Poinsettia Bowl Second Quarter Rocket Rocket

Triple option reverse for a 22-yard TD on the first play of the quarter. Great execution by Owens. Textbook. What a leader. And CSU blocks the PAT, for shits and giggles. 13-10, Navy. Kick is returned to the 39, and we have a late flag. Late hit by CSU, d'oh.

CSU ball, own 25, 14:46
Toss sweep to Bell for 2. Both of these teams seem like they're each running 5 plays over and over. Well, Navy's only run like 8 plays, so that's not possible. Shut up. PA rollout to the TE for a first down. Holland continues to look sharp. Navy finally got pressure, but it was a screen. Durrr. Bell: 9 rushes, 70 yards. 3rd-and-5 WR screen to Anderson, and he gets it. Navy got the smallest amount of pressure possible, and Holland had totally hetero happy feet and overthrew an open guy. 3rd-and-3, Navy brings a blitz, and everyone's covered, so Holland throws it away. Punt goes into the endzone.

Navy ball, own 20, 11:26
PA and everyone's covered, so Owens scrambles for 8. Triple option for 5. We get a replay along with the graphic "Navy Triple Option: Ride and Decide." Guys, the gay jokes are no fun if you make them for me. Pass play for 8; they're throwing like crazy. Toss sweep for 8. We're driving, kids. Quick pitch for 7, down to the CSU 41. Triple option, and Owens hit the L2 button for the fake pitch and mindfucked CSU's whole team. CSU has all of a sudden decided to stuff 2 straight option plays, and it's 3rd-and-7 from the 31. No problem: quick pitch to the short side for 9. Positively Phil-esque in the stubbornness with the running game, but hey, it's working. "Ride and Decide" graphic #2, and yes, it's a different one. Owens got drilled, but executed the option perfectly and the pitchback Reggie Campbell took it in for the TD. The thing that I and NCAA 2005 call an "option reverse," Curry calls a "trap option." Po-tay-to, po-tah-to. You get the feeling that CSU needed to take full advantage of their early breaks and didn't, so now they're totally fucked. 20-10, Navy.

CSU ball, own 23, 7:13
WOO HOO, AFLAC TRIVIA QUESTION: Who was the MVP of the inaugural Holiday Bowl in 1978? Um, this is the "Poinsettia Bowl" – the Holiday Bowl isn't for another week. Christ. Well, it's difficult as all get-out for me to not pull out my hand dandy ESPN COLLEGE FOOTBALL ENCYCLOPEDIA, but I'll hazard a guess: uhhhhh, nope, I have no freaking clue. Billy Sims? Curry: "This is a big drive for Colorado State." And you wonder why people hate announcers and find them superfluous. Dance with the bitch done brung ya: they stick with Bell for 4. WR screen to Anderson barely gets the first. AFLAC answer: Phil McConkey, Navy WR. Wow, there's a gay joke right there, I just can't get the bat off my shoulder. Bell for 9. '78 Holiday Bowl highlights now. Gosh, there's so much tradition in THIS bowl, how come there are no clips of it? [/sarcasm] Navy finally blows up the WR screen. If that has to be taken off the table, I don't know what CSU will do. 3rd-and-13. Slipscreen to Bell, and Navy eats it up. They are really playing well so far. Navy LB Tyler Tidwell has nine tackles already.

Navy ball, own 10, 3:40
Back from commercial, we apparently missed a play, as it's now 2nd-and-4. Belly dive to Ballard for 7. Toss sweep to Campbell for 13. Belly dive on the triple option, and Ballard is a shoestring tackle from taking it to the house. Down to the CSU 42. Ballard up the middle again. This is a kind of triple option hurry-up offense. Neat. "Trap option" keeper to the 29. Curry's right: these are not "authoritative" tackles by CSU now; they are just barely tripping up the Navy runners. QB draw for 9, and now a Navy player fakes an injury in order to get the clock to stop. Okay, no, he actually looks hurt; that was just in my mind because I remember my travel soccer team doing it once, except in reverse (we were winning and wanted the time to run down, so a kid faked an injury. His mom was so freaked). Pitch to wingback Marco Nelson down to the 8 and CSU takes a timeout with 1:18 left. This is a BACKBREAKING drive if they punch it in. "Trap option" keeper, and Owens gets down to the 1 and reaches for the goal line, but he fumbles again, but he was down. Stop. Doing. That. 2nd-and-goal, and the Navy line gets blown up and Owens is tackled for a loss. Weird. TO, Navy, :31 left. What do you do here if you're Navy? 2-yd line, 3rd down, 1 TO left. Pitch to Campbell and he has noone anywhere near him and he dances in. I sure thought they would try to have Owens do something, and that's why Paul Johnson is a helluva coach, and I'm some schmoe on a couch. 27-10, Navy.

CSU ball, own 27, :24
Slipscreen boring blah. Get to halftime blah. Blah blah sack blah. TIMEOUT?!? Tidwell got the sack; he is everywhere. Pass down to Navy's 43 with 4 seconds left. Catch was by Johnny Walker. Can't tell if red, blue, or black. ZING! That's an alcoholic joke. Semi-bomb is caught at the 10, and he gets tackled right away. Bender and I have a fundamental philosophical difference: he thinks it's great that CSU used up every last second, while I want to murder Sonny Lubick with my hands because of it.

Halftime Score: 27-10, Navy.