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And we have a result on the conference champions, yeah.
Seriously, this feels a bit discounted nowadays compared to the status, say 10 to 15 years ago.
In the past, for most teams, that was it. The regular season was over, the champion was crowned and für the majority of the teams, the season was done. The lucky ones got an invite to a bowl game, roughly 40 teams, and 2 teams would clash for the ultimate national championship ranking.
The rest did sit at home during the holidays and did reflect on the season and/or did prepare for the next one.
That means, the Championship games were really for most the end of the season, period.
Today is totally different. Sure, we now know that a team did win the Championship game and that ends the conference games.
But then we wait for the final committee rankings for the playoffs and for the majority of the other teams, it’s waiting for the bowl invite, so they can start preparing for that one game (in case of a bowl) or for hopefully many games (in case of playoffs) during the holidays.
Only roughly a third of the teams can start worrying about the next season. The rest is not finished.
So, hooray for the Championships, let’s move forward.
Well, OK, I will give you a recap of the nine Championship games.
And this season, there were some real stunners!
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 15
Sat. Dec 7
BIG-12 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#11 BYU vs #4 Texas Tech
This started interesting, since BYU did draw first blood and scored a TD after stopping TTU on their 1st drive.
And then it went all the way into boring as it can be, since from here onward, it was Texas Tech all the way.
BYU did not score any more points, their best chance was a field goal try, which missed the target.
BYU did commit errors over errors and TTU did of course tried to make the best out of it.
The Red Raiders did only get 13 points out of the turnovers, and there were plenty, but it did not matter.
The score of 13:7 at the half did mislead a bit, since BYU did not do much in the 2nd quarter, but the final score of 34:7 does more or less show the difference.
After the game the discussions did start of course, whether BYU s loss and likely fall in the playoff ranks would help teams like Miami or Notre Dame, but since other games were not played, nobody did knew.
One thing was clear, Texas Tech did win the BIG-12 and will play in the playoffs, very likely with a bye week.
Congratulation!
#11 BYU 7 vs #4 Texas Tech 34 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 28-9
SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#3 Georgia vs #9 Alabama
The 1st surprise on the surprises, but only regarding the score.
Alabama did not play any offense, as it seems.
Well, OK, they did play, but not really well. Their rushing attack was so ineffective, that their total was -3 yards!
So, they had to go though the air and that did work OK, but Georgia had no problems to stop them.
And on the other hand did the Bulldogs just score every quarter a Touchdown and Alabama not.
The Tides only score came early in the 4th quarter and there they were down 0:21 already.
Sure, at 7:21 there was still room for a comeback, but Alabama did just not get the offense moving.
At the end did Georgia win 28:7 and got the SEC title. Congratulation!
Likely a bye week spot for the Bulldogs and a big question mark for the Crimson Tide regarding playoffs as 10-3 team.
The pro-Bama-people did point towards the strength of schedule, the con-Bama-people did point out that 3 losses are just too much.
#3 Georgia 28 vs #9 Alabama 7 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 29-9
BIG10 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#2 Indiana @ #1 Ohio State
And here we have one of the biggest stunners, if not THE stunner, of the weekend.
The 2 teams did not play soft, and after the 1st quarter it did look like a game, which would be won by the least error prone team.
Both teams had already an INT thrown, but OSU got more points out of it and led 7:3.
The 2nd quarter did feature 2 field goals by the teams and Indiana did miss another one, so we went 10:6 into the halftime.
In the 3rd quarter we did see that the defense driven focus of the game continued, but Indiana managed to get the lead with a TD, 13:10.
And in the 4th did Ohio State miss a field goal and Indiana did grind it down to win the BIG10 for the 1st time since 1967! Congratulation!
What a surprise, that one of the most potent offense teams, did win the game in a defense battle against the reigning national champion.
It was clear prior the game, that regardless the result (and I think most did expect the Buckeyes to win) both teams would make the playoffs.
It was just a matter of where the losing team would land, TOP4 or less.
A top 4 spot would mean bye week.
#2 Indiana 13 @ #1 Ohio State 10 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 29-10
And some other interesting games:
Fri. Dec 6
CUSA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Kennesaw State @ Jacksonville State
Now we get to the other championship games, and this here was the 1st to be played on Friday already.
A very defense driven game, where Kennesaw State did play better for 3 quarters. At the start of the 4th did Kennesaw lead 10:0.
They did then even extend the lead with a safety.
On the next play, did Kennesaw State fumble the return and Jacksonville State got the ball.
A few plays later did they score a TD and the game was wide open.
The Gamecocks did manage to stop the Owls on their next drive in 3 plays and Jacksonville State did see their chance, marched down the field and scored a TD for the lead, 13:12.
With 4 minutes left to play, Kennesaw State got the ball back and used their chance to get the lead back, scored a TD over 3 minutes later and stopped the Gamecocks on their next drive to win the CUSA title, their 1st ever with a 19:15 score. Congratulation!
Jacks interesting games Score: 26-11
SBC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Troy @ #25 James Madison
This game went all the way as expected.
Granted, until the start of the 4th quarter was the game wide open at 17:14 Dukes, but then did JMU just score 2 TDs, including a fumble return TD on one of the last Troy attempts to get back into the game.
So, James Madison won the Sun Belt, 31:1. Congratulation.
And the team had hope for a playoff spot, of certain teams would win.
I guess, there were never so many Duke fans in Harrisonburg, Virgina than on last Saturday.
Jacks interesting games Score: 27-11
AAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#24 North Texas @ #20 Tulane
Tulane had a big 2nd quarter, which did at the end gave them the win.
North Texas fumbled the ball early in the 2nd and the Green Wave did score a TD 2 plays later.
From here did for whatever reason the North Texas offense stumble and Tulanes did not, so at the break it was 24:7 Tulane already.
Then came the 3rd quarter and North Texas had a sequence of plays, which did hurt them even further.
The were intercepted for a pick 6 and on the next drive picked again on the Tulane 2-yard line.
Later did North Texas score, but here did just points vanish into shit.
From here it did look like, UNT was on the run to eventually getting back into the game, they did score, they did held Tulane to almost no scoring, but the team just did run out of time, so at the end did Tulane win the American Conference 34:21. Congratulation!
It was clear that the winner would get a playoff spot as at least 5th conference champ and highest ranked group of 5 team.
Jacks interesting games Score: 27-12
MWC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
UNLV @ Boise State
UNLV did just play not smart enough to win here.
Boise State did play almost flawless, while UNLV did commit errors, staring with a fumble on the 1st drive and a missed field goal in the 1st quarter.
Boise Offense was almost unstopped, while UNLV did need time to get things going.
