There are 34 bowl games this year, and we’re picking every damn one of them (probably with 60-70 percent success). You can follow the progress or join up and do battle with us through ESPN College Bowl Mania. We’re in “The League” and “The War Against Tebow.” TWAT (jokes!) is the brainchild of decamped S.C. blogger and good time Johnny, Micah Snead, so go there. But beware — Snead’s dad is a total ringer and will probably take the title by 20 points.
Dec. 19, 4:30 p.m., ESPN
Fresno State v. Wyoming
Dec. 19, 8 p.m., ESPN
Central Florida v. Rutgers
Dec. 20, 8:30 a.m., ESPN
Southern Miss v. Middle Tennessee State
Dec. 22, 8 p.m., ESPN
No. 18 Oregon State v. No. 14 BYU
Dec. 23, 8 p.m., ESPN
No. 23 Utah v. California
Dec. 24, 8 p.m., ESPN
Nevada v. Southern Methodist
Dec. 26, 1 p.m., ESPN
Marshall v. Ohio
Dec. 26, 4:30 p.m., ESPN
No. 17 Pitt v. North Carolina
Dec. 26, 8 p.m., ESPN
Boston College v. No. 24 Southern Cal
Dec. 27, 8:30 p.m., ESPN
Kentucky v. Clemson
Dec. 28, 5 p.m., ESPN2
Texas A&M v. Georgia
Dec. 29, 4:30 p.m., ESPN
UCLA v. Temple
Dec. 29, 8 p.m., ESPN
No. 15 Miami v. No. 25 Wisconsin
Dec. 30, 4:30 p.m., ESPN
Bowling Green v. Idaho
Dec. 30, 8 p.m., ESPN
No. 20 Arizona v. No. 22 Nebraska
Dec. 31, Noon, ESPN
Houston v. Air Force
Dec. 31, 2 p.m., CBS
Oklahoma v. No. 21 Stanford
Dec. 31, 3:30 p.m., ESPN
Navy v. Missouri
Dec. 31, 6 p.m., NFL Network
Minnesota v. Iowa State
Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m., ESPN
No. 11 Virginia Tech v. Tennessee
Jan. 1, 11 a.m., ESPN
Northwestern v. Auburn
Jan. 1, 1 p.m., CBS
No. 16 West Virginia v. Florida State
Jan. 1, 1 p.m., ESPN
No. 13 Penn State v. No. 12 LSU
Jan. 1, 4:30 p.m., ABC
No. 8 Ohio State v. No. 7 Oregon
Jan. 1, 8:30 p.m., Fox
No. 5 Florida v. No. 3 Cincinnati
Jan. 2, Noon, ESPN2
South Florida v. Northern Illinois
Jan. 2, 2 p.m., ESPN
South Carolina v. Connecticut
Jan. 2, 2 p.m., Fox
No. 19 Oklahoma State v. Ole Miss
Jan. 2, 5:30 p.m., ESPN
Arkansas v. East Carolina
Jan. 2, 9 p.m., ESPN
Michigan State v. Texas Tech
Jan. 4, 8 p.m., Fox
No. 6 Boise State v. No. 4 TCU
Jan. 5, 8 p.m., Fox
No. 10 Iowa v. No. 9 Georgia Tech
Jan. 6, 7 p.m., Fox
No. 25 Central Michigan v. Troy
Jan. 7, 8 p.m., ABC
No. 2 Texas v. No. 1 Alabama
Here we go. With the conference championship games over, and only Army-Navy left on Dec. 12, bowl bids are going out hot and heavy. There are some things that were expected, some surprises and — oh man — Clemson totally got jobbed.
