Schrödinger’s Fiesta Bowl “live” blog

The moment of truth has arrived: I’m about to start watching the Fiesta Bowl, roughly 25 hours after kickoff. I was too busy to watch the game last night, so I TiVoed it, and then ever since the game started yesterday, I’ve assiduously avoided Twitter, Facebook, blog comments, e-mail (for the most part), and any news or sports or other websites that might conceivably mention the result. I even changed my browser’s homepage from the Drudge Report to my work e-mail, on the off chance the game might somehow be newsworthy enough to earn a spot on Drudge. And I asked a couple of fellow sports fans at my office not to tell me anything about the game.

This has all been completely successful: I have no idea what happened in the game, who won, whether it was a good game, or anything at all about it. (Well, one co-worker did say “you missed a great game,” but I’m pretty sure he was teasing me and didn’t actually watch the game or have any idea what happened — he’s not really a TCU-Boise State kind of guy. Becky is also making some cryptic comments about how Facebook has been buzzing all day with talk of a punter doing something dramatic, but again, I think she’s yanking my chain… and if she’s not, the possibility that she is is plausible enough that it doesn’t really give anything away. If she’s telling the truth, I won’t know until it happens — er, until I see it happen, that is.)

My self-imposed ignorance, and forswearing of almost the entire Internet for more than a day, is reminiscent of the extreme lengths I went to in order to avoid reading or hearing any spoilers about the ending of the seventh Harry Potter book in the days before it was released. But of course, that was an effort to avoid learning a fictional “fact” that had been “known” to J.K. Rowling for years. In this case, I’m avoiding all information about something that actually happened yesterday. Thus, for me, there’s a bit of a Schrödinger’s Cat phenomenon going on here (hence the title of this post, and my tweet yesterday along the same lines). I haven’t observed the result, thus the quiff hasn’t yet been popped, and thus, until I hit “play” on my TiVo, Boise State both won and lost; TCU likewise both won and lost; the game was both dramatic and boring; the teams looked both BCS-worthy (even perhaps title-worthy?) and mockably not-ready-for-prime-time; etc. etc. (And yes, I realize that’s not actually proper quantum physics, because millions of people did observe the game. Shh. Allow me my nerdy analogy, damn you!)

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to “live” blog the game as I watch it on the longest tape delay ever. 🙂 Updates will appear after the jump. Oh, and feel free to post “spoiler” comments — I won’t be reading any comments till after I’m done with the game.

UPDATE, 8:00 PM: My actual start got delayed because Becky wanted to watch the end of last night’s Daily Show, and the beginning of Colbert (curling! ha!), which I was OK with because they’re filmed at like 6pm or something, so there was no way they could contain spoilers. 🙂 Anyway, I’m now starting the game.

Go Boise State! Beat TCU! But mostly, Go Mid-Majors, Play An Entertaining, High-Quality Game!

8:03 PM: “That signifies the special teams, and the hammer that they hit with.” What?

8:08 PM: Fox camera work FAIL during the coin toss. Meanwhile: “The atmosphere is electric here in Glendale.” Broadcast not really conveying that well yet.

8:09 PM: Kickoff!

8:12 PM: TCU’s first drive goes nowhere.

8:13 PM: Boise punt returner makes over-the-shoulder catch of what would’ve been a touchback, runs it back to the 15. D’oh.

8:14 PM: Petersen calls downfield bomb on first play! Would’ve been a touchdown, but too much adrenaline for Kellen Moore, overthrows receiver by 10 yards.

8:15 PM: Sign seen in Glendale: “We Love Frogs!” Something you won’t be seeing at Ireland soccer games anytime soon.

8:17 PM: What was that, Kellen Moore? No receiver within 5 miles. Another 3-and-out. Is this what Becky meant about punts — just that there are lots of ’em? I hope not. In an SEC game, people respect good defense, but if Boise and TCU play an extremely low-scoring defensive struggle, I suspect the conventional wisdom will be (or rather is/was) that it means OMG THE MID-MAJORS SUXXX.

8:18 PM: Best thing about watching a game on TiVo: fast-forwarding through the commercials. (Obv.)

8:20 PM: First down TCU! First of the game. And I swear that cheerleader just said “Go, Brendan, Go!”

8:22 PM: INTERCEPTED! TOUCHDOWN BOISE! WOOOO!!!

8:23 PM: 7-0 Boise, 11:28 left 1st quarter.

8:27 PM: Alas, the interception was more of an offensive screw-up (didn’t finish the route) than a defensive gem. MORE GEMS, PLEASE! On whichever side of the ball.

(It feels weird to be basically rooting for both teams to look good and do well. That I’m actually rooting for them to have looked good and have done well, in a game that was played yesterday, only adds another level of weirdness.)

