Today, being Sunday, is my day of rest before steering my car the 500 miles from Clermont, FL to Mobile, AL on Monday, MLK Day, to cover Senior Bowl week. Like many of you I will be watching NFL Play-Off games today, but before doing that and packing, I wanted to wrap up Shrine Week for you.
The 21-17 WEST victory was the most action packed game I have watched since the game moved to Florida 10 years ago. In addition to points on the board, we also saw takeaways and big plays that are often conspicuous by their absence. My only complaint is that the referees may have gotten a bit carried away with their penalty flags. There were 10 accepted penalties and several others that were declined. It’s an exhibition and a late game roughing the passer penalty was marginal at best. Both teams had over 300 yards of total offense. There were 5 fumbles, 3 lost. The East actually led in possession time, but two fumbles and penalties killed three of their drives. But the game featured a lot more offensive action than usual, and that was a treat.
MOPs for the game were WR TERRY GODWIN on Offense and LB JOSH HOLLINS who was in on 10 tackles, including 2 sacks.
Below is my Shrine All-Star Week team. This year I am combining Practice and Game action into one list.
QB BRETT RYPIEN Boise State
RB NICK BROSSETTE LSU
RB TY JOHNSON MARYLAND
WR TERRY GODWIN GEORGIA
WR RON’QUAVION TARVER UTAH STATE
WR JAMAL CUSTIS SYRACUSE
TE ANDREW BECK TEXAS
OT TREY PIPKINS SIOUX FALLS
OT BRIAN WALLACE ARKANSAS
OG OLI UDOH ELON
OG KEATON SUTHERLAND TEXAS A&M
C LAMONT GAILLARD GEORGIA
ST MATTHEW GAY K UTAH
DE MATHIEU BETTS LAVAL
DE LANDIS DURHAM TEXAS A&M
DT CHRIS SLAYTON SYRACUSE
DT DERRICK WISE KANSAS
ER JORDAN BRAILFORD OKLAHOMA STATE
LB JOSH HOLLINS OREGON
LB ULYSEES GILBERT AKRON
LB TRE WATSON MARYLAND
CB DERRICK BAITY KENTUCKY
CB BLACE BROWN TROY
NB JIMMY MORELAND JAMES MADISON
S ANDREW WINGARD WYOMING
S ADARIUS PICKETT UCLA
NLB/S B.J. BLUNT McNEESE STATE
* I originally had DAYLON MACK manning one of my DT slots based on his solid practices, but when he got call from the Senior Bowl he skipped the game. I cannot reward him for that move, and therefore have to give him an incomplete for the week. That is taking into consideration that Elon/OL OLISAEMEKA UDOH also got a Senior Bowl invite, but stayed and played in the game. That I can get behind and reward.
Cheers
Pigskin