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2004 Season Review

     2004 didn't meet the standards of excitement the 2003 season established for us, but it turned out to be a fun season again none-the-less  as we attended 13 games, added 5 new teams, finished off our complement of SEC teams, saw 8 bowl teams, watched 2 BCS bowl teams, and witnessed a couple of shockers!  Division 1AA games were played among ranked teams, and we saw a true conference championship won on the field.  Let it be noted that we had to be the only ones to see the only undefeated 1AA team in the country play as well as the only winless 1A team in the nation play.  It was a fun season once again shared with good friends, old and new, as well as family.

      We started with a close contest as "The Fridge's" Terps started out with a 23-20 win over Northern Illinois (CFF #89) at Byrd Stadium despite starting new QB Joel Statham for the first time.  NIU lost starting QB Josh Haldi after their first series which probably made a difference in the result.  NIU LB Jason Hawkins returned a fumble 85 yards with 5:34 remaining to make the score 23-20, but the Terp defense halted the Huskies at their own 34 as time expired to gain the win for the home team. The Huskies went 9-3 overall including a win over Troy State in the Silicone Valley Bowl.  Maryland went an uncharacteristic 4-7 under the Fridge in a rebuilding year.  We attended with Daryl and Kim Reigel whose daughter Whitney is now a freshman on UMD's softball team.  A highlight for us was the look on Daryl's face when he researched the Terp's roster to find out about a player one of Whit's roommates  was dating.  SR OT Lou Lombardo goes 6-5, 308 lbs.  Welcome to the BIG time, Daryl!

     We next traveled to Blacksburg, VA for the first time to see the Hokies, fresh off their loss to USC, trounce the hapless Western Michigan Broncos, 63-0, in what turned out to be the widest margin of victory we'd ever seen.  VT ran up the score as the game was over in the first half.  Tech honored a fallen Alum in Iraq before the game, and a plate of nachos was dropped in my lap by an apologetic grandmother who thankfully brought a lot of napkins with her.  VT went on to win the ACC and earn a BCS bid at 9-2 to play #3 Auburn, who we would also see play this year, in the Sugar Bowl. WMU (CFF #90) had already had its one win for the year against UT Martin, and shouldn't have looked back as it finished 1-10 as ESPN's #116th team in the nation.  Coach Gary Darnell was released at the end of the season to be replaced by Rutgers and Stanford castoff, Bill Cubit, father of WMU QB Ryan Cubit, who had also transferred from RU.

     The MAC went 0-3 on our schedule this year when George O'Leary brought his new employer, Central Florida, to State College, PA to give JoePa his 341st win, which would turn out to be only his 2nd of four for the entire 2004 season.  The 37-13  loss for the Golden Knights would be one of eleven on the season, making CFU (CFF #91) the only 1A squad in 2004 not to win a game.  To top Western Michigan's seasonal  performance, the Orlando team finished #117 in ESPN's final poll.  CFF definitely saw this year's two top candidates for the mythical Toilet Bowl!  The Knights need a total refurbishing to turn things around in Orlando.  Golden, Black or Scarlet, it's humbling to be a Knight in NCAA 1A football!

     Speaking of Black Knights, Army was next on our slate as we followed their visit to East Hartford, CT to see them face the Big East's newest entrant, UConn.  QB Dan Orlovsky throttled the Cadets early and often in this 40-3 yawner, taking a 14-0 lead after only six offensive plays.  A red-faced Bobby Ross of NCAA championship and Super Bowl experience raged at his Army defense on the bench early in the game, but to no avail.    These Huskies would finish 7-4, 3-3 in their inaugural Big East season to earn its first-ever bowl bid and victory over Toledo in the Motor City Bowl - something, as we've pointed out, that Rutgers has never done in all its years in Big East play.

     We dropped in to a 1AA game for the first time this season when Harvard visited Lafayette.  We hadn't been to Fisher Field in Easton, PA for 22 years.  Harvard showed a balanced offense, but Soph RB sensation Clifton Dawson rushed for 172 yards and 3 TDs in the 38-23 win over the Leopards.  We would see Harvard in a key Ivy League contest later in the season, but Lafayette turned out to be no slouch in the end finishing with a 1AA playoff bid and a #24 ranking in 1AA.  The Leopards fell to 2003 1AA champ Delaware in its first round playoff game.  We heard The Crimson sing a victory song in their locker room after the game.  Was that Latin we heard?

     CFF went back for a second helping of Army football, but this time on the banks of the Hudson where we tailgated along the River at the West Point RR station.  USMA faced C-USA foe Cincinnati with their SR QB Gino Guidugli successfully flinging for 350 yards and four TDS.  However, the ball-stripping Army defense and the backfield tandem of Tielor Robinson and Carlton Jones reversed the Army football fortune for the first time in two years, ending the Black Knight winless streak at 19 games with a 48-29 victory!  Robinson scored 5 TDs and Jones amassed 180 rushing yards.  Ball-stripping resulted in three of the four Bearcat turnovers and the goal posts at Michie Stadium came down!  Army would win again the following week at South Florida for a second and final victory to finish at 2-9.  For Army, it's the start of a turn-around, and with Bobby Ross in command, the Brave Old Army Team should become competitive once again.  We certainly hope so with plans to see the Cadets play several new teams as an Independent to reach our Goal in the future.  Cincinnati finished 6-5 and went on to knock off Marshall in the Fort Worth Bowl.  The Bearcats join the Big East next season.

