Congratulations to the Villanova Wildcats, who won their first national championship last night.
The Wildcats looked too strong for Montana. It the first half, the Griz could not run the ball, but scored twice on the sharp passing of Montana QB Andres Selle. In the second half, Villanova held the Griz to six first downs.
Villanova's Matt Szczur looked like a replay of the famous Bo Jackson-Brian Bosworth run-over. Szczur flat ran over a Montana LB (didn't catch his number) for a TD.
A couple of questionable coaching decisions by Villanova had an impact on the game. After missing an extra point, unaccountably Villanova didn't go for two points after either of their next two scores. If Montana had made their onside kick, the Griz were one pass play from a game winning field goal.
The other decision was to let Montana get behind the Wildcat defense with a minute left to play. There should have been a safety deep. If Montana had hit that onside kick...
This Google search will connect you with more than twenty links to articles from the game.
Montana's writeup here.
Villanova's writeup here.
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Found this link over on Matty V's UMass Sports blog: The Chattanooga Times-Free Press lists the five best National Championship games (in Finley Stadium). UMass played in two of them.
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