Third annual thebowl.challenge: Paper devils?

I kind of wish SMQ had made this post before our bowl picks had to be made. He only predicts a 34-29 Longhorn victory, but his points made me extremely leery of ASU. According to the broadcast last night, ASU QB Rudy Carpenter basically talked trash to the Texas players all week at the various functions players have to go to before bowl games. That ... didn't work out so well for Rudy. The Sun Devils got down 21-0 after one quarter and ended up getting outrushed 300-22 on the way to a 52-34 Longhorn victory. A flurry of 4th quarter passing from ASU's backup ended up nudging ASU over 300 yards passing, but total yards still totalled out to a 474-327 (5.5 to 4.2 in yards per play) advantage for Texas. ASU's five turnovers didn't help. But it was an overturned turnover (wow, palindrome-ish) that ended up being the story of the game: with Texas up 21-0 and ASU driving, Carpenter threw a rather careless lateral that Texas scooped up, destroying any momentum the Devils had accumulated. BUT: Texas assistant (and Mack Brown's step-son) Chris Jessie pulled a Bartman and apparently touched the ball, resulting in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which gave ASU the ball back. The Sun Devils scored on the next play to make it 21-7. Personally, I though the replay made it fairly clear that Jessie didn't actually touch the ball (and Jessie stressed this over and over in a postgame interview), which made the determination by the officials somewhat puzzling. For what it's worth, LD from Gunslingers thinks the call stunk all-around.

As for the pick 'em: for what I assumed was damn near a 50/50 game (hence my confidence value of "2" on Texas), an astonishing 20 out of 33 entrants picked Arizona State, and while only two of the 13 Texas backers put double-digit confidence on the game, eight people laid double-digit wood on the Sun Devils, including 22 by Schill, 24 by S. Lawrence, 25 by coworker Ben, and a mind-a'sploding 31(!!!) by Joanna.

On tap for tonight:
5:00 PM on ESPN: Michigan State vs. Boston College
8:00 PM on NFL Network: TCU vs. Houston
8:30 PM on ESPN: Oregon State vs. Maryland

Rank	Team	Owner	Record	PPR	TOTAL
1	Football in the Groin	J. Morgan	7-1	379	119
2	The Dur's picks = FAIL	J. Wise	7-1	385	115
3	Charlie Weiss Cat	Kristin	4-4	390	104
4	lick my houston nutts	Kevin	6-2	390	103
5	Do me, I'm gay	Todd	5-3	400	100
5	Excelsior!!!!!!	Matt	6-2	394	100
7	Westender	The Cave	5-3	390	98
8	Simply The Vest	Jeff	7-1	404	92
9	Special Education Conference	Andrea	6-2	434	88
10	Chereth Cutestory	Jack	7-1	411	87
11	The D	Dustin	3-5	386	73
12	Joel defends hate crimes	The Dur	5-3	424	70
13	Suck on Effervescent Cocks	Ryan	5-3	421	69
14	Bean	Christina	5-3	422	64
15	Tackle Football Picks	Fred	4-4	371	61