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, Coaches Corner (0/2) , Howtos (0/10) , Inside Deventer Devils (0/28) , Jack6s RZA Guide (0/21) , News (1/658) , Rumours (0/0) , Stories (0/4) , Top25 Rankings (0/22) 2025-12-19 09:10
Oh man, right when I did post the last blog entry, the next big story did hit the news channels.
Michigans HC Sherrone Moore was fired with cause by the school, because they claim they have evidence of an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Hours later he was arrested by the police for an alleged assault. It seems he did break and entered the home of that staff member, went to the kitchen, took a knife and threatens to kill himself and make the staff member watch, because he had the opinion the staff member did destroy his life.
The staff member had called the police and Moore was arrested.
As information coming in, the staff member had a 3 year long relationship with Moore, did cooperate with the investigation started by the university on that matter and had break off the relationship days before this all happened.
Moore by the way is married and has 3 kids.
Moore became the HC of Michigan after the previous HC won the national championship and went to the NFL. Moore had now 2 seasons are Michigan and 8-5 and 7-3 (with some games missed because of suspension on that sign stealing scandal dating back to the previous HC era.
Now Michigan has a similar scandal as Arkansas with Petrino 15 years ago.
For me it looks like there is only one to be blamed for that situation, Moore himself.
more coaching changes
And we are not done with firing with cause. Ohios HC Brian Smith was fired for cause, based on “serious professional misconduct and...activities that reflect unfavorably on the University”. Allegations do cover relationships with undergraduate students and getting drunk in public, as it seems. He was at the school as HC just for this one season, being promoted last year after the bowl win, he did coach as interims coach. He was the Ohio OC in 2024.
Toledo did tap Mercers HC Mike Jacobs. Jacobs is a HC since 2016 and worked his way up from division 2 to FCS (Mercer, the last 2 seasons) and now to FBS. He was successful on every level so far.
Coastal Carolina did name Ryan Beard at new HC. Beard was the HC of Missouri State for the last 3 seasons and did not only build the team back to strength, he also did guide the team from FCS to FBS and led them to their 1st bowl invite in their 1st season inside the FBS.
Southern Miss did promote OC Blake Anderson to HC. Anderson was very successful at Arkansas State, left for Utah State but the team did go down in the 3 seasons he was there. He was fired and he became the OC of Southern Miss this season.
Washington State has selected Missouris OC Kirby Moore as new HC. Moore is mid 30 and was for the past 2 seasons the Missouri OC. This is his 1st HC gig.
Only spots left are Ohio, Missouri State and Michigan.
There are rumors on Missouri States choice, but this has to be approved by a board meeting on Friday.
And as additional news, Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy as best player of the season. He is the 1st Hoosier ever to win that trophy. Must be Easter, X-Mas and Birthday all in once for Indiana this season. The program is known as basketball school and now they are unbeaten, BIG10 Champs, got the Heisman and play for the national championship in Football.
Let’s wrap up the season with the recap of the Army-Navy game.
BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 16
Sat. Dec 13
Army @ Navy
Oh my god, Navy did almost shoot themselves in the foot and then some.
It started good, Navy got the ball and needed half the quarter to score a TD.
Army got the ball and answered with a similar long drive and capped it with a TD starting the 2nd quarter.
Then did Navy accomplish nothing, punted, and allowed Army to get into field goal range after another long drive to take the lead.
Navy crawled back prior the break and ... fumbled the ball with 20 ticks left after a wild play by the QB for minus 18 yards and the lost the ball.
The Knights took the gift and managed to get into field goal range again and extended the lead for the break to 13:7.
Navy had another meltdown in the 3rd, did throw and INT and gave Army another good field position for another field goal.
The Midshipmen needed a lot of time to get over the field and did at least score a field goal then, 16:10.
And then the favor of luck did turn and Army did throw! (both teams had just a bit over 80 yards passing, but Army usually does not throw much anyway) an INT and Navy did used that gift to punch the ball in with a great catch, taking the lead, and basically the win.
So, Navy won the Commander-In-Chief-Trophy.
Army 16 @ Navy 17 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 30-10
And that brings us to the 1st set of bowls, which already were played, and I have to say, my picks were often wrong, which from my point of view proves, that bowl season is more of a lottery.
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
This started quite equal, with both teams exchanging field goals, but when Boise did throw and INT, the game did shift and never returned in favor of Boise.
Washington did score and score and score.
