# Rose Bowl.... Ouch



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Well...

That was an intresting game.

It has been a long time since I have seen a game, that I had an emotional tie to... where you could easily say.... if that "one play" doesn't happen (the fumble on the 3yrd line, when the game was only 11 points differences).

My gosh could this have been something different after that point.

But dang.... 

The Illini did everything they couldn't have done. You are not going to win with that many turnovers, and not creating any of your own.

Oh well... 
The good thing out of all of this... we probably won't be waiting 24 more years till their next Rose (or BCS) bowl apperence...

If Rashed Mendenhall returns next season... They have a solid offense, if they would just open up the passing game a bit earlier...

Congrats USC fans


----------



## ARKDTVfan (May 19, 2003)

Looks the same for the Sugar Bowl

Georgia will pile it on
already ugly


----------



## Mustang Dave (Oct 13, 2006)

Don't feel so bad Earl it was destiny for the Illini to meet that fate.  Many football analysts think, and I tend to agree with them,  that USC should be playing in the national title game. Too bad Booty broke a finger and threw four picks in the game against Stanford which shot their title hopes down. Very few teams would be happy to be playing USC in a bowl game with the way they were playing at the end of the season.


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

The Big Ten didn't fare well at all this year.

...and yes, Georgia did handily defeat Hawaii, despite all the repeated pre-game hype about Hawaii being "the highest scoring team in the nation" with an "almost unstoppable offense". I was anticipating a 49-47 game or something...Hawaii had 10 points and 152 passing yards going into the early 4th quarter. It was a good game to watch, although it ran very late into the wee hours of the morning on the East Coast.

The Outback Bowl was interesting for about 3 quarters, but the Rose Bowl was pretty much over in the 3rd quarter. Sorry about the Illini Earl. I was hoping for a better showing myself (Mrs HDTVFan was born and raised in Chicago).


----------



## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

Hawai'i (or is it Hawaii?) got plastered, just as I thought. The fact that they scored 10 points made it look better than it actually was.

Sure hope we don;t hear them whining about being left out anymore. Course, there is always Florida.


----------



## tfederov (Nov 18, 2005)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> The Big Ten didn't fare well at all this year.


Ahem....


----------



## Carl Spock (Sep 3, 2004)

^ The best game of the day. Nice going, Michigan. You showed class.


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

The score for the Rose Bowl doesn't really show that it was a game till the mid point of the 3rd quarter. If that fumble doesn't happen... and they punch it in... 4 point game, and the entire momentum of the game shifts....

As goes football... 
And could any more bounces go USC way?
First the pop in the first quarter that launched the ball 30ft in the air, right into another receivers hand... who still gets the first down.

The possible fumble in the first, that Illinois ran back... but the player was ruled down (which probably was too close to reverse).

The Lateral... that just happens to bounce backup into his hands in stride... 
(But dang.... Vante is smoking fast).

Pulled 29yrd field goal for a pretty solid kicker.

Stars didn't allign... at least it was enjoyable... and they lost to a team that has the resume to play in the National Game...

Really sucks there is no playoff system.

Props to Michigan.... 
And Mr. Heart should be counting his blessings... that his fumbles didn't cost Michigan the game, like Illinois fumbles cost them theirs...


----------



## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

I did not watch all of the Rose Bowl, but did see the pop up and the lateral bounce plays and they definitely could have gone the other way. The bounce up was particularly funny as I bet they could try that 5 or 10 times again and it would not work.


----------



## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Earl, I feel for you buddy. Despite my location, I'm no USC fan.


----------



## Mikey (Oct 26, 2004)

Funniest thing I saw was slick Rick Neuheisel in the stands giving coaching advise to Ron Zook via ABC.


----------



## DJTheC (Oct 31, 2007)

tfederov said:


> Ahem....


Indeed, helps when the bro-in-law likes Florida and the wife likes Michigan.

Being that I'm from Pittsburgh and our HS football is the one and only WPIAL, Seeing that Mr. Pryor changed his sights to Michigan makes a lot of folks around here proud.


----------



## kocuba (Dec 29, 2006)

tfederov said:


> Ahem....


Way to go Blue. :joy: Way to shut those braggart SEC fans up.

Now hopefully OSU does the same on Monday, which I think i quite possible.

And I hope you will be in our corner, tfederov. At least for 1 day.


----------



## tonyd79 (Jul 24, 2006)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> The Big Ten didn't fare well at all this year.


Oh, I don't know. 3-4 so far and the Illini were a runner-up playing a conference champion.

If Ohio State beats LSU, they would go 4-4 with the National Champion. I wouldn't say that is not well.


