Splish splash, they were playing football.
The headline pretty much sums up the New Year’s Day Capital One Bowl between Penn State and LSU at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.
Wet – pouring rain before the game and much of the first quarter.
Nasty – see above, plus add some wind.
Awful – the field was well . . . LSU wide receiver Brandon LaFell pretty much sums it up: “By far it’s the worst field I’ve ever seen,”
he said. “Not the worst field I’ve ever played on – the worst I’ve ever seen. The Capital One Bowl is supposed to best non-BCS bowl. It’s not.”
Or LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson summed it up like this: “Oh man, it was horrible. I couldn’t make a cut. It felt like cattle ran through the field.”
Great finish – Penn State used a 12-play six minute drive that set up Collin Wagner’s fourth field goal of the game, a 21-yarder under a minute to go for the 19-17.
All that aside, dealing with rain and wind is just part of the job for me, so I put on my rain gear and headed to the side lines for the game on New Year’s Day.
Despite the conditions, I still used my Nikon D3 cameras, a Nikon 600 f:4, a Nikon 70-200 f:2.8 and a Nikon 17-35 f: 2.8 zoom.
Cover a game like this I take a somewhat different approach, I really don’t want to kneel down in the mud and water, so I stand. That is about
the only change I made in my shooting style for the game. Although, once it stopped raining, I did kneel in the second half.
Obviously, the field was a big story from this game, so I wanted to make images that showed it’s poor conditions. Along with nice clean
game action. Here are a few of my favorites from my first shoot of 2010:
LSU safety Chad Jones (3) and Penn State wide receiver Derek Moye (6) slide in the mud.
Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark (17) out runs LSU linebacker Jacob Cutrera (54).
Even LSU fans had a hard time dealing with the Citrus Bowl.
The Penn State O-line in the huddle.
Penn State running back Evan Royster (22).
Grass on the field tears up as LSU running back Trindon Holliday (8) makes a cut.
Mud splashes as LSU safety Chad Jones (3) tackles Penn State wide receiver Graham Zug (5).
Penn State's Andrew Pitz (40) celebrates the winning field goal.
Quarterback and game MVP, Daryll Clark (17), dumps a cup of water on coach Joe Paterno as they celebrate.