Alabama vs. Auburn

Remember that many players now days choose to not play in the bowl games. The game may not truly represent the Teams composition during the season.

Florida State was lucky to beat Louisville in the ACC Championship game. The week before this game Kentucky - our states team and a middle of the road SEC Team beat Louisville within an inch of its life dominating most of the game. Florida State would have been lucky to finish with a winning record if they were a member of the SEC.

If you are looking for a Team who should have been in the final 4 - look at Georgia - the National Champion for the last two years, unbeaten in the regular season for the last 2 or 3 years and losing only one game all this year to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game by a touchdown. If the Georgia Team is intact and everyone plays and they are motivated Florida State will be run off the field.

 

If any more Gators opt out of the Duddantmatter Bowl, then Georgia will be able to put their cheerleaders on the field and win.

So far, Georgia Bulldogs winning battle of ‘opt-outs’ over FSU

 

The Bowling Green Massacre didn't happen, again. In Quick Lane Bowl, MN Golden Gophers prevailed 30 to 24 over BG Falcons. This Bowl stood out by having seats available for $3, where (in Detroit) one could have seen 54 points scored for only that. Econo Bowl jest ended, It's the opposite to Jan 9 Last Bowl where one can now buy a seat for $1494.

Now underway is First Responder Bowl, a TX/TX match in Dallas. By

https://collegefootballnews.com/bowls/how-good-is-your-bowl-ranking-all-42-college-football-bowl-game

This was ranked #4 worth watching with only Peach and the 2 semi finals higher. I assume you are watching.

==
Duddantmatter Bowl is a concept mentioned above. US College Basketball is the other 'TV' sport and it has an actual playoff sequence with 64. I do not know why Football has not. Guess that in this sport, players are intended to run into and harm each other. So more days between games are needed for physical recovery. Maybe 'they' could start with only 32 or 16 teams.

==
As cheerleaders keep getting mentioned, a Bowl For Them probably could generate revenue.

Meanwhile in Dallas, Texases are are 7-7.

 

Starting to get a little more interesting......

Pop-Tarts Bowl
No. 18 NC State vs. No. 25 Kansas State
Orlando, Florida
5:45 p.m. | ESPN

Alamo Bowl
No. 12 Oklahoma vs. No. 14 Arizona
San Antonio, Texas
9:15 p.m. | ESPN

Sadly, I'm a cord-cutter so I will have to satisfy myself with the highlights reels......

 

Clemson over Kentucky was the zinger o fthe day. Especially 4th qtr.

 

That game broke my heart.

Our Kentucky Wildcats - like they have done the whole year- decided to play with their food rather that eat it- and their food then decided to eat them.

Alabama and Georgia ran us off the field and could have embarrassed our team badly if they wanted to in those defeats.
Kentucky if they had decided to become a tough team and play hard could have won every other game - instead they decided to play around until their toy decided to fight back and put them in their place. Missouri is a good example of what our Kentucky Wildcats -could have been- if they decided to play football rather than play around. Congratulations to Clemson for deciding to take charge and win the game!

 

Props to the Wildcats for a good season but Clemson's been pretty tough too.
They came to within one play of knocking Bama out of the Rose Bowl.

***EDIT:
Nobody threw the BS flag at me so I will dime myself out.
I got Auburn twisted up with Clemson, obviously…..AUBURN is the team that nearly wrecked Bama’s season but Clemson gave Florida St a full 4/4 game too.

I didn't see the UK game, since I'm a cord cutter and I'm not able to fabricate an antenna capable of receiving ESPN.
Sports salaries have even made some of the streaming services too expensive for me to justify for a little TV as I consume.
I did catch part of the Buckeyes game, remembering with fondness a long LONG ago time when they were considered to be the best team in college football.

I guess that whole 'strength of schedule' thing really IS a thing.

I'm looking forward to Bama-Michigan, and I've already informed my sweet daughter that I'm inviting myself over to watch.
Bama is a slight underdog according to the 'experts' and there is a lot of rich history between these two teams.
It has the potential to be a good match!

 

boys vs lions?

great british baking show? very entertaining

 

Has any undefeated team ever lost by such a score?

 

It was a day. Wyoming Cowboys demonstrated that rockets no longer come from Ohio. Maryland and Mississippi beat bith their spreads and their opponents. And yes, Florid showed that their exclusion from top 4 was ... appropriate. Actually Georgians might have flipped that script. Because now who's to say that they might not smoosh any of the declared Top Four?

