Super Bowl IX: Tillman 30, NW Missouri 20

This Championship has to be among the top three in TTFBA history. It wasn't as good as Super Bowl VI (http://www.sportsattic2.com/ttfba/archive/PLAY05BOX11.TXT) when North Carolina defeated NW Missouri 23-16 on a Tiki Barber TD run with 1:15 to go. It was more along the lines of the other Big Show game Tillman appeared. Tillman, known as the mighty Ouagadogou Walrus then, went up against the Wausau Blue Bombers in Super Bowl II. Ouagadogou led for a half but the lead changed 3 times in the 2nd half with Wausau taking the lead for good,24-17, with 9:41 left and ultimately winning 26-17. http://www.sportsattic2.com/ttfba/archive/play01box11.txt Things started out terribly for the Rangers when QB David Garrard threw an interception on his first pass of the game which the Rednecks promptly turned into 7 with a 29 pass from Carson Palmer to Torry Holt while the Ranger defense keyed on Brian Westbrook. But Tillman rebounded quickly, scoring on the next drive. After Andre Davis returned the kickoff all the way to the Ranger 39 yard line, the offense made quick work of the remaining 61 yards. A large chunk of it came on a short pass to T.J. Housmandzadeh that he turned into a 28 yard gain because NW Missouri, just like Tillman's defense on the Redneck's prior score, was caught in run defense, trying to stuff the potent running game of Tillman. At the end of the 1st quarter, the score was 10-7 after Tillman capitalized on Palmer's first interception of the day and turned it into a field goal. But kudos to the Redneck defense for keeping the Rangers out of the endzone. A Ranger punt had pinned NW Missouri on their own 4 yard line so OLB David Thornton's pick on the 18 gave Tillman a very,very short field. The Rangers hit paydirt on their opening drive of the 2nd quarter, scoring on a 32 yard scamper by RB Selvin Young. Tillman now up 17-7. The Rednecks immediately replied with nice 73 yard drive, hitting the Rangers with the one-two punch of Westbrook and Palmer. Tillman is burned deep by Palmer on another TD strike to Holt, this one a 26 long fly pattern while the Ranger secondary in tight coverage could only watch the ball arc over them. They played some more for the rest of the half but it was boring stuff and most of the crowd were out buying hot dogs and Dr. Peppers (the Official Soft Drink of the Dallas Technology Center) by the time half time arrived and the teams went to the locker rooms with Tillman up 17-14.. For the first time, league officials let the Super Bowl coaches pick the half time musical artists. First up was Chris Erath's choice of Hannah Montana. A frightening moment occured when Ms. Montana accidently stepped over a pyrotechnic tube as it went off and was launched into the UltraJumboTron. Although she was obviously unconcious as she floated down from the rafters (her costume was so elaborate it turned into a very effective parachute), her voice continued blaring (screeching?) from the speakers. The crowd started to boo because of the circumstantial evidence of lip synching. Ms. Montana was followed by Mike Rodriquez's musical artist choice of Celine Dion accompanied by the magic of Siegfried and Roy and their tigers. Both coaches were seen at halftime in the owners' luxoboxes wearing t-shirts of their beloved artists and singing along with the show. But...onward to the second half: Mr. Erath may've wondered if Super Bowl II was going to repeat itself when NW Missouri opened the 2nd half with a 6 minute drive that wound up tying the score, 17-17, on a 37 yard field goal. Tillman answered with a field goal of their own to get back in the lead. On the Redneck's next drive, Westbrook fumbles on his own 30 yard line. Incredibly, that was Westbrook's very first fumble of the season. Terrible timing. The Rangers cash in quickly with Dwayne Cost-Me-A-Song Bowe taking a short slant 19 yards for a TD. NW Missouri is down by 10, 27-17, with 16:35 left in the game, no time to panic. Once again, they go on a patented 6 minute drive but have to settle, once again, for a FG. But it gets them within TD striking distance. A 33 yard FG attempt by Tillman Jeff Reed is blocked by Albert Haynesworth. Could the Big Mo be turning for NW Mo? NO. As prognosticated by the DTC, Palmer's propensity to throw interceptions is the weakness of the NW Missouri offense. (Actually, this is not the correct usage for prognostication but it was a big word and I wanted to put it in here.) Palmer single handedly collapses the Redneck season by throwing not one, but two picks in the final 3:02 of the Super Bowl. One was too close to his own endzone so that Tillman was able to kick a 45 yard field goal, effectively putting the game away with 1:18 left. Tillman 30, NW Missouri 20.