One of the better “showcase games” of the 2011-2012 Bowl Season is the 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl, with the Washington Huskies set to take on the Baylor Bears’ Heisman-winning quarterback. Jeremy Bennett–better known around the web as JBHuskers–takes control of the team from Waco, Texas, in today’s guest entry for the BOWL BLITZ INVITATIONAL here at STAT BOX STORIES.
A bowl game has a little extra panache when it includes any star on any team. That level of importance and excitement is increased tenfold when the bowl game includes a Heisman Trophy winner. Baylor’s QB #10 was able to set 46 school records this year in leading Baylor football into the national spotlight in 2011. He was thrust into the spotlight by winning five straight games to end the season including wins over then #5 Oklahoma and then #22 Texas. Though he has one year of eligibility left, it is almost a foregone conclusion that QB #10 will head to the NFL for the 2012 NFL Draft. This 9-3 Baylor squad has the luxury of playing a virtual home game as they compete in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas.
QB #10’s probable swan song from Baylor ends up in a favorable match-up against Pac 12 opponent Washington, who went 7-5 on the year. Many predicted that the Heisman Trophy winner would have a field day against a team that is 99th in the nation in points against this season, and those who predicted so were dead on. A mere 25 seconds into the game, QB #10 heaved the following 65-yard touchdown pass to WR #12:
Washington would answer right back with a score of their own based on some solid running by HB #1. He would score on a 16-yard run to cap a lengthy drive for the Huskies and tie the game at 7-7; however, the rest of the first half belonged to Baylor. There were three straight scores to end the first half including a 2nd touchdown catch by WR #12 to take a 21-7 lead. With only :24 left in the first half, the Heisman Trophy winner showed some great accuracy with a touchdown pass to WR #2 that got just inside the pylon as you see below:
Washington struck very quickly in the 2nd half to try to make it a reasonable game. WR #15 caught an 83-yard touchdown pass from promising sophomore QB #17. As you can see in the replay below, the Baylor defender completely misplays his angle which leads to this big score, and it cut the deficit to 28-14.
In the ensuing drive, Baylor marched right down the field and regained the 21 point lead they had started the half with. This time the Heisman Trophy winner called his own number for the following 3-yard touchdown run:
The fourth quarter was completely dominated by Baylor as they outscored Washington 17-0. There was a nice 46-yard field goal by K #43 to push the lead to 38-14. The final score of the game was a 10-yard run by HB #4. Sandwiched in between those two scores was a nice throw by QB #10 to his star wide receiver WR #1 on this 36-yard pass:
WR #1 follows up that TD score with a nice Baylor pose:
When taking a look at the stat comparison, you could see that the Baylor defense completely shutdown the pass, outside of the 83 yard bomb in the third quarter. QB #17 is definitely a promising quarterback, but his time to shine was not tonight. The leadership of HB #1 is what drove the offense of Washington, but it could only do so much. Baylor visited the red zone five times and cashed in a touchdown all five times. In contrast, the Baylor defense only allowed Washington into the red zone once, their very first drive.
The finale for Heisman Trophy winner QB #10 was everything he could have hoped it would be, especially if this is his last game as a collegiate athlete. The Baylor Bears completely blew out the Washington Huskies 52-14 in the 2011 Alamo Bowl. It was no surprise that QB #10 was the player of the game as he ended up going 18 for 24, 368 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT. Even though he does have that one year of eligibility left, ESPN’s Mel Kiper currently has QB #10 6th on his Big Board after USC QB #7 decided to stay for his senior season. That places him as the 2nd best quarterback in the draft, and most likely a top ten pick. That will be hard to pass up, and if he does go to the next level, the 2011 Alamo Bowl was a great finish to a great career at Baylor.
After such a performance in this playthrough of the 2011 Alamo Bowl, we as college football fans can only hope that we’ll see that level of play when the real game is played later tonight. Thanks to Jeremy for putting on an offensive showcase, and be sure to come back to STAT BOX STORIES tomorrow as more Bowl Games are played in the BOWL BLITZ INVITATIONAL.
Guest Author Bio:
Jeremy Bennett–also known as JBHuskers on the Playstation Network, XBOX Live, and everywhere else–is an EA SPORTS Game Changer currently located in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was inducted into the initial EA SPORTS Game Changers group that was formed in January 2010. Jeremy has been a part of community days for the NCAA Football, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR, and EA SPORTS MMA titles, along with providing input on past titles within the Madden and NBA series. Jeremy is also the co-founder and co-administrator for The Gaming Tailgate (www.thegamingtailgate.com) which launched in May 2010. The Gaming Tailgate’s goal is to be the best NCAA Football community site on the web, and to be the ultimate resource for active NCAA Football community members. You can find Jeremy on Twitter (@JBHuskers) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/JBHuskers).
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