2009 Liberty Bowl
Texas Tech (11-1) vs. Ole Miss (8-4)
Jan. 2, 5:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
Payout:
$1.3 million Location: Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium,
Memphis TN
- 2009 Liberty Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories & More
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National
Rankings |
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East
Carolina |
Kentucky |
|
Total Offense |
|
83rd 336 ypg |
105th 298.42 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
43rd 334.77 ypg |
34th 327 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
79th 23.77 ppg |
87th 22.42 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
31st 20.77 ppg |
38th 21.67 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
83rd 128.31 ypg |
78th 129.25 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
52nd 138.08 ypg |
66th 142.42 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
64th 207.69 ypg |
98th 169.17 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
48th 196.69 ypg |
28th 184.58 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
41st 0.38 |
34th 0.42 |
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East Carolina
Va Tech W 27-22
West Va W 24-3
at Tulane W 28-24
at NC St L 30-24 OT
Houston L 41-24
at Virginia L 35-20
Memphis W 30-10
at UCF W 13-10 OT
Marsh. W 19-16 OT
at So Miss L 21-3
at UAB W 17-13
UTEP W 53-21
C-USA Champ.
Tulsa W 27-24 |
Kentucky
at Louisville W 27-2
Norfolk St W 38-3
Middle Tenn W 20-14
Western Kent W 41-3
at Alabama L 17-14
So Carolina L 24-17
Arkansas W 21-20
at Florida L 63-5
at Miss St W 14-13
Georgia L 42-38
Vanderbilt L 31-24
at Tenn L 28-10 |
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Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
ECU |
5
highest
1 lowest |
K |
|
3.5 |
Quarterbacks |
3 |
|
2.5 |
RBs |
3 |
|
3 |
Receivers |
2.5 |
|
3.5 |
O
Line |
4 |
|
4 |
D
Line |
4.5 |
|
4 |
Linebackers |
4 |
|
4 |
Secondary |
4 |
|
4 |
Spec
Teams |
3.5 |
|
4 |
Coaching |
4 |
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It’s a stretch to say the SEC
has dominated the Liberty Bowl
since becoming a regular part of
the show, but it’s been able to
win two straight to put down the
Conference USA champion. At some
point, if Conference USA wants
to take a step up as a league,
it’s best team has to prove it
can beat a mediocre SEC
also-ran.
Mississippi State shut down UCF
last year in a defensive
slugfest, and South Carolina
beat Houston in a shootout two
years ago. This year’s game
should be somewhere in between.
The SEC was down this year
compared to past seasons, but
while some teams like Auburn,
Tennessee, and LSU
underachieved, Kentucky was a
bit of a stunner in what was
supposed to be a rebuilding
year. On the other side, East
Carolina was considered a
sleeper for the Conference USA
title before the season began,
and then grew into a possible
BCS buster.
The Pirates were the
story of the first three weeks
after stunning Virginia Tech
with a blocked punt for a score
and by throttling West Virginia
on the way to a 3-0 start. But
the offensive efficiency
stopped, the defense stopped
coming up clutch, and bandwagon
came to a crashing halt with
three straight losses. But very
quietly the team rebounded in a
big way.
A 21-3 loss at Southern Miss was
the only black mark in a strong
second half run of five wins in
six games to lead the way to the
Conference USA title game. It
wasn’t an impressive string of
games, two of the wins were in
overtime over league
lightweights UCF and Marshall,
and there was a four-point win
over UAB, but wins were wins.
And then came the showdown
against Tulsa with the defense
forcing seven turnovers on the
way to the 27-24 win to bring
the season full circle. While
that was great, a win over
Kentucky might be even bigger
for the team and the conference.
Kentucky’s season went from
being one of rebuilding to one
of what might have been. The
offense struggled all season
long, but it proved to be good
enough to beat the mediocre
teams. The real stars turned out
to be on the defense as the
Wildcats allowed just two
touchdowns in the first four
games, and led the nation in
scoring defense, and then came
the impressive 17-14 loss to
Alabama that gave the team a
measure of respect, even in
defeat. And then the injuries
came, the defense became a
shadow of its September self,
and the second half of the
season became a struggle losing
four of the last five games. How
close were the Wildcats from
missing a bowl game? Two points.
