Welcome back, oh great and wonderful football fans, to episode 436. Yesterday’s games started with the 3rd consecutive overtime game, this one going 6 OTs before Toledo (8-5/86) took down Pittsburgh (7-6/64) 48-46. There was almost no defense towards the end of this game, although earlier Toledo had 2 pick sixes. Both teams scored TDs in the first OT (although Toledo had to convert 2 4th downs), both were held to field goals in the second OT, then both rattled off 3 consecutive 2-point conversions in OTs 3-5. In that 5th OT, Toledo players rushed the field after a 4th down sack only to be pushed back because of a defensive holding penalty. The next play, they rushed the field again when the QB sneak was called short of the goal line. Replay clearly showed the ball broke the plane. Finally, after holding PITT in the next OT, the 3rd time was the charm, and the Rockets were the champs.
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For a while, Rutgers (7-6/77) and Kansas St (9-4/23) looked to playing video games as they combined for 34 points in the 2nd quarter. After trailing 27-17 at the half, the Wildcats won the 3rd 12-7, making the score 34-29. Rutgers padded their lead with an early 4Q score to go 41-29 but could not change the scoreboard again. The final 14 minutes belonged to Kansas St who eked out a 44-41 victory in Phoenix.
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The nightcap saw Arkansas St (8-5/93) score 17 in the first including a beautiful 60-yard punt return to go up 14-0. After that, they and Bowling Green (7-6/98) alternated scores the rest of the game with no team building up too much momentum. Bowling Green’s 3rd string QB pretended to be the punter and threw a beautiful 43-yd TD pass for their first score. The final was 38-31 Arkansas St.
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The GCR was 1-2 straight up lowering the bowl season to 15-5 (.750), but 2-1 against the spread raising that bar to 12-8 (.600). Here are the current bowl standings.
| Conf | Total Games | Games Played | Wins | Losses | Points Scored | Points Allowed | GCR Rating | GCR Rank |
| IND | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 17 | 0.656 | 1 |
| AAC | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 135 | 123 | 0.519 | 2 |
| MAC | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 160 | 161 | 0.506 | 3 |
| SUN | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 136 | 146 | 0.503 | 4 |
| SEC | 14 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 88 | 74 | 0.450 | 5 |
| Big Ten | 14 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 138 | 98 | 0.406 | 6 |
| B12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 81 | 83 | 0.349 | 7 |
| USA | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 75 | 83 | 0.348 | 8 |
| MWC | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 82 | 82 | 0.319 | 9 |
| ACC | 13 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 93 | 148 | 0.171 | 10 |
| P12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 11 |
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Today we have 5 games to entertain which feature 8 Core 4 teams. Our first kickoff today, at noon (all times Eastern), from lovely Fort Worth, Texas, we celebrate the men and women in uniform with the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on ESPN. We have the SEC’s 13th place Oklahoma Sooners (6-6/42) taking on the American’s 3rd place Navy Midshipmen (9-3/36). Oklahoma started the season strong going 4-1 with the lone loss to Tennessee (10-3) but with a win over Tulane (9-5). That was followed by a 1-4 skid with the only win coming against FCS Maine (5-7). The upset over Alabama (9-3) was part of what kept the Tide out of the playoffs (see Vanderbilt below). The Sooners played one of the tougher SEC schedules this season with their opponents going 92-57 (.617) good for 12th in the country. All six of their losses came against bowl-eligible (BE) teams with just 2 wins. Navy started on fire going 6-0 before losing to Notre Dame (12-1) and Rice (4-8). They did beat two teams with 11 wins (Memphis and Army). Vegas likes Oklahoma-2.0. The GCR does not take into consideration injuries, coaching changes, or the dreaded transfer portal, but Oklahoma has been hit hard with the portal and Navy has not. Even ignoring that, the GCR has Navy winning 60% of the time and to cover.
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Next up, at 3:30 in Birmingham and also on ESPN, we have the eponymous Birmingham Bowl (seriously, 1 marketing guy), which features the ACC’s 6th place Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (7-5/39) and the SEC’s 12th place Vanderbilt Commodores (6-6/74). Tech played 9 BE teams winning 4 including a big win against Miami FL (10-2) which helped keep them out of the playoffs (see Syracuse below). They faced the 22nd most challenging schedule in the country and played SEC champion Georgia (11-2) to 8 overtimes before finally losing. Vanderbilt’s early season Cinderella (5-2 start) had midnight strike too early as they’ve lost 4 of the last 5. They did beat Virginia Tech (6-6) to start the season and Alabama (9-3) who was #1 at the time. It was the first ever victory over a top 5 team for the Dores. They had a respectable 3-3 record against BE teams. Vegas has GT-3.0 and the GCR agrees 57% and to cover.
