College Bowl Thread

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Bowl games start this weekend. We'll start with just a list of games. Brilliant commentary to follow


Saturday 12/16

Myrtle Beach Bow 11:00 ESPN
Georgia Southern vs Ohio GAST -3.5

RL Carriers New Orleans Bowl 2:15 ESPN
Jackson State vs Louisiana JVST -2.5

Avacados from Mexico Cure Bowl 3:30 ABC
Miami(OH) vs Appalachian State APP -6.5

Isleta New Mexico Bowl 5:45 ESPN
New Mexico State vs Fresno State NMSU -3.5

Starco Brands LA Bowl 7:30 ABC
UCLA vs Boise State UCLA -4

Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl 9:15 ESPN
California vs Texas Tech TTU -3


Monday 12/18

Famous Toastery Bowl 2:30 ESPN
Western Kentucky vs Old Dominion ODU -2.5


Tuesday 12/19

Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl 9:00 ESPN
UTSA vs Marshall UTSA -13


Thursday 12/21

Roofclaim.com Bocca Raton Bowl 8:00 ESPN
South Florida vs Syracuse Syr -3


Friday 12/22

Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl 6:30 ESPN
Georgia Tech vs UCF UCF -4.5


Saturday 12/23

76 Birmingham Bowl 12:00 ABC
Troy vs Duke 12:00 ABC Troy -8

Camellia Bowl 12:00 ESPN
Arkansas State vs Northern Illinois ARST -1

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl 3:30 ABC
James Madison vs Air Force JMU -3

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl 3:30 ESPN
Georgia State vs Utah State USU -1

68 Ventures Bowl 7:00 ESPN
South Alabama vs Eastern Michigan SA -16

SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl 7:30 ABC
Utah vs Northwestern Utah -7

EasyPost Hawaii Bowl 10:30 ESPN
Coastal Carolina vs San Jose State SJSU -10


Tuesday 12/26

Quick Lane Bowl 2:00 ESPN
Bowling Green vs Minnesota Minn -3.5

Servpro First Responders Bowl 5:30 ESPN
Texas State vs Rice TXST -4

Guaranteed Rate Bowl 9:00 ESPN
Kansas vs UNLV KU -12.5


Wednesday 12/27

Military Bowl 2:00 ESPN
Virginia Tech vs Tulane VT -8

Duke's Mayo Bowl 5:30 ESPN
North Carolins vs West Virginia WVU -5.5

DirecTv Holiday Bowl 8:00 FOX
15 Louisville vs USC Lou -7.5

TaxAct Texas Bowl 9:00 ESPN
Texas A&M vs 20 Oklahoma State TAM -3


Thursday 12/28

Wasabi Fenway Bowl 11:00 ESPN
24 SMU vs Boston College SMU -10.5


Bad Bow Mowers Pinstripe Bowl 2:15 ESPN
Rutgers vs Miami Mia -1


Pop Tarts Bowl 5:45 ESPN
18 NC State vs 25 Kansas State KSU -3


Valero Alamo Bowl 9:15 ESPN
14 Arizona vs 12 Oklahoma Ariz -3


Friday 12/29


TaxSlayer Gator Bowl 12:00 ESPN
22 Clemson vs Kentucky Clem -4

Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl 2:00 CBS
19 Oregon State vs 16 Notre Dame ND -6.5

Autozone Liberty Bowl 3:30 ESPN
Memphis vs Iowa State ISU -8.5

Goodyear Cotton Bowl 8:00 ESPN
9 Missouri vs 7 Ohio State Miz -2.5


Saturday 12/30


Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl 12:00 ESPN
11 Ole Miss vs 10 Penn State PSU -3.5

TransPerfect Music City Bowl 2:00 ABC
Auburn vs Maryland Aub -2.5

Capital One Orange Bowl 4:00 ESPN
6 Georgia vs 5 Florida State UGA -14

Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl 4:30 CW Network
Toledo vs Wyoming Wyo -3


Monday 1/1


ReliaQuest Bowl 12:00 ESPN2
Wisconsin vs 13 LSU LSU -8.5

Vrbo Fiesta Bowl 1:00 ESPN
23 Liberty vs 8 Oregon Ore -17.5

Cheez-It Citrus Bowl 1:00 ABC
17 Iowa vs 21 Tennessee Ten -8.5


Playoff Games 1/1

4 Alabama vs 1 Michigan 5:00 ESPN Mich -1.5


3 Texas vs 2 Washington 8:45 ESPN Tex -4



Monday 1/8

Championship Game 7:30 ESPN

4 Alabama vs TBD

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Saturday 12/30

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl 12:00 ESPN
11 Ole Miss vs 10 Penn State PSU -3.5

Penn State fired their OC a few weeks ago and now DC Manny Diaz has left to take the Duke head coaching job. Since then they have hired a new OC, Andy Kotelnicki from Kansas. Kansas was 29th in both scoring and yards without their starting QB for much of the season. They were 6th nationally since 2022 in yards per play. Kotelnicki's specialty is in changing to fit his players, setting them up for easy plays.