The score was never too bad for UNLV, but bad enough to have them in catch-up-mode the whole game.
At the end did Boise State win 38:21 and won the MWC the 3rd time in a row.
It was clear at the start of the game, that the winner would very very likely not get any playoff considerations.
Jacks interesting games Score: 28-12
Sat. Dec 7
MAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Miami (OH) @ Western Michigan
And here we have another game, which went was expected.
Western Michigan did score early, Miami did answer and from here onward it was almost all WMU.
At the end did WMU win 23:13, which is not a margin I did expect, but they did win the MAC. Congratulation!
Jacks interesting games Score: 29-12
ACC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Duke @ #17 Virginia
And here the most anticipated game for many teams.
The results became very important, since it did decide the fate of the conference playoff spots, and the playoff spots of many other teams, including a chance for 2 group of 5 champions to be in the playoffs!
And we got a thriller with Duke being the better team at the start.
They scored twice in the 1st quarter, Virgina missed a field goal and at the break was Duke leading by a score, 14:7.
The 3rd quarter was all defense, with 2 long drives capped with a field goal for each team, 17:10 now for Duke.
Then did Virgina throw and INT in the 4th and Duke did extend the lead by a field goal and held Virginia also to a field goal.
Done? Not so fast.
With less than 2 minutes to go did Virginia get the ball and rolled over the field and scored a TD to tie the game up at 20!
Duke got the ball in the 1st OT and scored a TD.
Virgina had to counter that and did throw an INT on the 1st play!
Duke did win the ACC 27:20 in OT, the 1st conference title since 1989! Congratulation!
By that win did they sink Virgina out of the playoffs and since Duke itself has a bad season record (now 8-5) it was clear the ACC champ would not play in the playoffs also.
That did open the gates for JMU and of course Tulane.
There was of course instant bragging of the Blue Devils deserving a spot as champs, but that are the rules, sorry guys.
Jacks interesting games Score: 29-13
That wraps it up.
So, let’s get back to the additional firings and hirings since I posted my last entry.
The hire and fire part
We continue again with the firings / leaving the team.
Chris Klieman did step down from being the HC of Kansas State. He did announce he would be retiring from coaching. He did coach Kansas State for 7 seasons and won the conference once in 2022. He also won 4 national titles and 5 conference titles with North Dakota State (FCS) in the 5 seasons he was HC there. He was for sure a good hire by the school.
I do not list the leaves by getting hired by other schools, that would make this list unreadable. But the hirings, which did happen over the past few days were quite much as a tickle down effect from highest paying conferences to the smaller ones.
South Florida did tap Ohio States OC Brian Hartline as new HC. He will remain with Ohio State for the playoffs.
And Kansas State has hired their successor to the retiring HC they had. They did get former Kansas State star QB and now OC of Texas A&M. It’s his first HC job and likely he is very glad to do that at KSU.
Cal found their guy in Tosh Lupoi, the DC of Oregon. Lupoi is a former Cal player and had several assistant positions as coach since then in the NFL and college.
Tulane did promote their passing game coordinator Will Hall to head coach. He was already a HC in division 2 and with Southern Miss until last year after he was the OC of Tulane. This season he came back to Tulane as passing game coordinator. We will see whether he fits better at Tulane than at Southern Miss, where he was not very successful.
After an embarrassing long search with a lot of declines did Penn State find their guy to become the next HC. They selected Matt Campbell, the HC of Iowa State, as new HC. Campbell was so successful at Iowa State, that he is the HC with the most wins at ISU in just 10 seasons (and if I’m not mistaken, he got that mark in his 9th season already). Campbell did lift the program from laughingstock to competitor and it will be interesting to see, how he will do in a program like Penn State.
Iowa State did not wait long and tapped Washington States HC Jimmy Rogers as new HC. Rogers was a HC at South Dakota State for 2 seasons, before he became the WSU HC for this single season this year.
UConn selected Toledos HC Jason Candle as new HC. Candle was the HC at Toledo for 10 seasons (he was promoted after Campbell left for Iowa State) and did quite good there, won the conference twice, but somehow was never selected earlier to lead a bigger program. Now he is the HC of UConn, one of the only 2 left independent schools.
UCLA hired Bob Chesney away from James Madison. Chesney has a long history as HC and did work his way up from lowest level to now a FBS power 4 school. He is allowed to coach the Dukes on their CFP-run.
And James Madison did not search for long and hired former Florida HC Billy Napier as new HC. Napier was the HC of Florida this season, until he was fired, because he did not meet the expectations. Prior to Florida he was the HC of Louisiana and very successful in the 4 seasons there.
And Memphis did hire Charles Huff, the HC of Southern Miss, as new HC. Huff was for 4 seasons the HC of Marshall until he switched the team for 2025 to Southern Miss, where he was way better than his predecessor, but failed to keep the team on track in the last 3 weeks for a championship spot. We have to see, how good he will be at Memphis.
That leaves us with the playoff rankings, the last regular season game of the season, the Army-Navy-Game and the 1st set of Bowl games coming.
Let’s dive into the playoff rankings.
As reminder, a committee did since November publish a list of 25 teams, ranked from 1 to 25, to show their view regarding the strength of each team, weekly. That means, every week the list was updated, based on the last gameday results and the results of the whole season.
Now, we have after the championship game weekend the final list.
I’m still curious, what the committee would do, if Army and/or Navy would be red hot inside the TOP25 and that upcoming game, since ages traditionally AFTER the championship games, would be important for the rankings. Likely they would wait, but that would have major impact on the Bowl setups and all related plannings.
Well, this season that is not important, neither Army nor Navy would crack the TOP25 anyway.
Where were I? Oh yes, the final list is online, and we now know, which teams did make the cut into the playoffs.
The mechanics are a bit complicated and different to last year, so here a short version.
All teams are sorted from 1 to 25. 12 teams make the playoffs and of those not even all have to be on that top25 list, but likely are.
Qualified for the playoffs are the top 5 conference champions (last year that were SEC, BIG10, BIG-12, ACC and the MWC), including at least one group of 5 champ, plus 7 at-large-teams.
The top 4 teams will get a bye week (last year it was the top 4 conference champs, but now any team will do it), the rest does play first round with home field advantage for the higher ranked teams.
The tricky part in that rule set is, that conference champs are awarded a spot, even if they are not ranked high, or even ranked.
And that’s where the bragging starts for the at-large teams and the even the conference champs.
Because if you are not ranked high enough, a spot more or less, even inside the TOP12 spots, can make the difference between playing for a national championship and getting a LOT of money, and not being in that type of series and playing only a regular bowl.
