I am so amped up for college football especially MACtion!

Yes that’s a real t-shirt.  How do I know?  Because I own one.  That’s right, I own a MACtion t-shirt!  I’m honestly very happy and proud of myself for having that shirt.  The other interesting part?  No one has a god damned clue what it means.  Like no one.  My son asked me what MACtion was.  So I explained it to him.  He looked at me like I had been talking to him in Cantonese.  But you know what?  I don’t care.  I’m a massive college football fan and I’m not ashamed of it.  Honestly, more people should show what they are truly all about.  Like nothing is really nerdy anymore.  Almost everything is somewhat mainstream now so the chances you would be embarrassed by what you like is a lot less.  I mean unless you’re into some really crazy shit involving cult-like behaviour.  Then maybe still keep that info close to the chest.

Let’s just get right down to the first conference predictions for the 2021 college football season from yours truly followed by things (and perhaps stuff):

		Conference		Overall
	East	W	L	W	L
	Buffalo	6	2	8	4
	Ohio	6	2	8	4
	Kent State	5	3	6	6
	Miami-OH	3	5	4	8
	Akron	1	7	3	9
	Bowling Green	0	8	0	12
	West
	Ball State	7	1	9	3
	Toledo	6	2	9	3
	Western Michigan	5	3	6	6
	Central Michigan	4	4	6	6
	Northern Illinois	2	6	3	9
	Eastern Michigan	2	6	4	8

Things (Watch out for Stuff as well)

• Buffalo’s MAC schedule is pretty darn easy.  Ball State is the one tough game although I see them losing a road game against Kent State.  They will beat Ohio though which is the most important thing as that would give them the nod in the East.  Could they get to 10 wins?  Probably not.  I don’t see them beating Coastal Carolina but man that should be a good game.  Same with Nebraska but it’s the Huskers so who knows what the hell will be going on with them.
• The West is definitely not a two-team race like the East.  Ball State is the most talented team in the conference but Toledo, WMU and even CMU won’t make it easy for them.  I make the Cardinals my selection to win the division with a bit of hesitation, not gonna lie.
• Hey remember bowl games?  They are back in full with even a couple of added ones.  That is likely to change starting next season.  For now though, along with the Bulls and Cards, I expect Ohio, Kent State, WMU and CMU to get to bowl games as well.  Surely we will see a heavy dose of these teams during MACTION in the Fall.
• I see the Falcons of Bowling Green University being the only winless team on the season.  For all of FBS.  Poor BGSU fans.
• Ball State will…NOT repeat as MAC champs.  I think Buffalo gets their revenge, even without Jaret Patterson, and wins the MAC title and a spot in…the Motor City Bowl?  I don’t know.  It’s dumb.  They should get a set bowl with a shot against a Power Five team.  Otherwise, they should lobby for the Bahamas.
• No New Year’s Six possibilities out of this conference yet again this season.

The MAC is locked in for quite a long time with ESPN.  2027 to be exact.  So MACTION!!!! is not going anywhere.  But a lot of conference TV contracts are coming up in the next few years.  Not saying the MAC would leave ESPN but do they split their contract to get some games on a different network?  They are quite a ways down the pecking order but you never know, especially with a huge domino falling to start this whole thing…that domino being the SEC on CBS being no more soon enough.  For now, enjoy the MACTION!

Next up is the MAC’s Midwest buddies, the Big Ten.  Man does it ever feel good to start these conference predictions.  It means the season is kinda, sorta, maybe just around a few corners.  43 days to go to be exact!  Hope you all have a happy Friday!

How about a little OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVERTIME and a Week 2 recap?

I love college football.  You know that.  So what’s better than a bunch of games going into overtime, eh?  Let’s recap those games right off the hop OK sounds good let’s go.