I expect PSU will hire a new DC very soon. It is not a surprise that Diaz left. Nobody expected him to be here very long. Word is Franklin flew to Starkville to interview recently fired Miss State HC Zach Arnett for the DC job. Or maybe he just wanted to get some info on Ole Miss.

DE Chop Robinson has declared for the draft and opted out of the bowl. He's a projected 1st rounder. It's a blow to the defense for the bowl game. As of now, LT Olu Fashanu has not declraed or opted out but with him projected as a top 5 pick, he will surely declare for the draft.

This game seems to be a matchup of mirror opposities. Two top 10-ish teams that lost to the 2 top 5-ish teams they played. Penn State the defensive team, Ole Miss the offensive team. Funny though that PSU actually scored more points.

Kiffin is a great gameplanner and will have weeks to come up with something.

Ole Miss has a good offense but they were stopped by the good defense they faced, namely Georgia and Alabama. Penn State has an excellent defense and will give Ole Miss problems.

Penn State's offense was stopped by Ohio State and Michigan but they were able to score plenty on everybody else by wearing them down. The Ole Miss defense is not great. Penn State may be able to push them around. Will they have a few new wrinkles from the new OC? I don;t believe he will call plays but there's a good chance he'll be involved in the bowl prep.

Here's a breakdown on the new OC's offense. A good offense has a small number of staple plays they run to perfection and they can use formations to make them look different to the defense. That's the key to the Shanahan offense. They try to make everything look the same so a defense can't guess.

 

[str8liner]

Here's a breakdown on the new OC's offense. A good offense has a small number of staple plays they run to perfection and they can use formations to make them look different to the defense. That's the key to the Shanahan offense. They try to make everything look the same so a defense can't guess.

Should help against Micheatgan.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Penn State has hired former Indiana head coach Tom Allen as new DC. It's a really good hire. Allen got a ton out of very little talent at Indiana. Has to sting for him that he had Michael Penix at QB and he transferred out.

 

[speedicut]

Monday 1/8

Championship Game 7:30 ESPN

4 Alabama vs TBD

Nicely done, Tape

 

[Sarge]

Nicely done, Tape

It's true though. I'd be stunned if Michigan beats them. Michigan lost last year to TCU and this team isn't as good as last year's team. Not even close. I think it will be a Alabama vs Texas rematch.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

West Virginia vs North Carolina about to kickoff. Drake Maye opted out. Should be a good game.

Texas A&M vs Ok State should be good too later tonight.

Funny that WVU vs NC will have radio helmets for first time in college. The Harbaugh anti cheater protocol?

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Rutgers dominated Miami. NC State vs Kansas State about to kick. First matchup of 2 ranked teams. Late game 14 Arizona vs 12 Oklahoma should be a good one. probably better than the Jets Browns tonight.

 

[Troglodyte]

Miami coach is even worse with clock management than Tomlin. Second time this year he seriously **** the bed. Once not running out the clock and now not using all three TOs when there was 3:00+ minutes left and ending the game with two of them unused.

 

[SteelerFan448]

Miami coach is even worse with clock management than Tomlin. Second time this year he seriously **** the bed. Once not running out the clock and now not using all three TOs when there was 3:00+ minutes left and ending the game with two of them unused.

Remember this is the same coach who could've won a game by kneeling down and didn't...and lost.

 

[Djfan]

Watching AZ vs OU. AZ up 3-0

 

[Troglodyte]

Remember this is the same coach who could've won a game by kneeling down and didn't...and lost.

That’s what I was referring to by “not running out the clock”.

 

[keslerclan]

it's really sad that most of the bowl games are determined by who isn't playing these days. Transfers and NFL declared players make it impossible to handicap/project BUT it is still fun to watch. Okla went in w a 75% projected win rate...great game to watch but now really "telling" of conference strength, imo.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Clemson and Kentucky in a tight game. Klubnick is just not a very good QB for Clemson. Clemson is underachieving big time for the amount of talent they have. They miss Brent Venables as DC.

