Hula Bowl: SEC is still king

By Robert Rousseau  |   Tuesday, January 16, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
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Many times in all-star games, the media tries to find a story. You've got to figure that's what started the talk about Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky wanting a shot at the national champions, Florida, via the Hula Bowl. Obviously, even if he won the game against his Aina opposition (some Gators players were opposing him), it would do nothing to make an argument for his undefeated Broncos as national champions.

But to continue along that line of thinking, it didn't work out. Zabransky's Kai were defeated by Aina by a score of 18-10 in Sunday night's Hula Bowl.

A host of SEC players had a say in handing Zabransky and friends the defeat.

At the outset, the game looked like it might go in Kai's favor. On the opening drive, Zabransky delivered a first down on a solid 15-yard run; then later in the drive, he served up a nice first-down pass to Arizona's Syndric Steptoe.

In fact, the man from Boise looked pretty good all the way through. The final big play of the drive went to a big man: the University of Hawaii's 250-pound running back, Nate Ilaoa. He simply ran through a few Kai defenders on his way to a 16-yard touchdown reception.

That was it for Kai in terms of touchdowns. We're talking about a defensive struggle here; and to think, blitzing wasn't even allowed.

Late in the contest, Clemson's Reggie Merriweather scored a touchdown to bring Aina within one. Moments later, Tennessee's Bret Smith made an absolutely outstanding catch for the two-point conversion.

Even Fiesta Bowl hero Zabransky couldn't bring the Kai back from this one. A Zabransky pass was picked by Ramzee Robinson with 10 seconds left to play and returned for a touchdown.

Yep, another SEC'er.

Unfortunately, the masses didn't show up to watch this one. Reportedly, only 8,000 were in attendance.

For a lot of these guys, the number of spectators is going to increase drastically next year when they're playing in the NFL.

Some players who might have taken a positive step in that direction due to this game included Yamon Figurs (wide receiver and returner, Kansas State), C.J. Ah You (defensive end, Oklahoma), Justise Hairston (running back, Central Connecticut State), Dwayne Wright (running back, Fresno State), Will Proctor (quarterback, Clemson), Arkee Whitlock (running back, Southern Illinois) and Bret Smith (wide receiver, Tennessee).

Amongst others, of course.
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About Robert Rousseau

Robert Rousseau is a sports writer that has been published in a variety of print and online venues. He’s been writing for RealFootball365.com for almost three years now. When Rousseau isn’t writing about college football he tends to be penning mixed martial arts pieces for MMAFighting.com or...
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