It’s no stress to cover a football game with no vested interest … The outcome didn’t matter for me at the cold and drizzly Jan 2 Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth. My school had packed up for the winter.  Jan. 2 bowl … no great expectations either …

 

Then a funny thing happened. The Houston Cougars, who barely mustered six points in the other three hours of play, realized they had The Pittsburgh Panthers right where they wanted them. At the first of the fourth, it was 31-6 Pitt. All that would change. Houston scored for the first time in more than 10 minutes – a touchdown and then kicked to Pitt.

 

The score was 31-13 with 6:48 left in the game.

 

As is the custom, Pitt went into eat-the-clock mode and made little happen on offense after that – other than a field goal. 34-13, Pitt.

 

Then Houston drove 83 yards in three minutes and scored again, 34-20, Pitt. (Note to self: If someone is chasing — no gaining on me — don’t take foot off accelerator …)

 

Cold as ice, Houston successfully executed and recovered an on-side kick on the ensuing kickoff. After the recovery, Houston moved the ball 52 yards in six plays, eating only a buck-42 off the clock. Then Houston scored again – 34-27. Everyone who had been packing to leave stopped what they were doing. “Could it be.”

 

(I gotta admit. I thought Houston should have on-side kicked sooner in the game … to have time to catch up … But apparently, Houston knew what they were doing after all. Hindsight wears number 20.)

 

Top Bowl Comebacks

 

Defying all odds — again, everyone in the stadium knew it was coming — and Houston kicked and recovered a second on-side kick off the hot toe of Cougar kicker Ty Cummings.

 

With just under two minutes left, The Cougars marched down the field and scored a third touchdown – four plays, 57 yards — bringing them within one point. It was 33-34. Everyone realized all that Houston had to do was kick the extra point to tie the game sending it into overtime. (Does this bowl have overtime?) As the pressroom researched how man overtimes there were in the history of The Armed Forces Bowl, Houston interim mentor David Gibbs shocked everyone … again.

 

Interim Coaches At Houston

 

Houston don’t play that. Houston wanted it all. The Coo-Gs went for two and the win. None of that mamby-pamby go for the tie. Quarterback Greg Ward Jr. found Deontay Greenberry in the back of the end zone, for the go ahead two points, with 54 seconds left on the clock.

 

 

Sort of jokingly, I tweeted that Houston was actually scoring too quickly …. allowing Pitt hope. That wasn’t far off. After Houston took the lead, and then kicked off “for reals,” Pitt ran several plays, and were one completion away from setting up a long, but feasible field goal opportunity. But The Panthers comeback fell short.

 

After a scoreless first quarter, it was mostly Pitt, who drew first blood in 15 plays, 92 yards to make it 7-0 Pitt, with 14 minutes left left in the second quarter – the longest scoring drive in this bowl’s history.

 

Houston showed vital signs with a touchdown with five minutes left in the half. But Pitt blocked the extra point kick.

 

Pitt added a second touchdown, and a field goal, and carried a 17-6 halftime lead and the momentum into the lockerroom.

 

In the third quarter, Pitt went ahead 24-6, moving 91 yards on 13 plays, eating up six minutes off the clock.

 

 

Five minutes into the fourth quarter, Pitt made it 31-6, after moving 62 yards in 11 plays.

 

James Conner led a balanced rushing attack for The Panthers, with 54 yards on 17 carries. Tyler Boyd caught eight passes for 104 yards.

 

For Houston, Kenneth Farrow carried 15 times for 72 yards. Ryan Jackson had three grabs for 37 yards for the Coo-Gs.

 

What a game! That’s seven pings for a perfect score … 6 pings for guts and 1 ping for a little New Year’s luck.

 

 

Most of us who attended thought the game was the table scraps spilled from the all-you-can eat buffets of The Peach Bowl, The Cotton Bowl, The Rose Bowl or The So-And-So Bowl. Wrongo-bongo. Right before our eyes, as time was dwindling, The Armed Forces Bowl transformed into the best of the year! Take that Cotton Bowl!

 

With it’s third appearance in the AFBowl, Houston recorded the third largest comeback in bowl history. (See Mike Leach, Texas Tech over Gophers, 31-point comeback in 2006 baby!)

 

Oh … and I said I didn’t care about the outcome. Ha … everyone was impressed by such a gutsy, tenacious win. Throwing objectivity out the window, I certainly wanted to see them rewarded for playing so gutsy.

 

 

A take away! Never quit. Never give up and walk out on your team … ever! For all of us who think that way — Houston just got a big one for us.

 

Ha … similarly … I had almost given up on the Wi-Fi in the press box, trying the AT&T hotspot. I think AT&T is an abbreviation for terrible hotspot these days. That connection was like time standing still … so I tried the Pressbox network. Voila! Perfect. Nice hotspot Frogs.

 

 

Our version of box scores:

 

The Wi-Fi > good.

The weather > terrible.

The turf > messed up.

Houston > No quit in ’em.

Pitt >Fans sang throughout in drizzle

Houston > tenacious.

Pitt > Tough.

Houston’s QB > scrambler. (14 rushes, for 113 yards, 15 of 24 in the air, for 274 yards.)

Pitt > physical.

Pitt’s Chad Voytik > finished the day with 222 yards in the air, 18 of 35.

Pitt > Totally clicking, when they hit a 52-yard field goal.

Pitt> Maybe tired of weather, tried to coast.

Pitt drum major > Always wear a cowboy hat (and a clear plastic bag pancho)?

This bowl > Lots of gutsy calls, fake punts, on-side, blitzes with bone-crunching sacks … awesome. … AND we thought we were getting snubbed when assigned this bowl and overlooked by The Cotton Bowl … Hah!

 

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Know what I sayin?