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01/06/2010 - Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Wegher ran for a game-clinching 32-yard touchdown with less than two minutes remaining, and Ricky Stanzi threw for a pair of scores in his return from ankle surgery, as 10th-ranked Iowa pulled out a 24-14 victory against No. 9 Georgia Tech in the 76th edition of the Orange Bowl.
Stanzi was 17-of-29 for 231 yards and had an interception returned for a touchdown, while the freshman Wegher totaled 113 yards on 16 carries for Iowa (11-2), which notched its first major bowl win since beating California in the 1959 Rose Bowl.
The Hawkeyes seemed destined to return to the Rose Bowl after starting the season 9-0, but the injury to Stanzi led to consecutive losses to Northwestern and eventual Big Ten champ Ohio State in November to foil those plans.
Iowa's stingy defense held Tech to just 155 yards of offense, with junior defensive end Adrian Clayborn leading the way with nine tackles and two sacks to garner MYP honors.
"The fact that Adrian won the MVP in a BCS bowl, that doesn't happen too often where a defensive lineman dominates the way he did," said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. "Our whole group up front did a great job...and that's what it takes against a team like Georgia Tech."
Georgia Tech's spread offense couldn't recreate its success of the regular- season, as dynamic quarterback Josh Nesbitt was held to 46 yards rushing and two completions on nine pass attempts for 12 yards, including a critical fourth-quarter interception.
Anthony Allen's rushing TD represented the lone offensive score, while Jerrard Tarrant had a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown for the Yellow Jackets (11-3), who captured their first outright ACC title since 1990.
Georgia Tech hasn't won in the postseason since taking a 51-14 decision from Syracuse in the 2004 Champs Sports Bowl.
Georgia Tech's offense finally got on track and put seven on the board to make it a 17-14 game 2 1/2 minutes into the fourth.
An 11-play series spanning 71 yards bridged the two quarters and ended when Allen muscled his way across the goal line from a yard out on third down. Dwyer picked up a key first down earlier in the drive with an eight-yard run on 3rd-and-3 inside Iowa territory.
The Yellow Jacket defense came away with a big stop at midfield and forced a Hawkeye punt to get the ball back at their own 11 with a little less than nine minutes to go.
But on the next play, Nesbitt lost sight of Iowa's A.J. Edds while going through his progressions and threw perfectly down the middle of the field into the senior linebacker's waiting arms. Edds took it 13 yards the other way to the 15-yard line, but Tech breathed new life after a botched fake field goal attempt led to a turnover on downs.
However, three plays lost eight yards, including a run where junior running back Jonathan Dwyer narrowly escaped a safety, and the Yellow Jackets punted back to Iowa with less than five minutes left.
"After they ran the fake field goal...the first play we end up reversing field and getting tackled at the one. We kind of self-destructed ourselves a little bit," said Yellow Jackets coach Paul Johnson. "We didn't execute very well and we put ourselves behind the eight-ball with penalties too."
Starting from their own 37, Stanzi completed a nine-yard pass to Trey Stross on 3rd-and-8 to keep the chains moving and a 23-yard run by Wegher took the ball into enemy territory. Two plays later Wegher used a burst of speed to outrun several defenders up the left sideline for a 32-yard touchdown and 24-14 lead with 1:56 remaining.
Nesbitt then threw four straight incompletions to seal the Hawkeyes win.
Stanzi had the Hawkeyes out to a quick start, leading scoring drives of 80 and 83 yards on two of their first three drives to go up 14-0.
Iowa's initial possession ended on a Marvin McNutt fumble but a quick three- and-out by the Yellow Jackets had the ball back in Hawkeye hands in short order.
A 54-yard completion to tight end Tony Moeaki quickly moved the ball to the Tech nine-yard line, and on 3rd-and-goal Stanzi hit McNutt for a three-yard touchdown at the back right corner of the end zone.