This season for example did Notre Dame brag prior the championship game about their drop in the ranks by a spot (to 10), and the lift of Alabama by a spot (to 9), since the Irish did destroy Stanford and Alabama did barely beat Auburn. Well, I guess Notre Dame did forget about the re-evaluation of EVERY game from season start onward after each gameday, to find a ranking fitting for the result of each team. Yes, Stanford was shit and Auburn was just a win better. But Alabama had a much tougher schedule than Notre Dame with the same overall record, so who should be ranked higher?
Of course, Notre Dame knew, that a spot at 10 is problematic, especially since they did not play last gameday and the championship game weekend does often shift the rankings again. Especially the BIG-12 Championship game and the ACC-Championship game were problematic for them.
If BYU, at then 11, would win against the higher ranked Texas Tech team, it was unclear, whether 1 or 2 teams would be TOP12 and were they would end up. BYU as winner could end up at 9 and Texas Tech could end up at 10 or so. And Notre Dame would have to move to 11.
And with Virginia at 17 would win, it did not matter where they would end up, they would be in and Notre Dame out, because on top would come the AAC champ at somewhat 18 or worse.
The reality did beat the fiction by a mile.
We had PRIOR the weekend following teams realistically in the mix:
Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia, Texas Tech, Oregon, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Alabama, Notre Dame, BYU, Miami (listed from 1 to 12 and Virginia, Tulane, North Texas and James Madison deeper ranked, but with conference title games.
We got after the weekend Indiana as BIG10 champ getting the #1 spot. Ohio State as losing team in the BIG10-Champioship game got still ranked as #2, Georgia as SEC Champ made #3 and Texas Tech as BIG-12 Champ got the #4 spot. Those are the bye week teams. That’s quite OK from my point of view, even I would have put Georgia ahead of Ohio State.
At #5 did Oregon land, #6 is Ole Miss, #7 Texas A&M and #8 Oklahoma. Those are all at-large-teams, who did not play last weekend. Now it gets interesting, since the spots for the playoffs get short and so many teams think they ‘deserve’ a spot. The committee did put the 10-3 Alabama team, losing the SEC championship game, at #9, which became a catastrophe for Notre Dame. Of all the teams in the mix, there are 2 teams already clear, Tulane as AAC champ and James Madison as Sun Belt Champ, since the ACC champ, Duke, even they did lobby for a spot, were clearly out as 8-5 teams. And even Tulane was ranked at #20 and James Madison was ranked at #24, they got the spots #11 and #12. That leaves just spot number 10 for 2 hopeful teams, Notre Dame and Miami. BYU was clear to be shifted down the rankings (they landed at #12) because of the loss in the BIG-12 Championship game. Notre Dame lost to Miami and A&M, won against all other teams, which did include a lot of ACC teams. Miami did lose to Louisville and SMU and won against all other teams, with of course a lot of ACC teams and Notre Dame, then ranked South Florida and Florida.
In the final ranking did the committee put Miami ahead of Notre Dame at #10 and Notre Dame landed at #11, out of the playoffs.
THAT did lead to one of the biggest bragging I ever saw and Notre Dame to pull themselves out of the bowl games for this season!
I did see bragging of FSU being not in the then 4 teams playoff system as unbeaten team and they DID play in a bowl, even that was an embarrassment, too. But they did show up, at least.
Notre Dame did cry like a kindergarten kid at the sweets shop not getting their will and did decide to not play AT ALL.
They decided decades and also years ago to not being part of a conference, because they have that juice TV contract with NBC and it pays off. They did manipulate every step since the championship games were created to have a better than usual chance to get into one of those juice bowls or play for a national championship until this season and now, when the committee did their job and it came down to which at-large-team should play for the national championship in addition, with a direct compare between those 2 teams in question, and they made the decision to put the winning team in, we see a cry-baby-reaction, because they don’t want to play in a pity-bowl, they want the real deal. Pathetic!
Anyway, we have the 12 teams playing.
As additional news I have, that 2 additional schools decided to not play in a bowl game, Kansas State and Iowa State. Kansas State named the coaching change, injuries and transfers as reason to decline any bowl invite, Iowa States players did make a vote internally and decided to not participate because of injured players.
In total a disaster for the bowl system with 3 absolute eligible teams withdrawing from the list, which did barely fit the required teams anyway.
So, 3 additional teams were needed to fill the spots, which were only be found in the 5-7 teams list. Usually those are selected by academic progress rate. I did not find any hint, how the teams got selected at the end, but Rice, Mississippi State and Appalachian State, all 5-7, were selected to fill the open spots.
Honestly, cut the damn bowl spots in half and we will see, how many will withdraw then. This season they did even INVENT a bowl to fit the initially 82 teams (because they scrapped the Bahamas Bowl and needed 2 more spots for the suddenly 82 eligible teams, including the prior the season not-eligible teams in transition phase).
But it seems the bowls are usually a good enough business to keep the number of bowls high, so I have to deal with that.
BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 16
Sat. Dec 13
Army @ Navy
Sometimes this game is interesting and fun, sometimes not.
This season it feels a bit to the NOT side.
Army did win the AAC last year and fell to so far 6-5 a year after.
That’s not really a good record.
They started even with a loss to an FCS team!
You can pick as biggest win either that one against UTSA on the road inside the AAC, with UTSA finishing 6-6, or you pick the win against Kansas State on the road, with KSU finishing also 6-6 overall.
Not really impressive.
Navy on the other hand is 9-2 and their season went quite OK.
Biggest wins were against South Florida at home, they finished 9-3, and Memphis on the road, finishing 8-4.
Navy was close to play for the AAC Championship but lost the tiebreaker to Tulane and North Texas.
Both teams here won against Air Force, so the winner in this game here will take home the Commander-In-Chief-Trophy.
Last year did Navy claim the trophy, after they won the Army-Navy-game last year.
So far, 125 meetings between the 2 teams and Navy leads by 8 wins.
This season Navy is favored by 6.0 points, which is a statement.
Played at home, Navy should have a small boost on top of their better teams on paper.
But these games here are not like normal games.
We did see favorites lose, we saw high scoring and low scoring games.
In the past few seasons, this series is much more open than it was (Navy won all games between 2002 and 2015), but high scoring was not the case in any of the games in the past decade.
If Navy can score, say 20+ points, they will win, since Army were unable to score more since years.
The big question mark, every season, is, whether the Army defense can stop the Navy offense, or not.
With the Navy QB of last year back, I think this will go in Navys favor.
Midshipmen win.
And because the bowl season, including the playoffs, became so crazy in the past 2 years, the bowl season starts on the same day as the Army-Navy-game now. (It did also last year and likely will until they blob it up even further).
