RedZoneAction.org Blog
2012-12-13 07:17

The Bowls are near!

This weekend is the beginning of the end of the season.

From 15th of December to 8th of January they will play 35 Bowls.

There are some odd pairings, some nice back-to-rivalry-game and of cause the BCS-Final.

Regarding the final there is a (very slim) chance for CO-Champions.

How is that?

The BCS-Finals winner is for 100% sure the #1 in the coaches poll.

But that team is not automatically the #1 team in the AP poll.

That means, there would be the champion named by the coaches, and the one named by the press members.

Did happen in the past and could happen here again. Not likely, but I just wanted to give you the info.

Why not likely?

If Notre Dame beats Alabama, the rest is irrelevant; Notre Dame is ranked #1 now and will not drop in any poll by beating the #2.

So we have to assume Alabama would win the Final, means they would rise and Notre Dame would drop, probably 2-3 spots.

Now we have to look at the current rankings in the AP and there is at #3 Ohio State, #4 Florida and #5 is Oregon.

#3 Ohio State could rise in that case, but since they are not bowl eligible, they probably won't jump to former #2 Alabama.

#4 Florida does play #22 Louisville in a bowl and a dominating win will probably not be enough to jump over Alabama and Ohio State.

#5 Oregon plays #7 Kansas State and that might be enough if they win in a dominant way, but probably even that won't help them to jump all those spots to #1.

So sorry for the wasted time you spend reading this, it will not happen. LOL.

Let's have a look at the upcoming Bowls:

The BLOCK OF GRANITE BOWLS FOR THE WEEKEND

GILDAN NEW MEXICO BOWL: Nevada vs Arizona
This is played at the University of New Mexico and is played since 2006.
Each team gets around 750.000$.
It's a Bowl organized between the MWC and the PAC 12.
Nevada as team from the MWC had a bit of a disappointing season, they were thought to battle Boise State for the Championship but did finish only 5th and were 3 games behind the champions.
Arizona on the other hand did finish above expectations. Rich Rodriguez did win 3 more games than the coach last year and brought them into a bowl.
The Wildcats are favourites in this and it's easy to see why.
Arizona did beat against some ranked teams and did lose against some ranked teams by an inch or two.
Nevada on the other hand did not win against any ranked team and all losses where against MWC teams or even worse, against a bad South Florida team.
I see Arizona win here easily, but this should include a lot of scoring so it might get funny.

FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL: Toledo vs Utah State
This was known as the Humanitarian Bowl.
It is played at the University of Boise in Idaho and is worth around 750.000$ for each team.
As most Bowls these days it had a crappy name and I can't see how those companies think it will HELP their Brands.
For me this really messes up the fun, so I more dislike those companies.
Anyway, this Bowl is played since 1997 and it is played at the moment between teams from the WAC and the MAC.
Toledo had a very nice season, but I think they expected more. They finished 3rd in the MAC West and did only lose against Arizona and Conference rivals Ball State and NIU (who later became MAC champions).
Utah State did over perform in any way. The WAC was meant to be won by Louisiana Tech, but Utah State did travel to Louisiana and did win that game in OT. The Aggies did become the WAC champion and did lose in this season only against BYU and Wisconsin (the later Big Ten Champion).
I think this game is a game only Utah State can lose if they play stupid.
I would be surprised by a Toledo win, the Aggies did really play like hell this year and you can't compare this to a Toledo Rockets team.
But they lost this Bowl last year, so who knows.
To my surprise did no college with a HC vacancy knock on the door of the Aggies HC, but that will happen, I'm sure. Maybe next year.
So, to finish this: Utah State will win.

‘Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

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