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

tonyd79 said:


> Oh, I don't know. 3-4 so far and the Illini were a runner-up playing a conference champion.
> 
> If Ohio State beats LSU, they would go 4-4 with the National Champion. I wouldn't say that is not well.


Ain't gonna happen....looks like the Big Ten will end up 3-5.... 

Just to make one thing clear - I'm a graduate of a Big Ten School (but also a realist).


----------



## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

DJTheC said:


> Indeed, helps when the bro-in-law likes Florida and the wife likes Michigan.
> 
> Being that I'm from Pittsburgh and our HS football is the one and only WPIAL, Seeing that Mr. Pryor changed his sights to Michigan makes a lot of folks around here proud.


Pryor would be perfect at UM since Rodriguez took over. I hope he lives up to the hype. I also wish he went to Texas or UF lol.


----------



## tfederov (Nov 18, 2005)

kocuba said:


> Way to go Blue. :joy: Way to shut those braggart SEC fans up.
> 
> Now hopefully OSU does the same on Monday, which I think i quite possible.
> 
> And I hope you will be in our corner, tfederov. At least for 1 day.


You get one day. After that it's on again!


----------



## vankai (Jan 22, 2007)

tfederov said:


> Ahem....


Have you Michigan folk seen this Texas kid who has verbally committed there?

Sam McGuffie....he's here in San Antonio for the Army All-American Bowl this weekend.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/mysaStories/20080102.sports.vaulting.html

You can catch him and the rest of the best in High School, Saturday at Noon on NBC.

We'll see how McGuffie holds up against the Big Boys in the next year or two.


----------



## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

I'm back, fellas. What a trip! the game sucked, true, but I'll report back on what was a fantastic trip. The Alumni Association and the travel agency did it up very well.

More tomorrow. I've spent over 12 hours dealing with travel delays and reroutes, but in the end, American Airlines did it right. They rerouted me from LAX to Vegas to O'Hare after my original flights were all delayed, and to top it off, the final reroute placed me in First Class, where I downed 5 Bailey's before we even lifted off.

So I'm a bit tipsy and tired. Later...


----------



## DJTheC (Oct 31, 2007)

Michigan's really getting some good people. Pryor from the WPIAL, probably the best seen in a while. The texas guy just mentioned...what else?

Oh yeah...WVU's coach.


----------



## kocuba (Dec 29, 2006)

tfederov said:


> You get one day. After that it's on again!


I'll take it. :grin:


----------



## Dr. Booda (Jun 18, 2007)

Earl Bonovich said:


> The score for the Rose Bowl doesn't really show that it was a game till the mid point of the 3rd quarter. If that fumble doesn't happen... and they punch it in... 4 point game, and the entire momentum of the game shifts....
> 
> As goes football...
> And could any more bounces go USC way?
> ...


You nailed it right on the head with your analysis Earl. It was still worth the trip for the family after 24 years of waiting, although some of the USC fans were complete idiots. No class and no knowledge about football, but there are always a few bad apples at any event. Overall though, it was a good crowd.

The Rose Parade was a sight to behold though in person, and Pasadena really knows what they are doing. Getting hundreds of thousands of people to behave and be cordial is refreshing nowadays. Of course the right and left wing nut cases were also out in force, but they're easy enough to ignore.

Kudos to the Alumni Association for the Tailgate party and major props to all the fellow alumni present. We managed to drink the party dry by 12:45 PM, so it's good to see that some traditions carry on.

Best of luck to the Illini in 2008, and PLEASE play your best game next time instead of whatever we witnessed.:nono2:


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Dr. Booda said:


> ...
> Kudos to the Alumni Association for the Tailgate party and major props to all the fellow alumni present. We managed to drink the party dry by 12:45 PM, so it's good to see that some traditions carry on.
> ....


As did the half-time tradition of CHIEFFFFFFFFFF

Even though the Chief wasn't on the field... during the half-time show (while the "crew" chatted away)... the CHIEFFFFFFFFFFF call was clearly heard to anyone that knew it was there...

Thumbs up to all the Alumni that keep that tradition allive, despite all the efforts to stop it.


----------



## Dr. Booda (Jun 18, 2007)

Earl Bonovich said:


> As did the half-time tradition of CHIEFFFFFFFFFF
> 
> Even though the Chief wasn't on the field... during the half-time show (while the "crew" chatted away)... the CHIEFFFFFFFFFFF call was clearly heard to anyone that knew it was there...
> 
> Thumbs up to all the Alumni that keep that tradition allive, despite all the efforts to stop it.


Yep, all 30,000 of us at the game did our best. During the 3 in 1, we just imagined him dancing on that giant painted rose bowl emblem.