• Michigan 24 Army 21 (2OT) – What a game this was….for Army.  Michigan did not play well at all and it kind of felt like they had no idea what to do with Army’s triple option.  Even so, Shea Patterson stunk and the playcalling was puzzling at times.  Michigan lucks out by getting a strip sack in double overtime to stay in the Top 10.  As for Army, watch out for them if no teams end up undefeated this season.
• Colorado 34 Nebraska 31 (OT) – A classic Big 8 matchup that was a barnburner.  It looked like the Huskers were going to destroy the Buffs until a late game comeback by Colorado put them into overtime.  A missed field goal clinched the game and now I am starting to feel kind of stupid for drinking the Nebraska Koolaid (which was obviously cherry-flavoured).
• Kent State 26 Kennesaw State 23 (OT) – The earlier women’s field hockey game was stopped in double overtime so that this game could start on time.  Absolutely crazy.  And then we almost see Kennesaw State pull the FCS-over-FBS upset.  Kent State escapes and continues to be known for bad things, one much, MUCH worse than the rest.
• Florida State 45 ULM 44 (OT) – Good god Willie Taggart.  What is going on in Tallahassee?  Most of the fans had left by the time this game ended.  And for a while it looked like the Warhawks would win in regulation.  Instead, FSU tied it up and then won the game thanks to a ULM missed extra point.  Yeesh.  Not a good look for the Noles who may have hit a bit of a rock bottom.
• BYU 29 Tennessee 26 (2OT) – Since we are talking about once-proud teams who have fallen far, let us check in on the University of Tennessee Volunteers football program.  Gross.  They could not put BYU away.  And to top it off they have a coverage breakdown and allow BYU to go more than half the field with under 15 seconds to play to get the tying field goal just to make it to overtime.  Expect Jeremy Pruitt to now be on every hot seat list in the country.
• Minnesota 38 Fresno State 35 (2OT) – College football this past weekend conspired to not allow me to go to bed at a reasonable time…and when I say reasonable time I mean 2 in the morning.  A great back-and-forth game which ended on a great Antoine Winfield Jr. interception in double overtime.  Maybe other Big Ten teams should take note and not make trips to the West Coast.

This week of college football really had a dearth of marquee games, as is somewhat usual for Week 2.  However, the action this week was damn good.  A fun Saturday of college football was had by all (who watched).  Let’s go through the week that was!

• Let’s take a trip out to Seattle for a game that didn’t start until 1:30 in the morning.  I am not joking.  Thanks to some severe weather they had to delay the game by almost three hours.  I did not stay up to stay updated on this game and I missed a great one of course.  Washington did not play well at all and let Cal stick around for far too long.  This led to the Golden Bears winning on a last-minute field goal and furthering the Pac-12’s overall misery.
• Kansas lost a game…at home…to Coastal Carolina.  So yeah it is going to take quite a long time for Les Miles to turn this thing around.
• Clemson made relatively easy work of Texas A&M.  Yes they only won by 14 but it never felt like the Aggies were in this one.  So the Tigers beat yet another SEC team.  I think they need to stop this whole “Oh yeah well Clemson doesn’t have an SEC schedule” horseshit.  They are damn good, plain and simple.  And they are still the favourite to win the whole thing in January.
• Don’t look know but there might be a new contender in the ACC Coastal.  Step right up Mack Brown!  The Tar Heels looked good against Miami and won the game late in front of a raucous home crowd in Chapel Hill.  Yes, the same team that almost beat Florida in one of the worst college football games of the year so far.  Considering the state of the ACC Coastal beyond Virginia, don’t be surprised if North Carolina isn’t at least bowl-eligible by the end of the year which would be a huge complement to Mack Brown’s coaching ability.
• Breaking news!  West Virginia is awful.  No wonder Dana Holgorsen left for a Group of Five team.  Neal Brown is going to have a tough go here in 2019.  I sincerely hope that the Mountaineer faithful are patient with this as this will not be a fun season in Morgantown, that’s for sure.
• Maryland blew Syracuse out of the water on Saturday, winning by 43.  No that is not a misprint and no it’s not a joke.  The toughest division in college football just got a lot tougher as the Terps are looking seriously good this season so far.  As for the ACC, Virginia will replace Syracuse in the Top 25 but will more than two teams ever get into the rankings?  It doesn’t look good for the conference.
• On Friday night, Boise State beat Marshall but it sure wasn’t convincing.  14-7 doesn’t exactly speak dominance and the fact that freshman quarterback Hank Bachmeier was average at best in this one…let’s just say I am still not convinced the Broncos will be the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six if this keeps up.
• Joe Burrow was absolutely fantastic in the primetime ABC game as he threw for the second-most yards in LSU history.  The Tigers beat Texas but Texas also hung around as well.  Both teams need to play better defense as the season wears on but these two offenses may be two of the best in college football this year.  And Burrow may force himself into the Heisman conversation whether people like it or not.
• Ohio State shutout Cincinnati in Luke Fickell’s return to Columbus.  I don’t know, it feels like Ohio State is going to look really good at least into October and then they will lay an egg or three and we will wonder what kind of team they really are.  You know, like almost every other season they have had.
• Everyone was wondering how Kedon Slovis would play against Stanford.  Well, Clay Travis can breathe a bit of a sigh of relief as Slovis was excellent, the Trojans played a nearly flawless game, and we continue the narrative that no one really wants to win the Pac-12.  Except maybe Utah.
• I don’t think Charlie Strong is long for this 2019 season.  Another loss, this time to a rebuilding Georgia Tech team, puts the Bulls at 0-2 to start the season and at eight straight losses stretching back to last year.  For a team that not too long ago was battling with UCF to be the big-time team in this conference, this is a stunning fall and Strong is going to be the scapegoat for it, rightly or wrongly (mostly rightly).
• Oh and how could I forget UCLA?  They lost again, this time to San Diego State.  UCLA was behind most of the game and never really seemed in it.  I don’t know if it’s just Chip Kelly not having the right personnel to run his offense or what.  But for a team that many (including myself) thought would at least be going bowling this season, it’s not a good look, for the Bruins or for Kelly himself.

