Biggest Winners Among the Six 2009 Desperation Bowl Teams Were Florida State and Oklahoma

It was goodbye for legendary coach Bobby Bowden of Florida State, and welcome back Oklahoma as both the Seminoles and Sooners racked up the best victories among the six desperation bowl teams, so-called because of their disappointing regular season play and chance to redeem themselves in a bowl game.

For 80-year-old legendary coach Bobby Bowden, the day could not have gone better. A couple of youngsters saved Bowden's bacon. Sophomore Jermaine Thomas scored twice and ran for 121 yards, and redshirt freshman E.J. Manual piled up 189 yards through the air and scored on the ground as Florida State upset the 18th-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers 33-21 in the Gator Bowl.

The Siminoles came into the game with a 6-6 record, were down by 11 points after the 1st quarter, and came back to give Bowden his 33rd consecutive winning season at 7-6. West Virginia finished the year at 9-4. Bowden, who was forced out after a 57-year coaching career, finished with a 389-129-4 record and a 75% winning percentage.

No one has had more NCAA Division I wins except Joe Patero of Penn State with 394, making Bowden the college football's second-winningest coach.

Jimbo Fisher now takes over the helm at Florida State, which finished the season at 7-6 for the 3rd time in the last 4 years. It seems as if Bowden has been coaching forever. More than 350 of Bowden's former players showed up to witness his last victory.

Even losing West Virginia coach Bill Stewart had a tie to Bowden. Stewart was a 177-pound walk-on in 1970 during Bowden's first year as the coach at West Virginia.

Oklahoma came into the Sun Bowl against Stanford with losses to Brigham Young, Miami (FL) and Texas by a combined 5 points, to Nebraska by 7, and a jaw-dropper to Texas Tech by 28. No matter. In the end, Oklahoma upset 19th-ranked Stanford, 31-27. Both teams finished the season at 8-5.

The Sooner defense could not stop Stanford's battering ram Toby Gerhart, who rushed for 135 yards and two touchdowns. Gerhart led the nation in rushing with 1,736 yards. Oklahoma's redshirt freshman quarterback Landry Jones was 30-of-51 for 418 yards and a TD, and sophomore wide receiver Ryan Broyles had 13 receptions for 156 yards and 3 TD catches.

Broyles 3 TD catches were a Sun Bowl record, and his 13 receptions were a single-game Oklahoma record.

Navy's junior quarterback Ricky Dobbs rushed for 166 yards and three touchdowns, and threw for another, as the Midshipmen ran over Missouri 35-13 in the Texas Bowl. Navy's triple-option offense racked up 385 yards against Missouri's 12th-ranked run defense.

While the Missouri Tigers were bigger and faster than the Midshipmen, Navy's undersized defense played with heart, holding the Tigers to only 65 rushing yards. The Midshipmen finished at 10-4, marking only their 3rd 10-win campaign in school history. Missouri ended the season at 8-5.

UCLA alumni and second-year coach Rick Neuheisel led his Bruins to a 7-6 winning season with a 30-21 come-from-behind win over the Temple Owls (9-4) in the EagleBank Bowl. Temple won the 1st half 21-10, and UCLA won the 2nd half 20-0.

A 2-yard interception return by Akeem Ayers in the 4th quarter provided the go-ahead touchdown. The Bruins, who held Temple scoreless in the 2nd half, allowed the Owls to complete only 1 pass in the entire 2nd half. UCLA's bowl victory gave it a winning record for the first time since 2006.

Temple was playing its first bowl game in 30 years. Despite losing, Temple coach Al Golden inherited a winless program that went 0-11 in 2005 and has capped a 4-year turnaround with the Owls' bowl appearance. Temple's No. 1 fan is Owl graduate and comedian Bill Cosby.

The weather conditions for the EagleBank Bowl in Washington, DC were 32 degrees at kickoff and a wind chill factor of 19. Many pundits thought the sun and surf boys from UCLA would fold, but they were wrong. Neuheisel called the field "an ice rink".

Georgia had a disappointing season by losing 5 games before arriving for the Independence Bowl to play Texas A&M. The Bulldogs used losses to Oklahoma State, LSU, Tennessee, Florida and Kentucky (yes, Kentucky) by a combined 78 points as motivation to rip through Texas A&M 44-20.

An 81-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the 2nd quarter by Georgia's Brandon Boykin sparked a special teams effort that subsequently led to 24 Bulldog points. Georgia blocked 2 kicks, picked up a 59-yard interception return, and Joe Cox threw his first TD pass when a bad snap by the Aggies sailed over their punter's head in the 3rd quarter.

Take out the poor special teams play by Texas A&M and they might have won the game. Georgia finished the year at 8-5 and A&M was 6-7. The Aggies' loss was their 4th straight in bowl competition. Georgia coach Mark Richt improved his bowl record to 7-2 with the win over Texas A&M.

Southern California endured losses to Washington, Oregon (by 27 points), Stanford (by 34) and Arizona before arriving at the Emerald Bowl to face Boston College. Even though the Trojans would beat the Eagles, 24-13, USC's 9-4 season record was the worst showing for Trojan coach Pete Carroll since his first season in 2001.

The Trojans lost 3 of their last 5 regular season games, and are clearly not the team they have been during the last 7 years when they won 7 consecutive Pac 10 titles, played in 7 consecutive BCS bowl games, and won at least 10 games a season for 7 consecutive years.

The bowl-game loss by the Boston College Eagles was their second straight after winning 8 consecutive bowl games in post-season play. Boston College ended the year at 8-5.

USC freshman quarterback Matt Barkley threw two TD passes to Stanley Havili and ran for another TD. Barkley was 27-of-37 for 350 yards. USC's Damian Williams caught 12 passes for 189 yards. The Trojans played without their leading rusher Joe McKnight, who became the Trojans first 1,000-yard runner since 2005. McKnight ran 1,014 yards for 6.2 yards per carry and scored 8 touchdowns, but was suspended for a possible team violation.

Onlines chools Adt security Outer Banks