Notre Dame appeared to be in control of this game with a forced fumble by Manti Te’o that was recovered for a touchdown by the Irish, and a defensive battle until the third quarter, when Notre Dame was able to make one of the coolest circus plays you will see all year into a touchdown.

Quarterbacks Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix split a third quarter drive that resulted in Rees throwing a fade route to–who else–Michael Floyd which was bobbled, tipped, and tipped some more before Floyd finally came down with the ball.

Aside from a nice punt return early in the game, Floyd was held in check by Xavier Rhodes, who absolutely shut him (or Tommy Rees) down the whole time he was in the game, but Rhodes was injured and Floyd had a huge size advantage over Greg Reid, and then Reid himself went up so high, he was actually injured on the way down.

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Champs Sports Bowl Recap: Florida State Comes Back to Shock Notre Dame - NFL Mocks - NFL Mocks - Covering the 2012 NFL draft, Mock Draft Database, Scouting Reports, and Fantasy Football

Michael Floyd Has Character Concerns, but is often dominant on the field and has shown up big in big games

Today the Florida State Seminoles will take on Norte Dame in the teams of Yesteryear Champs Sports Bowl. I kid, I kid. These two teams are loaded with N.F.L talent including a few first round picks in the mix. Let’s break it down.

Here are most of the  players to watch in this game from a draft perspective. Let’s start with Florida State

OT Zebrie Sanders

The former “C’mon Man”

Has really had a good season playing LT for the injured Andrew Datkio and has seen his draft stock really rise as a potential LT in the N.F.L.

Xavier Rhodes, Cornerback

I’m not sure who Rhodes will be matced up on, but he’s the best Seminoles cornerback. Rhodes looks like a safety, hits like a safety, but has the athletic ability of a cornerback. He’s really a good player. Now he hasn’t had quite the breakout season he was hoping for and could really use a huge game. Rhodes was a player some draftniks thought could have put himself into the top 15 as a redshirt sophomore this year, which hasn’t happened. Maybe a huge game though will get his stock up again and he’ll enter the draft.

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Florida State vs Notre Dame Champs Sports Bowl Preview - NFL Mocks - NFL Mocks - Covering the 2012 NFL draft, Mock Draft Database, Scouting Reports, and Fantasy Football

E.J. Manuel entered the game as a third day prospect with a chance to become much more, but ended the day where he started

The Florida  State Seminoles played a tight game vs the #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners, but failed to win the game as quarterback E.J. Manuel failed to impress. But players on both defenses had tremendous games.

I was high on Manuel heading into last night’s game and was waiting to see if he could sky rocket his stock into the 1st-2nd round range with a big game. Manuel has a lot of qualities N.F.L. scouts are looking for. He has a big arm, excellent size and mobility and serious untapped potential. But Manuel didn’t have a great game. He was 13 for 19 with 85 yards (and average of 4.5 yards per attempt) and threw two interceptions. One of the interceptions was an absolute terrible pass where Manuel just threw it right over the middle because he was hurried. The other interception was because he didn’t loft the ball high enough on the screen pass, but on that player the Sooners linebacker Tom Wort made an excellent play to tip the ball to himself and come away with the interception. It’s not that Manuel didn’t flash his potential, but on a night when he had a serious chance to put himself into the conversation with Nick Foles and Kirk Cousins as the first quarterback in the second tier, he came up short.  More troubling is that Manuel left with a shoulder injury, he came running back onto the sidelines hoping to play, but remained on the sidelines.

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Florida State Narrowly Loses to Oklahoma as the Noles E.J. Manual Fails to Impress; Leaves Early with Injury - NFL Mocks - NFL Mocks - Covering the 2012 NFL draft, Mock Draft Database, Scouting Reports, and Fantasy Football