Meanwhile… headset troubles? Forget the teams; is the Fiesta Bowl ready for prime time?

Almost another Dalton interception there.

8:28 PM: Nothing doing for TCU. Really not much offense here, so far. Announcers blaming nerves.

8:29 PM: An almost-ugly pushing and shoving scene there. None of that, please.

8:30 PM: Why does Fox’s stupid “Bowl Bash” logo have a crystal football in it? The championship game is on ABC this year, guys.

8:31 PM: I sort of wish I had some Tostitos to go with my beer, just on principle.

8:32 PM: The announcer just said “watch the penetration” and then drew a diagram on the telestrator that looked rather phallic. Tee hee.

8:34 PM: First down Boise! Offense getting going?

8:35 PM: Another Moore overthrow, another would-be touchdown wasted. Calm down, Kellen.

8:36 PM: Fox announcers seeing phantom flags.

Moore to Young! Woo! Nice throw & catch! First down in the red zone.

8:37 PM: I see there are a bunch of comments on this post already. I’m not reading them, of course. But how weird is this? I’m blogging about a game that already happened; y’all already know how it turns out. And we’re having a blog conversation about it, except I can’t read what you’re writing yet, because your comments are, from my perspective, the equivalent of dispatches from the future. (PARADOX!)

8:39 PM: “In my opinion, from watching the tape, one of the best linebackers in college football.” Gotta love Fox announcers. They don’t cover college football all year, then suddenly they show up on the scene for the most important bowls, after “watching the tape.” Can’t wait for ESPN to take over next year.

8:43 PM: Boise State’s offense completely stalls in the end zone, and they miss the field goal attempt. Ugh. Still 7-0.

Meanwhile, the play-by-play guy almost called Boise “TCU” there. And I quote: “This will be a 36-yard try. On the way, and wide! Brotzman misses it. T– Boise State fails to take advantage of good field position.” (Another advantage of watching a game on TiVo, BTW: you can go back and get quotes.)

8:45 PM: Uh-oh, big sack on TCU’s Dalton by Boise’s Kyle Wilson, and he’s down.

8:47 PM: Dalton sitting up on the sideline. Now walking around. Looks to be relatively OK, but backup’s in the game for 3rd & 13. Marcus Jackson. Hasn’t played since October 31.

8:48 PM: Dalton “just got the wind knocked out of him.” Meanwhile, TCU’s third punt of the game. 1:55 left in the 1st Q. Hmm.

8:51 PM: Another Boise 3-and-out. Broncos punt #2, with :31 left in the first. Gotta admit, if this were an SEC game, I’d probably have busted out a sarcastic “IT’S A WAR!” by now. C’mon, guys! Offense!

8:53 PM: End of the first quarter. “Defense the story of the game thus far.” Indeed. I’m getting worried about the ratings. If there’s no offense to speak of by halftime, will (or rather, did) people keep watching?

8:54 PM: Two false starts on the last two first downs for TCU. Announcers blaming nerve, noise, dome.

8:55 PM: Quality swarming defense by Boise on that first-down TCU pass.

8:56 PM: Another TCU punt.

9:03 PM: I’m briefly pausing the game to write this: Becky initially said something about a “punter winning it” in a dramatic play that “everyone on Facebook is talking about.” I’m pretty sure she was yanking my chain about that. But then, a few minutes later, she asked a cryptic question about whether it would be good or bad if team punts the ball a lot. It’s an odd thing for her to ask, because Becky watches enough football that I’d think the answer would be obvious. But she’s pretty sleep-deprived, which might explain that. Anyway, later, she said she has no idea who wins, but “predicted” that Boise would. So I’m a little concerned that maybe she picked up from someone on Facebook that TCU punted the ball a ton last night, genuinely doesn’t know the result of the game, but was trying to be cute with a joke about the punter (which occurred to her because of the statistic about TCU punting a lot) and a “prediction” about the game’s outcome (based on the same statistic) … all of which basically adds up to the conclusion that TCU’s offense will continue to struggle all night, and Boise will probably win. We’ll see whether the next three quarters bear this out. If it does, I’ll have something new to add to the “Becky is absolutely freaking terrible at keeping secrets” file. 😛

On the other hand, maybe she’s yanking my chain about the whole thing, and it’s just a coincidence TCU has punted the ball four times in their first five drives (the other ended in a pick-6).

9:07 PM: Not being able to check Twitter is killing me.

9:10 PM: Huge 4th-and-3 completion from Kellen Moore to Austin Pettis there. Nice!

9:11 PM: “TEXAS HAS NEW HORNS” — I like it.

