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Copyright © 2010 Ed Bagley

Despite being down 14-zip early on, two 2009 bowl teams—Utah and Middle Tennessee—won by 10, and Texas Tech managed to take the "Distraction" Bowl (aka the Alamo Bowl) title from Michigan State University, 41-31.

Both Texas Tech and Michigan State came into the Distraction Bowl with troubled programs. TCU coach Mike Leach had enjoyed enormous success with the Red Raider program, but his approach to disciplining at least one player got him into trouble, and his self-importance and arrogance got him fired by the school president before the bowl game.

Texas Tech's defensive coordinator Ruffin "Ruff" McNeill filled in for Leach. After leading "his" team to victory during a very difficult week of media madness, the likeable McNeill may be a candidate for the head coaching job left vacant when Leach got canned.

The signage on the field in San Antonio was nothing short of nasty. Fans supporting Leach—arguably the most successful and popular coach in Red Raider history—and denouncing the player of interest and his family, were both in evidence. Essentially, the family challenged Leach's authority and discipline tactics, which included making the player, who was injured and suffered a concussion, stand in a dark equipment shed for hours to apparently teach him to be tough.

College football has a history of coaches who routinely cussed and berated their players, and sometimes physically abused them. Those days are over. Strong-arm tactics in today's coaching environment are not tolerated, and many times exposed, as Mike Leach discovered. Cell phones with video cameras have made the world a much more watchable place.

Michigan State's program did not look much better. No less than 14 players were suspended from the team pending investigation, and did not make the trip to the Distraction Bowl because of a dormitory brawl in November.

At kickoff, it was difficult to tell which team had more and bigger thugs—the Texas Tech coaching staff led by Leach, or a large section of the Michigan State team players. (Disclaimer: As an athlete at Michigan State I must admit that I may have fantasized about being in a dormitory brawl, but I could never quite work up the hatred and mob mentality to get the job done. I settled my scores during the competition.)

As you might guess, the Distraction Bowl was an afterthought. With all of the finger pointing, shouting and recriminations, it was a wonder they even kept score. Michigan State lost, of course, because the Spartans had been having such a crappy year—losing to Central Michigan, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Penn State and now Texas Tech.

State finished the year with a losing season at 6-7. Texas Tech was 9-4 and "thugtorious". Johnny Appleseed would have thrown the whole basket of Texas Tech and Michigan State away. Thank goodness that there will be a next year for each team.

No. 23-ranked Utah (10-3) spotted California (8-5) two touchdowns in 11 seconds during the 1st quarter, but refused to buckle or panic. The Utes would score the next 27 points in the game and go on to win by 10, 37-27, in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Utah's true freshman Jordan Wynn amassed 338 yards in the air and fired 3 touchdown passes to help the Utes notch their 9th straight bowl victory, currently the longest winning streak in major college football. Southern California won 9 straight from 1923 to 1945, and Florida State, under Bobby Bowden, won 11 straight from 1985 to 1996 to set the record.

Coach Kyle Whittingham's guys know how to win. Utah has become the BCS buster among mid-major schools. The Utes whipped Pittsburgh 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl in 2004, and took down Alabama 31-17 last year in the Sugar Bowl.

Utah 's defense was right there—shutting down Cal after its 14-0 take off, and then Utah's offense scored on its last 4 possessions of the 1st half.

Middle Tennessee (10-3) was also down 14-zip in its game against Southern Mississippi (7-6), but came roaring back to win by 10, 42-32, in the New Orleans Bowl.

Middle Tennessee's sophomore QB Dwight Dasher rushed for 201 yards, scored 2 TDs on the ground, and 2 more in the air to lead the Blue Raiders to victory. His 201 yards broke Vince Young's quarterback bowl rushing record of exactly 200 yards set against USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl won by Texas. Dasher went 15-of-25 while passing for 162 yards.

He finished the season with 1,175 yards rushing as a quarterback.

Damion Fletcher, Southern Mississippi's star running back, gained 78 yards to finish the year with 1,015, becoming only the 9th player in major college football history to rush for 1,000 yards for 4 consecutive seasons. Fletcher's 5,302 rushing yards passed Herschel Walker's 5,259 and LaDainian Tomlinson's 5, 263 for 8th place on the NCAA's career list.

Middle Tennessee coach Rick Stockstill was beyond pleased with his players. The Blue Raiders were playing in only their second bowl game in school history—their first bowl win, winning their last 7 regular season games, and their 10 total wins marked their most since joining the big time Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in 1999.

Both Mississippi (9-4) and Oklahoma State (9-4) littered the Cotton Bowl with turnovers, missed opportunities and sloppy play in a game that saw Ole Miss prevail, 21-7, as senior Dexter McCluster had a career-high 32 carries for 182 yards (5.69 ypc) and 2 TDs, including the go-ahead score on a direct snap with 4:03 remaining.

Mississippi had 5 turnovers in the game. Oklahoma State, not to be outdone, had 6 turnovers in the 4th quarter alone, and 7 overall. It all looked like practice recovery drills for game preparation. With a dozen fumbles in the game, every player appeared to need remedial training in protecting the ball.

Mississippi coach Houston Nutt had mixed feelings after the game—joy and sorrow. He was happy his team won, and sad to realize that Dexter McCluster would be graduating from his program. McCluster became the first SEC player ever to have 1,000 yards rushing and 500 yards receiving in a single season.

Nutt has caught on as the Ole Miss coach. The season before he arrived, Mississippi had lost all 8 of its SEC games. Nutt has led the Rebels to consecutive 9-4 seasons and 2 consecutive Cotton Bowl victories. Last year Ole Miss dusted off Texas Tech, 47-34.

Another great individual performance by C.J. Spiller led Clemson (9-5) to a 21-13 victory over Kentucky (7-6) in the Music City Bowl. Spiller picked up 67 yards rushing, scored a TD, caught 3 passes for 58 yards, and had 47 yards on returns. His TD was the 51st of his career, setting a Clemson record.

Clemson's first-year coach Dabo Swinney was down with a bowl victory in his first full season as a head coach.