Recap complete!  Considering the schedule was one of the worst I have seen (beyond the top two games) it was a super fun weekend to watch college football.  The lesson?  Never assume when it comes to this sport.  Some great schedules create horrible weeks (in terms of quality of the actual games played) and some shitty schedules produce some of the most historic weeks.  You never know.  Anyway, here’s the return of the Bossman Top 25:

#1	Clemson
#2	LSU
#3	Alabama
#4	Georgia
#5	Ohio State
#6	Oklahoma
#7	Michigan
#8	Florida
#9	Auburn
#10	Notre Dame
#11	Utah
#12	Penn State
#13	Wisconsin
#14	UCF
#15	Texas
#16	Michigan State
#17	Texas A&M
#18	Oregon
#19	Iowa
#20	Washington State
#21	Washington
#22	Boise State
#23	Iowa State
#24	Maryland
#25	Virginia

As per usual I am close to the current polls but have a few differences.  And yes, I have LSU leapfrogging Alabama for #2.  Bama ain’t played nobody and LSU just beat Texas so I have to give them the nod here.  I don’t have USC in the Top 25, yet.  Not entirely convinced that they belong there but if they win next week they will be there.  Other than that I am confident that this is the perfect Top 25.  You all agree, right?  Don’t answer that.

Another recap done.  Hurricane Dorian was devastating to the Bahamas.  The States were mostly spared from the destruction.  So for now, we can safely say there will not be games added during conference championship week.  If you have read this blog before, you know my thoughts on these games.  Now they are at the peak of hurricane system so as long as they can get through the next few weeks unscathed there shouldn’t be any scheduling issues and, most importantly, no more damage to people and their property.

Same old, same old with the college football schedule Thursday and the NFL schedule Friday.  We are back in football season, ladies and gentlemen and it feels oh so good.  Enjoy your week everyone.

Ranking the Bowl Games from First to Worst – 2017-18 Edition

First off, holy shit with that game on Sunday.  First walk-off touchdown in playoff history EVER.  Poor Marcus Williams will never live that down despite the fact he is a key reason that a) the Saints were still in the game to begin with and b) the Saints were even in the playoffs this season.  Either way, other than in New Orleans, he will get shit on forever.  Ask Scott Norwood (who is still revered in Western New York and treated like a goat (and not the good kind of goat) everywhere else).  So now we have Case Keenum vs. Nick Foles in a conference championship game.  What a time to be alive!

Alright it’s time to rank the bowl games after they have been played for, I believe, the second year in a row.  This is such a text heavy blog and I know it will probably look like shit (i.e. an absolute wall of words) so if you read the whole thing then congratulations.  I mean you don’t get a prize but that shows how focused you can be which is good in real life, correct?  Let’s begin.