By the way, apologies if I misspell any players’ names. I can’t spell-check them via Google, lest I accidentally see a search result or Google News article revealing the result.

9:12 PM: Kellen Moore really just not very accurate tonight on a lot of throws. Still nerves? It’s mid second quarter. Argh. Another field goal try.

9:13 PM: Aaaand it’s good this time. 10-0 Broncos. Yay, I guess.

9:15 PM: TCU center tells rest of offensive line to “get it together, enough with the penalties,” per sideline reporter.

9:17 PM: WTF?!?! Did Fox REALLY just show a shot of a mystery hand on the Boise sideline (the cameraman?) grabbing a chip out of a bag of Tostitos?? Could they be any more shameless?? Honestly.

9:19 PM: Dalton screws up the snap. “Just poor execution early in this game for TCU.” Problem is, it’s not really that early. 5:49 left in the first half.

9:20 PM: Awesome punt by TCU’s punter. (Uh-oh.)

9:21 PM: Specifically, it was a 65-yard punt, the second-longest in BCS bowl history. That’s pretty damn impressive, but I have a hard time believing “everyone on Facebook” was buzzing about it. However, if you combine that with the potentially impressive overall number of punts, and perhaps total punt yardage for the game, the theory I discussed in my 9:03 PM update gains traction.

9:23 PM: Boise’s Titus Young out-gaining TCU’s offense, 79 yards to 75.

9:26 PM: Bad call there — should’ve been offensive pass interference against Boise, but called defensive pass interference against TCU instead. Seems like the refs didn’t actually see what happened, then pretended they did when they saw Young lying on the ground and complaining. That’s really terrible officiating. If you didn’t see it, don’t pretend you saw it.

9:32 PM: REAL TIME UPDATE! I just remembered the Orange Bowl is tonight — like, live — so I pulled up the score by Googling “Iowa Georgia Tech ESPN GameCast” and clicking the top link, then taking care to hold my hand over the scoreboard thingy at the top of the GameCast screen, so I wouldn’t accidentally see the final Fiesta Bowl score from last night. This worked, and I see Iowa is leading Georgia Tech 17-14 with 2 minutes left. I’d love to watch it live, but I can’t, because the announcers might reference the Fiesta Bowl. I guess I could… TiVo the ending?? Heh.

9:34 PM: Aaaand Iowa just took a 10-point lead, so I assume that’s basically game over. All hail the mighty mighty Big Ten???

Okay, back to yesterday’s game…

9:36 PM: TCU in Boise State territory for the first time! Just inside midfield. Trying to drive to a late score. 1:11 left in half.

9:39 PM: TOUCHDOWN TCU!!! With :49 left in the half, finally some legitimate offense! Amazing what a 2-minute drill combined with a prevent defense can do sometimes. 10-7 Boise. That ought to keep a few extra viewers around after halftime.

9:41 PM: Titus Young brings it out from 8 yards deep in the end zone, gets stopped at the 10. Normally dumb, but maybe that makes sense with :45 left in the half — only way you realistically score probably starts with a big return, not a touchback, no? And, yeah, Boise is just basically letting the clock run out.

9:42 PM: Halftime! 10-7 Boise State. I’m going to get some Cheetos, then fast-forwarding through the half.

9:46 PM: Paused fast-forwarding to watch the Boise State commercial. Two thoughts. First, the song is awful. Please tell me it’s not their alma mater; if it is, I may need to switch and root for TCU. 🙂 Second… “The New U Rising”? (With a giant “U” to emphasis the point?) What is this, some sort of Miami complex? Weird.

9:48 PM: Teams out of the tunnel; second half to begin shortly. Announcers emphasizing excellent Boise defense instead of dwelling on TCU offensive problems. Well, that’s good.

9:49 PM: Mmm… Cheetos. (Hey — it rhymes with Tostitos!)

9:53 PM: Nothing doing on Boise’s opening drive. TCU ball. Can they build on the momentum of their TD?

9:55 PM: I hate it when people talk about a team having the “most wins” in its program’s history. Um, duh, teams didn’t used to play 13 or 14 games per year.. Such a meaningless statistic. Even worse: “Florida is the first team ever to have two consecutive 13-win seasons!” That means absolutely nothing. So dumb.

9:58 PM: Random thought: if an SEC, Big 12, ACC, MAC or C-USA team (i.e., a team from a conference with a title game) played at Hawaii, thus allowing them to play 13 regular-season games, and then played in the conference champinship game and a bowl, could they play 15 games? Has it ever happened?

9:59 PM: The answer to my 9:53 question would be… no. TCU punts again. Sixth punt.

10:02 PM: “I think it’s just a matter of time before Kellen Moore finds his groove.” We’ve got 8:40 left in the third quarter.