     We ventured to Auburn, AL to see the highly ranked Tigers host Arkansas (CFF#92).  The Razorbacks were no match for the Tigers despite a gutsy performance by Arkansas QB Mike Jones who played despite a leg injury for most of the game.  He was outplayed, however, by his counterpart, the much improved Jason Campbell.  The SR QB playing his first year under offensive coordinator Al Borges, who we'd seen at UCLA in 2001, was on target this day completing 17 of 19 for 297 yards and 2 TDs.  RB Ronnie Brown rushed for 103 yards as Auburn raced off to a 30-0 start.  Jones started to lead his team back, but the Tiger defense prevailed.  We think we'll see big Mike Jones (6'6", 237 lbs) play QB in the NFL quite soon.  "Aubie the Tiger" was our most entertaining mascot of the year.  We were treated to a tour of the Auburn press box by the lovely, young Ms. Megan Murren, who now works in the Auburn Sports Information Department while attending school on the Plain.  We had a great tailgate setting there with Charlie, Linda, Charlie,Jr, and Laura Murren - the All-Auburn family!  By the way, at the end of the year, with a Sugar Bowl victory over Virginia Tech, Auburn was ranked #2 in the land in all polls!

     Back in State College, we heard the boos cascade down from throughout Beaver Stadium on top of venerable old Joe.  The Blue and White faithful began to take their frustrations out on the coaching staff for the lackluster offensive performance demonstrated for the past two seasons now despite a change of offensive coordinators.  Evidently, nothing has changed here.  Iowa topped PSU by the score of 6-4!  6-4?  That was the score of the first collegiate game played in 1869 when Rutgers defeated Princeton.  Wasn't JoePa coaching high school ball back in Jersey then?  Kirk Schlicher's two 27-yard FGs in the first half was all the offense the Hawkeyes needed to win this game.  The Hawkeye defense picked off four PSU passes to stymie a sluggish PSU offense and hold them to 147 yards of total offense.  Despite great defense by the Lions this day allowing 161 yards, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz made a brash statement by having his punter run the ball out of the end zone to cut the score to 6-4 in Q4 with 8:04 remaining, showing that he had little to fear from PSU's offense.  Iowa went on to become Big Ten co-champs at 9-2, settling for a Capital One Bowl bid on New Year's Day where they defeated LSU on the final play of the game, 30-25!  Iowa finished at #8 in the nation.  PSU won its final two Big Ten games to finish 4-7 overall.  JoePa says he's not going anywhere.  His defense looks good for the future, but questions remain if he still has what it takes to revamp his offense.  The PSU ticket buyers will be watching with even greater sensitivity next season, if they decide to come at all.

     CFF next visited Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA to see its first of three consecutive 1AA games involving ranked teams.  Both Colgate and Lehigh were ranked in the top 20 coming into this game in a showdown between the two previous Patriot League champs.  The Red Raiders came in led by RB Jamaal Branch who averaged 124 rushing yards per game.  The Lehigh defense held him to 29 yards and picked off three Colgate passes by QB Chris Brown who threw for 259 yards.  The Mountain Hawk defense was led by LB Anthony Graziani who was in on a total of 18 tackles.  QB Mark Borda threw for only half of his average for 134 yards this day, but his two TD passes and the combined running of Eric Rath and Marques Thompson was all the offense Lehigh needed in a 21-14 victory. Rath's TD run in Q3 would be the lead Lehigh would hold on to as both defenses battled hard to finish the game for first place in the Patriot League.  Brown's final interception was thrown into the end zone from 13 yards out with :05 left by LU's Julius Austin, sealing the Mountain Hawk victory in the game's final seconds.  Lehigh would finish the season tied with archrival Lafayette, whom they lost to in college football's most played rivalry, for the Patriot League championship, and would lose its first round 1AA playoff game to New Hampshire.  Colgate finished the season at  7-4.  Watching our young, guest game analysts (GGAs) slide down the muddy slopes of the south end zone was entertaining while still trying to figure out why 58 people in the Lehigh band are referred to as the "Marching 99"!

