Bowl Recap #5 – Sponsored by Going 6 for 6

No, that’s not 30 for 30’s younger, dumber brother. It refers to the fact that, for the most part, the New Year’s Six bowls went six for six for being horrible.  Not a single one of the bowls had much drama at all.  You could say Florida State kept it relatively close with Houston and there was a bit of drama during the Fiesta Bowl but other than that it was relatively unwatchable football.  And this is coming from a guy who watches as much college football as he can.  Alright, let’s get to the recap starting with the College Football Playoff semi-finals:

ORANGE BOWL – Clemson 37 Oklahoma 17

So many complained that this game started at 4 on New Year’s Eve because many people were working that day. Understandable I guess.  Yet many of those same people didn’t complain that the other semi-final was on from 8 until midnight on New Year’s Eve.  Makes no sense to me.  Anyway, this bowl was the closer of the two semi-finals.  It was the Clemson D that stepped up in this one.  Mayfield, Perine, Shepard, et al just couldn’t do much.  Also, Deshaun Watson showed why he was a Heisman finalist.  Which leads us to the other semi-final…

COTTON BOWL – Alabama 38 Michigan State 0

Good lord this wasn’t even close. It did allow the Twitterverse to go crazy saying Sparty didn’t belong in the College Football Playoff at all.  Hindsight is 20-20 but it’s also annoying and sometimes very wrong.  Who knew Jake Coker would have the game of his life?  Who knew Connor Cook would have the worst game of his life?  Who knew Alabama’s defense would be that good?  OK I’ll give you that last one.  Bama has all the momentum going into the national championship now.

Now the other New Year’s Six bowls which weren’t a whole lot better:

PEACH BOWL – Houston 38 Florida State 24

Arguably the closest of the NY6 bowls. Terrible.  However it did show that Houston, much like Boise State in years past, is a cut above most of the rest of the Group of Five teams.  Not having Everett Golson or, really, a healthy Sean Maguire didn’t help the Noles in this one.  Honestly though they looked sloppy.  It’s like the put it all on the field against Florida so they could destroy their rivals and had nothing left for this one.

FIESTA BOWL – Ohio State 44 Notre Dame 28

Ugh, the targeting penalty rears its ugly head again. Joey Bosa’s Ohio State career ends on a targeting call that is technically correct but kind of goes against the spirit of the rule.  There were at least six other instances where targeting should have been called and never was in the past few days.  That has to be the NCAA’s number one priority in the offseason: getting the targeting call correct and locking down when it should be called.  I get that it’s still referee’s discretion but the variation on when it’s called is ridiculous.  I feel bad for the kid since there’s a possibility he will end up on the Browns next season.  Oh, as for the game, despite the fact the Irish acted like a rash that wouldn’t quite go away, tOSU seemed to be in control the entire time.  NEXT!

ROSE BOWL – Stanford 45 Iowa 16

This was also known as the McCaffrey Bowl since he was the single most dominating player on that field (as he was in a few other games during the season). He scored a touchdown a mere eleven seconds in and that ended up being a prelude to one of the greatest performances in bowl game history.  His 368 all-purpose yards broke the Rose Bowl record and he put the stake in the ground as the 2016 Heisman early frontrunner.  Iowa was never in this one and this seemed like more of a beatdown than what their Big Ten brethren Michigan State suffered the previous day.  I hope this, for now, shows people why a four-team playoff is better than an eight-team playoff.  As much as people said Stanford and Ohio State were reasons for playoff expansion, Iowa and Notre Dame showed that it shouldn’t be since they would have been two of the eight teams vying for the title.  Moving on…

SUGAR BOWL – Ole Miss 48 Oklahoma State 20

At this point I got fed up. Once Laquon Treadwell caught his third touchdown pass in the second quarter I put the rest of the game on the PVR (we will get to that in a later bowl recap).  I had had it with the New Year’s Six.  What a set of horrible games.  So New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and (to a lesser extent) American Thanksgiving Saturday, the three biggest college football days of any season, were pretty shitty.  Not impressed as a college football fan.  I was right to check the game on the PVR later to see that, um, yes Ole Miss destroyed the Cowboys.

OK enough of these bowls, let’s get to the rest of the bowls from New Year’s Day and yesterday:

OUTBACK BOWL – Tennessee 45 Northwestern 6

Your 2016 SEC East Champion Tennessee Volunteers…is what many will now say for the next eight months. Don’t get me wrong, the Vols made Northwestern their bitch in this one but one game does not a champion make.  I will say this: Tennessee is set up well for the next season but more so for the fact that the rest of the SEC East doesn’t look too hot right now so really it’s an open competition (except for you Vanderbilt).  I assume this bowl game lost many viewers pretty early on.  That’s the con of a New Year’s Day bowl when other bowl games are on.