The FIRST SET OF BOWLs from next Saturday, 13th to Thursday, 18th of December.
Sat., Dec 13
Bucked Up LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk
Boise State vs Washington
@SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California
And quite new bowl here, since 2021 and with tie-ins to Mountain West and PAC-12 (The so called ‘legacy schools’, being the 10 schools, which left the PAC-12 a season ago, will have to fulfil the contract until this season).
So far, the naming of the bowl for whatever reason to entertainment persons (Jimmy Kimmel and since a few seasons now Rob Gronkowski).
Of course, the stadium is the home field of the LA Rams and the LA Chargers and right now one of the most advanced stadiums in the world.
The Mountain West is 3-1 in this bowl, while the PAC-12 is 1-2.
Last year the ACC did send a legacy team, which lost and this season the BIG10 does send a legacy team.
We have this season Boise State from the Mountain West, being the Champion, again, at 9-4, and we have Washington from the BIG10, which did finish so far 8-4.
The record as described above is very good for the Mountain West, but in this combination, it’s hard to see Boise State here as the favorite.
Vegas doesn’t and made Washington a 9.5-point favorite.
I think it’s a great matchup having those 2 western team clashing, but given the season results so far, I expect Washington to handle this easily.
Bowl games are always a tough one to pick, since rosters do change (because of NFL draft holdouts or transferring players), coaches sometimes change and in general the motivation is sometimes not the best, but those influences are hard to judge.
I expect a quite high scoring game, and the key will be, whether Boise State can score or not.
Huskies win.
Tue., Dec 16
2025 IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl
Troy vs Jacksonville State
@Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, Alabama
A renamed bowl, until 2 seasons ago known as Camellia Bowl. It had several naming sponsors since it was started in 2014, but so far always the Camellia inside the name, but starting this season, the Camellia is gone, and the veterans became a title feature.
It features usually Sun Belt vs MAC and so far only in 2020 did the Sun Belt not send a team to this bowl.
The bowl is owned by ESPN and is played on the field for the FCS Kickoff in Alabama.
The Sun Belt has a 6-4 record here, the MAC is 4-5 and CUSA is 1-2 and did not play here since 2020.
This season we have again a CUSA team in Jacksonville State, which did lose the championship game and is 8-5 so far.
From the Sun Belt is send the championship losing team Troy, now at 8-5 also.
On paper this is clear, Troy should be the favorite, since the Sun Belt is slightly tougher then the CUSA.
Vegas agrees and made Troy a 3.5-points favorite.
But do I believe in that?
Tough to judge, since there is not much to compare here.
Troy did lose to JMU not too badly and they will play for the playoffs, while Jacksonville State almost won the CUSA, but lost to some great plays by Kennesaw State, who are not known to be a powerhouse.
So, yes, I go with the favorite here.
Trojans win.
Wed., Dec 17
StaffDNA Cure Bowl
Old Dominion vs South Florida
@Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Florida
Played again in the home of the Citrus Bowl and the Pop-Tarts-Bowl.
The bowl exists since 2015 and is now open for all group of 5 teams, plus eventually an ACC team.
So far, the Sun Belt did send a team to this bowl on every game until last season the streak did break. Their record is so far 5-4.
The other conferences did send a team from time to time, but none had more than 3 participations.
This season we have a gain a Sun Belt team with Old Dominion at 9-3.
From the American comes South Florida, also at 9-3.
Old Dominion did drop out of conference contention early in the season with 2 losses in a row, but did climb up the standings with a 5-0 finish.
South Florida was for some time one of the hottest group of 5 teams in the country, winning against Florida and Boise State, but the game against Miami did send the team back to reality and when they lost twice inside the AAC, the season dream of a championship and eventually a playoff spot was over.
Still, in this bowl, the favorite is clear with South Florida being way better bolstered than Old Dominion.
Vegas? They did see not that dominance and made USF only a 5.5-points favorite.
I disagree here and think they will beat that line and win double digit.
Bulls win.
2025 68 Ventures Bowl
Louisiana vs Delaware
@Hancock Whitney Stadium, Mobile, Alabama
The bowl was renamed several times in its past, but it was founded 1999 and is usually a group of 5 vs group of 5 bowl, plan was MAC vs Sun Belt, which did not work out and a CUSA team was invited.
The MAC is the conference with the most participations and has a record of 9-13, including last seasons loss.
The Sun Belt has now 15 participations, but a 11-4 record, including the 3-game winning streak they are on so far.
They play it in the home of the South Alabama Jaguars.
Louisiana is 6-6 and plays the 2nd time in this bowl.
Delaware is also 6-6 and shouldn’t even play in a bowl this season, but because of the lack of teams getting the 6 wins and because 3 schools did withdraw from any bowls at all.
My gut feeling is, Delaware is the underdog and Louisiana should win this, easily.
Vegas makes the Ragin’ Cajuns a 3.0-points favorite, so they see them also as favorite, but not that clearly.
The key will be, how the Delaware players will react on that gift they got. Prior the season no bowl possible, now in a bowl and against a quite beatable team, if Louisiana does take this too easy.
My heart would love to see Delaware win here; my gut says Louisiana all the way.
Ragin’ Cajuns win.
Thur., Dec 18
Xbox Bowl
Missouri State vs Arkansas State
@Ford Center at The Star, Frisco, Texas
This is the replacement of the Bahamas Bowl.
I always dislike the Bahamas Bowl and was happy they would just scrap it, decreasing by that the numbers of bowls in total and getting rid of that bowl nobody wanted to watch anyway.
That was the status roughly 2 weeks ago.
Then suddenly it was said that Delaware and Missouri State are eligible, because the got 6+ wins, but despite the fact they are in FCS-transition and by rule not eligible.
At that time there were 82 teams eligible and only 80 spots available.
And despite the fact that 3 teams did leave the bowl competition on their own, THIS bowl here was created to boost the spot count back to 82, which did force the NCAA to name 3 5-7 teams to participate in bowl games even they had not the 6 wins.
Too complicated?
Well, to make it short, this bowl should not exist, but it does and feature a Sun Belt and a CUSA team.
Arkansas State is 6-6 and plays the 3rd bowl in a row now.
Missouri State is 7-5 and should not be here but is and are actually the favorite in this game, by 2.5 points.
I think both teams are quite close in terms of strength, and it will come down to motivation.
Hard to say, what will happen, but expect a score-happy game.
I pick Arkansas State as the winner, but everything is possible.
Red Wolves win.
Next then the 1st round games of the playoffs and more bowls!
'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE
Tags: Block of Granite, News
2025-12-03 12:58
And we are almost done with the conference decisions.
