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Happy Monday, everyone. So Rivalry Week was fun, huh? With my head nice and toasty warm thanks to this simply elegant hat I'm wearing today, it's time to give these bowl projections another go.
Bowl |
Date |
Tie 1 |
Tie 2 |
Comments |
||
| Cure | 17-Dec | AAC | Northern Illinois** | Sun Belt | Arkansas State | Moving on. |
| Camelia | 17-Dec | MAC 3 | Eastern Michigan | Sun Belt | South Alabama | …moving on again. |
| New Orleans | 17-Dec | Sun Belt | Louisiana Lafayette | C-USA | Louisiana Tech | The Cajuns' upset of Arkansas State has them needing just a win over ULM to guarantee the NOLA Bowl a good showing. |
| New Mexico | 17-Dec | C-USA | Old Dominion | MWC | New Mexico | I feel like, for the amazing season they had, the Lobos deserve so much more than this. But hey, a home game is fun, too? And Old Dominion! Whoa! |
| Las Vegas | 17-Dec | MWC | Boise State | Pac12 6 | Appalachian State* | The Sun Belt should have one extra team bowl-eligible, and it gives a deserving Appalachian State the gift of a good, prominent game. |
| Miami Beach | 19-Dec | AAC | Memphis | MAC | Miami (OH) | Get it? It's the OTHER Miami, playing in Miami! Truly a fairy tale ending for the Redhawks, who pulled off the Reverse Zook. |
| Boca Raton | 20-Dec | AAC | Central Florida | C-USA | Southern Mississippi | Yep. |
| Poinsettia | 21-Dec | BYU | BYU | MWC | San Diego State | Actually a good game! |
| Potato | 22-Dec | MAC | Central Michigan | MWC | Wyoming | I think San Diego State gets by Wyoming the second time around. The Lobos just wrote the book on how to pound the Cowboys with a ground attack. |
| Bahamas | 23-Dec | AAC | Tulsa | MAC | Toledo | I will go to my grave insisting that this is the right matchup for the Bahamas Bowl. I need to find better things to go to the grave over. But this game would be fun. |
| Armed Forces | 23-Dec | Big XII 7-8 | Mississippi State** | AAC (Navy) | Navy | Fort Worth ain't a bad drive for 5-7 CLANGA, and this gives Navy the chance to put up a bunch of points. |
| Dollar General | 23-Dec | MAC | Ohio | Sun Belt | Troy | Think of the savings. |
| Hawaii | 24-Dec | MWC | Hawaii | C-USA | MTSU | Hawaii made it. Whew. |
| Independence | 26-Dec | ACC | North Carolina State | C-USA/SEC | Vanderbilt | Thanks to SEC shenanigans and NCSU's upset of UNC, this actually winds up being a decent game. |
| Quick Lane | 26-Dec | ACC | Boston College | B1G 8-9 | Maryland | Ah, an ACC reunion in Detroit. Oddly fitting. |
| St. Petersburg | 26-Dec | ACC/C-USA | North Texas** | AAC | South Florida | The 5-7 Mean Green get a berth and travel to the Trop for a game no one is gonna watch. |
| Cactus | 27-Dec | Big XII 6 | Baylor | Pac12 7 | Colorado State* | This also has the potential to be a good game, if you're able to hold your nose and pretend it's not Baylor playing. |
| Heart of Dallas | 27-Dec | B1G 8-9 | Army* | C-USA | UTSA | I dunno. Ask GF3 what Army's been up to. |
| Military | 27-Dec | ACC | Wake Forest | AAC | Temple | Moving on. |
| Holiday | 27-Dec | B1G 2-4 | Iowa | Pac12 3 | Washington State | How's that pass defense holding up, Hawkeyes? |
| Russell Athletic | 28-Dec | ACC 2 | Virginia Tech | Big XII 3 | West Virginia | I don't get why this game is so hard to believe. Resurrect an old rivalry in a year in which both teams are good? Of course you do! |
| Pinstripe | 28-Dec | ACC 3-6 | Georgia Tech | B1G 5-7 | Northwestern | NERRRRRRRRRRRRRDS! |
| Texas | 28-Dec | Big XII 4 | Kansas State | SEC 3-8 | Texas A&M | It's a Big XII reunion no one actually wanted to see! |
| Foster Farms | 28-Dec | B1G 5-7 | Indiana | Pac12 4 | Utah | This could just as easily be Stanford, but it's gonna be a redux of that piss-pounding the Cardinal gave Maryland either way. |
| Alamo | 29-Dec | Big XII 2 | Oklahoma State | Pac12 2 | USC | An intriguing matchup. |
