I didn’t post yesterday because, like most football fans everywhere, I was consumed with the collapse of Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills Monday night. As we all have him, his family, and his teammates in our thoughts and prayers, we remember that football is a game and entertainment. Injuries happen and sometimes we are all guilty of seeing those injuries similar to the way we slow down to look at car accidents, but they are not supposed to be life threatening. Our modern-day gladiators may break, but they aren’t supposed to have to have CPR and defibrillation on the field in order to try to keep oxygen to the brain. I have a friend from college who played briefly in the NFL and who suffers from repeated brain injuries. As horrible as that is, we almost shrug that off as “well, it’s part of the game,” or something. The NFL, and by extension college football, has changed rules, such as targeting, blind-side blocks, etc., to try to minimize the danger, and while football is a violent sport, I think Hamlin’s injury will spark a few more changes, such as not holding players to a 5-minute recovery time before the game is supposed to resume. The NFL eventually got it right and understood that this game, as important as it is for the standings and playoff positioning for the Bills, Bengals, and other AFC teams, in the scheme of things, it’s just a game; it’s just entertainment. The best quotation I heard from ESPN, who did an amazing job, for the most part, covering this unprecedented injury and aftermath, was “this isn’t about a football player. This is about a human being.” To Hamlin, the ex-players who are paralyzed, have cognitive problems from concussions, struggle with joint issues or arthritis from broken bones, or any of the other artifacts of the sacrifices made playing this game that so many of us enjoy, get well soon and thank you.
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The college games on Monday were exciting, or most of them, and deserve a review. First in the ReliaQuest Bowl, Mississippi St and Illinois gave us the defensive game we were expecting. To highlight the defensive nature of the game, the Bulldogs got a go-ahead FB with 7 seconds remaining (13-10). Then the Illini ran a beautiful rugby play with laterals all over the field and adding up yards until a fumble was recovered with a sprint to the opposite goal by the defense to give us the final 19-10. The Vegas line was MSST -3.0, and it looked like a push until that scoop and score. Vegas 1-0, GCR 0-1, Cover 0-1.
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With around four minutes to go, Southern Cal had the Cotton Bowl and Tulane just where they wanted: a 15-point lead looked insurmountable. But nobody told the Green Wave who had two touchdowns and a safety to come back 46-45 rocking the football world and finishing their dream season in style. There were 5 games between Power 5 and Group of 5 teams this year, and the “little brothers” won 3-2. Vegas, 1-1, GCR 0-2, Cover 0-2.
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LSU came to the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl (not to be confused with the Cheez-It Bowl) ready to play and Purdue had no answer. It was LSU all game and that’s all you need to know. LSU 63-7. Vegas 2-1, GCR 1-2, Cover 0-3.
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The Rose Bowl closed out our bowl season (except for the championship games) with a good game to watch. The first half was very evenly matched and ended in a 14-14 knot. Penn St scored midway through the 3rd, but the game was still wide open. An 88-yard bomb, a Rose Bowl record, followed 4 minutes later gave PSU an insurmountable 35-14 lead. Utah added a TD with 25 seconds on the clock, but the game had been over for 10 minutes by then. Final score 35-21. When I published the Vegas line was Utah -0.5 and switched to Penn St -1.5 by game time, but I always use when I posted, so Vegas 2-2, GCR 2-2, Cover 1-3.
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Here are the winners and losers for the bowl season to date.
| Conference | Winners | Losers | Remaining |
| American (7) | Houston, Memphis, East Carolina, Tulane | Cincinnati, SMU, UCF | — |
| ACC (9) | Louisville, Wake Forest, Duke, Florida St, Pittsburgh | UNC, Syracuse, NC St, Clemson | — |
| Big 12 (9) | Texas Tech, TCU | Baylor, Oklahoma St, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas St | TCU |
| Big Ten (9) | Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maryland, Iowa, Penn St | Michigan, Ohio St, Illinois, Purdue | — |
| C-USA (6) | UAB, W Kentucky, Middle Tennessee | UTSA, Rice, North Texas | — |
| Indies (5) | BYU, New Mexico St, Notre Dame | UCONN, Liberty | — |
| MAC (6) | E Michigan, Toledo, Buffalo, Ohio | Miami OH, Bowling Green | — |
| MWC (7) | Fresno St, Boise St, Air Force | San Jose St, San Diego St, Utah St, Wyoming | — |
| Pac 12 (7) | Oregon St, Oregon, Washington | Washington St, UCLA, Southern Cal, Utah | — |
| SEC (11) | Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi St, LSU | Florida, Missouri, Mississippi, South Carolina, Kentucky | Georgia |
| Sun (7) | Troy, Southern Miss, Marshall | South Alabama, Louisiana, Ga Southern, Coastal Carolina | — |
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Congratulations to the MAC who at 4-2 (.667) have clinched the best winning pct in the bowls this year. Here are the details.
