College Football 2015-16

tOSU should roll Notre Dame. But the hardest thing to account for in bowl games is motivation. The Buckeyes would make me nervous in that regard.

 

The first of many 'Insert Odd Sponsor Here Bowls' starting tomorrow. Arizona teeing it up with New Mexico in the Lobos home stadium, hope the seniors go out with a W.

Most of these games are innocuous, but not the Las Vegas Bowl. BYU and Utah renew hostilities in what is known as the Holy War. At the dinner for both teams a Utah player took the mic, called BYU a 'dirty team' (which is true), then went Will Smith in Men in Black 'don't start nothin, there won't be nothin.' The game sold out in 30 minutes and will be as intense a bowl game as any of the biggies, Go Utah!

Now to the point of this post, to our resident Aggie; what is going on at Texas A&M? It's becoming increasingly commonplace for QBs to transfer when these pampered kids don't get there way in the first year or two of college. So it wasn't unusual when one of their QBs decided to leave, but then the kid who looked like he was taking over the reins decided to transfer also. Matt can you enlighten por favor?

 

Hey... how about that Boise State / NIU fiasco? Shocked, I tell ya.. SHOCKED! By the score, not the winner. Yeah, MAC teams make good bowl fodder but they usually put up a better fight than that... esp NIU who I thought had a great contemporary pride of success.
- Not that I even knew those two were playing before I saw the score... but Jeez!

See the odds are still ND by 6 over tOSU. What the hell.. Do ND fans really think they motivate the GoldenDomeheads with dumb bets?
Wait... maybe they also support theDonald! Or Bernie.
Wanna bet the points drop to 3 or less just before close of book?

I'm gonna pick a couple games based on finger in the air. Clemson and OK will play as if they dont really wanna face, and be humiliated by, 'bama. Game where winner has fewest dumb plays and turnovers.
Watch 'em hoist the Trophy with an 'Oh, shit.. now what!' expression.

Did I say, before, MI St will play 3 decent quarters? Still think so. Still dunno which 3.

 

Yep Mr. Fog that Boise State - NIU scoreline is a big surprise.

There is a phenomenon that goes on in the bowl season and I think that's what's happening to the line for the Ohio State-ND game (even though I agree the line HAS to come down). It's the 'Who Really is Happy to be Here' factor. Ohio State in my book is arguably the most talented team in the country and filled with guys ready to go pro. To a man I'm sure they feel like they should be in the playoffs, not some bowl game. Apathy or that little losing of the edge (Alabama has done it twice in the Sugar Bowl against Utah & Oklahoma in recent years) is a bad thing against a team like Notre Dame that is very happy to be playing in the Fiesta Bowl.

The Pac 12 was 4-0 going into the game last night which featured a 8-4 UCLA team that didn't achieve it's goals against a 5-7 Nebraska team (yes a team with a losing record, nope there aren't too many bowl games ) the Bruins played like they didn't care to be there and lost to a team that was really motivated to finish the season on a high note.

 

The semi-finals are here:

Clemson v Oklahoma: Will respectfully disagree with Fog on this, neither of these teams would be humiliated by Alabama. However, I will agree with the gentleman from Columbus that it will likely come down to 1 key turnover or Special Teams play. Clemson humiliated the Sooners last year in a bowl game (40-6), but lost star freshman WR Deon Cain for failing to lay off the weed. The problem I have with the picking the Landthieves with confidence is I can't get that horrific performance against Texas out of my head. That said I'll go with OU.

Michigan State v Alabama: Sparty will take solace in the fact Ohio State was predicted to get boat raced by Bama and the Buckeyes took it to them at this point last season. A huge advantage for MSU is Connor Cook is a much better QB than Jay Coker. Can MSU be physical enough to contain the Tide running game and force Coker to beat them? I will pick Bama, but if Cook can bring his A+ game Sparty can pull off the upset.

FUSA Special: Texas A&M v Louisville: Mateo's and Jump's boys about to tee it up.

 

Congrats to Matt's Aggies for a really good season. Probably a different finale if they had managed to keep at least one qb from the regular season. Still made a game of it with, in essence, a rookie college quarterback. Rough start, but he got better and better as the game wore on. The difference in the game: Lamar Jackson. Wonder how long he'll hang around. Louisville's immediate football future depends on that question. Expectations for next season will be far higher than usual for a "basketball" school. Lots of room for improvement on both sides of the ball, but Jackson is an "X" factor playmaker.

 

There are so many bowl games I have trouble keeping their names straight. That was the Fulham USA Bowl, right?