Georgia Tech again produced a three-and-out and Iowa embarked on another quick scoring series. It took just four plays to move 83 yards in 1:54.
Adam Robinson's 15-yard run on the second play was followed by a 31-yard hookup between Stanzi and Derrell Johnson-Koulianos to gain the Yellow Jackets' 21-yard line. On the next play, Stanzi dropped a perfect pass over the inside shoulder of Colin Sandeman just past the right pylon to give Iowa a 14-0 lead with four minutes left in the opening quarter.
The lead was cut in half just before the close of the frame when Tarrant stepped in front of an ill-advised Stanzi pass to the right side of the field and took it back 40 yards untouched to the end zone.
Both offenses bogged down in a scoreless second quarter. Iowa punted three times and turned it over on downs just before halftime while Georgia Tech went into the intermission with only one first down.
The Yellow Jackets opened the second half with a promising drive that featured a heavy dose of Dwyer, who ran it six times for 33 yards on the 12-play, 44- yard series. But Scott Blair hung a 41-yard field goal out to the right to keep the deficit at seven.
Daniel Murray capped an ensuing 10-play, 59-yard trek from Iowa with a 33-yard boot to go up by 10 with 2:17 to play in the third.
Game Notes
Georgia Tech fell to 22-16 in the postseason all-time, including a 3-3 mark in the Orange Bowl...Iowa moved to 13-10-1 in postseason play and 1-1 in the Orange Bowl. Their only other appearance resulted in a 38-17 loss to USC in 2003...This was the first-ever meeting between these two teams on the gridiron...Robinson had 60 yards on 13 touches, Sandeman caught four balls for 53 yards and McNutt made four grabs for 21 yards for Iowa...The Hawkeyes' leading receiver was Moeaki, who totaled 85 yards on four grabs...Dwyer gained 49 yards on 14 carries and caught both Nesbitt completions...Georgia Tech ended with only nine first downs compared with Iowa's 21.
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The NFL preseason is approaching. Time for players, coaches and teams to turn over a new leaf. General managers have hired some new coaches, while coaches have added some offensive and defensive assistants to try and improve things. Here’s a look at some changes to look for in the preseason.
New York Jets: The Jets were one of the surprise teams in the NFL last season, making the playoffs under hard-driving first-year coach Eric Mangini. Mangini rebuilt the offensive line with rookies D'Brickashaw Ferguson (the No. 4 pick in the 2007 Draft) and Ohio State center (the 29th pick in the first round). This season he upgraded the defense with rookie linebacker David Harris (Michigan) while the secondary picked up a much needed top-notch corner in Pitt CB Darrelle Revis (No. 14 overall).
The Jets have added balance to the offense for QB Chad Pennington with RB Thomas Jones, essentially stolen from the Bears. He will upgrade a New York ground game that was 20th in rushing with a weak 3.5 yards per carry. They have their first true feature back since Curtis Martin. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer prefers ball control, like his father Marty. In preseason, behind Pennington you’ll see second-year QB Kellen Clemens and mobile newcomer QB Marques Tuiasosopo.
Jacksonville Jaguars: The heat is on Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville as the Jaguars flopped last season despite a ton of talent. Keep in mind that under Del Rio the Jaguars have been outstanding in preseason with a 12-4 SU, 11-5 ATS August mark. online football betting Their defense is loaded, it’s the offense that has been stuck in first gear the last few years.
Enter a new offensive coordinator in Dirk Koetter, the former Boise State and Arizona State pass-happy coach. He will try and upgrade a passing game that ranked 24th last season. Del Rio has criticized wide receivers and Matt Jones this summer, both of whom have battled injuries. It will be interesting to watch the “new” Jaguars passing game in preseason.
Arizona Cardinals: Word out of Arizona is that the players like new coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was the Steelers offensive coordinator last year. We think of Arizona as all-passing because their running game has been awful of late because of a poor offensive line. However, keep an eye on the running game in preseason as they’ve made a lot of changes.
