College roundup

Michigan finally won another bowl game for Lloyd Carr, and just in time. The big weakness of Michigan's defense this season seems to have been their inability to rapidly adjust to the offensive play call- witness the ease with which Oregon ran up and down the field and followed up a Statue of Liberty play with a fake Statue of Liberty play. But in the fourth quarter yesterday, when everyone and their dog knew that Tim Tebow had to pass, suddenly the Wolverines were all over the Heisman winner, drawing him into the sort of terrified, desperate throws not seen since the likes of the famous Georgia Tech-Cumberland game of 1916.

Missouri, playing well up to a point, defeated Arkansas, playing disastrously, to hoist the Cotton Bowl trophy and, more importantly, for the first time ever, the Silver Ball. The alleged highlight of this mess was a dramatic series of turnovers, including a fumble by someone returning an interception. Darren McFadden and the Wild Hog formation were almost completely ineffective.

Texas Tech squeaked past Virginia in whatever bowl that was, but the best part was that Virginia had 21 points at half time. Glancing at the box score, I was surprised to see that they had scored 9 points in the first quarter, and 12 in the second. Surely the 21 was not made up of seven field goals? No. It went like this: touchdown, safety, touchdown, safety, field goal. I am disappointed they did not manage a defensive conversion in the second half.

About Hawaii's bid to remain undefeated, the less said the better.