Sports 2000

Houston avenged a September loss to Air Force by defeating the Falcons in the Armed Forces Bowl, 34-28. Air Force (9-4) had beaten Houston, 31-28, but the Cougars (10-3)–like Wake Forest over Navy in the EagleBank Bowl Dec. 20–won the rematch today in Fort Worth.

In other action Wednesday, Oregon State (9-4) blanked Pittsburgh (9-4), 3-0, in the Sun Bowl. The game, held in El Paso, was the lowest-scoring bowl game since a scoreless tie in 1959.

Kansas (8-5) topped Minnesota (7-6) in the Insight Bowl, 41-21, held in Tempe. Louisiana State (8-5) crushed Georgia Tech (9-4), 38-3, in Atlanta’s Chick-fil-A Bowl.

Vanderbilt (7-6) won its first bowl game since 1955 by upsetting Boston College (9-5) in the Music City Bowl, 16-14. The Commodores played in their hometown and were energized by a large fan base. Boston College had won its last eight bowl games.

Oregon outlasted Oklahoma State to win a see-saw Holiday Bowl Tuesday, 42-31, in San Diego. The teams traded the lead several times before Oregon (10-3) scored the game’s last two touchdowns to prevail against the Cowboys (9-4). The victory was big for the Pac-10, considered to be down this year, against a squad from the vaunted Big 12’s South division.

In other games today, Rice earned its first bowl victory in more than a half-century. The Owls (10-3) dominated the Texas Bowl, scoring the first 38 points against Western Michigan. The Broncos tallied the final scores but the outcome was never in doubt in Houston. Rice won, 38-14. Until tonight, Rice’s last bowl win was the 1954 Cotton Bowl.

Maryland outlasted Nevada, 42-35, in the Humanitarian Bowl, in Boise. The teams battled to a stalemate at 28 early in the last period before Maryland’s (8-5) big offensive line wore down Nevada’s (7-6) smaller defensive front. The Terrapins notched another bowl win for the Atlantic Coast Conference, which has a record 10 teams playing in the postseason. The Wolfpack’s loss put the Western Athletic Conference at 0-4 in bowls this year.

Romeo Crennel was fired today as coach of the Cleveland Browns. Eric Mangini was axed as leader of the New York Jets. Rod Marinelli will not return next season for the Detroit Lions.

The easy part–removing the coach–took just hours after the end of the year. The hard part is coming–finding a capable replacement.

The three men departing Monday coached their teams a combined 10 seasons. Cleveland won 10 games in 2007 under Crennel but slipped to 4-12 this year. New York won a surprising 10 games in 2006 in Mangini’s first season. After sliding to 4-12 last year, the Jets seemed poised for a playoff push by starting 2008 with an 8-3 mark. Instead, New York dropped four of last five games and will be watching the playoffs on television.

Perhaps the less said about Detroit, which has lost 23 of its last 24 games, has finished the worst eight-year stretch since World War II and completed the NFL’s first-ever 0-16 season, the better. The Lions didn’t quit; they simply lacked talent. Although quite a few squads in league history have had inferior talent and managed to win one or two games.

Bill Cowher, one of the few Super Bowl-winning coaches available, is being heavily courted. Cowher left Pittsburgh after the 2006 season to work in TV and be closer to his family. Even if some team is lucky enough to hire him, that’s only part of the needed makeover that organization will need.

The teams that don’t land him will likely hire someone you don’t know. Sure, that could be great. History says probably not. Constant turnover in personnel doesn’t help a business, whether it tries to sell shoes or win football games.