CITRUS BOWL – Michigan 41 Florida 7

See what I mean about the SEC East? Let’s be honest, the Gators overperformed this season.  They didn’t have the players to be a true CFP contender yet somehow they came within one poor game in the SEC Championship of going to a New Year’s Six bowl game.  They were exposed here by a good Michigan team that was probably one horrifically bad last-second play from also being in the New Year’s Six.  Jim Harbaugh has the Wolverines going in the right direction and Florida fans hope Jim Bob McElwain is doing the same in Gainesville.  Again, another bowl that lost plenty of viewers due to the game being basically over in the early third quarter.

TAXSLAYER BOWL – Georgia 24 Penn State 17

Hey a bowl game that was actually somewhat close. Saying that, the Dawgs had a 24-3 lead before the non-Hackenberg Nittany Lions made a comeback.  Christian Hackenberg is smart to declare for the NFL Draft despite the fact he won’t be a first round pick.  The one thing that kept Penn State from a better season was that brutal offensive line.  I wouldn’t want to play behind those guys another season knowing there’s a decent payday awaiting you instead.  Also, this game felt weird with no Mark Richt involved.

LIBERTY BOWL – Arkansas 45 Kansas State 23

I took a break from watching football (I know, insane right?) for the last quarter-and-a-half of this one. I was starting to get worn out from the craptastic games I had seen.  Yes, we get it, the SEC West is awesome, all hail the SEC West, whatever.  KSU making a bowl game was a miracle in and of itself and if my proposal would go through, we would never see teams like this in postseason play again.

ALAMO BOWL – TCU 47 Oregon 41 (3OT)

It feels like all the excitement that we could have had in all the bowls were concentrated here. And I nearly missed it.  Once Oregon went up 28-0, I put the game on the PVR (much like the Sugar Bowl) and stopped watching.  What I missed was Vernon Adams getting injured and Gary Patterson feeling the POWER OF THE PURPLE SHIRT.  Bram Kohlhausen’s only career start at TCU ended up being legendary as TCU came back from 31 down to tie the game.  I decided, for some reason, to turn it back on to see what was going on with it with about 3 minutes left in the game.  I was astounded at what the score was.  The Horned Frogs would end up winning in triple overtime, sending Phil Knight into shock and making Ducks fans wonder which of their ten million uniform combinations would have been the right one to wear in hindsight.

CACTUS BOWL – West Virginia 43 Arizona State 42

I put this one on the PVR, watched the first half, and went to bed. I put in a four-hour window just to be safe.  Yeah, not even close.  By the time the recording ended there was still seven minutes left to play.  Why are some of these games so damn long.  Now I am worried that the national championship will be six hours and I will be exhausted the next day at work.  Worst part is this was a great game and I missed the end.  Don’t know who to complain to but I am going to complain anyways.  No wonder the Pac-12 doesn’t want too many late-night games considering I stayed up until 2 (if not later) on too many Saturday nights to count (it was probably like seven of them).  What an interesting way to finish watching bowl season.

One game left and it’s for all the marbles. Clemson will face Alabama for the national championship and now Dabo Swinney can use the underdog tag properly since they will definitely be one for this game (as of right now it’s Alabama favoured by 7).  Also, the FCS title game kicks off at noon on Saturday if you’re interested (and have the specialty pack).  College football season is almost over folks and I type that with a bit of a tear in my eye.  Enjoy the national championship (and the NFL games today).

Week 4 College Football Recap – Sponsored by the Tip Drill

Wherever it stops, nobody knows…except that one TCU wide receiver.  Check this out:

What an absolutely crazy finish in Lubbock on Saturday. And the thing was, that tip drill touchdown where the Horned Frogs’ receiver toed the line to stay inbounds wasn’t the end of it. Texas Tech almost created their own “the band is on the field” play. They came about 8 yards short. But I have to say this: Kliff Kingsbury definitely has his Red Raiders back after a pretty terrible year last year. Also, TCU has to be very careful as they continue their conference schedule. That lack of defense will not fly against Baylor, Oklahoma, or West Virginia.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the rest of the recap

An ugly hit tarnishes an absolutely great game. The hit that put Gunner Kiel out of the game (and out of commission period for a bit there) was technically legal. However, this is the type of hit that should probably come under the targeting rule. I get that the defender wasn’t going for the head but let’s be honest: how many players actually intend to hurt their opponent with a hit? Only the few psychopaths who may be on HGH or whatever steroid-derivative being used on college campuses these days. Anyway, other than that, this was an amazing game as Memphis held on to beat Cincy and may be the only contender to Temple in the American this season (unless Navy or Houston has anything to say about it). Much better than the NFL Thursday nighter which was a heaping pile of garbage juice.

