2013-01-01 21:18

So we are almost done with the Bowls. Just a few ahead.

The BLOCK OF GRANITE BOWLS FROM MONDAY AND TUESDAY

FRANKLIN AMERICAN MORTGAGE MUSIC CITY BOWL: North Carolina State vs Vanderbilt
Hey, that was nice.
The Commodores did play really good and never gave North Carolina the chance for a comeback.
That caps a nice season for Vanderbilt.
38-24 -> Jacks Bowl Score: 9-10

HYUNDAI SUN BOWL: USC vs Georgia Tech
Autsch.
USC by a mile? I couldn't have been more wrong.
Georgia Tech did outplay them by any way they wanted and USC is by that the sloppiest team so far in the Bowls.
USC was #1 in the preseason polls and they lost 6 games. NEVER did any team fall so deep.
Lane Kiffin should just stop doing his self dominating talking and start coaching.
7-21 -> Jacks Bowl Score: 9-11

AutoZone LIBERTY BOWL: Iowa State vs Tulsa
Iowa State did lead 17-7 starting of the second quarter.
Then Tulsa did bring out its powerful running game and basically ran over the Cyclones.
Nice ending for Tulsa.
31-17 -> Jacks Bowl Score: 10-11

Chick-fil-A BOWL: #8 LSU vs #14 Clemson
Well that was close. As close as it can get.
Imagine LSU did lead 24-13 starting of the fourth quarter and they stopped a long drive so Clemson did only score a Field Goal.
24-16. LSU was basically unable to play after that on offense and Clemson did another long drive.
They scored a TD and failed the 2-point-conversion.
24-22. LSU was again not able to get a single first down. By passing! Stupid! They need 2 yards and they needed to run down the clock or at least burn the Clemson Timeouts.
Clemson get the ball back with 1:39 on the clock.
LSU stopped the first 3 tries and we have 4th and 16!
Then 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Defensive Backs were not able to hinder a WR to catch a ball, while he was basically falling to the ground between them.
Clemson drove down the field, and kicked a Field Goal with time running out.
Les Miles sucked.
24-25 -> Jacks Bowl Score: 10-12

TAXSLAYER.com GATOR BOWL: Mississippi State vs #20 Northwestern
This is history.
Northwestern won its first Bowl since ... 1949!
With a nice mix on passing and rushing and a stingy defense did Northwestern win this one.
It was close until the fourth quarter with the Bulldogs most of the time trying to play catch up with the Wildcat.
Nicly done!
20-34 -> Jacks Bowl Score: 10-13

HEART OF DALLAS BOWL: Purdue vs Oklahoma State
This was as expected.
In every quarter the Cowboys were better and faster. Smarter and just dominant.
A pity they did not play that way the whole season.
For Purdue, with a new coach waiting it will be a rough off season.
14-58 -> Jacks Bowl Score: 11-13

OUTBACK BOWL: #10 South Carolina vs #18 Michigan
Wow, that was a thriller.
At first it looked like a clear Gamecock win.
But the Wolverines did come back and scored in the third quarter for 21-22 and later in the fourth for 27-28.
With 3:29 on the clock, the Gamecocks were given the ball at their own 30.
The clock had only 11 seconds left, when they scored a TD and won the game.
33-28 -> Jacks Bowl Score: 12-13

CAPITAL ONE BOWL: #7 Georgia vs #16 Nebraska
This was fun to watch.
It started with some laughings, like a blocked punt by Georgia and 11 Georgia players were not able to recover a ball in the Nebraska endzone for TD.
It wobbled out of it for a safty.
Then there was an interception thrown by Georgia for a pick six by Nebraska.
They did play scoring by us then you score back until the beginning of the fourth quarter.
It was 31-31 at that point.
Just four minutes later it was 45-31 for Georgia and the game was over.
I don't know what happened.
Well, Ok i do, but how did this happen?
Georgia was deep in Nebraska Territory when the third quarter ended and they did score the next down with a 24 yard TD.
Fine.
Then Nebraska sucked on offense.
Fine.
And then came a 87 yard pass TD of which were around 80 yards run after catch.
Where was the defense? Gone? They sucked.
I think that RB did get into the endzone untouched.
After that all went into hibernation and Georgia won.
45-31 -> Jacks Bowl Score: 13-13

ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY VIZIO: Wisconsin vs #6 Stanford
Well, the Badgers of the Big Ten Championship did not show up.
Maybe that was a one in a life time performance, I don't know.
Stanford did start well and lead 14-0 here.
After that Wisconsin did come back and at Halftime it was 14-17 from Wisconsin point of view.
After that the scoring did basically stop and they fought tough defense battles.
Stanford won at the end.
That's now three dropped Rose Bowls in a row for Wisconsin.
I hope that new coach will bring back some Badgers pride.
14-20 -> Jacks Bowl Score: 14-13

DISCOVER ORANGE BOWL: #15 Northern Illinois vs #12 Florida State
It was not a that big blowout as I expected.
But Northern Illinois did not stand a chance here.
But they played hard and kept the game more or less open until the fourth quarter.
Then the Seminoles did close it up and won it.
10-31 -> Jacks Bowl Score: 15-13

That was a better run this time ..... Maybe I can pick as good on the last few ones, too.

And now let’s take a look at the next upcoming games.

The BLOCK OF GRANITE BOWLS FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON

There are still some games to play, including the BCS Bowls left and of cause the BCS-Final.

ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL: #21 Louisville vs #3 Florida
This is played on Wednesday.
Since 1935 is this Bowl played and they field it at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, home of the New Orleans Saints.
This is a BCS Bowl.
Normally the SEC Champion plays here, but since 7 years, the SEC-Champion plays in the BCS-Finals on a regular basis and the Bowl people can s e l e c t a different team, fitting the rules.
The second team also has to fit the rules.
Each team gets around 17.000.000$.
They picked Florida as the highest SEC team beside Alabama playing for the national championship as SEC Champ and they picked the Big East Champion Louisville.
I don't think this will be a very nice game, since Florida will probably dominate, but who knows.
I think Louisville has to play a perfect game to get near a win.
The Cardinals have a nice defense, but so has Florida, so don't expect too many point.
I pick Florida for the win.

TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL: #4 Oregon vs #5 Kansas State
This is played on Thursday.
The Bowl is played since 1971 and belongs to the BCS-Bowls.
It is now played in the University of Phoenix Stadium at Glendale, Arizona, home of the Arizona Cardinals.
Funny thing is, that the name does NOT indicate it belong to the University, it is just a sponsor name.
The Big 12 Champ plays a BCS at large opponent.
Each team gets around 17.000.000$.
This year, Kansas State was sooooooooooooo close playing for the big one.
They lost to Baylor and by that they dropped some ranks in the BCS-Ranking and had to settle for that Bowl.
Oregon was also soooooooooooooooooo close winning it all and play for the big title.
They lost to Stanford and by that did not had a chance to play in the PAC 12 Final and by that they dropped in the BCS-Ranks.
So we have an almost-Finalist against an almost-Finalist.
Should be fun.
Chip Kelly the HC of Oregon is in big talk for a coaching position in the NFL so hopefully that does not distract the team.
On a perfect day I would say the Ducks will win.
Will it be perfect on that day?
I don't know.
Never underestimate Kansas State it is also said.
But Bill Snyder is 0-2 in the last two Bowls.
So I think Kelly will have his team better prepared and playing better.
Ducks win and probably will lose its HC after that.

AT&T COTTON BOWL: #9 Texas A&M vs #11 Oklahoma
This is played on Friday.
This one exists since 1937.
It brings a Big 12 team against a SEC team.
Each team gets around 7.250.000$.
Funny thing in this one is, that Texas A&M was a Big 12 team until this season, where they started as SEC team.
Now those two teams with a Big 12 Rivalry in the past do face each other in that Bowl.
Texas A&M almost eliminated Alabama from National Title dreams (and only the stupidity of Oregon and Kansas State did bring Alabama back in that National Title game) and they did only lose against LSU and Florida.
Oklahoma did play a bit sloppy in the beginning of the season and did only lose to Kansas State.
This should be great.
I expect the Sooners at full speed and in all their juggernaut pride and I do expect Texas A&M with their Heisman-QB to fight the fight of their live.
I pick the Sooners!
Why?
Because I think they are better than everybody thinks and they will show this.

BBVA COMPASS BOWL: Pittsburgh vs Ole Miss
This is played on Saturday.
Since 2006 is this Bowl played and is fielded in Legion Field at Birmingham, Alabama, home of the UAB Blazers.
It's a Big East vs SEC game.
The teams get around 900.000$.
I'm not that excited about that game.
Pitt is way away from being a Powerhouse and Ole Miss is on a nice way back but there are still some steps to make.
If a Big East Team fights a SEC team, I have a hard time picking against the SEC.
And as much as some Pitt games were nice and close, I can't pick against an up and coming Ole Miss team.
So the Rebels will win and the Panthers ... not.

GODADDY.com BOWL: #25 Kent State vs Arkansas State
This is played on Sunday.
Since 1999 is this Bowl played.
This is played at Ladd Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama, home of the newcomers on FBS level this season, the South Alabama Jaguars.
At the moment it is a Sun Belt Conference vs MAC Bowl.
Each team gets around 750.000$.
This will be fun and then some.
Unfortunately BOTH headcoaches did accept already at other (better paid) programs and so two interims coaches will battle against each other.
Kent State was soooooooooooo good, I'm still stunned by that turnaround.
Arkansas State was the defending SBC champ and did stumble in the beginning, but finished strong.
So who will win here?
I pick the MAC team, Kent State.
But this can go either way!

DISCOVER BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: #1 Notre Dame vs #2 Alabama
This is played on Monday.
This is a bit new, since in the past the champion was found in one of the BCS Bowls and not in a special Bowl.
Since 2007 this game exists and the site is rotated year by year from one BCS-Bowl site to the next one.
This year it is played in Sun Life Stadium, Miami (see Orange Bowl).
It is always the #1 ranked team against the #2 ranked team of the BCS rankings.
Each team gets around 18.000.000$.
Let's start with Notre Dame.
They played a perfect season, no loss (a couple of close games) and they are back as an icon of College Football.
At least that's what the media says.
For me, this is all hype regarding the "back on top" stuff. If they compete for the next 5-10 years, THEN I believe that, but one season is not worth the hype.
Still a very good season and we will see, how that very good defense will play against Alabama.
Alabama was almost eliminated from competition.
They lost against Texas A&M and only because Kansas State AND Oregon lost at the same gameday by stupidity, the Crimson Tide did come back into the mix.
And they stayed there as #2.
As much as I do like to see the Fighting Irish to win this and as much as I would not like to see Nick Saban win his 3rd Title in 4 year ...
I can't see Notre Dame win this one against a Nick Saban with 4 weeks of preparation.
I think that will not happen.
I can see Notre Dame becoming a regular contender, but not this year.
I pick the Tide.

That's it. The last Bowl.

‘Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

Tags: Block of Granite