Granted, at the start did Boise manage to stop Washington, but the score was at the end 38:10 for the Huskies, so guess how good that worked out.
Jacks BOWL Score: 1-0
Tue., Dec 16
2025 IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl
Troy vs Jacksonville State
Oh man, Troy did play awfully.
They had 2 INTs and a missed field goal, and often at the wrong time.
Their offense was ineffective and did not score at all, their only TD came from a fumble return.
This did not look too bad in the 1st half, but in the 2nd half it was all Jacksonville State, who also were not very effective on offense, but did score often enough.
Beginning of the 4th quarter did Jacksonville State took over the lead with a TD, 17:13 and Troy was unable to get something, parts because they did decide to go for it, instead of kicking a field goal and get the ball back a bit later to eventually kicking one again.
It came down to a hail mary try with time running out, which was batted down at the endzone.
Means, Jacksonville did win in this low scoring bowl by the 4 points.
Jacks BOWL Score: 1-1
Wed., Dec 17
StaffDNA Cure Bowl
Old Dominion vs South Florida
It seems the bowl season does not start in my favor. After a 1st half on almost equal terms did then Old Dominion just shut down the Bulls offense and took the lead and later the win in this bowl game.
I don’t know what happened to the Bulls team, which was so proud to be ranked start of the season, and which did take down Florida, but for sure it was not on the field in this bowl.
Great win for Old Dominion, winning 24:10.
Jacks BOWL Score: 1-2
2025 68 Ventures Bowl
Louisiana vs Delaware
And another disaster, right here.
Louisiana did start bad with a missed field goal and a bit later with an INT and did not get better.
Delaware used their chances, took the lead and never gave it back, despite some efforts by the Cajuns.
But the team was so error prone on the day, that Delaware just grinded the game home with clock management and great defense.
The Blue Hens won 20:13 for their 1st FBS bowl win, ever. And that in their 1st FBS season. Congratulations!
Jacks BOWL Score: 1-3
Thur., Dec 18
Xbox Bowl
Missouri State vs Arkansas State
In this bowl we have the ‘almost fumbled it’ storyline.
Arkansas State did lead at the half with 24:7.
They did extend the lead to 31:7 in the 3rd quarter and then had Missouri State a long drive, which gave them a TD at the start of the 4th quarter.
ASU did score a field goal and Missouri State did ... fumble on the next drive.
The Red Wolves made nothing out of this, but likely that fumble did save them from losing the game, since it did close down a long drive by the Bears without points.
When the Bears got the ball back, they did score a quick TD, ASU nothing, Missouri State muffed the punt and ASU got the ball back, missed a field goal try and the Bears scored again.
Now with less than 2 minutes to go did Arkansas State lead 34:28.
Missouri State needed the ball, tried an onside kick and failed, with the Red Wolves winning by running down the clock.
Puh! Almost messed that up after leading by 24 points.
Jacks BOWL Score: 2-3
Great, that was that.
Now, this weekend we will have the 1st round of the college football playoffs, played in the home stadium of the higher ranked teams, each.
And we will have another big chunk of other bowls.
1st round of playoffs
Fri., Dec 29
#9 Alabama @ #8 Oklahoma
This game is played in Norman, Oklahoma and is a quite even match.
Alabama is favored by 1.5 points, which is almost nothing.
What I don’t get with that line is, Oklahoma did beat Alabama on the road by 2 points, not long ago. And Alabama did get a beating on the SEC championship game, while Oklahoma did rest and heal.
And the game is now a home game for Oklahoma and STILL Alabama is favored?
Sure, Alabama can win, on that level, that is clear.
But why is Oklahoma so bad treated?
OK, at the end, Vegas does, what it does to make a profit, and the lines are based on the bets they receive, so more people do believe in Alabama, than in Oklahoma.
I think Oklahoma (10-2) did great this season, they lost only to Texas and Ole Miss and won the last 4 game, with 3 of them ranked, including Alabama.
They became sharper, as it seems.
Alabama (10-3) did lose also 2 times in the regular season, Florida State and Oklahoma and had offense trouble in the past 2 games, against Auburn and Georgia. Against Auburn they were able to get the win anyway, but against Georgia, they just did suck.
And now they have to face another quite tough defense.
I’m not sold on an Alabama win, as you might have guessed.
I think we will see a quite low scoring game, but I think Oklahoma will prevail here.
Sooners win.