Boise is who we thought they were. And so was Virginia. Boise State bounces back from a tough loss to BYU to thrash the Hoos. They are still in the driver’s seat for the Group of Five spot but will have to run the table to do it (I think). As for Mike London, he might as well put his house up for sale since I can’t see UVA bringing him back next season.

Before I get to Saturday’s games, I have to say something about the guide for the U.S. College Sports Package. I don’t know if Rogers or Bell Satellite customers were having the same issue but until about 2:30 or so the guide showed almost no games on the specialty pack. I don’t know if it was a technical issue (I was told it was when I called in and was sent to second-tier customer support which may not sound like much but they seem a whole lot more knowledgeable than the first-tier CSRs) but this type of crap has to stop with the specialty pack schedules. This is not rocket science. Unless there’s something I am missing, I can’t see why this is as difficult as it’s made out to be. Find out what TSN is showing then set out the schedule. It can be done by Wednesday night at the absolute latest. Just getting to be too frustrating is all. Anyway…

Now that was some fun Harbaughll. Wow, did the Wolverines ever lay a beating on BYU. I mean this wasn’t even close. Taylor Mangum P.I. had no chance to do anything all day. I will be honest, the way Michigan is playing, that game against Michigan State (October 17^th) could end up being huge in the Big Ten East race. Jimmy Football has already turned it around in Ann Arbor and the season is only four weeks old. Impressive.

Fournette Four Heisman. Leonard Fournette has crashed through everyone to become the early-season Heisman favourite. He has been the biggest reason why LSU is in the top 10 right now. The guy looks like a stronger Adrian Peterson and could be huge in the NFL. First he has to be big in a big-game atmosphere and he will have his chance in three weeks when the Tigers play Florida.

And the winner of the ACC Gongshow Division is… Let’s be honest, no one wants to win this division. No one. Everyone was touting Georgia Tech as the team to beat in the ACC Coastal. What happened? Duke beat them pretty easily in a soggy affair at Wallace Wade in front of literally a few thousand fans (at least that’s what it looked like). Duke is not exactly a world-beater. Virginia Tech played in even worse weather against East Carolina and looked thoroughly outplayed. North Carolina, Pitt, and Miami look OK early but do you trust them to win 6 or 7 games inside the conference? Other than Virginia, any of those teams could win. Let’s hope for a six-way tie.

What the hell is happening in Columbia and Orlando? Watching South Carolina and UCF was pretty painful at times. The Gamecocks have almost become the worst team in the SEC East (and with the way Vandy has played lately maybe the worst). UCF looks like a middle-of-the-road FCS team so far this season. George O’Leary should step down and just concentrate on being athletic director and start over with this program. They fell FAST. As for the HBC, will Spurrier be back next year? It’s up to him really but he may want to quit. It has to be frustrating with the team he has.

Shhhhhhhhh. Indiana is sneaking up on everyone. Indiana (INDIANA!) is 4-0. Two wins away from bowl-eligibility. And they should be able to get it considering the state of the bottom half of the Big Ten. They have looked good enough to win but we will see what they are really made of once conference play begins next week. Stay close with the Buckeyes and we know this team is for real.

Speaking of the worst game of the week… Can someone please explain this?

Kansas is flat-out awful and Rutgers wouldn’t be too bad but the program as a whole is a mess. Thank god I didn’t even get this game because I would have felt compelled to turn the channel there to at least see what was going on and then I would have had to gouge my eyes out.

I feel so bad for Charlie Strong and the Texas faithful. Wow. Another week, another special teams gaffe late in a game that costs his team the win. The punter had one job. Grab the snap and punt the ball away. If the Pokes returned it for a TD, it’s not really his fault. But what happened? That was totally his fault. Set Okie State up for the win and possibly eliminated any chance for Strong to come back to Austin next season. Poor guy.

Are the Irish for real? Who can tell. I mean it was UMass for Christ’s sake. It was exciting early on as the Minutemen kept up with the Irish but we all knew at some point the Golden Domers would run away with it and boy did they. Next week is the massive test. Clemson, at Clemson. Notre Dame wins that and then we start talking College Football Playoff.

More average play from the Buckeyes. It’s like they are playing down to these MAC opponents. Then again, Michigan State is doing the same thing. I know they are #1 (and the Spartans are #2) but the way some teams are coming on, they may continue to win only to see them drop a spot or two in the rankings (a la Florida State last season).

