half kick off back to provide a spark for the ASU offense. Perhaps feeding off the energy, Colin Parker intercepted Kellen Moore for his second interception on the day and ran it back to the Boise 45 yard line. ASU was unable to capitalize on Moore's second mistake as they turned the ball over on downs. They would get another chance though as they forced a fumble, turning Moore over for an uncharacteristic third time.

The Devils seemed prepared to turn the tide, bringing the ball down to the Boise 1 yard line before an errant Osweiler pass was intercepted and brought back the length of the field for a 100 yard interception return to swing the momentum firmly back in the Boise camp at 35-10.

The third quarter would end with Boise in the red zone once again and the first play of the fourth quarter would put BSU up 42-10 as D.J. Harper punched it in from 4 yards out. In what would be a last gasp drive, Cameron Marshall would  fumble after a short gain and Travis Stanaway would scoop and score to give Boise a commanding 49-10 lead.

Osweiler would get the offense running, but it was too little to late. After the ASU QB found Gerell Robinson for a 21 yard touch down, Doug Martin would answer back with another short touch down run. Coach Petersen had called off the dogs by the time Arizona State scored their final touchdown to give the game it's final tally of 56-24.

The Boise defense stifled the run game through out the entire game only allowing a net -11 yards on the ground. Much of this was factored into the fact that Brock Osweiler's sacks are factored into that total but a combined 27 yards from ASU's running backs. The only semblance of offense the Devils could muster was through the air where Osweiler threw for nearly 400 yards. While Doug Martin was the player of the game, ASU's wide out Gerell Robinson turned in an equally impressive performance snagging 13 passes for 241 yards and a touch down. His 241 yards set a Maaco Bowl record even as ASU was unable to capitalize on it.

It was also a night of records for Boise State as Martin's 301 all purpose yards set a record as well as his 100 yard kickoff return. The two teams combined for the highest scoring total in bowl history with the Broncos setting a record for most points scored by a single team.

Before the press conference even started, coach Petersen commented about his senior quarter back, "I have no idea what to do without Kellen Moore, so don't even ask." He later went on to say about all of his seniors "These guys took it up a notch or two, it was extremely important to the coaching staff and this team."

Valero Alamo Bowl Washington Vs. #12 Baylor: Preview

For the first year in a new bowl agreement, the Valero Alamo Bowl will feature a team for the Pac-12. Washington comes out of the tough Pac-12 North which sent two teams to the BCS. They face another stiff test against #12 Baylor in San Antonio.

The Huskies started the season out strong going 5-1 but hit a bit of a buzz saw in the second half of the season as they dropped 4 of the next five but rebounded to defeat rival Washington State in the Apple cup to give them their final record of 7-5. Washington now looks to the future as they remodel Husky Stadium and look for their second consecutive bowl victory under Steve Sarkesian.

Baylor also started the season hot, and ran into trouble midway through as they dropped 3 of 4 against Kansas State, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State. The Bears would bounce back though and win out, topping both Texas and Oklahoma en route to a 6-3 mark in the Big XII.

The highest individual honor in college football was handed out last week and it went to the dynamic Robert Griffin III. RGIII as they call him has been an absolute dynamo on offense. He has thrown for 3998 yards to this point on the season. Griffin not only can hurt you with his arm, but the dual threat quarter back compliments the running game by adding another 644 on the ground. The Bears are an offensive machine and Griffin is the key accounting for 45 touchdowns on the season.

RGIII will provide the most challenging vertical threat that the Huskies have faced all season and that could provide problems. The Huskies rank 116th in the country against the pass and that does not bode well going up against the Heisman winner. Baylor scored 43.6 points per game, much of that thanks to the passing game and if the Huskies don't find a way to slow it down they could be in for a long day. A glimmer of hope for the Husky defense is their pass rush. The defense averages 2 sacks per game and despite his gaudy numbers, Griffin has been sacked 25 times this season. If the Huskies can get the push through the middle, it's possible they could slow the passing game.

Griffin doesn't do it alone, obviously. The offense features Senior wide out Kendall Wright who has hauled in 101 receptions this year for 1572 yards. Baylor has not used him in the running game as much as years past but he is still a threat to get the ball and turn it up field. Wright has been on fire, recently posting over 100 yards receiving in each of his last four games. Against Oklahoma, he exploded for 208 yards and has shown himself to be a tough cover, regardless of who lines up across from him.