1. National Championship (Alabama 26 Georgia 23 (OT)) – Jesus Christ this was an amazing game.  And that final touchdown throw in overtime: it was a thing of beauty.  Tua can really chuck the ball.  I see Jalen Hurts transferring soon enough although he will still try to win the starting job for the 2018 season.  It was a great way to end the season and gives us something to cling to (even you absolute despise Bama) for the next seven months or so.  OK I am getting sad already.  Somebody hold me (a female preferably).
2. Rose Bowl (Georgia 54 Oklahoma 48 (2OT)) – Should I make this number one?  Part of me thinks it should be but when the national title game is an all-time classic you almost have to put it number one right?  Anyway, this made last year’s Rose Bowl (one of the best ever) look like a mediocre game.  This game had almost everything and you couldn’t look away.  I think I needed a smoke after it was done and I don’t smoke.  Also, there was no Baker Mayfield crotch-grabbing so it was definitely a win-win…unless you’re a Sooners fan.
3. Belk Bowl (Wake Forest 55 Texas A&M 52) – Until the College Football Playoff again this stood a chance at being the best bowl game of the season.  Wake and the Aggies (this sounds like a horrible band name) decided “Fuck Defense” and put on an arena football-like performance for the ages.  The fact the Deacs could hang with TAMU shows that the ACC has really narrowed the gap recently on the field.
4. Alamo Bowl (TCU 37 Stanford 35) – Don’t bet against TCU when they play in San Antonio.  If TCU wants to schedule a series against your team and at least one of the games will be in San Antonio, DO NOT DO IT!  It’s a trick!  Gary Patterson owns the Alamodome.  Period.  No matter what colour shirt he wears.
5. Birmingham Bowl (USF 38 Texas Tech 34) – If this was based on everything up until early in the fourth quarter this game would be WAY down the list.  But Quentin Flowers went all Quentin Flowers and willed the Bulls to a victory over Texas Tech who had to reaffirm that, yes, Kute Kliff Kingsbury is safe and his job is not in jeopardy…until the first weekend of the college football season when we begin the serious hot seat discussions.
6. Armed Forces Bowl (Army 42 San Diego State 35) – Don’t let the final score fool you: this game was MUCH closer than that.  It was old-school football at its finest.  Running the ball a boatload of times to set up a few big passes.  It was glorious to watch.  The Black Knights scored with 18 seconds left to tie the game up, went for two, got it, then got a scoop n’ score on the final play of the game.  And even with all that, the Aztecs’ Rashaad Penny was a sight to watch.  Ran for over two bills and four touchdowns.  Unreal.
7. Arizona Bowl (New Mexico State 26 Utah State 20 (OT)) – And now for the game almost no one watched but should have.  The Aggies winning their first bowl game appearance in 57 years pushed this into the top ten although it was a damn good game in the fourth quarter.  This is why these bowls need at least partial national spotlights.  So they get their moment in the sun that’s not overshadowed by another bowl game at the same time.
8. Foster Farms Bowl (Purdue 38 Arizona 35) – Even though there was no GUS JOHNSON in this one and the better game on paper looked to be the Holiday Bowl, we lucked out when this one ended up on the main FOX network.    Quite a few lead changes in this one from two teams that almost no one expected to be bowling this season.
9. Citrus Bowl (Notre Dame 21 LSU 17) – That ridiculous catch-and-run in the final minute put this game into the top ten.  Otherwise it might have dropped into the 20s and maybe even farther considering the field was in atrocious condition thanks to all the rain (although it could have been worse *COUGH*Outback Bowl*COUGH*).  Expect Brian Kelly to sign that 12-year contract extension any day now.
10. Peach Bowl (UCF 34 Auburn 27) – True national champions?  Meh, I don’t think so but UCF was the only unbeaten (and untied LOL) team in FBS.  Scott Frost finishing what he started should be a reminder to almost all coaches to do the same before getting on the first private jet to your new destination.  Not just from a PR standpoint but also from a “Don’t be an Asshole” standpoint.
11. TaxSlayer Bowl (Mississippi State 31 Louisville 27) – If this wasn’t on at the same time as two other bowl games, I might have watched more of it (and may have moved it up a slot or two.  Lamar Jackson was good not great in his last college game (probably) but the story here was the Bulldogs.  Lose their coach to Florida.  Lose their quarterback a month prior due to a horrific injury on national television.  And what do they do?  Come back and win a bowl game against a good Cardinals squad.
