Texas Tech just completed a 31-point comeback to defeat Minnesota in the Insight Bowl. They trailed 38-7 with less than five minutes to go in the third quarter, then scored 31 unanswered points to send the game to overtime, and won 44-41 in overtime! WOW!!!
Alas, the game wasn’t televised here, even though it was happening right down the road in Tempe. Stupid NFL Network! But I assume that has to be the greatest comeback in bowl history, right? Michigan State’s 35-point comeback against Northwestern earlier this season was the biggest ever in any college football game, and this is only four points less than that.
UPDATE: SportsCenter confirms it was the biggest bowl comeback ever, beating out Marshall’s 30-point comeback over East Carolina in the 2001 GMAC Bowl.
To invoke a word that’s vastly overused in sports commentary, but is entirely appropriate here: Unbelievable.
P.S. It took a 52-yard field goal by Red Raiders kicker Alex Trlica to send the game to overtime. That was after his team got the ball back on their own 11 yard line with 1:06 left in regulation.
Like I said: un-freakin’-believable.
P.P.S. Texas Tech’s incredible comeback win means that, instead of leading by two points in the Irish Trojan bowl pick ‘em contest, Bill Reising is tied for eighth place, behind a seven-way first-place tie among Jeff Freeze, David Plewes, Timugen, thebeef, alphadog, Ed (SFV) and defending champion Brian Dupuis (DUP).
The first-place septet has 21 out of a maximum possible 25 points. Reising is one of four contestants with 20 points apiece, the others being Joe McDade (Texasyank), Joel Thrift and seth. Colin Pedicini, who started the bowl contest 11-0, is now 14-3 and has 19 points, tying him with 11 other contestants: Matt Fairchild, Brendan Loy, Brandon Minich, Nicole Simmons, Harold Adkins, Kay Torg, Patrick Cooper, Joe Mama, Scientizzle, Colin S. and JakeDC.
Three bowls will be played tomorrow. More details and scenarios after the jump.
As noted previously, Pedicini, who led the contest through 11 bowls, retook the lead from Reising after the 13th bowl when Kentucky beat Clemson, and held onto it when Oregon State beat Missouri in the 14th bowl. But when South Carolina beat Houston, Reising took the lead back, and he solidified his edge when Maryland beat Purdue. If Minnesota had beaten Texas Tech, Reising would have had 22 out of 25 points, and a two-point lead over Carl Lindecrantz, three or more points over everyone else. Instead, he’s tied for eighth place.
So, who will lead at the end of the day Saturday? The Alamo Bowl between Texas and Iowa will have little impact on the standings because almost everyone picked Texas — 111 out of 118 believe the Longhorns will win. So, here are the end-of-the-day scenarios, based on what happens in the Meineke Car Care Bowl between Boston College and Navy, and the Chick-fil-a (Peach) Bowl between Virginia Tech and Georgia:
If Navy and Georgia win: Ed (SFV) leads.
If Boston College and Georgia win: Thebeef leads.
If Navy and Virginia Tech win: Bill Reising and Joel Thrift tied for first place.
If Boston College and Virginia Tech win: Brian Dupuis (DUP), alphadog, Jeff Freeze, David Plewes and Timugen tied for first place (plus Nicole Simmons if Iowa beats Texas).
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Categories: College Football
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December 30th, 2006 at 12:17:18 am
Actually, it was 44-41.
December 30th, 2006 at 12:24:43 am
Er, yeah. Thanks. :)
December 30th, 2006 at 12:55:42 am
I’m sorry, but f*** the NFL Network, Comcast, and Time Warner. Houstonians who might take local pride in the future of the Texas Bowl were shut out on most cable packages. Now, tonight, we (including a considerable number of Red Raider fans) were shut out of this bowl. Screw ‘em.
December 30th, 2006 at 12:59:21 am
Seriously. I really don’t understand the logic of: a) putting college football agmes on the NFL Network; and b) putting postseason games between major-conference teams on a network that lots of people don’t have the option of receiving. If it were pay-per-view or something, I could at least understand the bald-faced financial motive — and at least then individual viewers would have a choice. But this is just stupid, and completely unacceptable. I missed the Rutgers game, which I really really wanted to see (either #3 or #4 on my personal list, after the USC and ND games and maybe the title game), and now I missed the greatest bowl comeback EVER. Lame, lame, lame, lame, lame.
These petty feuds between cable companies and TV stations, holding the viewing public hostage, seriously need to stop. It’s bullshit, utter bullshit, and it puts individual consumers in a position where we have no options (well, aside from buying a satellite dish to watch a particular game — so, no realistic options), because there is no competition among cable providers. Given the regional cable monopolies that exist, I’m inclined believe it is perfectly appropriate for Congress to step in and force them to stop screwing the public over like this. (I speak as a USC fan who almost didn’t get to watch the Trojans-Sooners national championship game in 2004 because the town in Missouri — near the Oklahoma border — where I was staying in a motel that night, didn’t get the local ABC affiliate on its cable provider because of a dispute like this.)
I know that governmental intervention goes against my usual quasi-libertarian philosophy, and I’m more than willing to consider counterarguments, but as I’ve said before, this is more important than politics, this is FOOTBALL. :)
December 30th, 2006 at 8:54:30 am
Brendan-
I don’t understand the deal with the NFL Network and college football either. Obviously the network is looking for content besides running the same re-cap of NFL games over and over again. But it doesn’t seem right that they would get exclusive rights - even to the point of blacking out local broadcasts - on college games.
On top of that, I would have to assume the bowl sponsors signed on for ESPN or a broadcast partner. The NFL Network at this time has pitiful audience because of the way cable offers it. If I were a bowl sponsor, I would be pissed if the game ended up on the NFL Network.
December 30th, 2006 at 9:11:56 am
Bummers….I had Missouri and Minnesota….. :(
December 30th, 2006 at 12:11:03 pm
Kyle McAlarney was arrested for drug possession and will sit out the game versus Stony Brook. He averages 10.3 points a game.
January 2nd, 2007 at 12:55:07 pm
As a Texas Tech alum (MBA ‘04), I had to search for an establishment (in Auburn, Alabama) who had the NFL Network on their system. Fortunately, Hooters had it so that’s where I had dinner and watched the game. It was my understanding that both the Texas Bowl and the Insight Bowl were not happy with their ESPN deals so they approached the NFL Network and they were able to get more money from them in order to maintain their payouts. I will have to do some searching to find the ratings for both telecasts.