can you beat a good team twice? the navy-wake forest story

The first-ever EagleBank Bowl brought a bit of history to its opening game. Having previously beat Wake Forest on September 27th and leading at halftime, Navy had all but closed their season with a bowl game victory. Fortunately, no one told Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner that.

Skinner, who had thrown four of his season's seven interceptions in the previous matchup against Navy, would not be denied. He was a perfect 11 of 11 on the game and proved that redemption can be sweet, while breaking the school record in passing accuracy while also rushing for 29 yards. Earning game-MVP, his performance would excuse him of his previous shortcomings against Navy and help to establish the legacy of the winningest class in Wake Forest history.

Despite the dominance of Skinner, the game had more than one hero. In fact the true award probably goes to Navy senior, Rashawn King. In the first quarter, King returned a fumble for the first touchdown of the game. He would return a second fumble later which would be called back. But what's notable about this is not what happened on the field. Since the last time that King took the field, he lost his father and still came out to play on Saturday.

Disregarding the final score, both teams came away winners. Wake Forest's win highlighted the accomplishments of their best ever football class of 16 seniors. Navy provided bowl game experience to its young team and still finished with a respectable 8 wins.

the debate: big 12 offense vs. sec defense

The number of times the Gator defense has given up 21 points or more this season: twice. The Sooners defense: nine. Futhermore, Oklahoma has had 111 points scored against them since November 8th. Florida has had fewer points scored on them since October 8th, a full month longer, including five ranked opponents and three top-10 opponents.

The highest rated Big 12 defense comes in at a measily 50th.

But in a league that contained four of the top five Heisman candidates and innumerable offensive weapons, can you really blame the Big 12 defenses?

Unfortunately, the conferences won't be given much chance to challenge each other. When championship game contender Texas Tech takes on the barely ranked Ole Miss, there shouldn't be much of a challenge to who comes out on top. However, it will bring an added layer of understanding to the matchup between the Big 12 and SEC, as Ole Miss was Florida's only game to not go in the win column this year. With only one game between the two conferences before the national title game, we may have to reserve our judgements until January 8th.

My thoughts? Defense wins championships.