The new coach brings in Russ Grimm to coach the offensive line (Grimm did a marvelous job building the Steelers line). They took Penn State OT Levi Jones in the first round and signed two offensive linemen, Mike Gandy and Al Johnson, to provide depth. Reggie Wells was moved from right tackle to left guard and they want more speed out of the offensive line for pulling and traps, a Pittsburgh staple under Bill Cowher.
Atlanta Falcons: While all the attention has been focused on QB Mike Vick’s off-field problems, new coach Bobby Petrino is revamping the Falcons from an all-running team to a more balanced one. Petrino likes the experience of backup QB Joey Harrington and he has veteran backup Chris Redman, who used to play for Petrino at Louisville and knows his offenses better than anyone. Petrino wants Vick to be more of a pocket passer.
The addition of FB Ovie Mughelli is a sign Petrino wants a power rushing attack behind a physical fullback and newcomer WR Joe Horn should upgrade what was a below average wideout corps. Petrino is changing their old zone-blocking scheme to a more traditional in-line blocking scheme and the offensive line is bigger. Rookie DE Jamaal Anderson was grabbed in the first round and the secondary got younger with former Auburn cornerback David Irons, who the Falcons think was a steal as a sixth-round pick.
Cleveland Browns: The 2007 Browns look like a double-edged sword. There was the excitement of the offseason, trading for RB Jamel Lewis, upgrading the offensive line with Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas (the No. 2 pick in the draft) and free agent LG Eric Steinbach, then trading for Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn when he fell to No. 22. GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel feel they have a talented, balanced offense with these new pieces, plus TE >Kellen Winslow and WR Braylon Edwards.
However, were these moves made in desperation? And were they foolish ones? The Browns gave up their 2008 first-round pick for Quinn and we all know QBs take time to develop. And even first-round QBs can be busts (Joey Harrington, Akili Smith). We also don’t know if the offensive line is that much improved (31st in rushing in 2007) and they did nothing to improve a defense that was awful against the run (142 yds pg allowed).
The Browns have a new offensive coordinator in Rob Chudzinski. This is a young offense and Quinn looked tentative, indecisive and inaccurate early in camp. Crennel will play Charlie Frye, Quinn and Derek Anderson in preseason. And there is a mixed bag for rookie QBs receiving significant starts: Tim Couch (14), Kerry Collins (13), Ben Roethlisberger (13), Vince Young (13), Joey Harrington (12), Matt Leinart (11) and Kyle Boller (nine). While all the focus will be on the Browns new-look offense, I’m more concerned with the defense.
Carolina Panthers: Coach Jon Fox loves the ground game, but Carolina has made some interesting changes for 2007. Fox fired offensive coordinator Dan Henning and brings in Jeff Davidson to run the offense. Davidson has brought in zone-blocking schemes to the Panther offense, a dramatic change for a system that's been built around a power-running style.
In zone-blocking, offensive linemen are responsible for blocking any defender who appears in their zone, instead of focusing on one defender. The Broncos and Falcons have had success with the system, which features smaller, more athletic offensive linemen and can create running lanes on the inside and outside. Keep an eye in preseason on how Carolina adjusts as it will take time to learn the system. Fox has been one of the top coaches in preseason, with a 15-5 SU, 12-7-1 ATS August record.
Dallas Cowboys: WR Terrell Owens is still here, but QB Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells are gone. New head coach Wade Phillips takes over, replacing Parcells. He ran the Chargers defense last season. Phillips was chosen by teary-eyed owner Jerry Jones partly because he is one of the best 3-4 coaches in football and the Cowboys have loaded up on players for that scheme.
Remember that Phillips was blitz-happy with the Chargers last season and early reports out of the Dallas camp have mentioned how the Cowboys have been blitzing a lot, a departure from Parcells. The theme of the 2007 Dallas defense appears to be one of attack.
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