This weekend did deliver some interesting results, leading to the usual end-of-regular-season-movements, firings and hirings on coaches, the bragging on playoff worthiness (that’s a new one in that dimension since last year) and the general summery of the season (so far).
But let’s start with the crazy games and the rivalry games.
Western Michigan did beat Eastern Michigan, 31:21. By that did WMU not only get the direct ticket to the MAC Championship game, they did also retain the ‘Michigan MAC Trophy’, played out between CMU, EMU and WMU and WMU did win both games against the others. That means, not like last year, they won the trophy on the field, while last year the got it, because the series was tied and the winner of 2023 keeps the trophy, which was also WMU.
Navy won against Memphis, 28:17. Memphis was favored to win, but Navy did beat them, which did in at then not help them, since in a tiebreaker between Navy, Tulane and North Texas did Navy pull the short straw.
Indiana did win big time against rival Purdue, 56:3. Indiana did retain by that the ‘Old Oaken Bucket’, but Purdue is leading the series by a mile.
Ole Miss did play Mississippi State in the ‘Egg Bowl’ and won 38:19. At the end it was not enough to get into the SEC Championship game and 2 days later the team lost their HC on top. Ole Miss will play in the playoffs, but without their HC, which seems unusual, but I will explain that a bit down below.
The ’Duel in the Desert’ was up and for Arizona State in theory a slim chance on a return to the BIG-12 Championship game was on the line. But Arizona won the game 23:7 and got the Territorial Cup. Both teams can now focus on upcoming bowl games.
The ‘Heroes Game’ between Iowa and Nebraska went as expected and Iowa won 40:16. Ok, I have to admit, it’s not really as expected, since I never would have seen Iowa putting up 40 points.
The traditional Notre Dame – Stanford rivalry game with the ‘Legends Trophy’ as award did end in a one-sided Irish win, 49:20.
The ‘Iron Bowl’, for many THE rivalry game in essence, had an interesting twist this season, since for Alabama a SEC championship participation and eventually a playoff spot was on the line, which Auburn would have loved to spoil. But Auburn under interim management did trail, got back into the game to tie it up, only to lose the game on a 4th and 1 play by Alabama at midfield. Bama got the 1st down, went all the way for a TD and forced an Auburn fumble a bit later to secure the ball and the game. Alabama did benefit from the A&M booboo and will play for the SEC Championship against Georgia. Auburn is looking for a new HC, which they seemed to have already found.
The Vanderbilt – Tennessee rivalry is one of those series, where one university is the top dog since ages and leads the series by a mile. But since a few seasons Vanderbilt is in better shape and won several times in a row (under different coaches). This season they won again after several Vols wins, 45:24, and the Commodores QB might be in the mix for a Heisman.
In the battle for LA did USC win against UCLA, 29:10. The ‘Victory Bell’ stays red now for the 3rd time in a row.
Virgina had the ACC Championship game on the line against rival Virginia Tech, but did solve that game with a great 27:7 win. In this series VT is the top dog but must give the ‘Commonwealth Cup’ now to the Cavaliers after a 4 game winning streak.
The ‘Governor's Cup’ of Kentucky is since last season in Louisvilles hand and they did claim the trophy for another year with a whooping 41:0 win. The chatter is, the Kentucky HC might lose his job over that one (and the whole season result).
Clemson was looking for a positive end of the regular season after a bad overall result (compared to the expectations) and did win the Palmetto Bowl against South Carolina, 28:14. Last year did the Gamecocks win.
In the ‘Battle on the Bayou’ did Louisiana win against Louisiana-Monroe, 30:27 in OT. The Ragin’ Cajuns have now won 3 in a row and got bowl eligibility that way.
The ‘Battle Line Rivalry’ did start to heat up only since 2014, but since then is this important inside the SEC between Missouri and Arkansas. Missouri did win again, 31:17, the 4th in a row.
The ‘Paul Bunyan's Axe’ trophy is awarded to the winner between Minnesota and Wisconsin, a very close rivalry. This season Minnesota did win 17:7 to retain the trophy for the 2nd consecutive year.
In the Duke / Wake Forest rivalry it came down to a clear 49:32 victory for Duke, the 4th in a row now, which did by the loss of SMU bring Duke (for me surprisingly) an invite to the ACC Championship game, ahead of all ranked teams having also 2 losses, naming GT, Miami, Pitt and SMU. Wow.
Florida State was looking for the needed 6th win to get into a bowl, but in the ‘Sunshine Showdown’ against Florida did at the end the Gators prevail to win 40:21. That’s the 2nd win in a row here. The FSU HC was named to be returning for 2026. Not sure that will hold after that showing.
I did not have that on the radar, but this season, Oregon State and Washington State decided to play a home-home-series. The 1st meeting was won by Oregon State, mid-season. This weekend was the rematch, Washington State did win 32:8. In direct compare the Cougars now have the better point diff and they and they got the 6th win for a bowl game.
In the Illinois – Northwestern rivalry is the ‘The Land of Lincoln Trophy’ awarded to the winner. This season did Illinois retain the trophy from last year with a 20:13 win.
The North Carolina – North Carolina State rivalry was anticipated, thanks to the new HC of UNC, Bill Belichick. Well, NC State did win another game, 42:19, making it 5 in a row for them.
The ‘Battle for Nevada’ was on again and the ‘Fremont Cannon’ was awarded to UNLV again, 4th in a row, by beating Nevada 42:17. By that got UNLV the win to stay in the tie breaker for the MWC spots and they got it granted by the computers.
A quite new rivalry is the winner of the ‘Paniolo Trophy’ between Wyoming and Hawai’i. This season Hawai’i took home the hardware with a 27:7 win.
That’s for the small notes, let’s look at the games I did pick as preview last week and review them.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 14
Fri. Nov 28
#3 Texas A&M @ #16 Texas
A quite defense driven game, in which A&M did have the 1st error, allowing a field goal to be blocked from 35 yard out, end of the 1st quarter.
The 2nd quarter did feature a few more points than the 0:0 in the 1st, but A&M went to the locker room with a 10:3 lead lonely.
In the 3rd did then the A&M offense sputter and Texas was able to get some points on the board, taking the lead to 13:10.
Then did the shit hit the fan for the Aggies.
Both teams had scored TDs, unfortune for A&M had the Longhorns extended their lead and the time did start to run out.
They did open up the playbook and were intercepted in the Texas redzone.
They stopped the Longhorns but were then again intercepted and Texas won 27:17.
This is bittersweet for the Longhorns, since they did spoil the Aggies perfect season and did actually send them out of the SEC Championship game.
The Aggies are still in the mix for a playoff spot, so no success on that topic on top.
