Fiesta Bowl Open Thread
UCF already up 14-0 on Baylor just 9 minutes into the game.
This is well worth watching just because UCF's offense is awesome to watch. Their running back Storm Johnson is a horse and Blake Bortles is great himself. When I see them play, this is what I imagine Al Borges' perfect offense looking like. Power running and downfield passing. (The football analysts of the blog can feel free to disagree with that)
Seriously, Storm Johnson is beautiful to watch. Think Brandon Minor + 20 lbs
January 1st, 2014 at 9:21 PM ^
UCF is kinda good...and the difference between my perfect offense and Al Borges's perfect offense is that in my perfect Offense Al Borges is in Bolivia
January 1st, 2014 at 9:20 PM ^
What time does Baylor get there?
January 1st, 2014 at 9:20 PM ^
No one should underestimate UCF
January 1st, 2014 at 9:22 PM ^
I don't care if O'Leary lied on his resume. UCF doesn't look soft. Need that at Michigan.
January 1st, 2014 at 9:26 PM ^
His resume that show that he's coached 3 Super Bowl champs after this game.
January 1st, 2014 at 9:22 PM ^
That a UCF,among countless others, has a better footbal team than us.
January 1st, 2014 at 9:26 PM ^
I want nice things.
January 1st, 2014 at 9:28 PM ^
One thing that makes me a bit more hopeful about the future of Michigan football is that 5-6 years ago, if you told me all these teams were in BCS bowl games (MSU, Stanford, UCF, Baylor) I would've slapped you. Things can change quickly in college football.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:05 PM ^
Each of those teams is trending up, whereas our beloved Wolverines, not so much.
January 1st, 2014 at 9:28 PM ^
I just moved to Cocoa (40 mins from Orlando) so I'm a UCF fan by location I guess. Storm Johnson is going to be special I think. He averaged 5.2 ypc this season. Wonder what that feels like. I'll bet it's nice.
January 1st, 2014 at 9:31 PM ^
RG 3 got benched tonight.
January 1st, 2014 at 9:36 PM ^
George O'Leary has had as many double-digit win seasons in the last two years at UCF as Michigan as had in the last ten.
January 1st, 2014 at 9:43 PM ^
Announcer just said "good job executing." Is that you Gorgeous Al?
January 1st, 2014 at 9:45 PM ^
Can teams just make up uniforms that have nothing to do with their school colors? Merchandise whore?
January 1st, 2014 at 9:51 PM ^
How many Assistant Captains does UCF have?
/s
January 1st, 2014 at 9:54 PM ^
I have dismissed UCF as a team that is amassing wins in an inferior conference. However, when stacked against Baylor, they actually look more like an elite football team than one that is a year removed from having to qualify as a "BCS-buster."
January 1st, 2014 at 10:15 PM ^
Nice recovery by UCF.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:23 PM ^
This game sure is entertaining. Turnovers and big plays abound.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:28 PM ^
I'm starting to think O'Brien left to avoid that trip to Ireland and butt kicking from UCF.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:29 PM ^
there have been a lot of turnovers in this game. Although 21-20 with a minute left in the first half is plenty of points anyway.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:32 PM ^
What is it with analysts these days pronouncing accurate like ackrit? Even more annoying coming from Spielman.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:02 PM ^
Rod Allen started a trend.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:37 PM ^
Sus Spence shun
January 1st, 2014 at 10:47 PM ^
There is no Borges perfect offense cause it's all in his head. He can't get talented athletes to execute his immense play book because it's too complex instead of simplifying his strategy and focusing on excellent execution.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:58 PM ^
Because I'm not.
LOVE ESPN's World Cup ads though.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:15 PM ^
No. It's very stupid
January 1st, 2014 at 11:11 PM ^
Well this is certainly a pretty good game. I thought Baylor might run them out of the stadium.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:21 PM ^
Baylors helmets are hideous.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:45 PM ^
I was not expecting Baylor to have this much trouble on offense. I'm glad I didn't bet this game.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:47 PM ^
Charlie Taaffe is really Al Borges.
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:03 AM ^
I have 27 on baylor. They're pissing me off.
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:06 AM ^
Baylor sucks
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:07 AM ^
Either one of these teams would have demolished our defense.
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:08 AM ^
Wow, Baylors defense is putrid. If they aren't whiffing on tackles they are getting defensive holding or pass interference.
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:12 AM ^
Man i have seen some very undisciplined teams but Baylor may take the cake
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:19 AM ^
UCF looks pretty good out there. On the other hand Baylor has no defense.
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:23 AM ^
Audio producers and engineers are great at keeping volume levels even and, well, audible. Why the hell is Spielman being so damned quiet? You can hardly hear him...
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:34 AM ^
I was the only one who picked UCF in my Bowl Pool, I feel like a bowl-picking genius right now.
Too bad the rest of my picks have gone poorly.
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:37 AM ^
Art Briles and David Shaw were two of the hottest names in coaching going into the day and both of them were thoroughly out-coached today.
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:42 AM ^
and that was with 3+ weeks to prepare.
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:50 AM ^
But that also goes to show that bowl games are weird and not necessarily representative of the season as a whole.
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:51 AM ^
My god, my god... Let's not talk so much about being outcoached right now...
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:57 AM ^
One can't seem to run a defense and the other can't run an offense. This can only mean one thing: Texas is hiring both Shaw and Briles for 10 million each a year for 10 years as co-head coaches. Why? Because according to Texas they can get whoever they want, so what better than these two together?
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:46 AM ^
A head coach that doesn't wear a headset is going to win another BCS game.
January 2nd, 2014 at 3:13 AM ^
I love UCF's offense. George O'leary is a hell of a coach and I hope he gets another shot at a big time school.
The pro style hybrid is my favorite offense to run as I believe it gives you the most variety to attack teams in a number of ways / formations / personnel packages. UCF lulled Baylor to sleep with the read option inside zone game and then took advantage of the over aggression to stop the run by calling some screens that went to the house. After that Baylor was forced to be very vanilla on offense and had no idea what was coming, which is when UCF stoked up the short / intermediate passing game that controlled time of possession.
Michigan could flourish in an offense like UCF's.
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:35 PM ^
He is a terrific coach. Neither Georgia Tech nor Notre Dame have been the same without him. D'ohmerz have to be kicking themselves.
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:03 PM ^
My only thought was how sad is it that the University of Central Florida would probably destroy Michigan on the football field? Ok, maybe destroy is too strong--if Gardner played like he did against OSU we would put up enough points to be competitive. But I can't see us beating them under any circumstances. And that is just sad.