12. Liberty Bowl (Iowa State 21 Memphis 20) – From the massive crowd at Liberty Bowl Stadium to the noise to the quality of football, this felt like a big-time bowl game; something completely lost from all non-New Year’s Six games (and non-College Football Playoff games also although this should be obvious).  The only thing that kept this from going up the list is the lack of points from two teams we figured would shoot the lights out in a potential pew-pew game.
13. Pinstripe Bowl (Iowa 27 Boston College 20) – A game that most people, including myself, figured would be a bit of a bore.  It wasn’t.  On the frozen tundra of Yankee Stadium, we witnessed slippin’ and slidin’ and more slippin’ and slidin’.  Part of me thinks it’s complete stupidity to put a game on this kind of field.  The other part of me thinks this is fucking fantastic and we need more of this!
14. Music City Bowl (Northwestern 24 Kentucky 23) – This will forever be known as the Benny Snell game for Snell being thrown out for…what I don’t really know.  Basically the ref was being a dick and took it out on this kid.  Both coaches said it was one of the worst officiated games they had ever seen.  I tend to agree.  From what I watched it was piss-poor which is saying something since bowl season was rife with terrible officiating.  Too bad since this was a close game that came down to the wire.
15. Hawaii Bowl (Fresno State 33 Houston 27) – For the first time in what feels like forever, these two teams made the annual “Finish up Wrapping Presents and Put this on in the Background” Bowl exciting.  I had to actually watch the entire second half since it was that good.  Fresno State finished up a remarkable turnaround year with this victory.  Oh and Ed Oliver will be a beast on Sundays.  Bank on it.
16. Outback Bowl (South Carolina 26 Michigan 19) – First off, the field conditions were atrocious.  The Bucs played a late afternoon game the day before this game which started at Noon.  And it rained a lot.  So yeah, not fun for the players.  Secondly, Michigan had the fate of the Big Ten’s ridiculous perfect bowl record on the line.  They couldn’t close out the Cocks and now they have the scorn of an entire conference and Big Jim Harbaugh on a Big Hot Seat next season.
17. Fiesta Bowl (Penn State 35 Washington 28) – No matter how close the Huskies tried to make this, it always felt like the Nittany Lions were at least a couple steps ahead.  Which meant I felt just a bit dirty after watching it since the hype didn’t match the actual game despite the score saying it was close when it really wasn’t.  Ugh.
18. Orange Bowl (Wisconsin 34 Miami 24) – The New Year’s Six itself, I would say, was underwhelming.  Some great storylines coming in but the games didn’t match the hype.  I was kind of hoping this would have been closer, especially once Mark Richt went fucking crazy on the sidelines before halftime.  Having him lose his shit again late in the game would have pushed this possibly into Top Ten territory.
19. New Mexico Bowl (Marshall 31 Colorado State 28) – Hey this wasn’t a bad bowl at all.  Too bad it was lumped in with a few bowl games on at the same time.  When that happens you really have to stand out to be high in these rankings.
20. Camping World Bowl (Oklahoma State 30 Virginia Tech 21) – Here is where things start to fall off a cliff.  I was really hoping and expecting this game to be good.  It was OK at times but there weren’t enough huge defensive plays or big offensive shootouts going on in this one.  It was just there.  At least we still had Mike Gundy’s mullet to keep us entertained.
21. Camellia Bowl (Middle Tennessee 35 Arkansas State 30) – A misleading final score as ASU wasn’t really in this one.  It did have a few bizarre plays that only bowl games seem to unearth.
22. Sugar Bowl (Alabama 24 Clemson 6) – This game suffered from it not being really close for a game that started at 8:50 on the night before many of us had to go back to work.  The other thing was it came on after that crazy Rose Bowl.  Not enviable at all.
23. Cure Bowl (Georgia State 27 Western Kentucky 17) – This was the game that ruined my chance at bowl perfection.  Yes, I know it was only like the fourth game of bowl season, leave me alone.
24. Texas Bowl (Texas 33 Missouri 16) – The punter was the MVP of this game.  Let that sink in.