Usually when a team is as prolific as Baylor in one aspect of the game, the other suffers.  This isn't the case with the Bears. Baylor features Terrance Ganaway at the starting running back position. The Senior has experienced a breakout season, tallying 1347 yards on the ground. Ganaway runs with great field vision, balance and has a nose for the end zone, evidenced by his 16 touch downs this season. Baylor likes to run play action passes and the zone read so if the Huskies can shut down Ganaway, it could go a long way in negating a major facet of the offense.

Speaking of running, Washington features one of the finest running backs in the country in Chris Polk. The All Pac-12 first teamer has been a stalwart and work horse for the Huskies this season. Polk has run for over 1000 yards each of his three seasons with Washington and this year he looks to have his biggest season as a Husky. He needs just 71 more yards on the ground to top that figure. Where Polk has excelled and shown himself to be a multiple threat attack is in the passing game. Polk has 29 receptions for 324 yards and 4 scores. He will get a chance to run also as Baylor has not been good against the run, besting only 18 other schools in the NCAA. Polk has breakaway speed and is tough to bring down. Baylor is going to have to be sure with their tackling if they want to keep Polk in front of them and out of the end zone.

Joining Polk in the backfield is second year player, first year starter Keith Price. Price has taken over the reigns nicely completing over 67% of his passes on the year. While Price has played well in their wins, he has been a little more spotty up against AP ranked opponents this year. Only 7 of Price's 29 touch down passes have come against Top 25 opponents up against 5 of his season's 11 interceptions. Price throws a beautiful pass and Washington will need him to step up big, getting the ball out to his receivers Devin Aguilar and Jermaine Kearse. Both Aguilar and Kearse will be playing in their final games as Huskies and will hope to leave the school as members of one of the more successful recruiting classes in recent memory.

As mentioned before, Washington will be looking to add their second consecutive bowl win and give them more momentum going into next season which could see the Huskies competing for a shot in the Rose Bowl. For Baylor, it's entirely possible the Robert Griffin III will be jumping to the NFL and will look to use his performance as a swan song before the combine. Expect this to be a high scoring affair as the strength of the offenses match up very well against the weaknesses of the opposing defenses. We will see who will be able to get stops when they need them to pull out the victory.

Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl California Vs. #24 Texas Preview

The Bears and Longhorns face off on the 28th in the Holiday bowl with contrasting styles of offense. For Texas, much of their offensive firepower comes from a powerful rushing attack. Conversely on the other side of the ball, the Cal Golden Bears feature more of a passing game with some run mixed in.

That's not to say that the Longhorns can't pass the ball. In respect to yards, they are pretty close to even, rushing for 210 yards a game and throwing for 193. Where they get in trouble is with their tandem of young quarterbacks. Between Case McCoy and David Ash, the two have combined for only 10 touchdowns against 12 interceptions on the year. Texas would rather run the ball with their bruising freshman pair of running backs Malcom Brown and Joe Bergeron. Brown and Bergeron have been a strong one two punch out of the backfield.

The two run with power and rarely go down after first contact. Combined they have put the ball in the end zone 10 times on the ground and have ran for 1161 yards on the ground. As was mentioned before, both of these running backs are hard to bring down and have a good burst through the hole to boot. California's defensive line and line backing team are going to have to be ready to square up and make sure tackles or they could be watching Brown and Bergeron from their backs.

When they do throw, Ash and McCoy tend to spread the ball around to their receivers. Their favorite targets so far on the year have been Mike Davis and Jaxon Shipley who have 45 and 40 catches respectively on the season. The pair provide balance to the offense which will most likely look to soften up to Cal defense with Brown and Bergeron.

On the other side of the ball, the offense is run through Buffalo transfer Zach Maynard. He quarterbacks a unit that features one of the more dynamic receiving duos in the Pac-12. The Bears like to throw a lot more than the Longhorns do, and it shows. Their leading receiver, Keenan Allen has 89 receptions on the year and is a big play threat whenever he gets his hands on the ball. Complimenting him is the sure handed Marvin Jones. Jones has reeled in 54 passes and three touch down receptions and has benefited from the attention that Keenan Allen draws from defensive backs.

