Poinsettia Bowl

Poin-set-tah or Poin-set-tia?  The age old question about the plant the withers on December 26th and can be harmful to your pets.

The bowl games were back Thursday night and this one probably is the smallest sponsor to reach out to a national audience.

BYU vs. San Diego State, a match-up of two good defensive squads with challenged offenses.  The low scoring prediction lived up to that prediction in the first half that was statistically dominated by the Aztecs but didn't show up on the scoreboard at the end of the half. 6-3 in a snoozer.  A low block penalty against SDSU proved to be the biggest play of the first half, negating a interception returned for a touchdown.  That's the kind of half it was. 

Both teams were dealing with injuries and BYU was trying out a couple quarterbacks looking to find anything on offense.  The Cougars should have put defensive lineman Kyle Van Noy at quarterback.  The guy is a beast and was all the offense BYU needed.  Van Noy recovered a fumble for a touchdown, had an interception for a score, a number of sacks, forced another fumble and blocked a punt.  By the time Van Noy was done in the second half, the Mormon faithful had another bowl trophy for the showcase in Provo.

This is Kyle Van Noy.  He hit the NFL jackpot last night.  I honestly cannot remember one player dominating a game so completely. 

BYU 23  SDSU 6

Game notes:
-The Aztecs took their running back Adam Muema out for a period of time in the second half.  He was the only offensive player on either side of the ball doing anything.  I guess they were worried Van Noy would hurt him. 

-The CEO of the credit union that sponsors this game looked like she had her hair done at Super Cuts about three hours prior to her video production session.

-I believe this is the only game where a team gets to play in its home stadium.  Didn't help the Aztecs one bit.

-Pregame activities for the players included a trip to Sea World.  I thought this was an albino dolphin but my son informed me it was a beluga whale.

-ESPN play by play announcer Carter Blackburn made a nice reference to this scene. Well played.

-Poinsettia Bowl swag for the players, pretty modest. Best Buy gift card, Tourneau watch, Maui Jim sunglasses gift certificate, cap.

-I picked the Cougars in this one with a low confidence pick.  Bowl record up to 3-0.

Tonight, the Beef O'Brady's Bowl from Tampa with Ball State taking on Central Florida.