10:03 PM: Hey, maybe that was the groove-finding moment! Nice 28-yard completion there, into TCU territory.

10:04 PM: Fumble recovered by TCU! Wow. So much for Moore’s “groove.” (Not that the fumble was his fault, but he can’t keep, uh, groovin’ if he doesn’t have the ball in his hands.)

10:08 PM: TCU QB Dalton doing much better, much more confident, now that headset working against, per Chris Myers. Meanwhile Boise’s defense suddenly looks like swiss cheese, missing tackles etc.

10:10 PM: Fox announcer just referred to the 12 yard line as “the 7 yard line.” Brilliant.

10:11 PM: TCU hits field goal; game tied 10-10 with 3:52 left in the third quarter.

10:16 PM: No “groove” in sight for Moore. Boise’s fifth punt. TCU ball, 1:14 left 3rd Q.

10:18 PM: Really impressed with Boise’s defense. Swarm, swarm, swarm. TCU only 36 yards rushing!!

10:19 PM: Awesome interception by Boise linebacker, off deflection! Nice! … Or not? Looks likely to be overturned on replay.

10:21 PM: Interception overturned, but fourth down, so… TCU’s seventh punt.

10:22 PM: End of third quarter. 10-10. “Terrific ball game” per announcer. I’m inclined to agree, despite my earlier fretting. There really is a lot of great defense here.

10:23 PM: Butter is contentedly lying next to me on the couch. I guess she’s in the dark about the result, too, and wants to see how the game ends. 😛

10:26 PM: Boise punt #6.

10:28 PM: Huge pass from Dalton to Jimmy Young. Very pretty, highlight-reel stuff. TCU near midfield.

10:30 PM: Interception by Boise! At their own 22.

10:35 PM: Offense can’t do anything with it, and Boise is about to tie TCU’s punt total (7).

10:36 PM: Wait! No! Wooo!!! Punter completes a pass for a first down!!! Is that the play Becky was talking about??

10:39 PM: What a crazy gutsy call. Faking a punt from deep in your own territory, and having the punter throw a 20+ yard pass? Wow. If it fails, TCU is practically already in range for the go-ahead field goal with 9 minutes left.

10:40 PM: I now think Becky was not yanking my chain, and Boise is going to score a TD here. Possibly the game-winning TD, since otherwise, that fake punt would just be a fun play with no particular significance. If it leads directly to the score that wins the Fiesta Bowl, it could certainly have been generating Facebook buzz.

10:42 PM: Yup. TOUCHDOWN BOISE! 17-10 with 7:21 left.

But… dammit, Becky. I now have an extremely strong suspicion that Boise is going to win. Or rather, won.

10:48 PM: Three and out for TCU. Punt #8.

10:52 PM: Three and out for Boise, punt #7 (for real this time), no hang time on the punt, returned by TCU to the Boise 31 with 5:37 left.

10:53 PM: TCU receiver Hicks bobbles and drops the potential game-tying touchdown. Perfect throw by Dalton, squandered.

10:54 PM: Aaaaand the next play is a sack of Dalton.

10:55 PM: Three and out for TCU. Hmm… does this situation call for a fake punt, perhaps?

10:56 PM: Nope — they’re just going for it, the old fashioned way. 4th and 6. Ball on 28 with 4:29 left. (I forgot how little time was left … fake punt not as logical given that.)

10:57 PM: Incomplete pass. Boise ball.

11:01 PM: First down Boise with 3:20 left. Tick, tick, tick.

11:03 PM: 3rd and 5 for Boise with under 2 minutes left. This is pretty much the ballgame if they get a first down, I think.

11:05 PM: Blitz, and Moore has to throw it away. 1:16 left. Boise punt #8 … downed inside the 1 yard line! 55-yard punt. 1:06 left.

Is it possible the Boise punter is the MVP of this game?

11:06 PM: Becky, I think, didn’t realize the magnitude of the hint she was dropping. There’s really no drama on this final drive for me — obviously it’s going to fail, and Boise wins.

11:09 PM: A pass interference make-up call with 36 seconds left? I sure didn’t see any interference there. Anyway, TCU ball on Boise 49. No timeouts.

11:11 PM: Hmm, did I say “no drama”? Eh, who knows, I could be misreading the tea leaves… TCU is certainly threatening. Ball on Boise 30 with 29 seconds left.

11:12 PM: Intercepted! And it’s over! Boise will win! Or rather did win! Yesterday!

11:13 PM: Boise State 17, TCU 10, final!

Boise will be Top 5 preseason next year, and a very, very legit national championship contender. If they beat Oregon State on the blue turf, and Virginia Tech in D.C. … watch out.