Papajohns.com Bowl Review

Southern Miss, 21 Cincinnati, 31

Missed this one by 2 points. And those 2 points hurt because, that was the difference between an 10 point game and a 12 point game when the spread was 11. Funny how that works.

Cinncinatti looked to have it going on on the first possession afer they quickly got to midfield, but then had 3 costly penalties and were forced to punt. Gotta admit I was surprised at the sucess that Fletcher had. Young made some nice throws early with a shortened field thanks to turnovers, but Fletcher broke off a few long gains that really kept Cinncinatti on there toes.

Despite all the emotion that the Eagles had in Bower's last game, Jeremy Young's three picks were too much to overcome. I thought that would happen, but I did not expect Fletcher to have the game that he did, very impressive against a highly regarded Cincinnatti front seven. Mauk really settled down and made alot of extra time for his recievers to get a step on the Southern Miss D by scrambling away from the pass rush and finding the open man.

The Golden Eagles offense had nothing left in the tank after they went 76 yards to score in to open the 4th quarter. They managed a total of 20 yards on 15 plays the rest of the way. Ben Mauk threw the ball 52 times, completed 30 of them for 334 yards and 4tds. Fletcher was all the Eagles had leading the team in recieving and rushing (155rush and 50rec)

Funny thing is, both quarterbacks threw 3 picks, but Young's hurt his team much more. Southern Miss couldn't manage any points of Mauk's picks while the Bearcats scored 10 off Young's picks. Sometimes thats all it comes down to.

MY GRADE:

UNDER THE RADAR- not so hot. Torris Magee finished with just three grabs for 18 yards, never broke loose like I thought. Corey Smith had a nice game, didn't force any turnovers, but wasn't a true difference maker in the game.
C-

MVP- Sometimes the easy pick is the right one. Mauk smoked Bower's defense after a cold start and completed 7 passes to three different receivers. Mauk also ran for 41 yards and used his elusivness to escape the pass rush numerous times.
A+

FINAL SCORE-
Prediction: Southern Miss, 19 Cincinnati, 31
Actual Score: Southern Miss, 21 Cincinnati, 31
(Jeahhh!)
A

OVERALL GRADE:
A-