Worse for the Longhorns, likely they will be not listed high enough to get to the playoffs, but they still have championship game weekend and depended on the results, they might slip in as edge case.
#3 Texas A&M 17 @ #16 Texas 27 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 26-8
Sat. Nov 29
#1 Ohio State @ #15 Michigan
The 1st half was quite open, but Ohio State did look like the better team already.
But in the 2nd half, Michigan was already behind 9:17, did only Ohio State score and Michigan did roll over and lost.
For Ohio State, it seems the season just starts, since they will play the toughest cookie in the championship game and then progress towards the playoffs.
Michigan has to focus on the bowl season, I don’t think they will get into the playoffs after that loss, even against a TOP team.
#1 Ohio State 27 @ #15 Michigan 9 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 27-8
San Diego State @ New Mexico
A monster game, and at the end, it was all for nothing! (except the win itself).
Both teams did play very defense driven, the game was close, in every quarter.
SDSU led by 4 at the half, the game was tied after the 3rd and went scoreless in the 4th quarter.
So, it went into OT and 1st went with turnovers on both side, the 2nd then had a New Mexico TD on the 1st drive and San Diego was unable to counter it.
Means, New Mexico won the game, 23:17.
But because of other results 4 teams were with the same record inside the conference and a day later was decided by the crazy tiebreaker rule, which involved several computer metrics, that Boise State and UNLV would play for the Championship. Bad luck for New Mexico and San Diego State.
San Diego State 17 @ New Mexico 23 (2OT) -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 27-9
And some other interesting games:
Fri. Nov 28
#4 Georgia @ #23 Georgia Tech
Georgia was heavily favored, but had their problems with GT.
At the end they did win the CLEAN, OLD-FASHIONED HATE 16:9.
For Georgia, this weekend was fantastic. Wo against the rival, A&M lost, which did lift the Bulldogs into the SEC Championship game and their playoff case is now great.
For GT there is no way they will make the playoffs now.
Jacks interesting games Score: 25-9
Sat. Nov 29
Western Kentucky @ Jacksonville State
A great offense firework, in which WKU did take the lead and defended that for some time, but Jacksonville State came back, tied the game and had the last play needed to win the game 37:34 on a walk-off-field-goal. By that will the Gamecocks play for the CUSA championship and WKU has to settle for a bowl only.
Jacks interesting games Score: 26-9
Troy @ Southern Miss
Well, I had the gut feeling Southern Miss would sink this also, but my head was unable to think of a 3-game losing streak, if a championship game spot is on the line.
Well, Troy did win the game and send Southern Miss packing, 28:18. For Troy now the Championship game of the Sun Belt waits, while Southern Miss can only wait for a bowl invite.
Jacks interesting games Score: 26-10
That wraps up gameday 14.
The conferences are now clear, the championship game participants are set.
Now we can shortly look on the coaches changes, something which happens in big scale when the regular season is over.
The hire and fire part
Not really in the right sequence, but it’s not really important, where the change happened first.
First the firings, since some of the positions were already filled, so the hiring might spoil the firing, if that makes sense.
Coastal Carolina did fire their HC, Tim Beck, after 3 seasons. He posted a record of 20-18, but likely did the decline from 8-5 to now 6-6 cost him the job. CCU was much better under the coach before him (who now sucks at Liberty).
Jonathan Smith was fired from the HC position at Michigan State after 2 seasons. Smith came from a HC at Oregon State, where he had lifted the Beavers to long lost heights in 6 seasons, but his most successful once were in year 5 and 6. So firing him after 2 season is quite pointless. But that is the reality now, either you win right away, or you are garbage. The school will own him likely something in a ballpark of 33 million dollars.
And reports are coming in that after 13 seasons, Mark Stoops is fired from Kentucky. I’m not sure that is a smart move, because for sure did Stoops put all he had into the program, which was shit when he came and which he did build at least to a program teams had to take seriously. Yes, his results were in the past 2 seasons not great, but that can happen. Well, the era of Stoops at Kentucky is over, I’m curious who they will s e l e c t as successor.
And here are the hirings, which did happen over the past few days.
The biggest hire / story of the weekend was the seems-to-be-never ending story about Lane Kiffin, the HC of Ole Miss, and his potential new home, if he decides to leave. There were 3 destinations in the chat, 1st he might stay at Ole Miss, since he is comfortable there, the team was close to get to the SEC Championship game and to a playoff spot. The 2nd spot was Florida, which would be close to his former success at Florida Atlantic with much deeper pockets of course. And as 3rd, not necessarily in that order, there was LSU as another big-name school with deep pockets. Prior the gameday it was named, he would announce his decision after the Egg Bowl (Ole Miss vs Mississippi State on Friday), then after the Saturday games and finally the actual new came out late Sunday. It was quite clear on Saturday, that it won’t be Ole Miss, since then he just would have said so. Then it was leaked that Florida would look for another option, after they got at least burned by Kiffin looking for other options. And then it got leaked that the timing of the leave was in negotiation and at the end it was said, he would leave NOW to LSU. That means, no playoff coaching by him (and no chance on a National Championship) at Ole Miss, which is not the usual procedure, if you hire for example an assistant away from a program. But it seems Ole Miss did not want to have Kiffin on the campus, once he decided to leave. OK, LSU is a direct rival and once the playoff start, the clock is ticking regarding transfer protocol and other stuff. So, instead a clear cut.
Oklahoma State did find their next guy in Eric Morris, the HC of North Texas. Here Morris is allowed to coach UNT into the postseason, which is the AAC Championship game and if they win, quite likely a playoff game or more.
A big splashy move was the hiring by Colorado State of UConns HC Jim L. Mora. Mora did good at UConn but will not coach in a bowl game. Mora did coach in the past at UCLA and 2 NFL teams.
Oregon State has hired the Alabama co-OC JaMarcus Shephard. This is the 1st gig for Shephard as HC.
Stanford did hire former Cardinals QB Tavita Pritchard. He was so far the QB coach of the Washington Commanders.
Auburn decided to hire South Floridas HC Alex Golesh. He had lifted the program back to relevance in his 3 years there and will not coach in a bowl game this season.
The next successful AAC coach was hired by a SEC school, with Ryan Silverfield of Memphis becoming the next HC of Arkansas. Also no bowl game for him this season. At Memphis he had taken over when the current FSU HC was hired away and has rebuild the program very successfully.
Already mentioned Florida did shift their focus from Kiffin to Jon Sumrall, current HC of Tulane. He is allowed to coach in the postseason for Tulane, which will be the AAC Championship game plus in case of a win likely a playoff game.