Coming into the season California had a big question mark at the running back position. Fortunately for the Bears Isi Sofele has filled in nicely. Sofele has already ecliped the 1200 yard mark on the year and has been the picture of consistency late in the season. Sofele has scored 5 times in the last six games and has averaged 121.2 yards in those games. He provides a much needed balance to an offense that has been up and down through out the year. He is going to be tasked with going up against a Texas defense that ranks 11th in the country against the run game. How he and the offensive line preforms will go a long way in deciding this one's outcome.

The quarter backing has been a roller coaster ride this season for California. When the Bears win, Maynard plays quite well. In their 7 wins his touchdown to interception ratio is better than 3 to 1, whereas in the losses the Bears have suffered his numbers dropped to nearly 2 INT's for every touch down he throws. If the secondary for Texas can prove a challenge for the signal caller, it could be a long day for Bears fans in San Diego.

However, if the Golden Bears can put it all together against a solid Texas defense, it could be a solid momentum jump into the next season as California looks be be competitive in next season's Pac-12. Texas will be looking at a very similar picture. With youth in the skill positions, they could make some noise next season in the Big XII having that all important first year of experience under their belt.

King Albert, and the Halo's Checkbook

Albert Pujols has shocked the baseball world in snubbing a 9 year deal worth reportedly $190 million to stay with the 2011 World Series Champs, the St. Louis Cardinals (which incidentally would make King Albert the 4th highest paid 1st baseman in the Majors) to sign a deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for 10 years and $254 million (thus making him #1 at 1b); yes, those Angels. What I am having a hard time fathoming is the fact that the Angels owner, Arte Mareno paid $184 million for the ENTIRE FRANCHISE! For us regular white/blue collar folks this is like Monopoly. I cannot help but think of Dr. Evil say he wants "ONE HUNDRED MILLION CRILLION BILLION DOLLARS!" If you average out Pujols' contract to reflect just how much money he makes per game you come up with just under $155,000 dollars a game...let that sink in for a moment.

It's hard to imagine paying someone $25 million per season to play a kids game and hit home runs, especially when we all know that Pujols is likely on the descent down the mountain top of his Hall of Fame career. This certainly leads to futher speculation of just how many years he will still be able to put up the kind of numbers that warrant this kind of contract. This becomes especially true when his mitt starts to wane, at that point he'll certainly become the highest paid DH in history, subsequently elongating his career at least until his early to mid 40s. This is a very sore subject for a baseball purist of my ilk, I LOATHE the DH, I think it cheapens our pastime and waters down all the power numbers in the junior circuit (AL). Alas, that is a topic I must devote an entire article lambasting such an asinine, unnecessary part of such a perfect sport.

Forget about the money for a second. Pujols is the best, most consistent hitter in baseball and maybe the best right-handed hitter in the history of the game. The only other right-handed hitter in Albert's league was Jimmie Foxx of the Golden Era of Baseball (from 1925 to 1945.) There's little debate that Pujols, who has finished in the top five in MVP voting 10 times in 11 seasons—is one of the all-time great players. Paying him more money than anyone else in the game (or anyone not named A-Rod) is what we had to expect when he became a free agent.

Pujols business aside, the Halos signed another "huge" name in CJ Wilson, formally the ace of the AL Champion Texas Rangers. I put HUGE in quotations, because Wilson was the biggest free agent SP available, his numbers can be deceiving; granted he had a good record in '11 (16-7) overall with the Rangers he finished a paltry 8 games over .500 (43-35). Nolan Ryan and Co. decided a run of the mill #2 starter is apparently worth $77 million; if that doesn't prove the MLB treats real life capital the same as they would if the cash were Monopoly money, nothing ever will. Below I have linked the press conference video of Angel's GM Jerry Disoto describing these two blockbuster moves.

Maaco Bowl Las Vegas Bowl Preview: #7 Boise State Vs. Arizona State

The way the regular season ended for these two teams could not have been more different. The Sun Devils were flying high early on, their only blemish was a loss on the road against Illinois. They had defeated two Top 25 programs in Missouri and USC and were in control of the Pac-12 South Division. Then it all started to unravel.

A trip to Eugene to face the eventual Pac-12 champion Oregon Ducks started to downward spiral which eventually lead to the firing of embattled coach Dennis Erickson. After losing in front of Gameday 41-27 to the Ducks, ASU would win just one more game against Colorado and would drop 4 straight all to conference opponents. However, the Sun Devils were still in the conversation going into the final week and could have found themselves in the Rose Bowl. Instead, a loss against California and a stunning Utah loss against Colorado had ASU back into the Las Vegas Bowl.