They beat Mississippi State
14-13 and Arkansas 21-20. Had
those two gone the other way, UK
would’ve lost its final eight
games of the year.
The Liberty Bowl will get a nice
Friday afternoon slot between a
good Cotton Bowl (Texas Tech vs.
Ole Miss) and the Fiesta Bowl
(Texas vs. Ohio State). It’ll be
a showcase for both teams and
both programs, and it’ll be a
jumping off point for the winner
to what should be a strong 2009.
Players to watch:
Kentucky came into the season
expecting to have former star
recruit Curtis Pulley replace
star QB Andre Woodson, but he
was booted off the team. Mike
Hartline took over, and
while he wasn’t anything
special, he wasn’t all that bad
over the first half of the
season. However, the team wasn’t
winning and Hartline was
starting to throw picks, with
seven in a five-game stretch. In
came Randall Cobb, a true
freshman who was starting to get
used to a role as a receiver,
highlighted by a two touchdown
day against Arkansas. Slowly, he
started to get a little big of
work at quarterback, and he
added a spark with three
touchdown runs against Georgia
and a decent day in the win over
Arkansas. The problem? He’s been
a good passer, but he’s a
runner. Against ECU, the offense
will try to use both Hartline
and Cobb as much as possible,
and will likely use Cobb as a
runner, receiver, and an
occasional passer.
East Carolina’s offense revolved
around the ultra-efficient play
of QB Patrick Pinkney
early on completing 41-of-51
passes in his first two games
and 63-of-83 passes with four
touchdowns and just one
interception, with a rushing
score, in his first three games.
While he had some down moments
on the year, he threw two
interceptions against both
Southern Miss and UAB, he still
showed flashes of effectiveness
throughout the year using short,
easy passes to keep the chains
moving. He didn’t bomb away all
that often, but he was able to
completed 17-of-23 passes for
228 yards and two score against
UTEP, was fantastic against
Marshall, and finished with a
touchdown pass in every game but
three with no interceptions in
eight games.
Most of the UK defensive talent
is up front, but the star of the
show is Trevard Lindley,
a tough-tackling, ball-hawking
corner who plays bigger than his
6-0, 175-pound size. He made
four interceptions and 37
tackles despite being banged up.
A top playmaker, he needs to be
avoided by Pinkney whenever
possible, and he needs to come
up with a big defensive stop or
three on third downs.
Kentucky will win if...
the turnovers are kept to a
minimum. This is a good East
Carolina team, but it’s hardly
an elite one talent-wise. It
needs to be mistake-free and it
needs to come up with a few
turnovers to win. Against
Virginia Tech, the Pirates took
the ball away twice and came up
with the big punt block. Against
West Virginia, the run defense
swarmed all over Pat White and
company and forced two
turnovers. Against Tulsa in the
Conference USA title game, ECU
came up with five interceptions
of Golden Hurricane star QB,
David Johnson, and forced two
fumbles. On the year, ECU came
up with 32 takeaways to make up
for the mediocre offense.
Kentucky can’t feed into that.
While the Wildcats aren’t going
to be explosive, it’ll be better
to not take chances than to
force things and risk making the
big mistake.
East Carolina will win if...
the defense shuts down the run.
ECU isn’t a brick wall
defensively, but it’s not that
bad, finishing third in
Conference USA against the run
and doing a great job of making
teams try to bomb away to win.
Kentucky doesn’t have a passing
game, and while Hartline has the
ability to throw for around 250
yards, it’s not like he’s the
type of player who can carry the
offense. This should be a
defensive slugfest, so ECU needs
to make UK press, try to force
turnovers, and take advantage of
every opportunity.
What will happen:
This isn’t going to be a
masterpiece. These are two
flawed, occasionally ugly teams
that find ways to win with smoke
and mirrors. Points will be hard
to come by and if one team comes
up flat, this could be
forgettable blowout. Kentucky’s
defense will do a bit more than
the ECU defense to come away
with the win … and then the
world will quickly change the
channel to the Fiesta Bowl.
CFN Prediction:
Kentucky 17 … East Carolina 12 …
Line: East
Carolina -2
- 2009 Liberty Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories & More
|