     Our big tailgate party did not turn out as big as we had hoped, but for the second straight year, we watched another last second victory played out at Princeton Stadium.  Tiger return man Greg Fields totaled 175 yards including 90 on punt returns to get PU good field position on several occasions.  PK Derek Javarone booted 3 FGs, but a TD and a missed 2-point conversion gave the Tigers a 15-7 lead into Q3.  U of P scored on a 19-yard TD pass from Scott McDermott to Gabe Marabella in the final period, but missed a 2-point conversion also to narrow the Princeton lead to 15-13.  With 2:57 remaining, freshman PK Derek Zoch's 22-yard attempt to take the lead for Penn was no good, but a dead ball procedure penalty moved the ball back five yards, and from  27 yards away, he converted to give the Quakers a 16-15 lead.  In true Tiger fashion, PU made it interesting in their last possession taking the pigskin all the way to the Penn 24.  With 23 ticks remaining, Javarone's 41-yard attempt went wide right by about a foot, and Penn remained unbeaten among the Ivies and kept their 20-game winning streak intact among its Ancient Eight foes. The Tigers finished the season at 5-5.  Penn,7-1, but 5-0 in the Ivies, traveled back to Philly for a showdown with undefeated Harvard for supremacy in the Ivy League.  CFF followed.

     CFF was at Franklin Field to see both Penn and Harvard play for the second time in 2004.  With two games remaining for each, a victory for either here would clinch at least a tie for the Ivy League title.  Penn took a quick 3-0 lead on a Zoch FG, and then it was all Crimson and clover for Harvard the rest of the afternoon.  HU dominated.  Two TD passes by QB Dan Fitzpatrick, a quiet 161 yards rushed by Clifton Dawson, and a pass on a fake FG from one LB to another highlighted the 31-10 Harvard victory before the Quakers scored the final TD of the game.  Harvard would defeat hated, archrival Yale a week later to win the Ivy title outright and finish the season as the only undefeated (10-0) 1AA team of the 2004 season.  QB Dan Fitzpatrick got invited to the Hula Bowl, Clifton Dawson added more rushing records in his sophomore season, and coach Tim Murphy's name surfaced on the rumor mill for some other coaching opportunities. Penn's 20-game Ivy win streak ended, and the Quakers finished their season at 8-2.  We'd like to have seen how far the Ivy champs could have gone in the 1AA playoffs. We had seen them defeat Lafayette who had made it in.  It would have been fun to see them play the likes of Delaware.  The great thing is that we got to see a championship decided where it should be - on the playing field!

     A business trip to Jackson, MS allowed CFF stay the weekend to travel to Starkville for the first time to see Mississippi State (CFF#93) host  the Arkansas Razorbacks for our second helping of the Hogs this season.  The last minute game added to our schedule was a good one, and it allowed us to see our twelfth and final SEC team play to reach our Goal.  MSU got off to a surprisingly fast 14-0 lead, but QB MIke Jones led the Razorbacks from behind on several drives converting on many third and fourth down situations.  The Bulldogs lined up for a game-tying FG in the third period trailing 17-14, but the attempt was blocked and caught over the shoulder by LB  Pierre Brown of Arkansas who raced 76 yards for a TD.  It turned out to be the game-winner as the Hogs would hold on to a 24-21 victory.  A final minute Bulldog drive in the second period was thwarted by some poor officiating, and Head Coach Sylvester Croom was seen doing his Joe Paterno imitation as he chased the referees down the field as time expired.  MSU posted a disappointing 3-8 in Croom's first season, and Arkansas finished at 5-6 in a rebuilding year for Head Coach Houston Nutt who had QB Mike Jones as his only returning, offensive starter from the previous year.  We met some nice people in the stands there in Starkville during the game, too.

    Our final game of the season took us to Chestnut Hill, MA to see Boston College's final Big East game before running off to join the ACC.  Like our trip to Pitt the year before to see Miami's farewell to the Big East, we expected to see BC escape with the Big East title against a struggling 5-5 Syracuse team, but a funny thing happened on BC's supposed trip to the BCS.  In front of BC students donning sombreros for their trip to the Fiesta Bowl,  the Orangemen got off to a fast start as TB Damien Rhodes raced 61 yards for a touchdown 16 seconds into the game.  On the other side of the ball, the Orange defense was led by DB Diamond Ferri who made tackle after hard tackle in the final Big East game of his career.  BC, however, was without the services of starting QB Paul Peterson this afternoon due to an injury.  The SU lead was still close before Rhodes left the game with 107 yards and a leg injury, but it opened the way for the ubiquitous Mr. Ferri to put on the greatest two-way performance we'd ever seen in over 300 college football games!  Ferri rambled for 141 yards and 2 TD runs from the RB position while continuing to make tackles on defense and even returning an interception 44 yards for another score as the Orangemen walloped the highly-favored Eagles, 43-17.  It was the second of two major upsets witnessed  by CFF this season.  The win got the Orange a bowl bid where they got stomped by Georgia Tech, 51-14, in front of their new AD.  It cost HC Paul Pasqualoni his job after 14 seasons at 'Cuse.  BC went to the Continental Tire Bow to defeat future ACC rival UNC in Charlotte by a score of 37-24.  They ended up ranked #21, but it was a far cry from where they could have been had they gotten by Syracuse in their Big East finale!

    Our season ended on that note as we didn't get an opportunity to attend a bowl game or even a play-off this season.  We saw some memorable games and added 5 more teams to our Goal for a total now of 93.  We're getting close, and we can't wait till next year!  September 2005 can't come soon enough.  We plan to add at least 10 new teams at several new venues.  Check out Schedule 2005 for updates.

Steve Koreivo, ed.