Boise State on the other hand came into the season with BCS expectations. Boise State opened the season with a marquee game against Georgia which saw them fall behind early. When the dust settled though, BSU shined with a dominate 35-21 victory in the partisan Georgia Dome. The Broncos rose as high as #5 and were primed to make a push for the title game when TCU handed BSU a rare home defeat, derailing their championship hopes and pushing them back for another year.

This game promises to be an aerial display, Boise and ASU are 10th and 11th in the country in passing yards respectively and the difference between them is 0.1 yard per game. It's no surprise as each of these teams feature Quarter Backs who will play in the NFL some day.

Boise has a top 25 defense against the pass but showed signs of weakness against TCU, in the only game they lost. There were a few occasions when receivers got by Boise defenders deep for big plays. Normally, the Bronco's defense is stout and allows just over 170 yards per game through the air. Their only loss skews that number some as Casey Pachall torched the D for 473 yards and 5 touch downs. Brock Osweiler and Co are sure to be watching footage of that game as they look for potential weaknesses against a talented squad which has shut down every other team it has faced.

To the contrary, ASU has not been good against the pass. They took hits to their depth early on in the season losing several talented defensive backs. What remained was burned through out the year as they posted bottom 20 passing defense numbers. Their worst performance of the season came on the road against Washington State where Freshman Connor Halliday stepped in part way through the first quarter and connected with Marquess Wilson for 85 of his eventual 494 passing yards on the day. Boise's strength is with the pass and Kellen Moore has to be licking his chops facing this secondary.

The aforementioned Moore is the picture of consistency. Completing nearly 75% of his passes, Moore has thrown for 41 scores on the year and 3507 yards. The senior signal caller will no doubt go down as the best quarter back to play on Boise's blue turf in school history. Moore has spread the ball all over the field but his favorite targets are Senior Tyler Shoemaker and Freshman Matt Miller. The tandem have accounted for 117 receptions and Shoemaker is only 41 yards from eclipsing 1000 yards on the year. He has also been the recipient of 15 TD passes from Moore. The passing game has been complimented nicely by Doug Martin.

The senior running back is a touchdown machine. In 5 of the last 6 games Martin has played in he has gone for over 100 yards and has found the end zone 7 times in that stretch. Martin runs well behind his pads and runs with authority. Martin is tough to tackle and could provide problems for the Sun Devil defense. Backing him up is D.J. Harper. Harper is another senior who filled in nicely in Martin's absence. Against TCU and UNLV he ran for 125 and 109 yards respectively, scoring three times. Martin and Harper are similar in stature and if ASU misses a tackle on either of them, it could go for a long gain.

The Boise State defense is tasked with slowing down Brock Osweiler and the Sun Devils passing attack. As was mentioned before, the Sun Devils and the Broncos have nearly identical passing statistics over the season. The difference is that Boise has thrown the ball to extend leads where as ASU has been behind in a lot of their games and have had to throw to either keep pace or claw their way back into games. Much of the Sun Devil's attack comes through Garrell Robinson who has almost twice as much yardage as the next leading receiver. Robinson simply finds ways to get open and comes down with the ball.

One under rated aspect of the ASU offense is their run game. Almost all of it has come from Cameron Marshall who has over 1100 yards so far. No one in the Pac-12 has rushed for more touch downs than him, either, touching the painted area 18 times on the ground. In an extension of the run game you will find the Devils' utility man in Jamal Miles. Miles hasn't run for many yards but he has caught 60 passes, many of them in the flat to keep the offense moving and the defenses honest.

Arizona State is a big underdog in this game but with their passing offense they stand a punchers chance against the Broncos. BSU showed that they can be susceptible to a passing offense but with extra time for coach Petersen to prepare, expect the Broncos to be ready to go against another Pac-12 foe.

Ducks Outlast Bruins, Claim Pac-12 Championship

LaMichael James tosses the ball to the referee after his first score.
(Johnathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

It was a historic night in the Pac-12. For the first time in conference history, the conference crowned it's champion. However, what's new in the conference looked much the same as the last two years. The Oregon Ducks got out to a quick start and never looked back as they captured their third consecutive conference crown and earned the right to represent the conference in the Rose Bowl. Even without scoring in the fourth quarter, the Ducks racked up 49 points and as the confetti covered the field in Autzen Stadium, one thing became apparent. Oregon is now the class of the conference.