25. Cactus Bowl (Kansas State 35 UCLA 17) – There were a lot of questions about the Rosen One (or Chosen Rosen which sounds infinitely worse but whatever) before this game.  He ended up not playing.  The first half had UCLA out to a lead and I thought this would be a good game.  It wasn’t  KSU blew them out in the second half and I’m being kind.
26. Las Vegas Bowl (Boise State 38 Oregon 28) – Boise State did everything in their power to keep Oregon in this game.  Oregon was terrible.  TERRIBLE!  It should have been 49-0.  That it was a ten-point game is a testament to college football getting wacky at times.
27. Heart of Dallas Bowl (Utah 30 West Virginia 14) – It was so depressing watching this game seeing the Cotton Bowl with barely any people in it.  It doesn’t look like the most, um, stable stadium I guess is the term I am looking for.  What a difference between that and the Red River Shootout.
28. Sun Bowl (NC State 52 Arizona State 31) – This was never close.  And it was on at the same time as a few other, better bowl games.  And it doesn’t include an SEC team on the network that has the SEC.
29. Cotton Bowl (Ohio State 24 USC 7) – For a New Year’s Six game, this was brutal.  Not fun to watch.  And it was the first NY6 game this season.  It gave everyone a bit of anxiety hoping that the rest of the games wouldn’t be this way.  They weren’t thankfully.
30. Quick Lane Bowl (Duke 36 Northern Illinois 14) – I will be completely honest…after the first half I watched very little of this game.  Fast forwarded through, noticed Duke was handling this game pretty easily, and felt good about my decision.
31. New Orleans Bowl (Troy 50 North Texas 30) – Only good thing about this one was that there were a lot of points.  I mean it was close for the first half but that was about it.
32. Idaho Potato Bowl (Wyoming 37 Central Michigan 14) – Did you know Josh Allen is a TOP-NOTCH quarterback that should be taken high in the first round?  If not, then you didn’t watch this game.  I don’t think the announcers were relatives of Allen but it sure felt like it.
33. Independence Bowl (Florida State 42 Southern Miss 13) – This had a certain car crash quality to it.  Would the Noles crash and burn and end one of their worst seasons in recent memory on a terrible note?  Or would they rise to the occasion and show everyone why this game shouldn’t be close.  It was definitely the latter which kind of made it more boring than the first option would have been.
34. Bahamas Bowl (Ohio 41 UAB 6) – I honestly hate this bowl game.  I don’t want to.  But it’s on at a horrible time every year (during the day on a weekday before Christmas).  So other than that one year with the ridiculous Central Michigan comeback with the crazy final touchdown and they still lost by 1, it hasn’t impressed me at all.  I guess the players get to go to Bahamas so that’s fun.  And UAB was there.  It was a fun story to talk about…during the first quarter.  After that?  Blah.
35. Gasparilla Bowl (Temple 28 FIU 3) – I was more in awe of the absolutely stupidly massive Bad Boy Mowers dog inflatable mascot than anything.  That thing was huge!  They really should have just had mower races.  I think the St. Pete crowd would have been more appreciative.  And I still think the Trop is a fucking dump even if they do have slightly nicer turf now.
36. Holiday Bowl (Michigan State 42 Washington State 17) – This may tell you how bad the worst five bowl games are.  I rated this game, a blowout that no Canadian could watch live, better than those ones.  Yeah.
37. Dollar General Bowl (Appalachian State 34 Toledo 0) – This should have been a better game.  Two Group of Five conference champs going toe-to-toe.  It was anything but.  The only interesting thing was if the Mountaineers would hold on to get the goose egg.  They did.
38. Boca Raton Bowl (Florida Atlantic 50 Akron 3) – A fair amount of Lane Kiffin talk and John Franklin acting like a douchebag and dropping the ball before the goal line on a long touchdown run are the only highlights here.
39. Military Bowl (Navy 49 Virginia 7) – At least the Hoos celebrated their first decent season in a long time with an opening kickoff return for a touchdown.  After that this game suck-diddly-ucked.
40. Frisco Bowl (Louisiana Tech 51 SMU 10) – New location, same shitty bowl game.  Other than the Memphis-BYU brawl a few years back the Miami Beach-turned-Frisco Bowl has been horrendous.  The game they had in Frisco recently (the FCS Championship) was tons better and might have had two better teams competing.

