Welcome back sports fans and, yes, I am well aware the FCS playoffs have been going on for a few weeks now. That said, the FBS first round starts tonight with Alabama at Oklahoma – more on that later.
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Last night in the Xbox Bowl, Arkansas St (7-6/97) took advantage of a near perfect first half to outlast Missouri St (7-6/98) and their comeback attempt. The halftime score? 24-7. The 4th Quarter score? Missouri St 21-3. Final score? ARST 34-28. The GCR saw MOST as the winner in an upset. It was close but not meant to be.
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There are two bowls this season with 11:00am (all times Eastern) kickoffs. One is the Military Bowl on December 27th, and the other is today. The Myrtle Beach Bowl (in Conway, SC), featured on ESPN, between the C-USA champion Kennesaw St Owls (10-3/50) and the MAC champion W Michigan Broncos (9-4/61). The Owls started 0-2 with losses at Wake Forest and Indiana. They did not lose again until they lost at C-USA runner up Jacksonville St on November 15th. A quick 3-game win streak brought them to a rematch against JXST on the road. They won 19-15 and got a beach trip for the reward. W Michigan had a similar season starting 0-3 to Michigan St, North Texas, and Illinois. They were 4-3 before October ended with a loss at Miami OH. A perfect 4-0 in November led them to a rematch at home versus MIAO which they won 23-13 setting up today’s matchup. Vegas likes W Michigan-3.5 while the GCR is 50/50. Because I do not like ties or pushes, the process is to select the higher ranked team, Kennesaw St in this instance at 50.0% and to cover. This should be a fun one.
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At 2:30 we travel southwest from Conway to Tampa for the Gasparilla Bowl – shout out to Bigly who loves the pirate themed bowl. This game is also on ESPN and features the Memphis Tigers (8-4/55), tied for 6th in the American conference and the NC St Wolfpack (7-5/41), tied for 8th in the ACC. The Tigers were one of the preseason favorites for the AAC title and didn’t lose until being upset by UAB October 18 after starting 6-0. They won the next two over bowl-bound teams South Florida and Rice before going 0-3 in November. NC St is officially 4-4 in the ACC but won a non-conference game against Virginia in week 2. The only other conference in Division I who plays non-conference conference games is the SWAC. That loss did not count against Virginia in terms of making the championship game nor did the win help NCST in the standings. After a solid 3-0 start, the Wolfpack dropped games to Duke and Virginia Tech, bounced back against FCS Campbell before losing to Notre Dame and Pittsburgh. They finally got things together in November going 3-1 with wins over Georgia Tech, Florida St, and North Carolina while losing to Miami FL. Vegas likes NCST-3.5 and the GCR agrees completely 57.0% and to cover.
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At 8:00, on ABC, we travel to Norman, OK, to watch the first FBS playoff game this season – a rematch from November 15th. The Alabama Crimson Tide (10-3/15), SEC runner ups, are the away team facing the Oklahoma Sooners (10-2/8), tied for 4th in the SEC. The November game was in Tuscaloosa resulting in a rare home loss by the Tide 23-21. Alabama started the season with a shocking loss to Florida St – 2-10 the year before – which got the football pundits wondering about the program. Then the Tide won 8 straight including a win over Georgia in Athens before the Oklahoma loss. They beat FCS E Illinois and edged Auburn to finish 10-2. A lackluster, and we’re being polite here, performance in the SEC championship game almost knocked them out of the playoffs. We saw something online that Alabama has not lost to the same opponent in the same year since 1896 or something – granted playing the same team twice is fairly rare, but still. Oklahoma has a chance to do that after starting the season 5-0 before Texas trounced them 23-6. After a win over South Carolina, they lost again to Mississippi. They ran the table in November including the win over Alabama, but also Tennessee, Missouri, and LSU to earn the at large playoff spot. Vegas sees the Sooners as the better team – OKLA-1.5. The GCR agrees at 56.5% and to cover.
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That’s it for today. Tune in tomorrow for the FCS semifinals and the rest of the FBS first round. We thank you for reading. We are especially thankful for our readers sharing with others which helps us grow, JoJo and G.