LaMichael James had his fourth 200 yard rushing game, running for 219 and 3 TD's on the ground and garnered game MVP honors. Darron Thomas added three more scored through the air and rushed for another as he became Oregon's all time leader in touchdown passes.

Nelson Rosario lead the way for the Bruins with 6 catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns. One of those a full extension one hand grab over Terrance Mitchell in the front corner of the end zone which would be one of the many highlights of the game. Derrick Coleman used his bruising style of running to run for 83 yards and be one of the main stalwarts on the offensive side of the ball.

The game opened up with a UCLA fumble on second down by Johnathan Franklin and Oregon was in business early. After the Bruins held the Ducks on three consecutive plays LaMichael James broke through the line and put the first points on the board with a 30 yard run. The Duck defense forced another 3 and out and Oregon looked to put the game away early. However, the UCLA defense forced two consecutive turnovers. The second was an interception that caromed off of Kenjon Barner right into the hands of a waiting Patrick Larimore who returned the pick all the way for a touchdown.

The Ducks would respond with a quick drive, scoring in under 90 seconds. Josh Huff made a 30 yard reception to get the ball down to the 10 yard line. On the next play Darron Thomas faked the hand off to Kenjon Barner and took it in himself to put the Ducks back in the lead.

Once again, the offenses would trade punts and Johnathan Franklin would fumble for the second time on the day, recovered by Michael Clay, Oregon's leading tackler. Oregon would take advantage of the fumble once again when Darron Thomas would find a wide open Colt Lyerla in the back of the end zone to put the Ducks up 21-7 nearing the end of the quarter.

UCLA would respond, sustaining a drive which was capped off when Nelson Rosario caught a 37 yard pass for a touch down. Quarter Back Kevin Prince ran the ball twice in the drive to keep the Duck defense off balance as he would most of the day. The Ducks continued to have issues defending the pistol offense as they had against Nevada earlier in the season.

Oregon responded, moving the ball up the field until LaMichael James broke free for a 25 yard rush up the sideline down to the UCLA 6 yard line. 2 plays later, James punched it in from 3 yards out to extend the Duck lead. The Bruins would have a chance to respond but once again would put the ball on the turf, this time it was Derrick Coleman. The Ducks would be held on the first three plays but much like their first scoring drive would put points on the board on fourth down. UCLA would punt on their next possession and Oregon would turn the ball over on downs before Kevin Prince connected with Joseph Fauria deep in Oregon territory to set up a half ending field goal.

The Bruins came out with new life in the second half, opening the third frame by forcing an Oregon punt. The Bruins came back down the field and on a read play, Kevin Prince rushed for his only running touch down of the night, the bring UCLA within 35-24.

As they had through most of the year, Oregon responded with a touch down drive. LaMichael James scored his third touch down run going off right tackle and into the end zone. It capped a 46 yard drive which featured a heavy dose of the running game which makes Oregon so dangerous. Thomas' third and final touch down pass would come on the next drive giving the Ducks their last score of the night. David Paulson, in his last game in Autzen Stadium found his way into the end zone on a 22 yard hook up.

UCLA would not go quietly into the night though and Prince would find Nelson Rosario with the aforementioned touchdown reception. Rosario ran a fade to the front corner of the end zone and Rosario climbed the ladder and snagged the ball with one hand over Terrance Mitchell. The touch down gave the game it's final tally of 49-31. Coach Chip Kelly put in back up Bryan Bennett to finish the game taking a knee and running out the clock.

After the game, coach Kelly raised a hand to silence the crowd before dedicating the Pac-12 championship trophy to recently ousted U of O president Richard Larviere. The Ducks now wait for the winner of the Big Ten championship Saturday between Michigan State and Wisconsin. It's a rematch of a game that went down to the wire and featured one of the greatest endings of the year when Kirk Cousins connected on a hail mary pass to end the game.

For the Bruins, they must wait for their bowl invite. They requested a bowl waiver to play in a bowl after finishing the season with a losing record. Whatever bowl they end up in they will have to go without coach Rick Neuheisel who coached his last game on Friday night.