Michigan State did hire the former HC of Northwestern, Pat Fitzgerald. He was fired at Northwestern prior the 2023 season. He was accused of knowing of hazing of players. He then did sue the school over 130 million dollars, claiming to have no knowledge of the hazing, being wrongful terminated regarding the contract and facing deformation. The case was settle in August this year, with undisclosed results, except that it was stated by both sides that Fitzgerald did not know about the issues and is 100% vindicated. MSU gets a coach, who did lift Northwestern in his 17 seasons from being a bad team to a team, which has to be respected. Given the circumstances at Northwestern, MSU can provide much deeper resources, so it will be interesting to see, what he can do. He has no experience in the NIL processes, so also an issue, which has to be seen in the future.
Kentucky did not wait long and found their new guy in Will Stein, the OC of Oregon. He is only 36 years old and has never been a HC so far.
North Texas filled their void by hiring former West Virginia HC Neal Brown. Brown had great success at Troy, was hired for West Virginia, had there a mediocre career and was fired after 6 seasons 2024. Could be a great hire, could be not.
Ole Miss did promote DC Pete Golding to become their new HC as it seems. He was prior to the Ole Miss job DC at Alabama, so has some SEC experience. But this is his 1st gig as HC. He will lead the team into the playoffs, since it’s a hire from within.
Bowl eligible teams
10 more teams got the bowl standard 6th win last weekend, which makes it now 82 teams eligible.
Week 6: Memphis,
Week 7: Georgia Tech, Navy, Indiana, Ohio State, BYU, Texas Tech, UNLV, Ole Miss, Texas A&M
Week 8: Virginia, North Texas, South Florida, Tulane, Oregon, Cincinnati, Houston, Hawai’i, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, James Madison
Week 9: Louisville, Miami (FL), Virginia, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Washington, TCU, Utah, Western Kentucky, Boise State, San Diego State, Tennessee, Texas, Southern Miss, Troy
Week 10: SMU, Arizona State, USC, Minnesota, Illinois, Kennesaw State, Notre Dame, UConn, Fresno State, New Mexico, Old Dominion
Week 11: East Carolina, Wake Forest, Cal, Arizona, Iowa State, Jacksonville State, Ohio, Coastal Carolina
Week 12: Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Toledo, LSU
Week 13: UTSA, Duke, Clemson, NC State, Northwestern, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Miami (OH), Utah State.
Week 14: Army, Penn State, Kansas State, Washington State, Georgia Southern, Louisiana, Arkansas State and Texas State
Delaware and Missouri State got invites, even as not eligible teams thanks to FCS transition phase, since they have the 6+ wins and there were not enough teams to fill all spots.
But ... so far there are only 80 spots in the knows bowls and playoff games. The regular bowl for the 81st and 82nd team would have been the Bahamas Bowl and that was canceled prior the season. Whether there will be a bowl for Delaware and Missouri State is right now open.
We can go now to the last gameday, which is traditionally RIVALRY WEEK!
And many of those games have this season big impacts on the conference standings and championship seatings.
I did s e l e c t only 6 games this year, since covering too many of those is just beyond my time available.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 15
Sat. Dec 7
BIG-12 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#11 BYU vs #4 Texas Tech
Played on neutral site in the stadium of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas.
Both teams did quite dominate the BIG-12 this season, except some black-outs.
Texas Tech did play and win in all games, except for whatever reason they did fail against Arizona State mid-October.
In no other game did they lose, and all other games were quite convincing.
They did even play BYU in November already and won 29:7.
BYU on the other hand did win all games, except that one game against Texas Tech. But they had some close calls, at Colorado, at Arizona in OT and against Utah, all prior the game against TTU.
Now they have a rematch on neutral ground, in which Texas Tech is favored by 12.5 points.
On top as bad distraction comes for BYU that their HC is in the chat to leave the school and get a new job at Penn State.
Overall, this game seems to be a done deal.
The only thing, which might stop Texas Tech to dominate the game is, that BYU did for sure play tough defense against some good offense and if they manage to stop the TTU attack, everything is possible.
The winner is for sure in the playoffs, the losing team ...
If BYU loses, they are out. If Texas Tech loses, it depends for sure on the results in this game and on the results of the other championship game teams. They might fall deep, or not.
I go with the favorite ...
Red Raiders win.
SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#3 Georgia vs #9 Alabama
Played on neutral site in the stadium of the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta, Georgia.
What a season, for both teams.
Georgia lost quite early the matchup against Alabama and went down in the SEC standings and in the national rankings.
Slowly they did climb back with those 8 consecutive wins afterwards.
There were some close calls, but at the end, they are 11-1 and back in the TOP5. Because of the tiebreaker rules on those 4 teams all having just 1 loss inside the SEC, Georgia did get that spot here.
And for Alabama it was even a worse season. They did start with that shocking loss to Florida State (which turned out to be even more shocking, since FSU did suck big time this season and did even miss a bowl game invite). They did almost drop out of the TOP25 and worked hard to get back into the discussion. That win over Georgia did help a lot.
Then came Oklahoma and they lost again, which did drop them in the standings and a bit in the rankings.
That FCS game and the win against Auburn did secure the 10-2 record, but did not help much with the rankings.
It DID help to secure a spot here, thanks to the tiebreaker rules.
Written that, it would be a surprise, if not Georgia would be favored, but it’s just 2.5 points.
Now, that’s not much and some expert expect Alabama to overcome Georgia again.
I’m turn between the team Georgia was and which they became over the past 2 month.
I expect a quite even match, in which the team with the less errors will prevail
The winner will play in the playoffs. If Georgia loses, they might play anyway, if Alabama loses, they might be an edge case and it depends on the results in the other games.
Hmmm.
Bulldogs win.
BIG10 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#2 Indiana @ #1 Ohio State
Played on neutral site in the stadium of the Indianapolis Colts in Indianapolis, Indiana.
This season I’m not sure, what we have here.
Both teams did play a perfect season, no doubt.
Indiana is 12-0 and beside some close games against Penn State, Iowa and Oregon, the team was flying through their schedule.
Their biggest win was likely the one against Oregon.
Now, are they really worth a #2 spot nationally?
They earned the spot in the championship game, but are they better than say Georgia, or other deeper ranked teams?
I don’t know and we will only find out, when they play Ohio State and then likely another game at least in the playoffs.
Ohio State is even more a mystery, since their schedule was quite weak. They are also 12-0 and their closest game was against Texas at season start.
Are they for real? As good as last year in the playoffs?
We don’t know. But we will find out.
The Buckeyes are favored by 4.5 points and I’m willing to believe that.
But there is a BIG BUT!
The BUT is, Indiana has a hell of an offense and did blast several teams away, we are talking about 40+ points here.