| Belk | 29-Dec | ACC 3-6 | Miami (FL) | SEC 3-8 | Georgia | The Swedish Chef Bowl grabs two kind of decent teams that still somehow feel wholly underwhelming. |
| Birmingham | 29-Dec | AAC | Houston | SEC 9 | South Carolina | A rudderless Houston slips in the AAC pecking order, I think. |
| Sun | 30-Dec | ACC 3-6 | Pitt | Pac12 5 | Stanford | I don't even know what to think of Pitt football anymore. 76-61. Jesus. |
| Music City | 30-Dec | B1G 5-7 | Minnesota | SEC 3-8 | Arkansas | 2002 REMATCH PLEASE GET GLEN MASON ON THE CALL |
| Arizona | 30-Dec | MWC | Air Force | Sun Belt | Idaho | Sure. The Vandals' swan song is a game televised by Campus Insiders. Apt. |
| Liberty | 30-Dec | Big XII 5 | TCU | SEC 3-8 | Kentucky | So…Kentucky might be decent? Since the entirety of the SEC not named 'Bama is a joke, they could rise even higher by virtue of being this year's darlings. |
| Citrus | 31-Dec | ACC/B1G 2-4 | Florida State | SEC 2 | Auburn | Picking between Florida State and Virginia Tech. Auburn is somehow still this high because the SEC is trash. |
| TaxSlayer | 31-Dec | ACC 3-6 | North Carolina | SEC 3-8 | Tennessee | Gross. |
| Outback | 2-Jan | B1G 2-4 | Nebraska | SEC 3-8 | LSU | It's been longer for LSU than it has Auburn or Tennessee, and this has potential to be a really good game, with DACOACHO hired on full-time now. |
New Year's Six Bowls |
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Bowl |
Date |
Tie 1 |
Tie 2 |
Comments |
||
| Cotton | 2-Jan | At-Large | Penn State | At-Large | Western Michigan | Turns out the Mountain West ain't that good. Western keeps its spot. |
| Rose | 2-Jan | B1G 1 | wisconsin | Pac12 1 | Colorado | Your Big Ten champions. /vomits everywhere |
| Sugar | 2-Jan | Big XII 1 | Oklahoma | SEC 1 | Florida | Florida cleared the East by two games and is Auburn really that convincing of a #2 in the SEC? |
| Orange | 30-Dec | ACC 1 | Louisville | B1G/SEC/ND | Michigan | Yep, this sounds right for Michigan. Louisville's drubbing of FSU is all that's keeping them here. Seriously. A loss to Kentucky? |
College Football Playoff |
||||||
Bowl |
Date |
Tie 1 |
Tie 2 |
Comments |
||
| Fiesta | 31-Dec | CFP2 | Clemson | CFP3 | Ohio State | It's Ohio State from the Big Ten and frankly, it's not close. |
| Peach | 31-Dec | CFP1 | Alabama | CFP4 | Washington | The Huskies beat the Buffs in the Pac-12 title game. If they don't, the winner of the Big Ten CCG goes here and gets a pasting. But at least they [beat/almost beat] Ohio State! |
Thoughts:
- I can't reiterate this enough: The SEC is baaaaaad.
- Amusingly, the Big Ten getting two teams into the playoff wouldn't change anything this year, since Nebraska isn't going to move into the At-Large slot in the Cotton Bowl but none of Penn State, wisconsin, or Michigan are falling out of the NY6.
- I expect a 200-comment pissing match about Ohio State and Penn State. This is my plea: Give it a fucking rest. Just for a day.
- A Nebraska-LSU Outback Bowl sound fun to anyone else? Buncha drunk Cajuns on the beach at Clearwater, and I'm sure Nebraska fans would do their best as well.
- With the Mountain West falling apart down the stretch, Western Michigan just needs to ease past Ohio and into the Cotton Bowl. That's pretty awesome for the Fightin' Flecks.
- Again, congrats to Miami Hydroxide on an incredible turn-around. 0-6 to 6-6 is just awesome.
- Indiana's past participation in the Pinstripe and Northwestern's NYC fanbase and celebrity cache (seriously, audible during both Legends Classic games against Texas and Notre Dame) means the Hoosiers get to be the sacrificial lamb out west. But that's OK for Indiana, once again happy to be bowling.
- Minnesota-Wazzu would be a bloodbath. Iowa-Wazzu will be an entertaining contrast in styles.
- Seriously, please get Glen Mason on the call for a Minnesota-Arkansas Music City Bowl. I want to hear all the stories of his favorite trips to Nashville.
- I have no thoughts about Maryland.