North Carolina State University Athletics
Rivers Earns MVP Honors in Senior Bowl
1/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Jan 24, 2004
By JOHN ZENOR
AP Sports Writer
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - Philip Rivers might as well have been back in Raleigh, flinging the ball around to his favorite receivers and running the same old offense.
The North Carolina State quarterback was efficient as ever in the South's 28-10 victory over the North on Saturday in the Senior Bowl, passing for 213 yards and directing all his team's scoring drives.
The nation's top-rated passer was the only quarterback who looked completely at ease in the game, an NFL audition for college seniors.
"I played in 51 straight games in college. I'm a coach's son. I've been around the game for so long, I feel like I just have kind of a knack for getting people going," said Rivers, an Alabama native. "I just kind of took pride in doing that."
Rivers completed 12 of 19 passes, two for first-quarter touchdowns, to earn Most Valuable Player honors. He played one series in the final three quarters, re-entering late in the fourth.
Florida State's Greg Jones ran for his second touchdown, a 4-yarder, to end that drive. The 250-pound back showed off his bruising style by breaking several tackles on a 22-yarder and displayed some agility on the next play, cutting back toward the middle for the touchdown.
"I just wanted to show everybody that even though I'm 250 pounds I can do almost everything," said Jones, who was the South's offensive MVP. "I try to do everything and I want to do everything, and I want to be the best."
He also had a tackle-breaking, 16-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
His FSU teammate, Darnell Dockett, set up a touchdown with a fumble recovery and was the South's defensive MVP.
Ohio State receiver Michael Jenkins was picked as the North's offensive MVP after catching seven passes for 69 yards. Ricardo Colclough of Division II Tusculum College in Tennessee claimed defensive honors.
Neither offense looked particularly fluid when Rivers was on the sideline, though Michigan's John Navarre had a 35-yard touchdown pass to Keary Colbert of Southern California in the second quarter on fourth-and-10.
The North's offense had three quarterbacks who combined for nearly 10,000 yards passing their senior seasons, but never consistently clicked.
The squad lost two fumbles and gained just 3 yards on 16 rushes.
"They got up on us 21-0 early, and we just seemed out of synch," Jenkins said. "We were more effective in the second half, but we were too far behind.
"We looked good in practice but we just didn't seem together today. It's tough in an All-Star game when you just have a week."
Navarre was the North's most effective quarterback, completing 12 of 22 passes for 126 yards.
Rivers led the South to a 21-0 first-quarter lead, throwing touchdown passes of 9 yards to Cedric Cobbs of Arkansas and 21 yards to Virginia Tech's Ernest Wilford. The second came on the first play after a fumbled snap by Washington's Cody Pickett, recovered by Dockett.
Rivers, who trails only Brigham Young's Ty Detmer on the NCAA's career passing charts, set up Jones' 16-yard TD with a 67-yard pass to Devery Henderson of LSU. Rivers hit Henderson in stride down the right sideline.
Henderson had five catches for 120 yards.
"With that great line I had and the wide receivers, it's going to be tough for me not to do pretty good," Rivers said.
He also enjoyed watching Jones punish the other team's defense instead of his own for a change.
"All week you're getting to play with people you've watched and played against for so long," Rivers said. "To have him to be able to hand off to, that's a pretty big treat."
Navarre converted two fourth-down plays to start the second quarter, the second the 35-yarder to Colbert for the North's lone touchdown.
Pickett couldn't quite push the North into the end zone late in the third, directing a 15-play drive covering 72 yards and more than eight minutes. The North had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Iowa's Nate Kaeding and didn't get that close to the end zone again.
Pickett finished 9-of-13 for 74 yards.
