Sports Then and Now

As was the case for most of the 2010 season, the Sports Then and Now College Football Zultan proved that his skill for prognosticating was superior to nearly all who dared challenge his greatness.

Facing a record number of challengers during the Sports Then and Now Bowl Challenge, Zultan overcame a sluggish start to pick winners in 13 of the 20 bowl matchups included in the contest.

Among the legions of entries, only seven participants were able to match the Zultan’s mark and just four contestants proved to be better at predicting the turbulent landscape of the college bowls than the omnipotent one.

Topping the masses was Nathan Meloy from Appleton, Wisconsin with an impressive 16 of 20. Ryan Sparrow from Channahon, Illinois, Dean Studt from Noblesville, Indiana and Jeff Coffey from Columbus, Ohio all finished with records of 14-6.

Not only did Nathan have the best score, but he also won the drawing for the $100 merchandise gift card. To be eligible for the drawing, contestants had to “Beat the Zultan” during the Bowl Challenge.

All participants were eligible to win one of two copies of the CD “Best of College Football Fight Songs.” Winning those CDs were Scott Carpenter of Rogers, Arkansas and Max Woodham from Johns Creek, Georgia.

Special thanks to the Zultan (JA Allen) for providing his expertise throughout the 2009 season. He will be resting up in preparation for an even better performance in 2010. Overall, more than 400 individuals from across the country (as well as a few international participants) participated in the “Top the Zultan” Challenge during the 2009 season.

Be sure to check Sports Then and Now throughout the year for not only great stories about current and past sports history, but also for exciting contests and interactive opportunities.

Currently, anyone who registers for the Sports Then and Now daily updates between now and January 15, 2010 will be eligible to win one of two copies of the book “When the Game Was Ours” featuring legendary NBA stars Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

The Iowa Hawkeyes hope to be lifting another trophy following the Orange Bowl.

Bowl season is upon us. In fact, some bowls have already taken place. Have you noticed yet?

I would assume not, because, at this point, most of the bowls played possessed little meaning for the noisy majority.

This does not detract from the devotion of those assembled in respective stadiums cheering on their home teams or those sitting raptly in front of television screens watching the action unfold in high definition on ESPN.

The bowl, regardless of stature, has meaning and consequence for the teams playing because it represents the culmination of a season of hard-fought victories—an award of merit allowing the team a chance to display its strengths during this postseason contest and hopefully to come away with a victory.

For teams playing in the higher ranking bowls scheduled later in bowl season, much more significance is attributed to the victory or the loss for individual programs and even conferences. Tangibles like TV ratings and likely exposure, recruiting and year-end rankings await the verdict—thumbs up or down.

What does it take to win a bowl game after a season of tests and close calls? On one hand it is complex because the preparation for the game is filled with disadvantages and distractions. But once a team settles its priorities, the rest comes naturally.

Then it becomes fairly simple. A team either has more talent, belief, and leadership to win or it does not. Read the rest of this entry →

More than 20 years after being given the "death penalty" by the NCAA, SMU football is heading back to a bowl game.

Illustrating that in college football even death isn’t permanent, the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Mustangs will take the field for the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl this week, 25 years after playing in their last bowl game and 23 years after their program was left for dead by the NCAA.

For an entire generation of fans, SMU is best known for having the only football program ever given the “death penalty” by the NCAA for repeated rules violations. However, to define the football history of the school only by the last 25 years is to neglect a rich and historic tradition that is an important part of college football history.

Though the football programs at Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Christian (TCU) are all older, it didn’t take long after starting football in 1915 for SMU to join them to form a dominant football juggernaut within the state of Texas. Between 1927 and 1941, each school claimed a share of at least one national championship.

In 1915, Texas and Texas A&M were among the founding members of the Southwest Conference. SMU joined the league in 1918 and soon was contending for league titles.

The first great football team at SMU was under the guidance of coach Ray Morrison in 1923. The Mustangs registered shutouts in seven of their nine games and outscored their opponents 207-9 while claiming their first SWC title with a perfect 9-0 record.

Read the rest of this entry →

Vince Young's winning touchdown run in the 2006 Rose Bowl is just one of many memorable moments in the history of college bowl games.

Bowl season begins this Saturday with the New Mexico Bowl and ends January 7th with the BCS Championship Game between Texas and Alabama.

In all, there will be 34 postseason games this year, a record for most bowl games in a year.
Even though the amount of bowl games is getting absurd, many of college football’s greatest moments have occurred during the bowl season.

So before the three-week odyssey of bowl games begin, here are the 25 most memorable college football bowl moments:

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25. 1996 Fiesta Bowl – On the final play of the third quarter, Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier breaks seven tackles on his way for a 75-yard touchdown. The run is the signature play in the Cornhuskers’ 62-24 rout of the Florida Gators for the national championship.

24. 1985 Orange Bowl – With 14 minutes remaining in the game and the score tied at 14, Oklahoma kicker Tim Lasher kicks a 22-yard field goal which is nullified by an illegal procedure penalty on Oklahoma. Unaware of the flag, the Sooner Schooner rolls on to the field drawing another penalty on Oklahoma. The 20 yards in penalties force Lasher to attempt a 42-yard field goal, which is blocked by Washington safety Tim Peoples. The Huskies would go on to win the game 28-17. Read the rest of this entry →

Why, you ask, would Zultan object to adding another team to the Big Ten? Well, as the self-appointed prognosticator for the Big Ten Conference, there is his reputation to consider.

Obviously, it has been a constant source of embarrassment to the sagacious seer that the Big Ten already has 11 teams.

When the Big Eight Conference realigned, it became the Big 12. Why isn’t the Big Ten known as the Big 11? This weighs heavily upon the great one’s already overtaxed mind. Was it simply that odd numbers are bad luck? Was it to skimp on making new signage?

How does it look for a conference that prides itself on its academic standards and its ethics to promulgate such an obvious misstatement—to have 11 teams, yet only acknowledge 10?

That is like hiding one of your children in the attic. For years, of course, it was Northwestern shivering up there.

But the Wildcats are no longer the odd man out. This year the name of the shunned team is debatable. Zultan, however, believes that Big Blue is being cloistered from view. Read the rest of this entry →

The Iowa Hawkeyes will look for a different result than in their last Orange Bowl appearance.

This is the ghost of Orange Bowls past—specifically 2003, when the Iowa Hawkeyes met the USC Trojans….

In case you have not heard this before, be advised that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Study your lessons well, Iowa Hawkeyes, before you head off to another Orange Bowl contest.

Simply put, the lesson to be learned is this—”Speed Kills.” You either contain it or it hits you like a Mack truck, leaving you flattened—road kill diem.

Think back…recall the hope and promise of the season…

It was January 2003 and Iowa had an amazing 11-1 record, ranked No. 3 in the polls (No. 5 BCS). The Hawkeyes’ only defeat, if you recall, came at the hands of in-state rival Iowa State. Curse those Clones!

Quarterback Brad Banks had come in second in the Heisman balloting, losing out to Carson Palmer, quarterback for USC who, ironically enough, would be leading his Trojans against Iowa—no, not in the Rose Bowl, but in the Orange Bowl.

Read the rest of this entry →