Hello oh great and wonderful. We do have the Myrtle Beach Bowl (in Conway, SC, not Myrtle Beach, but what’s a few miles between friends), but before we get to that discussion, let’s recap Saturday’s game and check the bowl standings. We’ll start with the FCS. In the second semifinal Montana St 12-2 (82) used a balanced offense and a couple of turnovers to upend South Dakota St 11-4 (119) 31-17. The Bobcats will play in the championship game for the first time since 1984 against the reigning champions North Dakota St 13-1 (60). That game will be in Frisco, TX January 8th at 12:00 two days before the FBS Natty. Congratulations to these two teams who fought the gauntlet of a (real) 24-team playoff to earn the trip.
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The FCS’ Celebration Bowl which crowns the HBCU champion was a fun one to watch. Double digit favorite Jackson St 11-2 (97) coached by Deion Sanders and in the news with their recruiting class fell to a stifling South Carolina St 7-5 (166) defense 31-10. Just for clarity, the first quarter was owned by Jackson St but they only had a 7-0 lead. The Bulldogs took over after that, using 3 TDs off turnovers, to secure the upset and the championship. Congratulations, Bulldogs.
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In the FBS, App St 10-4 (32) lost their first every bowl game (6-1 overall) when W Kentucky 9-5 (47) broke scoring records while their QB, Zappe, broke FBS season records for yards and TD passes in crushing them 59-38. If you like defense, I hope you missed this game. Big plays were the norm on both sides and scoring was so common, it was a little disappointing when a team had to punt or missed a field goal. Sadly, the official attendance for the Boca Raton bowl was 15,429. A second half shot of the stadium made me wonder how many no-shows there were. It was nearly empty. But the play was stellar and C-USA got off to a good start for the day.
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The New Mexico bowl had a great matchup with Fresno St 10-3 (35) taking down UTEP 7-6 (117) 31-24. UTEP kept the game much closer than the 12-point Vegas spread, but the Bulldogs were too much, with a couple of turnovers the likely difference in the game. Give the Mountain West a win, please, Vanna.
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Next up in another upset and another win for C-USA the Blazers of UAB 9-4 (42) took out BYU 10-3 (26) in the Independence Bowl 31-28. The Cougars were driving on their last possession and it had that feeling of a last-minute victory for the Utahans, but a fumble ended the comeback and the upset was complete. It was the closest game by point differential and was great entertainment.
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The Lending Tree Bowl did not have a good matchup at all as Liberty 8-5 (70) outclassed E Michigan 7-6 (112) in every aspect of the game 56-20. That gives the MAC an 0-3 start and more last place votes for the GCR’s upcoming conference ranking. The weird stat of the game is E Michigan won the time of possession stat (I know it’s a useless stat and this proves it) with 37:23. Liberty scored 8 TD’s and had the ball only 22 and 1/2 minutes. Pretty efficient.
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In another GCR called upset (Montana St being the first), Utah St 11-3 (28) took down Oregon St 7-6 (67) 24-13, but the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl wasn’t even that close. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Mountain West beat a Pac-12 team this year. Utah St also beat Washington St 7-5 (52) and the conference won 6 of 11 against their big western brothers. By the way, Utah St used their 3rd string QB most of the game due to injuries. All that said and I honestly can’t say enough about how bad the Pac-12 was this year, Oregon St has not had a good football team in many years. Congratulations to the Beavers for a winning record and a bowl game.
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The final game Saturday was the New Orleans Bowl where Louisiana 13-1 (10) edged into the top 10 (subject to change as the games continue) by trouncing Marshall 7-6 (92) 36-21. The Cajuns were in a fight until a 20-point explosion in the 4th gave them the victory.
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Here are the bowl season standings so far:
| Conference | Bowls | Overall Record | Power 5 Record | Group of 5 Record |
| American | 7 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| ACC | 10 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Big 12 | 7 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Big Ten | 9 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| C-USA | 8 | 3-2 | 0-0 | 3-2 |
| Indies | 4 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| MAC | 8 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-3 |
| Mtn West | 8 | 2-0 | 1-0 | 1-0 |
| Pac-12 | 6 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 |
| SEC | 13 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Sun Belt | 4 | 2-1 | 0-0 | 2-1 |
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There is but the one game today when the American conference makes its debut with Tulsa 6-6 (81) faces C-USA’s Old Dominion 6-6 (124) in the Myrtle Beach Bowl at 2:30 (all times Eastern). The Golden Hurricane lost to an FCS school (UC Davis) in week one and started 0-3 before bouncing back including a win over bowl eligible SMU (on the road). They only lost to Division I’s only undefeated team Cincinnati 28-20. They also played Ohio St and Oklahoma St this year, so they did challenge themselves. The Monarchs won their last 5 after a 1-6 start including a win at Middle Tennessee who just beat Toledo in the Bahamas Bowl. When Tulsa has the ball, they bring a below average OER of 95 (they score 9.5 points for every 10 points their opponents normally allow) and Old Dominion protects with a DER of 110 (they allow 10 points for every 11.0 their opponents normally score). When the Monarchs are driving an OER of 97 faces a DER of 110. These are like the same 2 teams playing each other. I suspect a lower scoring game, especially in the first half until the OCs figure something out. Vegas likes Tulsa -9.0 and the GCR suspects Tulsa will pull away late 60.4%.
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Here are all the games with the latest odds and rankings. Vegas has picked the winner 6 out of 11 times so far and the GCR is 7-4. Thanks for reading and have a great Monday! G
