CI Week 14 Football Highlights
12/3/2018
The bowl schedule was announced yesterday and we're less than two weeks away from Alcorn State Offensive Coordinator/OL Ryan Stanchek (@CoachStanchek) and Special Teams Coordinator/RB Lane Powell (@CoachLanePowell) kicking things off for the CI Family in the Celebration Bowl versus North Carolina A&T. Overall, 27 CI coaches will be participating in bowl games this season. Please find this week's highlights and a full schedule of bowl games involving CI coaches below, as well as an updated jobs spreadsheet attached.
Before last night, the Steelers had held leads of 14 points or more at home on 222 occasions in franchise history. They had never lost - until last night. The Chargers stormed back to pull off the most unlikely of the season and defeat Pittsburgh, 33-30. Chargers WR Keenan Allen got the comeback started when he caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from QB Phillip Rivers to draw within eight points in the third quarter. A 73-yard punt return by Desmond King and a two-point conversion reception by Allen tied the score at 23-23 early in the fourth quarter. An 18-yard touchdown run by RB Justin Jackson gave Los Angeles its first lead of the game at 30-23 with 8:09 remaining. Pittsburgh rallied to tie the score again at 30-30, but Chargers kicker Mike Badgley connected on a 29-yard field goal as time expired to secure the win for Los Angeles. For the game, Allen caught 14 passes for 148 yards to lead the Charger offense while Jackson averaged 7.9 yards per carry on eight rushes. Congratulations to Los Angeles RB Coach Alfredo Roberts and WR Coach Phil McGeoghan (@PhilMcGeoghan)!
Teams that play in domes are not supposed to go on the road and beat the Packers in December. Apparently, however, Arizona's young players missed the memo. With less than five minutes to play, Cardinals rookie QB Josh Rosen completed a miraculous 32-yard pass to WR Larry Fitzgerald on 3rd and 23 with the score tied at 17-17. Eight plays later, Cardinals second-year kicker Zane Gonzalez converted a 44-yard field goal to put the visitors up by three with 1:41 remaining in the fourth quarter. Packers kicker Mason Crosby had a chance to force overtime, but his 49-yard attempt sailed wide right as time expired. Despite a cold mix of rain and snow in windy conditions, Gonzalez converted both extra points and his two field goal attempts, both from 44 yards out. For his part, Cardinals punter Andy Lee pinned the Packers inside their own 20-yard line on three of his six punts and had a long of 64 yards. Congratulations to Arizona Asst. Special Teams Coach Randall McCray (@mccray_randall) on the huge win!
In a story fit for a Hollywood movie, UAB added the latest chapter with its 27-25 win over Middle Tennessee in the C-USA Championship. The win came after the Blue Raiders handed UAB its only conference loss of the season, 27-3, just one week earlier on the same field. This time around, the Blazers' offense came to life, led by RB Spencer Brown who rushed 31 times for 156 yards and one touchdown. Defensively, UAB LB Kristopher Moll finished with a game-high 11 tackles while LB Chris Woolbright added seven tackles and one interception. With the win, the Blazers will head to the Boca Raton Bowl with a 10-3 record and the first conference championship in program history. UAB's historic season comes just two seasons after the program was restarted following a two-year shutdown. In their first season back in action, the Blazers won seven games and played in the Bahamas Bowl. While last year's achievements were improbable, this year has been even more hard to believe for a program that prior to last season had only appeared in one bowl game in its history. Congratulations to Defensive Coordinator David Reeves on the win and an incredible season!
CI Coaches in Bowl Games
Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl: Alcorn State FIU (OffCoor/OL Ryan Stanchek & SpecTeams/RB Lane Powell) vs. North Carolina A&T - Dec. 15, 12:00 PM
AutoNation Cure Bowl: Louisiana (Defensive Coordinator Ron Roberts & Offensive Analyst Bryant Ross) vs. Tulane - Dec. 15, 2:30 PM
Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl: UAB (Defensive Coordinator David Reeves) vs. Northern Illinois - Dec. 18, 7:00 PM
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl: Marshall (LB Coach Byron Thweatt) vs. South Florida - Dec. 20, 8:00 PM
Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl: FIU (Special Teams Coor. James Vollono) vs. Toledo - Dec. 21, 12:30 PM
Jared Birmingham Bowl: Memphis (DL Coach Paul Randolph) vs. Wake Forest (Offensive Analyst Scott Boone) - Dec. 22, 12:00 PM
SoFi Hawai'i Bowl: Louisiana Tech (LB Coach Brian Gamble & CB Coach Jeff Burris) vs. Hawai'i - Dec. 22, 10:30 PM
Quick Lane Bowl: Georgia Tech (SpecTeams/A-backs Lamar Owens, Safeties Coach Shiel Wood and DL Coach Jerome Riase) vs. Minnesota - Dec. 26, 5:15 PM
Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl: Vanderbilt (OL Coach Cameron Norcross) vs. Baylor - Dec. 27, 9:00 PM
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: Purdue (Defense/SpecTeams Asst Kevin Wolthausen) vs. Auburn - Dec. 28, 1:30 PM
Valero Alamo Bowl: Washington State (OL Coach Mason Miller) vs. Iowa State - Dec. 28, 9:00 PM
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: Florida (TE Coach Larry Scott) vs. Michigan - Dec. 29, 12:00 PM
Hyundai Sun Bowl: Pittsburgh (Offensive Analyst James Patton) vs. Stanford - Dec. 31, 2:00 PM
Redbox Bowl: Michigan State (Co-OffCoor/TE Jim Bollman) vs. Oregon (SpecTeams Analyst Chris Norris) - Dec. 31, 3:00 PM
AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Oklahoma State (Offensive Analyst Brian Rock) vs. Missouri (SpecTeams Analyst Dave Ungerer) - Dec. 31, 3:45 PM
San Diego Credit Union Holiday Bowl: Utah (WR Coach Guy Holliday) vs. Northwestern - Dec. 31, 7:00 PM
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl: NC State (Asst. Head Coach/CB George Barlow) vs. Texas A&M - Dec. 31, 7:30 PM
Outback Bowl: Mississippi State (DL Coach Brian Baker) vs. Iowa - Jan. 1, 12:00 PM
Allstate Sugar Bowl: Georgia (Special Teams Coor. Scott Fountain) vs. Texas - Jan. 1, 8:45 PM
One more CI coach will be in action tonight when Washington and DB Coach Torrian Gray (@togray14) travels to Philadelphia.