Sat., Dec 20
#10 Miami @ #7 Texas A&M
The 2nd game of the 1st round does feature 2 teams, which had high hopes during the season, but failed at the end to get into the championship games of their conferences but were lucky enough to get into the playoff bracket.
Let’s start with Texas A&M, who did look like THE favorite to win the SEC for almost the entire season, until they lost to their rival Texas on the last gameday, which created a tiebreaker scenario of 4 teams having 1 loss each inside the SEC and in which scenario A&M did come out as 4th place team. Georgia and Alabama did battle it out and Texas A&M, the leading team for almost the entire season, had to except they were ONLY going to the playoffs.
Miami had an almost similar path inside the ACC, only the did suck up their season ambitions inside the ACC mid-October with the 1st loss inside the ACC and then for good starting November with their 2nd loss inside the ACC. At the end of the regular season were 5! teams there with 2 losses each inside the conference and of all those did the unranked Duke team get the spot inside the Championship game (and they WON!).
Already on the same day, when the tiebreaker result was published, Miami did call for a review of the tiebreaker, since it is impossible that Miami is not playing and Duke is, right?
Well, at least Miami did get one thing right during the season, they won against Notre Dame, which did send of ALL teams inside the ACC only Miami to the playoff and did send Notre Dame so pissed home, they did play 5-year-old bragging kid at the sweet shop counter and left the bowl competition in total.
I don’t expect a very tough game here.
Texas A&M is hot and tough, while Miami did show several flaws, you cannot afford on that level of playing.
Vegas does not really agree with me here, made Texas A&M, playing at home at College Station, Texas against that team from the ACC, only a 3.5-point favorite.
I personally don’t think Miami will get a that close game.
I think they will lose by double digit.
But we will see.
Miami did play some good game, won against Notre Dame at season start, won against Florida a bit later, but my feeling is, they did not see that kind of defense the whole season and they will not be able to match the scoring A&M will bring on.
Aggies win.
#11 Tulane @ #6 Ole Miss
Oh man, as much as I like giving the group of 5 teams a shot for a national title, as much I had so far always the feeling, they will be way over their head.
And here, with Ole Miss playing at home in Oxford, Mississippi, Tulane will get burned, I think.
The circumstances are odd, for both teams.
Tulane is on the brink of losing the HC, while Ole Miss DID already lose the HC and will play the new promoted HC, former DC.
Vegas has the Rebels favored by 17.5 points!
That’s big!
I would love to see Tulane advancing, but the facts are, Tulane will face a tough defense, and also a fast and happy scoring offense.
The teams DID meet during the season and Ole Miss won 45:10.
That will be the case again, likely.
Rebels win.
#12 James Madison @ #5 Oregon
This is even worse, than the Tulane / Ole Miss game.
James Madison did have a great season, no doubt, they won the Sun Belt, they played well, but they will face a team from a different plant here.
The toughest team they had to play so far was Louisville and they lost by 2 scores.
Oregon is faster on offense and tougher on defense than Louisville and no wonder did Vegas made Oregon a 20.5-point favorite.
We DID see teams in that favorite role stumble and fall, but I doubt it will happen here.
Ducks win.
The winners will advance to the quarterfinals and will play the 4 highest ranked teams having a bye in this round in 4 different bowl games end of the year. It’s already clear who will play whom, regarding the bracket, so no highest ranked team left will play the lowest ranked team left. No, it will be Texas Tech against the winner of Oregon/James Madison, Indiana playing the winner of Oklahoma/Alabama, Georgia playing the winner of Ole Miss/Tulane and Ohio State playing the winner of Texas A&M/Miami.
The SECOND SET OF BOWLs from Friday, 19th to Thursday, 25th of December.
Fri., Dec 19
Myrtle Beach Bowl presented by Engine
Kennesaw State vs Western Michigan
@Brooks Stadium , Conway, South Carolina
This is played the 5th time now, since it was founded in 2020.
They play in the stadium of the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team.
The bowl is owned by ESPN and has conference tie ins with the CUSA, MAC and Sun Belt.
Last year did the Su Belt lost the 2nd time in as many years, and are now 2-2 overall here.
The CUSA and the American were 2 times here and are 0-2 and 2-0, while the MAC was here just once and is 1-0.
This season we have a CUSA vs MAC game, which might become interesting.
We have the CUSA Champ (10-3) vs the MAC Champ (9-4) actually and Western Michigan is favored by 3.5 points.