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Our 3rd ESPN game of the day, from Memphis, at 7:00 is the Autozone Liberty Bowl featuring the Big 12’s 7th place Texas Tech Red Raiders (8-4/34) and the SEC’s 11th place Arkansas Razorbacks (6-6/69). Tech went 4-4 against BE teams including giving Iowa St (10-3) their first loss of the season. They did lose to Washington St badly (37-16) in September but bounced back with 4 straight wins. Arkansas’ claim to fame this year is they beat Tennessee (10-3), but they also lost to Oklahoma St (3-9). Go figure – it’s why we love college football. Being just 1-5 against BE teams doesn’t bode well for the Hogs. Vegas thinks that with TXTC-1.5 and the GCR agrees 57% and to cover.
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Switching to Fox at 8:00, we have the DirecTV Holiday Bowl in San Diego with the ACC’s 4th place Syracuse Orange (9-3/28) taking on the Pac-(1)2’s runner up (in a 2-team conference) Washington St Cougars (8-4/73). Syracuse played 10 (yes, 10) bowl-eligible teams but lost the only FBS game they played against a team that wasn’t (3-9 Stanford). They did go 8-2 against the teams, but it’s interesting that 6 of those teams were either 6-6 or 7-5. Their opponents were 88-62 (.587) good for 51st in the country. To be fair, the win over Miami FL (along with GT’s) kept the Hurricanes out of the playoffs. I do feel for the last remnants of the Pac-12. Oregon St (5-7/107) and WAST had to figure out a way to get a schedule in and quickly. They chose to pull a Notre Dame/ACC arrangement where each team played 6 games against the Mountain West. They played each other and Oregon St won the upset and the championship. The Cougars started out 8-1 before losing to New Mexico (5-7), Oregon St, and Wyoming (3-9) to close out the season. This type of schedule dropped them to 121st SOS in the country. Vegas has SYR-18.0 and the GCR agrees 62% but that’s a lot of points – WAST covers.
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Going back to ESPN for the final game of the day with a 10:30 kickoff from Las Vegas, we have the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl. The game gives us the SEC’s 6th place Texas A&M Aggies (8-4/27) and the Big Ten’s 11th place Southern Cal Trojans (6-6/58). TAM started really hot at 7-1 but the 24th most difficult schedule in the country was backloaded and they had a rough November highlighted by a loss to Auburn (5-7). Overall, they were 5-3 vs BE teams. Southern Cal has become that team (like Baylor used to be) that is preseason ranked and expected to do great things only to be mediocre year after year. This season they were just 3-5 vs BE teams and suffered a debilitating 3-game skid midseason with losses to Minnesota (7-5), Penn St (12-2), and Maryland (4-8). Being in the Big Ten increased their mileage, but at least they aren’t playing basketball. Vegas has Texas A&M-3.5 and the GCR agrees 56% and to cover.
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That’s it for today, the last day of the first half of bowl season. It’s been wild and will get even more as we start the 2nd half tomorrow. Thank you for reading and, especially, for sharing with others, G.
| Time (TV) | Bowl (Location) | Team | Team | Vegas | GCR Win | GCR Cover |
| 12:00 (ESPN) | Lockheed Martin Armed Forces (Fort Worth) | Oklahoma (6-6/42) | Navy (9-3/36) | OKLA-2.0 | NAVY 60% | NAVY |
| 3:30 (ESPN) | Birmingham (ALABAMA) | Georgia Tech (7-5/39) | Vanderbilt (6-6/74) | GT-3.0 | GT 57% | GT |
| 7:00 (ESPN) | Autozone Liberty (Memphis) | Texas Tech (8-4/34) | Arkansas (6-6/69) | TXTC-1.5 | TXTC 57% | TXTC |
| 8:00 (FOX) | DirecTV Holiday (San Diego) | Syracuse (9-3/28) | Washington St (8-4/73) | SYR-18.0 | SYR 62% | WAST |
| 10:30 (ESPN) | SRS Distribution Las Vegas (NEVADA) | Texas A&M (8-4/27) | Southern Cal (6-6/58) | TAM-3.5 | TAM 56% | TAM |
