I realize that it's still early in the Bowl season but the Liberty Bowl is the clear leader in ugly post-season football. The match up between the University of Central Florida and Mississippi State was never a big marquee showdown but it was supposed to be a decent game. It wasn't.
There was a couple of interesting points going into the game that made it at least somewhat interesting. Miss. State coach Sylvester Croom saved his job by coming off two three-win seasons to get into a bowl and UCF phenom running back Kevin Smith was within sight of breaking Barry Sanders single season rushing record of 2,628 yards.
Croom and the Bulldogs responded to the challenge with the poorest offensive showing since the season opening blowout loss to LSU (45-0). After averaging 20 points per game in the SEC, they piled up a whopping ten against a CUSA team. The Bulldogs came out flat and stayed that way.
There was still the chance that Smith would run all over the field and make a great story by passing Barry Sanders, right? That didn't happen either and frankly it wasn't even close. The Bulldogs were #3 in the SEC against the pass but near the cellar against the run which one would think would play right into UCF's hands. It didn't.
Smith did get 119 yards on 35 carries but his longest run was 15 yards and really never carried the offense. It might be time to look at the competition that this young lad ran all these yards up on that included: Memphis, Tulsa, East Carolina and UAB. He posted 55 yards on 18 carries against South Florida.
Both teams were awful actually. They collectively turned the ball over five times and went 6-30 on third down conversions. They put the ball in the air 44 times with neither team getting a hundred yards passing.
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