Well Butch, what do you say to that? Another double-digit blown lead by the Vols. There were so many questionable play calls by Jones in this one that Vols fans should be infuriated. The idea not to go for two after going up 26-14 in the fourth seems so utterly asinine. It’s the fourth fucking quarter, Butch. Almost every other coach would go for two because there is less than 15 minutes to go in the game you dickwad. All I have to say to all this is Butch, you may be rooming with Derek Dooley by the end of the season.

Hey do you want to play quarterback? How about you? I am sure Nick Saban is looking for anyone to replace Jake Coker. Coker just hasn’t been that good to start the season. If the Tide have anyone else (and I’m sure they have some freshman that they were hoping to redshirt) that person will be behind centre the next time the Tide play (this Saturday against Georgia).

The Wildcats are no longer the SEC East whipping boy. Well twin whipping boys along with Vanderbilt. Mark Stoops has slowly moved the Wildcats into contenders to make a bowl game this season and it looks like they could make a few waves in the division race with their play.

Well it was nice near the top while it lasted. Auburn is taking a slippery slip n’ slide down into the bottom part of the SEC West. Other than Arkansas (oh boy), I don’t see a team below them in the pecking order. Gus Malzahn and WILL MUSCHAMP! must have burst at least ten blood vessels in their face each at this point. First barely beating Jacksonville State and then being basically non-competitive against Mississippi State. Not good times in Auburn right now.

Should we have relegation like in soccer? I’d nominate UCF, Wyoming (who has been god-awful this season), Idaho (of course), and SMU, who came back against James Madison to take the lead and then coughed that lead up late to lose to the Dukes. Don’t get me wrong, Chad Morris has this team improved but that just shows how fucking awful SMU was last season.

Both of the #3s had problems. Ole Miss (the other #3 in the poll) struggled with Vanderbilt but were able to pull it out in the end. I will say this, Derek Mason finally (FINALLY!) has the defense playing very well. Vandy’s D should be one of the better ones in the SEC and they just flat-out haven’t been the last year or so. Maybe they might be able to play spoiler later in the season. As for Ole Miss, this won’t cut it in the SEC. Play better or they will lose their chance at the CFP (or even the New Year’s Six).

Can Arkansas go back to the Southwest Conference? Man, as bad as it is in Austin and Knoxville, what Bret Bielema is going through at Arkansas may even be worse. They blew the lead against Texas A&M in what was looking like an upset to get the Hogs back on track. They played awful down the stretch and lost in overtime. This after Kliff Kingsbury basically owned him during the week after Texas Tech’s victory over them a week previous. If it weren’t for Bielema having a hot wife, I would say he was losing at life right now.

The Rosen One has arrived. Yeah he had a few slip-ups in the previous two games but Josh Rosen stepped up in a big way on a national stage. UCLA destroyed Zona in every facet of the game and have to be considered the Pac-12 favourite in the merry-go-round that is the second best conference in the land. I don’t know where the Fighting RichRods go from here but they have to do something or they will find it tough sledding in the Pac-12 South.

And speaking of beatdowns… Holy crap did the Utes ever put the boots to Oregon. The Ducks have never lost in Eugene like that. So now, maybe we have two big-time teams in the South while the North is a bit of a shitshow with the Cal-Stanford game at the end of the season becoming huge.

OK maybe make that three big teams in the Pac-12 South. Almost forgot about USC. They throttled Arizona State to finish Pac-12 Beatdown Saturday. Things are going to be fun when USC plays the Bruins for the Victory Bell (or when they play Utah…or when UCLA plays Utah…yeah the Pac-12 South is tough).

Someone mentioned on Twitter that it feels a lot like 2007 was in college football. If you don’t remember, that was the most insane year of the BCS era and the turnover among the top 10 teams was pretty crazy almost every week. No one could stay near the top and we ended up with a 2-loss national champion. This kind of feels like it. However, until Ohio State loses we can’t go full-2007.

The first month of the season has also proved what many have said for at least ten years now….that the preseason AP poll has to go. All it does is put certain teams higher than they really should have been to begin with. Case in point? Auburn. They aren’t a top 10 team. Hell, they aren’t a top 25 team. But where did they begin the season? At #6. That’s insane. I would be very happy if they had no rankings for week one and did the first AP poll after the first set of games is done. All the talking heads and experts can have their mock polls going into the season and that is fine. But nothing official until week one is done. Makes a whole lot more sense and then makes it so some teams don’t have to lose two or three games to fall out of the top 25 in the first month of the season.

Later on in the week I will have the NFL recap, the college football and NFL schedules for next week, and a look at all the winless teams so far to see I predict them to be at the end of the season.