Monday, September 20, 2010

Cobb has big play in upset of Iowa

Arizona senior Travis Cobb
"You sing a song, you win a Grammy" were the words of rock singer Don Henley on the 1990 Grammy Awards telecast. He won a Grammy for Best Male Rock Performance just minutes after he perfomed the song "End of the Innocence" live on stage.

I thought of that moment after senior Arizona receiver Travis Cobb's performance Saturday night. I wrote a blog post about his upcoming game just 48 hours before his team's contest with ninth-ranked Iowa, then he followed it up with a huge play on a national stage to help his squad pull off an upset win.

The former Gryphon (Class of 2005), who had little success on the gridiron as a receiver and much more on the diamond (batted .294, scored 20 runs as a second baseman his senior season) in his prep days, returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown - part of the Wildcats' 34-27 late triumph over the Hawkeys before the homefolks in Tuscon. It was the only matchup Saturday of two ranked teams.

He closed the evening with 148 yards in returns, caught a pass for four yards and had two carries for seven yards.

It looks like the now 14th-ranked Wildcats, a 10-spot jump from last week, will likely compete with Oregon, Stanford and USC for the Pac-10 title.

And speaking of Stanford, another Gryphon alum had to watch some carnage from the sidelines in Palo Alto a little later that evening.

Wake Forest redshirt freshman Whit Barnes, currently a third-string offensive lineman there, had to watch Andrew Luck and the Cardinal demolish the Deacons 68-24.