ANOTHER NAILED CARPENTER FAILS TO RESURRECT FOR HOLIDAY COMEBACK

No Rudy Awakening:  Texas overcomes screw-up by Coach’s stepson, by hammering Carpenter and keeping him from becoming the Devils’ Savior in 52-34 Holiday Bowl Crucifixion

The Texas Longhorns are no strangers to beating a Pac-10 team in a Bowl Game that contains a one-in-a-million lost-lateral play.  A couple of years ago, Reggie Bush’s idiotic and inexplicable lost lateral helped the Vince Young-led Longhorns rip the trojans’ hearts out (AS IF they HAD hearts) in the National Championship Game.  Last night, an even more-bizarre lost lateral play almost HURT the ‘Horns, but their extreme Talent and Strategy advantage over Arizona State was enough to change the tide back to their side.

With a 21-0 lead, Texas recovered an ASU lateral, but before they did, it was “touched” by Chris Jesse, a UT staffer who happens to also be Head Coach Mack Brown’s stepson.  Jesse thought that the ball was dead as an incomplete pass.  There was even a flag thrown for Intentional Grounding.  But upon review, since Rudy Carpenter’s errant pass went backwards, the penalty was negated, and the ball was live.  And since Jesse touched it, the call was “Unsportsmanlike Conduct.”  ASU got to retain possession, and they scored a Touchdown on the very next play (on 4th and 3 from the Texas 7 yard line).  That made it 21-7, and gave ASU all the momentum.  Jesse was virtually IN TEARS on the sidelines, as the play was shown over and over.

But with Texas QB Colt McCoy running all over ASU, and with ASU unable to run AT ALL against Texas, even McCoy’s 4 fumbles didn’t matter, as Texas was able to keep ahead by a comfortable margin all night.  The other main key was that Carpenter had NO TIME to throw, as the Texas D was all over him. 

After the game, Jesse insisted that he did NOT actually touch the ball, despite the fact that Replay Officials felt that the video was CONCLUSIVE to the point of OVERTURNING the call on the field.  In OUR opinion, you CAN’T see him make contact with the ball, but the ball does change direction just by the slightest degree after he pulls his hand away.  And of course the fact that HE denies contact means nothing.  What ELSE is he going to say?  But now it’s a moot point, because thanks to the Texas victory, Jesse will not be lynched tonight.

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The Oregon State Beavers  are the next team to have a chance to save the Pac-10 Conference from a winless postseason, when they face Maryland tonight.  The Beavers are favored by about 4 and a half points, but the way it’s going so far for the Pac-10, Maryland should feel confident.

Below are 8 more ASU photos, including Coach Dennis Erickson, who, last night, did NOT look like the National Champion Coach that he is.  Even though he was decidedly out-manned, he was also noticeably out-coached as well.