Dear Friends of the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl,
So much for the lack of surprises in Week 1.
Upsets returned to college football
with a vengeance last weekend, and the Pac-12 led the way with three
victories over top 25 teams.
From a bowl eligibility standpoint, those "Ws" were extremely important. Unlike their major conference brethren, Pac-12 teams play a nine-game conference schedule and typically schedule at least one tough "name" opponent among their three non-league games. So any upset over a non-conference foe is a huge plus in terms of getting the six wins required for post-season play. That's why I was one of several Pac-12 affiliated bowl directors smiling Saturday night.
From a bowl eligibility standpoint, those "Ws" were extremely important. Unlike their major conference brethren, Pac-12 teams play a nine-game conference schedule and typically schedule at least one tough "name" opponent among their three non-league games. So any upset over a non-conference foe is a huge plus in terms of getting the six wins required for post-season play. That's why I was one of several Pac-12 affiliated bowl directors smiling Saturday night.
Pac-12:
Arizona, Oregon State and UCLA claimed the headlines, and Arizona State
and Stanford also registered important wins. All told, it was a banner
day for new quarterbacks and new coaches in the Pac-12. Arizona beat No.
18 Oklahoma State, 59-38, behind QB Matt Scott, running away from a
team that won 84-0 a week earlier. Oregon State shut down No. 13
Wisconsin, a team coming off two straight Rose Bowl appearances, 10-7,
with QB Sean Mannion making several clutch throws. And redshirt freshman
QB Brett Hundley led UCLA past No. 16 Nebraska, 36-30. I was in
Westwood on Sunday to move my daughter, Alyssa, into her UCLA sorority,
and the excitement on campus about the football program was palpable.
In
other key Pac-12 games, Stanford crushed Duke, 50-13, and Arizona State
did the same to Illinois, 45-14, with new starting quarterbacks Josh
Nunes and Taylor Kelly leading the way. So after two weeks, three of the
league's four high-profile new coaches are unbeaten--Rich Rodriguez
(Arizona), Jim Mora (UCLA) and Todd Graham (ASU). The fourth, WSU's Mike
Leach, got his first win when the Cougars beat Eastern Washington.
This week: Four
important non-conference games are on tap, as Cal travels to Ohio
State, ASU visits Missouri, UCLA hosts Houston and Utah hosts BYU. The
Utes will be trying to bounce back from a loss to another in-state
rival, Utah State, as well as the permanent loss of their starting
quarterback, Jordan Wynn, to a recurring shoulder injury. However, the
biggest game of the week pits No. 2 ranked USC against No. 21 Stanford
in Palo Alto. The Cardinal have won three straight against the Trojans,
but will be underdogs this time around.
Navy: The
Midshipmen, coming off a bye week, will take on Penn State in Happy
Valley. One of these teams will get its first win of the year. The
Nittany Lions are 0-2 after a heart-breaking 17-16 loss to Virginia.
Navy (0-1) has had time to regroup after losing its opener to Notre Dame
in Dublin, Ireland.
Off the field: With
one of the smallest staffs of any bowl game in the country, we rely
each year on "seasonal" help during the crazy months of November and
December. That's the time when team selection anxiety is at its zenith,
preparation for bowl week is all-consuming, the work week extends to
24/7, and midnight emails and texts are commonplace. We typically hire
one intern in November to help out with sponsorship fulfillment and
activation, staffing/management of bowl week events, and administrative
support. Another two interns work for a week or two in December, through
game day, and focus on game-week operations and logistics. A fourth
helps out with social media and communications.
We're
now in the process of interviewing for this year's interns and have
several good candidates to consider. We've been blessed in the past with
some outstanding interns who've then become members of our hospitality
committee or gone on to full-time jobs in the Bay Area sports market,
including Heather Jones, Kim Smith, Michelle Gong, Erica Pfeiffer, Stacy
Pizzio and Steven Rottman. The best of a great group, Amy Gardner, our
terrific manager of corporate and community relations, started out with
us as an intern. And one of our recent game-day media helpers, McLeod
Bethel-Thompson, also played in our game while at UCLA and is now a
quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings.
Many of
the Bowl's interns have come from the USF Sport Management program,
others from the San Francisco Giants' marketing department. I'd like to
thank Rich Cellini of USF and Danny Dann and Bill Lawrence of the Giants
for their valuable help over the years in identifying promising
candidates for us.
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