0 comments by Matt Zemek on 12/19/2015
Given the strength of the American Athletic Conference in 2015, to the diminishment of the other four conferences in the Group of Five, it’s easy to think that the Temple Owls and the Toledo Rockets exist in different places as the Boca Raton Bowl approaches. The AAC dominated the Group of Five race this season. […]
0 comments by Ryan Palencer on 12/18/2015
While the recent trend in college basketball has slid toward immediate success for incoming freshman classes such as those at Kentucky and Duke, the 2015-’16 season is calling to mind the 2014-2015 season’s penultimate game, and its most memorable event. Last season, in the second national semifinal, experience prevailed: A seasoned Wisconsin team knocked off […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
It’s not Cape Canaveral, but Miami is the Florida city where launches of a different sort occur. A year ago, the first Miami Beach Bowl pitted BYU against Memphis. Bronco Mendenhall coached against Justin Fuente, in a wild game with a ridiculously entertaining overtime finish, marred by a messy and far-ranging brawl. Now, Mendenhall and […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The New Mexico Bowl, played in Albuquerque, grew up in the time — and place — of Breaking Bad. This game regularly opens the bowl season. It is typically played in the middle of the day. The event usually pits a decent Mountain West team against a middle-of-the-road Pac-12 team. Schools from Conference USA (UTEP), […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 12/17/2015
Let’s set the buffet table, shall we? In a year when the NFL has never been less enjoyable to watch (that’s not fact, but it’s a widely-shared opinion), consider making this upcoming Saturday your big sports day and then using your Sunday as the errand day when you do all the Christmas shopping and take […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
A wonderful symmetry has existed over the past 10 years of the BYU-Utah football rivalry, discontinued in 2014 but happily renewed in Saturday’s upcoming Las Vegas Bowl: Both coaches took over their respective programs at the same time. Bronco Mendenhall — who will coach his final game for BYU before leaving for Virginia — gained […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 12/16/2015
So, this happened on Wednesday afternoon, although subsequent reports indicate the divorce is not yet final: Kevin Sumlin is trying to keep Kyler Murray in College Station, but the mere possibility that A&M could lose both Murray and Kyle Allen in a matter of days is rather remarkable… not in reference to the politics on […]
Virginia’s legitimacy was questioned during the 2014 ACC season. The Cavaliers are not doubted as much this year, but if they falter against Duke on Saturday, they certainly will be viewed with fresh skepticism.
0 comments by Steve Fetch
When Virginia’s Justin Anderson went down with an injury late in the 2014-’15 season, the Cavaliers’ offense collapsed. In the 12 games without Anderson, Virginia lost more games (3) than they had the entire season up to that point (1). Furthermore, Virginia scored over a point per possession just five times in those 12 games.
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The Camellia Bowl, in its second season, is one of a number of bowls created by ESPN not for the tickets sold or the attendance generated, but for the television ratings and advertising dollars that come with it. As is the case with the Bahamas Bowl, the GoDaddy Bowl, and a few other postseason contests […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
As Brigham Young University tries to nail down its next head coach, the football program with a national championship and a national schedule finds itself playing yet another bowl game before Christmas. Sure, the Saturday matchup with Utah is one of the most watchable and attractive bowls on the slate. Sure, the re-enactment of The […]
0 comments by Allen Kenney
Oklahoma and Clemson square off in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Eve in what looks like one of the best match-ups of the college football postseason. A deep dive on the two teams reveals just how evenly matched the two teams are. Here are the big questions you should be asking about the Orange […]
0 comments by Joe Dexter on 12/15/2015
Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin has a lot to prove heading into the 2015 bowl season. One year after his offense finished as the ninth-best unit in the country but failed to deliver against Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, Kiffin gets a second chance at a Big Ten team in the College Football Playoff semifinals. […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
If the College Football Playoff semifinals share a fundamental similarity, they own a basic difference as well. The Orange Bowl and the Cotton Bowl are both revenge games for the lower seeds: Oklahoma will try to wash away the bitter taste of a 40-6 loss to Clemson in the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl, and Michigan […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
There are so many ways to crack open and compare the College Football Playoff semifinals. You’ll get all the angles in due time over the course of the next two and a half weeks. Today, consider one of the foremost similarities between the Orange Bowl and the Cotton Bowl: the presence of revenge as a […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 12/14/2015
In the 2016 Sugar Bowl, Hugh Freeze of Ole Miss will not coach for his job. He won’t coach a game he has to win for purposes of maintaining top recruiting classes in Oxford. No, this game in New Orleans is not about Ole Miss’s future as a program. When the Rebels face Oklahoma State […]