 

Thanks Jump. I wasn't expecting much from the game and was surprised we were able to stay in it with the yards we gave up to Jackson. Future looks bright for the Ville, murky for the Ags. Congrats on the win.

As for today's games. There's no denying Sparty's record against the top 10. The key to beating Bama is to load up & stuff Henry early & jump out to a good lead (17-21 pts). Henry & Bama will eventually wear down anyone they play so you have to take the ball out of his hands. I think MSU can do the 1st part, but not the 2nd. Cook is the better qb, but at just 4 yards per carry from their run game, I think Sparty will struggle to score. I'll go with Bama to win pulling away in the 2nd half.

Clemson & OU are the 2 most balanced teams in the field. I don't like ACC teams b/c they tend to lack size in the trenches. Clemson is more like an SEC team in this regard, but I still think the Landthieves will win that battle. Both All-American qb's are dynamic & loaded with intangibles, but in playoff games, things tend to tighten up. I like the Sooner run game better. Plus Clemson has been bad about giving up chunk plays & OU is loaded with homerun threats. I'll go with the Sooners. I agree with Joe that both of these teams can, and likely will, give Bama a handful.

Joe, I'll address the A&M qb cluster later.

 

My #1 sports bucket list item will be crossed off tomorrow. Headed to the Rose Bowl, giddy up.

 

Lol... well I could have been more wrong but I would have had to really try.

Alabama is still gonna win it but Clemson might give them a game of it. If they do, Matt is right in his implication that they play in the wrong conference.

My favorite headline: "Houston STUNS Fla St". Only a surprise to those who weren't paying attention.

Guess it's out of the question that Tom Herman would hook up by phone to be Guest OC for the Buckeyes against ND...

 

First have to publicly apologize to Bama qb Jake Coker who sure didn't look like the weak link against Sparty. He goes 25 of 30 again in the title game Clemson can't win.

Ohio State played like a team with a ton of motivation (when all said they would come in flat), easily one of the best 4 teams left, but that's why college football is great because the regular season is so important. A slip at the wrong time and the team with the best chance of beating Bama is left out.

Clemson was very impressive and has a legit chance to win it all. However, the one stat that should be of concern is turnover margin. The Tigers were shockingly a -2 for the season, they can't lose that against the Tide.

Lax, glad you made it out to Pasadena, that old venue when sold out might be a pain to get to your seat, but has a magical vibe. Sorry your boys didn't turn up. Not sure if they were overconfident and didn't think Christian McCafferey was as great as he is, but it didn't look like they specifically game planned on stopping him. 368 yards of all-purpose yards (and w/a long td run called back) was a special performance.

 

The game wasn't pretty but the whole day was as majestic as I thought it would be.

 

SEC goes 8-2 in bowl games and has a shot at the national title. That's how you close out the season.

 

what a season. even got to see my Eagles lose in their bowl game, but we outnumbered the Washington fans 2 to 1. Shows how proud everyone was of this team and getting back to its winning ways.

I had OU beating Clemson as well. I was shocked how one sided that game ended up. I wasn't too surprised by the Alabama game though. I'll get blasted I'm sure for this, but I don't believe all the Connor Cook hype. I'm not saying it's easy to break records, but Michigan State has not historically been known as QB U. I mean Austin Davis broke all of Brett Favre's records at USM. It was a completely different offense, but surely didn't make Davis a better QB than Favre. Actually, wait, that's exactly what it means. but still.

With that being said. Alabama 27 - Clemson 16. Saban to Giants for 8M annually.

 

North Dakota St won their 5th consecutive national title in FCS football. They dominated a Jacksonville St team whose only loss came at Auburn in OT.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoo...e-wins-5th-straight-fcs-national-championship

My Coastal Carolina has one more chance to knock off this team next year before moving up to FBS.

 

Can't pick against the Tide, but was impressed how Clemson shut down the OU run game (even before the Sooner RBs got dinged). Can they slow down Henry? Would like to say Coker is Bama's weak link, but he's made me eat my words on multiple occasions. In order for Clemson to win they must have balance and not put it all on Watson, and they MUST win the turnover battle. However, I think Alabama will have a spy to slow down Watson's running, and have enough on offense to win it 31-21.

Doubt if Saban at his age feels the need to try the NFL again, he seemed miserable in Miami, but if you don't have good ownership (the Dolphins' are a tire fire) and a good QB in that league there is no hope. The Giants have both, so if he were to give it one more shot that seems like a good landing spot.