The best Chief yell of the day though occurred during the parade. Right after the Marching Illini went by, the next float was a Native American theme. As soon as the 50 foot high Chief came into view, everyone went nuts. All of the USC fans had no clue what was happening.


----------



## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Hey, Booda, where did you guys stay? I was at the Wilshire Grand.


----------



## Dr. Booda (Jun 18, 2007)

Lord Vader said:


> Hey, Booda, where did you guys stay? I was at the Wilshire Grand.


Lord Illini,

We had to bunk at the Hilton in Universal City. We didn't attend via the Alumni package, so I had to piece it all together individually. The Internet is a wonderful thing in that regard, as I was able to secure all of the arrangements (Hotel, Game & Parade Tickets, all day parking) within an hour of the BCS Selection show announcement.

That Parade traffic was unreal though. I've never been stopped dead on a Freeway at 6 AM before. Everyone was trying to use the same exit, when all you had to do is drive another mile down the road to get off. Yikes!

Even though we stunk up the field, everyone I saw in orange was just having a blast; smiles everywhere and excitement. To me, that's the most important thing. Have a great time, and if we win it's a bonus.


----------



## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

We had so many people at the Alumni Association's tailgate party that I heard the latecomers, of which there were a LOT, didn't get any food. They ran out. Other than that, all the stuff that was planned was great. Illini Nation literally took over Universal City Hollywood--everyone was decked out in orange. And some 30,000 Illini fans at the game itself was awesome. A couple USC fans sitting behind us were real cool, telling us that they thought we had the biggest crowd support they've ever seen at a Rose Bowl from an out-of-state team. 

There's a reason Illinois has the largest alumni association in the country, along with the largest marching band. Did you see the size of our band contingent? It was huge! The thing was longer than a city block. We were seated in the grandstand near the beginning of the parade, and when the band went by, it just stretched for what seemed like an eternity.

I took a couple hundred pictures of all the stuff going on and will post a couple cool ones here perhaps, but may put all of them up online if anyone's interested in browsing through them for the heck of it.


----------



## Dr. Booda (Jun 18, 2007)

Lord Vader said:


> We had so many people at the Alumni Association's tailgate party that I heard the latecomers, of which there were a LOT, didn't get any food. They ran out. Other than that, all the stuff that was planned was great. Illini Nation literally took over Universal City Hollywood--everyone was decked out in orange. And some 30,000 Illini fans at the game itself was awesome. A couple USC fans sitting behind us were real cool, telling us that they thought we had the biggest crowd support they've ever seen at a Rose Bowl from an out-of-state team.
> 
> There's a reason Illinois has the largest alumni association in the country, along with the largest marching band. Did you see the size of our band contingent? It was huge! The thing was longer than a city block. We were seated in the grandstand near the beginning of the parade, and when the band went by, it just stretched for what seemed like an eternity.
> 
> I took a couple hundred pictures of all the stuff going on and will post a couple cool ones here perhaps, but may put all of them up online if anyone's interested in browsing through them for the heck of it.


I was in the food line at 11:30 AM, and they were running out then. It's a good thing that the beer lasted longer, or there would have been a riot. 

The band was awesome. I think that our piccolo section was 10 strong! At the tailgate, we saw the band lining up outside and went to the back gate to get a up close view. All of the kids looked so happy to be there, although at that point they were tired. I can't imagine marching 5.5 miles in a parade, playing at the tent party, and then the game.


----------



## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

I think one reason they ran out of food was because the guy in my line was plopping down a ton of food onto my plate! He loaded me up with beef, which was tender as hell, and piled on the chicken.


----------



## Dr. Booda (Jun 18, 2007)

Lord Vader said:


> I think one reason they ran out of food was because the guy in my line was plopping down a ton of food onto my plate! He loaded me up with beef, which was tender as hell, and piled on the chicken.


I couldn't believe how much beer they were handing out. The wife and I grabbed four at a time, but some guys were walking back with twelve packs on their shoulders. Quite a bit different then the two drink limit in the stadium. :grin:


----------



## Dr. Booda (Jun 18, 2007)

Here's my favorite picture of the day. It's never too early to get my son interested in cheerleaders.


----------



## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Game? What game? Happy New Year, Ladies!

This was at Universal City Hollywood New Year's Eve during the all day Illini Bash. Must've been the scruffy look they liked.


----------



## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Three pics of the Marching Illini, and this isn't the entire band, either! Just the bulk of it. To get an idea as to how big our band is, in the second pic, the contingent goes beyond the white tow truck in the left middle side of the pic, and the beginning of the band is beyond the right side of the pic.


----------