BCS National Championship Game
No. 1 Alabama v. No. 2 Texas
Sugar Bowl
No. 5 Florida v. No. 3 Cincinnati
Capital One Bowl
No. 12 LSU v. No. 13 Penn State
Cotton Bowl
Ole Miss v. No. 19 Oklahoma State
Outback Bowl
Auburn v. Northwestern
Chick-fil-A Bowl
Tennessee v. No. 11 Virginia Tech
Music City Bowl
Kentucky v. Clemson
Liberty Bowl
Arkansas v. East Carolina
Independence Bowl
Georgia v. Texas A&M
Papajohns.com Bowl
South Carolina v. Connecticut
Definitely some interesting matchups — Georgia and Texas A&M are a couple big name teams for a small bowl, so that should be good. In other bowls, the Gator Bowl gave a big, wet, sloppy kiss to Bobby Bowden by inviting Florida State and West Virginia. Travesty. Though it was technically OK, Miami and Boston College were higher up in the selection order in the ACC. Southern Cal, the over-hyped 8-4 team, is going to play the Eagles in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco.
Ooh! There are other BCS games?
Fiesta Bowl
No. 6 Boise State v. No. 4 TCU
Rose Bowl
No. 7 Oregon v. No. 8 Ohio State
Orange Bowl
No. 9 Georgia Tech v. No. 10 Iowa
Alabama running back Mark Ingram is moving even closer to becoming the Crimson Tide’s first Heisman Trophy winner, after his performance against Mississippi State during the past weekend. He had 19 rushes for 149 yards and two touchdowns. Without a doubt, the totals won’t look as good this Saturday versus UT-Chattanooga. In the other patsy games, Ingram put up 56 and 91 yards, respectively. Also, head coach Nick Saban will want to save his starters for the Auburn game the day after Thanksgiving.
Season totals, through 10 games
Rushing: 194 attempts, 1,297 yards, 10 touchdowns
Receiving: 25 receptions, 225 yards, 3 touchdowns
Both HesimanPundit.com and the ESPN Heisman Watch are giving Ingram more points, but what was a one running back, two quarterback race is more of a mixed affair.
HeismanPundit.com
1. Mark Ingram, Alabama, 59 (10)
2. Colt McCoy, Texas, 35 (1)
3. Toby Gerhart, Stanford, 33 (1)
4. C.J. Spiller, Clemson, 23
5. Tim Tebow, Florida, 16
ESPN.com Heisman Watch
1. Mark Ingram, Alabama, 72 (12)
2. Toby Gerhart, Stanford, 42 (1)
3. C.J. Spiller, Clemson, 37
4. Tim Tebow, Florida, 24
5. Colt McCoy, Texas, 23
CBS Sports Heisman Watch
1. Mark Ingram, Alabama, 47 (4)
2. Toby Gerhart, Stanford, 34 (1)
3. Kellen Moore, Boise State, 21
4. Dion Lewis, Pitt, 12
5. C.J. Spiller, Clemson, 9
Alabama running back Mark Ingram is still on pace to win the Crimson Tide’s first Heisman Trophy as the team prepares to claim its 10th win of the season, a 7 p.m. ESPN tilt against Mississippi State. In his game versus LSU, Ingram ran for 144 yards on 22 carries for 6.5 yards-per-carry. It was his third-best YPC game of the year, behind North Texas (11.4) and Carolina (10.3). Ingram also caught five passes for 30 yards. He would be the second sophomore to win the award, following Florida quarterback Tim Tebow in 2007.
HeismanPundit.com
1. Mark Ingram, Alabama — 55 (9)
2. Case Keenum, Houston — 29 (1)
3. Colt McCoy, Texas — 28 (2)
4. Tim Tebow, Florida — 24
5. C.J. Spiller, Clemson — 16
ESPN Heisman Watch
1. Mark Ingram, Alabama — 65 (10)
2. Case Keenum, Houston — 40 (1)
3. Tim Tebow, Florida — 31 (1)
4. Colt McCoy, Texas — 28 (1)
5. C.J. Spiller, Clemson — 26
CBS Heisman Watch
1. Mark Ingram, Alabama — 54 (4)
2. Case Keenum, Houston — 46 (2)
3. Colt McCoy, Texas — 22
4. Toby Gerhart, Stanford — 9
5. Ryan Matthews, Fresno State — 7
It’s been roughly 36 hours since Alabama beat Virginia Tech in Atlanta, and our minds have finally become sane enough to filter what happened and look at it like the good sportswriter we used to be. But, yea and verily, that’s still not possible. We’re Tide fans. And, fall means pure fucking insanity. Loss of control. It’s an addiction worse than any drug. It’s imprinted into the DNA. You can’t stop it, you can only hope to contain it.
