The Bowl Season Has Ended

Well, college football’s silly season has come to an end with the crowning of Alabama’s Crimson Tide as National Champions…again. 

My record for the Bowl Season: 20-15

Kristen’s Bowl record: 18-17

Ruthann’s Bowl record: 15-20

Kristen closed with a run (3-1) while I didn’t (1-3). Thank goodness for Texas A&M and Johnny Manziel. These were selections without consideration to the point spreads. None of us are going to get rich with our picking college football games, but having a team to root for certainly makes it more fun to watch these games.

With the exception of a few East-West, North-South games in which seniors will showcase their talent for the pro scouts—just slightly more entertaining than the NFL’s Pro Bowl—the next college football game won’t be played until the last weekend in August.

Well, at least we still have the pro football playoffs ending with the Super Bowl on February 3^rd. 

And, of course, pitchers and catchers report on or about February 11^th.

Bowl Season Predictions, Part 16

Finally. Monday is the BCS Championship game being played in Miami Florida. The #2 Alabama Crimson Tide 12-1) tee it up against the #1 Irish of Notre Dame (12-0). Alabama is favored by 9 1/2 points. Alabama was on this stage last year and won the title. Notre Dame hasn't been to a championship game since 1988 when a 12-0 team beat West Virginia for the title. Alabama and Notre Dame have met six times before and the Irish have won five of those contests. Their last meeting was 1987. The Irish won.

They say defense wins championships. Alabama has the nations #1 defense. The Tide is 1^st against the run (79.8 ypg) and 2^nd against the pass (166.2 ypg). Notre Dame is 6^th in the nation on defense yielding just 93.3 ypg on the ground (4^th in the nation) and 194.8 ypg through the air (19^th in the nation). But the Irish have got Manti Te'o.

On offense, Alabama has the statistical edge ranking 38^th overall. The Tide gains 224.6 ypg rushing (19^th) and 214.5 ypg passing (74^th). Notre Dame is “just” 48^th overall when they possess the ball.  The Irish gain 202.5 ypg on the ground (29^th) and 218.8 ypg via the airwaves (70^th). BUT the Irish have a knack of keeping possession of the ball. They are 11th in the nation in time of possession at 32 minutes, 34 seconds per game.And they don't give up points. The Irish lead the nation i scoring defense yielding just 10.3 points per game. (Alamaba was second giving up 10.7 ppg.)

AJ McCarron is good. He’s completed 66.8% of his passes for 2,669 yards and 26 TDs while tossing just 3 INTs. Eddie Lacy is excellent. He’s rushed for 1,182 yards and 16 TDs on 184 carries. 

I expect the defenses to be pretty equal in this game. The key to the game may well be the play of redshirt freshman QB Everett Golson. Golson can’t match McCarron’s numbers (he only has 2,135 yards passing , 11 TDs and 5 INTs) but if he and running backs Theo Riddick (880 yards rushing) and Cierre Wood (740) can keep their heads while those about him are creating all kinds of mayhem, the Fighting Irish will win.

My pick: Notre Dame

Bowl Season Predictions, Part 15

Sunday night at 9 PM the GoDaddy.com Bowl kicks off with the Kent State Golden Flashes (11-2) against Arkansas State Red Wolves (9-3). Arkansas State is favored by 3 1/2 points.

Kent State’s Dri Archer is a threat when either running or receiving the ball. He leads the team with 1,352 rushing yards on 150 carries and has another 539 yards on 35 catches.  Archer has scored 15 TDs on the ground and another four via the pass. As a team, the Golden Flashes average 228.3 ypg rushing, good enough to rank 15^th in the nation. Their passing game isn’t nearly as good and they are ranked just 107^th. Defense against the pass isn’t so good either (103^rd) but they are 40^th in the nation against the run.

Arkansas State has a pretty decent rushing attack (217.4 ypg for 21^st ranking) and also passing attack (264.4 ypg, 40^th). Overall, they are ranked 17^th in the nation on offense. They are also fairly well balanced on defense ranking 53^rd against the pass (233.2 ypg) and 49^th against the run (153.3 ypg). QB Ryan Alpin has completed 67.8% of his passes for 3,129 yards and 23 TDs while throwing just 4 INTs. David Oku leads the rushing attack with 225 carries for 1,024 yards and has scored 15 TDs on the ground.

Darrell Hazell will coach his final game for Kent State before taking off for the head job at Purdue. This is the first appearance for the Golden Flashes since they lost to Delaware in the 1954 Refrigerator Bowl. (Heh. Odd names are not new to the bowl world.)

Arkansas State won’t have its head coach on the sidelines.Gus Malzahn will be moving on to Auburn. Defensive coordinator John Thompson will serve as Arkansas State's interim coach and former Texas co-offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin will step in as the new head coach next week.

There’s plenty of emotion on both sidelines and this could be a back and forth slugging match. After its triple overtime loss to Northern Illinois in the MAC Championship, Kent State should be up to the challenge.

My pick: Kent State

Bowl Season Predictions, Part 14

Saturday afternoon we have the BBVA Compass Bowl out of Birmingham, Alabama. The Pittsburgh Panthers (6-6) and Mississippi Rebels (6-6) kick it off at 1 PM. Mississippi is favored by 3 1/5 points in this one. 

Bo Wallace threw for 2,843 yards and 19 TDs for the Rebels but also tossed 15 INTs. Wallace has also rushed for eight touchdowns. Pitt yields an average of 196.8 passing yards with 13 interceptions compared to 12 touchdowns so expect Ole Miss to go heavily to the run. 

For the Panthers, Tino Sunseri threw for 3,103 yards and 19 TDs against just 2 INTS. Ray Graham carried the ball 222 times for 1,042 yards and 11 TDs. Graham also scored two TDs receiving.  Inconsistency, however, plagued the Panthers during the season. At times they looked like world beaters defeating then #13 Virginia Tech and taking #1 Notre Dame to triple overtime. They did put it together in their final two wins against Rutgers and South Florida to become bowl eligible. 

My pick: Pittsburgh

Bowl Season Predictions, Part 13

The Cotton Bowl will be airing on FOX at 8:00 PM Friday night. The Texas A&M Aggies (10-2) will face the Oklahoma Sooners (10-2).  Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel leads the Aggies who are 3 ½ point favorites.

Johnny Manziel has completed 68.3% of his passes for 3,429 yards and 24 TDs vs 8 INTs. He’s also rushed for 1.181 yards and 19 TDs. Manziel and company will face a Sooner defense that is 25^th against the pass and 70^th against the run.

The Sooners are 4^th in the nation in passing offense. They’re 60^th in the nation in rushing, however so their overall offense is “just” 10^th in the nation. Compare that to the Aggies who are 14^th in passing and 13^th in rushing for an overall ranking of 3^rd in the nation on offense.

Landry Jones has thrown for 3,989 yards and 29 TDs for the Sooners. He’s also tossed 10 INTs. Damien Williams has rushed for 905 yards and 11 TDs.

My pick: Texas A&M