Oregon State and Notre Dame about to kick at 2. Oregon State will be without QB DJ Ukelele who entered the portal and has not yet picked a new school.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Notre Dame looks to be without QB Sam Hartman, both starting OTs and RB Audric Estime. ND will start a redshirt freshman at QB. ND will have Duke transfer Riley Leonard next year.

Oregon State without their HC Jonathan Smith who left for Mich State, their top 2 QBs who are in portal. Their 3rd stringer did start a bunch of games last year and played well. They will also be without their Kicker and leading tackler at LB who bothe went to the portal.

 

[Steelmann]

Notre Dame looks to be without QB Sam Hartman, both starting OTs and RB Audric Estime. ND will start a redshirt freshman at QB. ND will have Duke transfer Riley Leonard next year.

Oregon State without their HC Jonathan Smith who left for Mich State, their top 2 QBs who are in portal. Their 3rd stringer did start a bunch of games last year and played well. They will also be without their Kicker and leading tackler at LB who bothe went to the portal.

What’s your opinion of all the watered down rosters tape? Sure makes things anti- climatic for me. I mean,I get why they are doing it, but it’s pure bull- **** in my eyes.

 

[topseed]

This opting-out bullshit makes many of these bowl games nearly impossible to handicap. I would think that OSU still has the depth to handle Missouri, but who knows?

 

[bermudasteel]

Bowl games start this weekend. We'll start with just a list of games. Brilliant commentary to follow


Saturday 12/16

Myrtle Beach Bow 11:00 ESPN
Georgia Southern vs Ohio GAST -3.5

RL Carriers New Orleans Bowl 2:15 ESPN
Jackson State vs Louisiana JVST -2.5

Avacados from Mexico Cure Bowl 3:30 ABC
Miami(OH) vs Appalachian State APP -6.5

Isleta New Mexico Bowl 5:45 ESPN
New Mexico State vs Fresno State NMSU -3.5

Starco Brands LA Bowl 7:30 ABC
UCLA vs Boise State UCLA -4

Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl 9:15 ESPN
California vs Texas Tech TTU -3


Monday 12/18

Famous Toastery Bowl 2:30 ESPN
Western Kentucky vs Old Dominion ODU -2.5


Tuesday 12/19

Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl 9:00 ESPN
UTSA vs Marshall UTSA -13


Thursday 12/21

Roofclaim.com Bocca Raton Bowl 8:00 ESPN
South Florida vs Syracuse Syr -3


Friday 12/22

Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl 6:30 ESPN
Georgia Tech vs UCF UCF -4.5


Saturday 12/23

76 Birmingham Bowl 12:00 ABC
Troy vs Duke 12:00 ABC Troy -8

Camellia Bowl 12:00 ESPN
Arkansas State vs Northern Illinois ARST -1

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl 3:30 ABC
James Madison vs Air Force JMU -3

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl 3:30 ESPN
Georgia State vs Utah State USU -1

68 Ventures Bowl 7:00 ESPN
South Alabama vs Eastern Michigan SA -16

SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl 7:30 ABC
Utah vs Northwestern Utah -7

EasyPost Hawaii Bowl 10:30 ESPN
Coastal Carolina vs San Jose State SJSU -10


Tuesday 12/26

Quick Lane Bowl 2:00 ESPN
Bowling Green vs Minnesota Minn -3.5

Servpro First Responders Bowl 5:30 ESPN
Texas State vs Rice TXST -4

Guaranteed Rate Bowl 9:00 ESPN
Kansas vs UNLV KU -12.5


Wednesday 12/27

Military Bowl 2:00 ESPN
Virginia Tech vs Tulane VT -8

Duke's Mayo Bowl 5:30 ESPN
North Carolins vs West Virginia WVU -5.5

DirecTv Holiday Bowl 8:00 FOX
15 Louisville vs USC Lou -7.5

TaxAct Texas Bowl 9:00 ESPN
Texas A&M vs 20 Oklahoma State TAM -3


Thursday 12/28

Wasabi Fenway Bowl 11:00 ESPN
24 SMU vs Boston College SMU -10.5


Bad Bow Mowers Pinstripe Bowl 2:15 ESPN
Rutgers vs Miami Mia -1


Pop Tarts Bowl 5:45 ESPN
18 NC State vs 25 Kansas State KSU -3


Valero Alamo Bowl 9:15 ESPN
14 Arizona vs 12 Oklahoma Ariz -3


Friday 12/29


TaxSlayer Gator Bowl 12:00 ESPN
22 Clemson vs Kentucky Clem -4

Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl 2:00 CBS
19 Oregon State vs 16 Notre Dame ND -6.5