And that’s not going to happen, my good sir.
So, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ROLL TIDE! HEY HOKIES! WE JUST BEAT THE HELL OUTTA YOU! RAMMER JAMMER YELLOW HAMMER GIVE ‘EM HELL ALABAMA! WOOOOOO!
With that out of the way, Bama’s win over another Top 10 team in another opener in another game in Atlanta can be spun any number of ways. The Crimson Tide defense put a lock-down on Nouveau Vick, and stopped the Virginia Tech running attack for the most part. Alabama’s offense racked up an amazing amount of yards on what’s supposed to be a pretty good defense. Quarterback Greg McElroy didn’t have to depend on premier receiver Julio Jones, who was shut down by the Hokie secondary. Running back Mark Ingram had a career day. Baby Tiffin went 4-for-5 on field goal attempts.
But, there’s a reason Tech was up by one going into the fourth quarter. Special teams. Turnovers. Dumb mistakes. For three quarters, it looked like Alabama desperately wanted to give the game to the Hokies. Long drives were ending in field goals, or no points at all, which was a hallmark of the disasterous Mike Shula era. McElroy looked lost for much of the game. Thank God that Tide legend Shaun Alexander was on the sideline to coach him up and get his head right.
But, the fact that Alabama could screw up that bad and still win by 10 points against a very good team should scare the hell out of every team in the SEC that doesn’t have a Tebow on its roster. It still doesn’t make us happy. Well, happy for the win, but still anxious about the rest of the season. Fortunately for everyone involved, the Tide gets Florida International and North Texas before the SEC opener against Arkansas.
UAB 44, Rice 24
How about them Blazers, eh? UAB quarterback Joe Webb racked up crazy amounts of fantasy points, and real ones, taking out the Owls at Legion Field. Several days ago, we wondered, “Where is the Gene Bartow of UAB football?” Bartow came from UCLA to start the UAB basketball program in the late ’70s, taking the team to the Elite Eight in a few short years. Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy played for Bartow — and we’re proud to say he started in the first sporting event we ever attended.
For a long time, the powers that be in Alabama didn’t want to see UAB get a football program. The state’s loyalties are split between Alabama and Auburn, and a team at a big public university in the state’s biggest city set up to be an issue in recruiting. However, in the early ’90s everything worked out and the program began. But, with the exception of a stunning win at LSU in 2000, the Blazers haven’t done much.
Maybe current coach Neil Callaway, in his third season, could be the guy to make UAB a mid-major success. Beating a conference opponent by 20 is a nice way to start the year. If he can keep the team playing at this level, maybe a few more people might roll out to the aging monument to football in which the team plays.
Carolina 7, N.C. State 3
Dear USC, please stop doing this. We’ve watched your team play in ugly opening games since 2005, and we’ve had enough. Have the guts to tell ESPN to put something interesting in this slot at the First Thursday game next year. Also, it appears Georgia sucks, so, hey, 2-0?
It’s been a while since we could predict that Alabama would be good season-in and season-out (like, say, 1989-1996), so we’re getting ready for the 2009 season by getting hyped with the best highlight videos from last season’s 12-0 regular season campaign.
For those of you who don’t understand what it’s like to expect excellence from your favorite football team every year, we feel bad for you, son. Actually, no, not really. Expecting mediocrity would be much easier than having to deal with the the letdowns of the past decade of Crimson Tide football (you have it easy, South Carolina). But, we’re pretty excited and can’t wait to see Bama wipe out another ACC team in the Georgia Dome.