So, if Indianas defense can control Ohio State, like several teams did in the past and limit them to 20 to 30 points (which is already a lot) and the offense can exploit the Buckeyes defense and burn them with 40+, well, then we have a great game I guess.
The problem with that thought is, no team did this season (with a quite weak schedule, to remind you) score more than 16 points against the Buckeyes. So, scoring 40+ would be a total destruction of their defense.
I don’t see that happening.
Buckeyes win.
And some other interesting games:
Fri. Dec 6
CUSA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Kennesaw State @ Jacksonville State
Jacksonville State returns to the championship game as reigning champ with home field advantage, thanks to the win against Kennesaw State in the regular season.
On paper, this should be Jacksonville State all the way. But Kennesaw State has played a great season and did also lose only once inside the CUSA.
Vegas does acknowledge that made them favorite by 2.5 points, as guests.
Not bad.
I think, Jacksonville will win here, at home, in a close one.
Gamecocks win.
SBC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Troy @ #25 James Madison
Played at the stadium of the team with the best playoff ranking or if none is available, the best score from several computer metrices. James Madison did get the nod here, likely because of their 11-1 record and the related ranking in the CFP-List.
JMU did not lose inside the Sun Belt and did not play Troy during the season.
Troy had a much worse season, having only an 8-4 record and lost 2 times inside the Sun Belt.
Common opponents were, because of the division structure of the conference, only Old Dominion and Georgia State.
Troy lost to Old Dominion by a landslide, Georgia State was a win.
JMU did win against both of those teams and against Old Dominion they scored the most points of all games in 2025 so far, but did also allow almost the most points (27) beside the loss to Louisville (there they got 28 points against).
The Dukes are a very high point favorite, 23.5 points, to win this championship game.
But we saw upsets in this region during the season.
To be honest, I think here we have a quite good estimation on the difference of power here, but you never know.
If Troy manages to stop the JMU offense, this could become interesting.
I do not see this happening.
A sidenote on the potential in this game regarding the playoffs.
JMU is right now ranked at 24 and plays a non-ranked team.
Beside some unexpected correction by the committee, it’s unlikely the winner will jump the winner of the AAC Championship game.
Dukes win.
AAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#24 North Texas @ #20 Tulane
Played at the home turf of Tulane, this will eventually help Tulane to finally getting the title again, after the last successful one in 2022.
Since then did the team get into the title game, every season, but lost to SMU in 2023 and Army in 2024.
This season they have North Texas as opponent and the 2 teams have not met this season so far.
Common opponents were Army (both won), UTSA (North Texas won, Tulane lost), Temple (both won) and Charlotte (both won), with quite similar results.
Sure, the UTSA game was bad for Tulane, but North Texas lost to South Florida.
North Texas is favored by 2.5 points.
Fun fact, it’s the Mean Green vs the Green Wave, so you can’t go wrong in this game with green fan equipment.
I personally think, the game will be won by the team, which is less distracted.
Let’s face it, the AAC was raided by power 5 schools regarding coaches.
That includes North Texas (coach goes to Oklahoma State) and Tulane (coach goes to Florida). Both coaches were allowed to coach the championship game and eventually the coming playoff games.
So for the teams it is a farewell tour by the coaches and some may be happy for them, but some may be angry, since as a player you commit yourselves to the school and the circumstances you find at that time and if the HC leaves, those circumstances do change. The next HC might be a dick, to call it that way.
Hence, in this game here, if the distraction is too big, the team will play poorly.
This is hard to predict.
There is no way to say, this will happen.
I have the feeling, that Tulanes HC might be a bit over his head with this, but that’s likely just spoiled by the fact, he lost last year against Army.
North Texas has momentum, have a longer winning streak running, I just pick them as a winner here. Can go any way.
I think the winner will play as highest ranked group of 5 team in the playoffs.
Mean Green win.
MWC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
UNLV @ Boise State
Last year, the matchup was exactly the same.
But both teams were ranked and Boise State won to become a champion and was granted, because of the rules last year, a bye week for the playoffs.
Boise lost then against Penn State in the quarterfinal.
This season, this will not happen, regardless of who will win.
Boise State had a rough season and lost in total 4 times, twice inside the MWC. They played UNLV in October and won big time at home.
UNLV lost only twice overall, but both inside the MWC and one of those losses were against Boise State.
Surprisingly is Boise State only favored by 4.0 points in this championship game on the Smurf Turf, while the regular season game was won by a 25-point margin.
I expect Boise State to dominate here.
They are a force at home and had a tougher schedule during the season and did rightfully prevail inside the conference.
But on such games, a lot can happen.
The winning team will not get into the playoffs, since 2 unranked teams clashing won’t boost the record of the winning team much.
Broncos win.
Sat. Dec 7
MAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Miami (OH) @ Western Michigan
Played on neutral site in the stadium of the Detroit Lions in Detroit, Michigan.
Miami (OH) did play also last year in this game, but was blown out of the stadium by Ohio.
This season they have to face a Western Michigan team, which seems to be in a career year.
WMU is 8-4 overall and 7-1 inside the MAC, as lone team in the MAC. Miami is 7-5 overall and 6-2 inside the conference with 2 other teams having the same conference record.
Unfortune for WMU was their lone loss inside the conference against Miami, on the road.
Now they play at home.
Miami lost after that tremendous win against WMI to Ohio and Toledo back-to-back.
Western Michigan is only favored by 2.5 points.
So, Vegas expects a close game.
I personally think, WMU will crack the Miami defense and will win by a higher margin.
Broncos win.
ACC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Duke @ #17 Virginia
Played on neutral site in the stadium of the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, North Carolina.
I think nobody had expected to see these 2 teams inside the championship game.
Virginia, as best team inside the ACC, did they post a 10-2 record and 7-1 inside the conference. Unbelievable with the result of last year (5-7) in mind and the history of the Cavaliers in mind, also.
And Duke did somehow win the tiebreaker between 5 teams with a 6-2 record inside the conference. It was such surprising, that other teams, ranked teams, did already demand a tiebreaker adjustment to have seemingly stronger teams in the championship game.
This is understandable, since with a ranked vs ranked matchup, the winner would get a boost for sure for the playoffs, while this season likely not.
But on the other hand, it’s not Dukes fault that Miami and Georgia Tech did lose against seemingly bad teams during the season.
If they would have won, the discussion would not have happened.
To my surprise, the betting line for this game is only -3.5 Virginia, while they did win AT Duke 3 weeks ago by 17 points.
I think in total is Virgina the stronger team.
But to be fair, Virginia is beatable, and it does depend on the day form.
This is hard to predict, I pick the stronger team here.
Cavaliers win.
'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE
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