Not much and I did expect even a smaller line, but with Vegas you never know.
Kennesaw did win the CUSA with some luck or will to win, if you like and Western Michigan did just stomp their opponent and won.
There is nothing to compare here, since no common opponent, no direct compare, so what’s left is gut feeling and my gut feeling is, Western Michigan has a good team this season and that team is capable to score points.
So, key will be, whether Kennesaw can stop that offense, or not.
That can only be guessed, and my guess is, Western Michigan will find rooms to advance and score and will win.
Broncos win.
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl
Memphis vs NC State
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida
This is played since 2008, formerly known as the St. Petersburg-Bowl based on the former playing site in Florida.
The tie-ins were negotiated quite wide open since 2020, so basically this means the bowl organizer can s e l e c t teams assumed to draw some attention and willing to participate.
Planned are teams from AAC, ACC or SEC.
The game will be played in the stadium of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Since the teams origin does switch basically every season there is no clear picture on this, beside the American, which was here 10 times and has a 6-4 record.
This season we have Memphis, which lost their HC and is under interims reign, against NC State, which were in the chatter that they might lose their HC to retirement but confirmed he will be there for 2026.
Memphis was long in contention for the championship game but lost the last 3 games (8-4 overall) and sunk fast in the standings.
NC State did play a mediocre season inside the ACC (7-5 overall) and had some tough wins (GT for example) and tough losses (VT for example).
There were and are still a team you have to take seriously, or you will be punished.
In this bowl, we have basically 2 quite score happy teams, facing off against each other. The biggest question mark is, which defense might be able to get the other offense under control?
Vegas has clearly NC State in mind as answer for that question and made them a 3.5-point favorite.
That’s not much, but something for sure.
I think the key will be the NC offense, which did show tremendous skills over the season, and which might be able to score on every drive and THAT will Memphis never be able to match, regardless, whether they get controlled or not.
Wolfpack win.
Mon., Dec 22
2025 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Washington State vs Utah State
@Albertsons Stadium, Boise, Idaho
This is a quite long running bowl, since 1997, and it's played on the smurf turf field of Boise State Broncos.
It's basically a Mountain West bowl with some other team invited.
It started as a WAC bowl, so no wonder the WAC has send so far, the most teams to the bowl (13), but the MAC did send already also 13 teams so far (6-7 record).
The MWC got their 11th appearance last year but lost and is now 5-6, including last years loss.
Washington State is 6-6 and Utah State is also 6-6.
The Cougars had a quite mixed season but won against 2 MWC teams early in the season (San Diego State and Colorado State).
Utah State had also a mixed season, but did not play any PAC-12 team and did also not play SDSU or CSU.
I’m a bit surprise, Utah State is favored in this, since I think Washington State had a slightly stronger team and results.
Granted, the last game against Boise State by Utah State was very close, so maybe Vegas has good feeling by making them a 1.5-point favorite.
I think this will likely become a high scoring game and I think the Cougars will prevail.
Cougars win.
Tue., Dec 23
Bush's Boca Raton Bowl of Beans
Toledo vs Louisville
@FAU Stadium, Boca Raton, Florida
A bowl since 2014 it's a game between always new negotiated conference tie ins, usually for 2 seasons.
For me it looks always like they grab what they can get.
It's played on the home field of the Florida Atlantic Owls.
Since the tie-in did shift over the seasons, there were a lot of teams from different conferences in it.
The unbelievable streak of the CUSA with 6 wins in 6 appearances did end with their 7th game last year. They are now 6-1.
The MAC has 5 games so far and is 2-3.
The ACC was so far only once in this and lost.
So, Louisville and Toledo.
What an uneven match, as it seems.
Louisville (8-4) started great, but failed in the long run to stay in the competition inside the ACC.
They lost 3 of the last 4 games, but that win against rival Kentucky on last gameday was impressive.
Toledo (8-4) did not look good at the start but finished with 4 wins in a row. Unfortune for them did they lose the HC at the end of the season and will be under interims guidance.
Vegas has Louisville as clear favorite, 6.5 points, and it hard to make a case for Toledo here, beside the 4 games they won at the end.
They did also play Kentucky but lost.
The biggest win they had over the season was against Miami (OH) or against Western Kentucky, both not really powerhouses.
Louisville on the other hand did take down Pitt and Miami (FL).
I think Louisville will win here, if they take the game serious.
Toledo can only win, if the Cardinals have for any reason an off-day and play error prone.