So a lot of good and a lot of not-so-good.  It was college football but some of the not-so-good games were tough to watch.  Tomorrow (or Friday depending on time) I will have the conference championship schedule up (all two games of it!).  Enjoy the rest of the week everyone!

Your Special Boxing Day Bowl Recap #2

I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas.  I hope you didn’t get too drunk.  I could understand if you did but sometimes moderation really is the way to go.  Anyway, where was I…

Oh that’s right.  Bowl games!  Yes they are still going on and will be through January 2^nd.  As I have said before, savour these games, even if they suck because soon enough we will be sans college football for months.  The horror!

Alright let’s get to the recap and maybe you can then work off all the eggnog you drank.

Miami Beach Bowl – Tulsa 55 Central Michigan 10

This was about as dominating performance I have ever seen in a bowl game.  This wasn’t even close from the get-go.  I am honestly surprised Philip Montgomery hasn’t got any feelers for Power Five coaching jobs.  He is an offensive guru and deserves a lot of credit for what he has done for the Golden Hurricane.  He has been overshadowed by coaches like Tom Herman and Matt Rhule in the AAC this season.  With them gone, expect Montgomery to get a lot of attention next season.

Boca Raton Bowl – Western Kentucky 51 Memphis 31

Boring bowl number two.  These games that get out of hand relatively early are, a lot of times, tough to watch.  This one was no exception.  I think many expected the Hilltoppers to pour on the points but I, for one, figured that Memphis would keep it close.  Not the case.  Alright so let’s move on to the next bowl and see if things get better…

Poinsettia Bowl – BYU 24 Wyoming 21

Now this is what I’m talking about.  I will say that the quality of play wasn’t exactly the best.  Thanks to San Diego getting one of their four days of rain for the year on that exact night, the Murph/Qualcomm/Former Chargers Stadium ended up being a bit of a quagmire.  But it was a close game.  Wyoming is looking good under Craig Bohl and should continue that next season.  The Cougs are almost always good so it will be interesting how much attention the next time realignment comes up.

Idaho Potato Bowl – Idaho 61 Colorado State 50

Hey another great bowl game.  Again with some extreme weather conditions.  It was one of the coldest bowl games on record in Boise and it showed.  The blue turf (which is getting old btw), turned into a huge skating rink.  It made defense basically impossible.  For once I don’t fully blame the two teams for that.  But it was fun to watch.  Points and points and points and points and points, etc.  I find it a bit ironic that a team that is moving down to FCS just put 61 up on the scoreboard in a bowl game.

Bahamas Bowl – Old Dominion 24 Eastern Michigan 20

This bowl is the bane of my existence (well, one of several banes).  A bowl game before Christmas on at 1 in the afternoon.  Who thinks up this shit?  I get that they want to show the beauty of the Bahamas during the day time and so we also get to see Mack Brown in terrible island tourist wear.  It’s too bad since the game was great and it really was two teams who very much wanted to be there and played their hearts out.  I would watch out for the Monarchs next season in Conference USA as they look to be pretty damn good under Bobby Wilder.  I sure hope EMU can put together two decent seasons in a row but the jury is out on them.

Armed Forces Bowl – Louisiana Tech 48 Navy 45

Of all the good bowl games thus far, this could have been the best.  An absolute classic.  Navy is always fun football to watch but the Bulldogs are a bit of a revelation if you don’t watch much Conference USA (which we here in Canada really don’t).  And speaking of Conference USA, why the hell do they look so bad as a conference during the regular season and then so good in bowl season?  I don’t get it.  Anyway, great game, still not happy with the start time of 4:30 but this is the argument to keep as many bowl games as possible on the schedule.

Dollar General Bowl – Troy 28 Ohio 23

One of the greatest turnaround seasons of the decade ended with the Trojans beating the Fighting Soliches of Ohio in yet another close bowl game.  Neal Brown is already being touted as a coach who may move up to a better program.

Hawaii Bowl – Hawaii 52 Middle Tennessee 35

This is one of the arguments against more bowl games.  It was a pretty good game with a lot of points but there weren’t that many people there to enjoy it.  You know, with the HOME TEAM playing in its own stadium.  They said there were over 20,000 people there.  I don’t buy that.  If there were more than 12,000 I would have been shocked.  It’s a bit of a sad state that a home team can’t at least half fill their own stadium for a bowl game.  No wonder teams move down to FCS.  I can see more of that happening.

There you go!  Again, I hope you had a great Christmas.  Boxing Day’s bowl schedule looks like, possibly, the worst day of multiple bowl games ever.  I sure as hell hope that some of the games are good today.  Also, there is the Monday nighter in the NFL.  Easily the best one of the year as the Lions face the Cowboys.  So there’s always that.  Enjoy the games everyone!