 

To be fair the Noles really didn't show up.
Something like a third of their TEAM never learned the definition of that word, leading this humble (and humbled) observer to believe that they didn't deserve to be in the Orange Bowl, let alone the championship series.
The ACC should not only LET THEM GO but the other 1A conferences should boycott them for 5 years while they learn a lesson about sportsmanship and team play.

Gawja on the other hand, had a MUCH BETTER argument for being robbed by the committee that selected the final four.
They met that adversity by banding together AS A TEAM and having fun on Saturday showing both skill and class - the latter of which I would not normally ascribe to them as a team. AFAIK not ONE Bulldog took his ball and stomped off the field!!
Any passing glance at 'data and statistics' SHOULD reveal that the Dogs are one of the top four if not the top two teams in the nation today, and I say this as an Alabama fan.

Looking forward to see how the selected final four do today.

Props to Ole Miss and Wyoming.
Maryland too!

Bama already proved that Georgia is 'beatable' but I would put the Dawgs up against any of the final four in a best of three. Texasass proved that Bama is 'beatable' but other teams gave the Pachyderms a good game last year.
A former 'Horns Chancellor once pointed out that adversity might actually BUILD strength and character rather than the otha way around, so one might argue that Bama actually profited from their paucity of non-ranked opponents. Bill also told me to make my bed - and a few other sea stories.....
Michigan is the real deal despite their luxuriously easy schedule and I watched the Huskies DUCK Oregon up one night - so you never know.

I'd like to see the Horns and Bama on the field a week from now - BUT you don't always get what you want.


Today:
ON Wisconsin!!!
GO Vols!!!
Hoping that Salter fans the flames at the Fiesta Bowl, and the Pachyderms and Horns prevail later tonight.

I will happily burn a 'free trial' to watch some of these.

 

"To be fair the Noles really didn't show up." Not sure what fair means there.

TN and OR showed up for theirs and did some smooshing

BOTH MI and AL showed up for The Rose Bowl and made those seats worth buying. For some ...

Presently tied, I still TX passing WA and losing a very watchable game to MI next week.

 

20 players opted out, others were disinterested. shows how messed up college sports are

 

Not really worth it for me.
Average RB ticket prices are (were) between $500 and $1000.
I'm not sure if that's the street price or the face value - but those seats would not be worth buying for me personally.
I live within easy driving distance of Bama's home sod and I haven't managed to catch a home game there.
That's me being me, and actual mileage will vary.

Like everything else in America, ticket prices for the CFP National Championship Game are higher than ever, with averages in the mid $3000 range.
Again - not sure if that's face value or street price.

The Crimson Tide Sports Network has a Youtube Channel that's worth subscribing to if you don't want to hang out at a sports bar, engage in copyright theft, or (worse!) pay to stream ESPN.
They have a booth cam which necessarily does not show the action on the field but will give you a great play by play.

It was a great game.
I can understand the Bulldog's disappointment for not being there and I think that they might have given the souped-up weasels a better game, although in an expanded playoff, teams losing in the quarter final do not make it to the semi-finals either so it is what it is.
Michigan deserved the Dubbaya, even if they were led by Godless, cheating, sign stealing louts.
They DO need to work on their special teams of the Pac-12 will go the way of the Allosaurus with a Championship win.
Speaking of Dubbayas, I caught the first half of the Washington-Texas game and I found myself torn between rooting against the Horns AND the Huskies. It was a good game but I have to be up and atem before the first rooster crawls out of bed - so I went to bed still rooting against both teams.

 

What more could viewers ask for that an overtime game and a game decided on the opposing 3 yard line. It is amazing how special teams play and center play affected both games. Most games they are routine. Not this time.

 

+1

So endeth my interest in this year's football.
I haven't the means to legally watch the game on Monday nor am I inclined to root for either one.
Michigan, a state bordering my beloved home state of Indiana has a rich and honorable history on the gridiron that their current leadership has twice sullied with ignoble activity.
Washington is a rough and ready team who will do well in the Big 10 (Big 18?) and they will bear watching in the years to come.
Part of me almost hopes they close out the PAC12 with a championship.

The line forms behind me for being critical of snobbery in the PNW, but I see the Huskies as much more of a victim of the PAC12's demise than an instigator, and while college football is trying to digest the ocean of money that is pouring into their sport it's refreshing to see some new old (old new?) faces playing in January.