Autozone Liberty Bowl 3:30 ESPN
Memphis vs Iowa State ISU -8.5

Goodyear Cotton Bowl 8:00 ESPN
9 Missouri vs 7 Ohio State Miz -2.5


Saturday 12/30


Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl 12:00 ESPN
11 Ole Miss vs 10 Penn State PSU -3.5

TransPerfect Music City Bowl 2:00 ABC
Auburn vs Maryland Aub -2.5

Capital One Orange Bowl 4:00 ESPN
6 Georgia vs 5 Florida State UGA -14

Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl 4:30 CW Network
Toledo vs Wyoming Wyo -3


Monday 1/1


ReliaQuest Bowl 12:00 ESPN2
Wisconsin vs 13 LSU LSU -8.5

Vrbo Fiesta Bowl 1:00 ESPN
23 Liberty vs 8 Oregon Ore -17.5

Cheez-It Citrus Bowl 1:00 ABC
17 Iowa vs 21 Tennessee Ten -8.5


Playoff Games 1/1

4 Alabama vs 1 Michigan 5:00 ESPN Mich -1.5


3 Texas vs 2 Washington 8:45 ESPN Tex -4



Monday 1/8

Championship Game 7:30 ESPN

4 Alabama vs TBD

Love it, Tape!!! If you ever say or type "Go SEC/ Bama"...I may end up back in the hospital!!!

 

[Troglodyte]

This opting-out bullshit makes many of these bowl games nearly impossible to handicap. I would think that OSU still has the depth to handle Missouri, but who knows?

I’m waiting for the day when players start opting out mid-season after their team has no hopes of a conference or national title. How is a regular season game when your team is 4-4 more meaningful than a bowl game?

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

What’s your opinion of all the watered down rosters tape? Sure makes things anti- climatic for me. I mean,I get why they are doing it, but it’s pure bull- **** in my eyes.

far too many players are opting out. I don’t mean guys who are transferring. I mean guys who are still with the team and not playing. It makes sense to sit if you are a lock to be a top pick. That means there should really only be about 20 opt outs per year.

For Penn State, DE Chop Robinson is sitting. That makes sense. He will be a high pick. It’s assumed OT Fashanu will sit. Again makes sense, he’ll probably be a top 5 pick. But then you have their top 3 CBs who may all sit. That hasn’t been declared. All 3 are good prospects but 2nd or mid rounders. All could benefit from playing against a Land Kiffin offense.

Sam Hartman for ND. Why is he sitting? He might be a 5th rounder.

I would have it as a red flag against non elite players opting out. It tells me you are easily satisfied being a 2nd rounder. You will make business decisions for yourself.

The media always highlights a bowl injury and says that’s why more should opt out. They ignore the number of guys who have their draft stock raised by a great bowl performance. For a lot of guys, the bowl opponent is the best they play all year and they are passing up a huge opportunity to show what they can do vs a good opponent.

Lots of Florida State guys opted out. Foolish. They had a weak schedule and playing a great game vs the talent on Georgia could really bump up quite a few guys.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

I’m waiting for the day when players start opting out mid-season after their team has no hopes of a conference or national title. How is a regular season game when your team is 4-4 more meaningful than a bowl game?

‘that’s what’s stupid about opting out of bowls. They say it’s meaningless. Well, for most teams every game is “meaningless” once you lose a 2nd game. Caleb Williams should have opted out back in October. Or just sit out the whole season.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Clemson vs Kentucky turned out to be a great game. I think 5 lead changes in the 4th quarter. Clemson pulls it out and sends SEC to 0-2 start to bowl season.

 

[SteelerFan448]

Real exciting game in the fourth quarter.

These bowl games are going to have a hard time getting people to attend with the opt outs, though I don't think they care. I wonder if any of the bigger ones will ever give NIL deals for players to actually play in the game. Boosters are straight up going pay-for-play, maybe some bowl sponsors will as well.

 

[Troglodyte]

‘that’s what’s stupid about opting out of bowls. They say it’s meaningless. Well, for most teams every game is “meaningless” once you lose a 2nd game. Caleb Williams should have opted out back in October. Or just sit out the whole season.

Right. A player could really improve his draft stock just by giving the right answer about why they DIDN’T opt out: “I love to play football, every game is meaningful to to me”

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

For those who missed the greatness of the Pop Tarts bowl trophy presentation. They lowered the mascot into a toaster and out came a huge edible pop tart.

somebody in the pop tart marketing dept needs a raise.