Cardinals win.
2025 New Orleans Bowl
Western Kentucky vs Southern Miss
@Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
This exists since 2001 and is a Sun Belt vs Conference USA game.
Played in the Superdome, home of the New Orleans Saints.
The Sun Belt has a record of 12-10 in this bowl, the CUSA 9-11, thanks to the win of the CUSA team last year, making it 3 CUSA wins in a row.
Western Kentucky (8-4) has all the tools to win here again.
They were here once and won (2022).
Southern Miss (7-5) did play here 5 times already and are 5-1.
But they did finish the season in bad shape, lost 3 in a row and missed by that the championship game.
It did look like the team fell apart and they will face here against WKU a quite tough teams, which did win some good games, and their losses did not look too bad also.
Sure, they missed to win the CUSA, since they lost the crucial game against Jacksonville State on season finale, but man, I think they will be strong enough to take down the Eagles, who lost their HC on top.
The betting line is WKU -3.0, so also Vegas sees them ahead, even I would think they will do better.
Not sure, this will be a high scoring game, because the WKU defense did good jobs against some offense, but on the other hand did they allow 30+ points against Jacksonville State.
Likely that will be the key. If they can control the Southern Miss offense, this game will be theirs, because I expect from them 4+ scores, which the Eagles would have to match.
Hilltoppers win.
Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl
UNLV vs Ohio
@Ford Center at The Star, Frisco, Texas
Founded in 2017 as American Athletic Conference Bowl against an at-large-team, the bowl did strip down in the past 2 seasons and did seek any matchup between Group of 5 teams.
Even it was planned to have an American Athletic Team each season, so far only 3 teams from the conference did play here and are 2-1.
Most of the time a team from the Mountain West was in it. They have a record of 2-2. Conference USA had also 3 games and are 1-2.
The MAC came so far 2 times and won both games!
The usual stadium (Toyota Stadium) is a soccer stadium for a MLS team from Dallas and is under renovation, so the bowl was moved to the Dallas Cowboys practice facility, which has surprisingly (at least for me) 12.000 seats.
UNLV (10-3) did look great over the season and did lose only crucial game, including the MWC championship game.
Ohio (8-4) did also lose only some crucial games and missed by that the championship of the MAC at all.
Beside the gut feeling that Ohio is not as strong as UNLV, do they also have to deal with fire HC, shortly before the bowl.
Sure great for the players to deal with that on top.
I don’t see Ohio here as favorite and neither does Vegas.
Again I’m surprise they made UNVL only a 6.5 points favorite, I think in best shape they would blow Ohio away double digit.
We will see, what will happen.
Rebels win.
Wed., Dec 24
Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl.
Cal vs Hawai’i
Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex, Honolulu, Hawai'i
Played basically on the practice field of the Hawai'i Rainbows, since the regular stadium has major problems and will be replaced.
The field has right now roughly 17.000 seats, which is the FBS minimum.
The old playing site, the Aloha Stadium, which was famous for the ability to be configured as Baseball- or Football-Stadium with movable ranks and featured basically a round or a long configuration, and which was also famous for the Pro Bowl of the NFL and the home field of the Hawai'i College Team, is shut down. THAT had 50.000 seats.
The demolition did start in August this season and the new replacement stadium is planned to be finished in 2029 and will have between 22.500 and 35.000 seats.
The Bowl has tie-ins on American, Conference USA and Mountain West.
Eventually surprisingly the CUSA did play here the most games and has a 9-4 record.
The Mountain West is 4-7 and the WAC 4-6.
The ACC did never play here so far, so welcome Cal.
The Golden Bears had a rough season, 7-5, but had the most wins since 2019. The HC was hired away, so they will be guided by an interims coach, who is an experienced former HC.
Hawai’i had the best season (8-4) since 2019, when they won the bowl the last time, under that Cal interims HC as their own HC!
This is a great story to work with, for sure, but not sure how it will help to pick a winner here.
Hawai’i did play great offense this season and seemed to click the 1st time since their HC took over in 2022.
Vegas favors Cal by 1.5 points, which is not much.
I’m willing to pick Hawai’i here, totally knowing, that this game could go any way.
But at home, on a great season, against an interims led team, which had to travel thousands of miles?
Rainbow Warriors win.
I will post again on the 2nd day of X-Mas. Have a great Christmas!
'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE
Tags: Block of Granite, News
2025-12-10 10:04
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