| Conference | Record | Exp Rec | vs Power 5 | vs Group 5 | Favorite | Underdog | Vegas ATS | GCR S/U | GCR Cover |
| American (7) | 4-3 (.571) | 4-3 (.571) | 1-2 (.333) | 3-1 (.750) | 3-1 (.750) | 1-2 (.333) | 2-1-1 (.667) | 2-2 (.500 | 0-1 (.000) |
| ACC (9) | 5-4 (.556) | 5-4 (.556) | 3-4 (.429) | 2-0 (1.000) | 4-2 (.667) | 1-2 (.333) | 3-3 (.500) | 3-2 (.600) | 3-2 (.600) |
| Big 12 (9) | 2-6 (.250) | 2-7 (.222) | 1-5 (.167) | 0-1 (.000) | 0-2 (000) | 2-4 (.333) | 0-2 (.000) | 0-2 (.000) | 0-1 (.000) |
| Big Ten (9) | 5-4 (.556) | 6-3 (.667) | 5-4 (.556) | — | 3-1 (.750) | 2-3 (.400) | 2-2 (.500) | 3-1 (.750) | 2-4 (.333) |
| C-USA (6) | 3-3 (.500) | 2-4 (.333) | — | 3-3 (.500) | 1-1 (.500) | 2-2 (.500) | 0-2 (.000) | 1-0 (1.000) | 1-1 (.500) |
| Indies (5) | 3-2 (.600) | 1-4 (.200) | 1-0 (1.000) | 2-2 (.500) | 1-0 (1.000) | 2-2 (.500) | 1-0 (1.000) | 1-1 (.500) | 3-1 (.750) |
| MAC (6) | 4-2 (.667) | 3-3 (.500) | — | 4-2 (.667) | 2-1 (.667) | 2-1 (.667) | 1-2 (.333) | 3-1 (.750) | 4-1 (.800) |
| MWC (7) | 3-4 (.429) | 4-3 (.571) | 2-0 (1.000) | 1-4 (.200) | 2-2 (.500) | 1-2 (.333) | 1-3 (.2503) | 3-1 (.750) | 2-2 (.500) |
| Pac 12 (7) | 3-4 (.429) | 5-2 (.714) | 3-2 (.600) | 0-2 (.000) | 2-3 (.400) | 1-1 (.500) | 1-4 (.200) | 3-2 (.600) | 2-2 (.500) |
| SEC (11) | 6-5 (.546) | 6-6 (.500) | 6-5 (.546) | — | 5-1 (.833) | 1-4 (.200) | 3-3 (.500) | 4-2 (.667) | 2-3 (.400) |
| Sun (7) | 3-4 (.429) | 4-3 (.571) | — | 3-4 (.429) | 2-2 (.500) | 1-2 (.500) | 2-2 (.667) | 3-2 (.600) | 1-2-1 (.333) |
| Total | 41 | 42 | 23-22 (.511) | 18-19 (.486) | 25-16 (.610) | 16-25 (.390) | 16-24-1 (.400) | 26-15 (.634) | 20-20-1 (.500) |
| Power 5 (45) | 22-23 (.489) | 25-22 (.532) | 20-20 (.500) | 2-3 (.400) | 15-9 (.625) | 7-14 (.333) | 8-14 (.364) | 14-8 (.636) | 10-12 (.455) |
| Group of 5 (37) | 19-18 (.514) | 17-20 (.459) | 3-2 (.600) | 16-16 (.500) | 10-7 (.588) | 9-11 (.450) | 6-10-1 (.375) | 12-7 (.632) | 10-8-1 (.556) |
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That’s it for today. The next post will be the analysis and prediction for the FCS championship game. Have a great rest of the week, and, as always, thanks for reading and sharing with others, G
