This past Saturday, the 24th of January, 2015, we had the pleasure of watching the 2015 Senior Bowl. The North Team beat the South Team, 34-13, in a game that is designed to expose the top college players as NFL draft prospects. Let’s take a closer look at who stood out.
A star in the game was RB Abdullah of Nebraska who had some 73 yards rushing in the game, and also receptions for 40 yards, as he led his North team to victory, as he exposed his talent of his college career as the game was played at the Ladd Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama his home State!
Abdullah, the Nebraska Cornhuskers No. 2 career rusher, a native of Homewood, Alabama who had a lot of his family and friends at the game, as he won this Senior Bowls MVP Honors in the game that showcases the Top college draft prospects.
Some of the other players that had good performances in this game were: RB Cobb of Minnesota who had 11 carries for some 69 yards, and score a TD of 4 yards late in the 3rd quarter of the game.
The QB standouts in the game were from the North team, QB Petty of Baylor as he completed 9 of his 13 passes for 123 yards and had 1 interception. For the South team, was QB Grayson of Colorado State who completed 8 of his 15 passes for 118 yards without an interception? QB Petty’s intention in the game was to show that he had the ability to run a no-huddle pro offense, which he did in his college games.
OL Orchard of Utah and playing as a North outside linebacker was selected as a most outstanding player in the game. He also this season was a winner of the Ted Hendricks Award for Top defensive end, and in this Senior Bowl had 1 ½ tackles for a loss.
Guard Jackson of Florida State for the South teams was selected as and awarded the outstanding player for the South.
As this Senior Bowl game moved into the 4th quarter, the North had 2 huge defensive plays that gave them a double-digit lead in the game at that point. One of those plays was when CB Diggs of Texas intercepted QB Bennett of Southeastern Louisiana for 41 yards, then 2 plays later RB Cobb scored a TD giving the North their double-digit lead 20-10 over the South. On the South team’s next drive, the North had the other big defensive play, as DB Rollins of Miami-Ohio intercepted another pass from QB Bennett and then the North missed a FG in that 3rd quarter.
The game was played somewhat different in that each quarter had a 2 minutes warning, then at the start of each quarter there was an opening kickoff. That rule allowed the North to get the ball in the start of the 4th and the North’s RB Varga ran for a 13 yard TD to put the game out of reach for the South.
For the South RBs Artis Payne of Auburn and Johnson of Northern Iowa each had 43 yards rushing in the game, thus tied for the leader in rushing. RB Artis-Payne also has 3 receptions for 35 yards in the game.
Alabama QB Sims completed a pass to WR Coates of Auburn for a TD but was nullified, as the game was played under NFL rules that require 2 feet to be inbounds, and Coates did not qualify with this catch, as the teams celebrated and then argued with the officials to no avail! Auburn QB Marshall, who converter to a CB for the game, and the NFL draft, had a game high 5 tackles in the game.
So if you bet on college football at an online sportsbook, this was an interesting game, as one who see the performances of many upcoming NFL players once the draft is completed, possibly playing for you favorite team that you wager on!