2020-12-27 13:32

The Christmas Bowls are over, and we had some nice games.

New Mexico Bowl
Hawai'i vs Houston
Hawai'i did beat Houston 28-14.
The Cougars were bad in the 1st half, had turnovers and did not execute well, so no wonder they were trailing 0-21 at the half.
Then came a bit of a turnaround in the 3rd quarter, they scored 2 TDs in their first 2 possessions.
On the next kickoff did then a Warrior cut loose on the return, juked some Cougars, broke some bad tackles tries and marched into the endzone for the final score of 28-14.
After that play, the Cougars did try a lot, had another INT and held Hawai'i scoreless, but on the other hand were unable to score also, and lost.
For me a bit surprising, but that's Bowl season I guess.
Jacks BOWL Score: 5-1

Camellia Bowl
Marshall vs Buffalo
A very defense driven game, which did surprise me a bit.
It was tied end of the 3rd quarter at 10 and the did Buffalo score a TD with barely 1 minute left to play and Marshall did take the ball and went over the field to almost the Bulls redzone.
But on 4th and 11 the QB was sacked and Buffalo won the game 17-10.
Jacks BOWL Score: 6-1

SERVPRO First Responder Bowl
#19 Louisiana vs UTSA
Louisiana was leading by 10 at the half and 17 in the 3rd.
Then they did fumble the ball away and suddenly UTSA did get some momentum, scoring 2 TDs in a row.
And they score an FG also to tie the game at 24.
Well, on the next drive was Louisiana able to get the control back and scored a TD by themselves and after that they were able to keep the Roadrunners from scoring, winning 31-24.
Jacks BOWL Score: 7-1

LendingTree Bowl
Western Kentucky vs Georgia State
You could see some turnovers in this game.
But the most crucial INTs were thrown by WKU, which did cost them the half and basically the game.
After 2 quarters Georgia State led 27-7.
WKU did try hard to overcome the deficit, but won the 2nd half only 14-12, leading to the final score of 39-21 and a Georgia State win.
Bad game from WKU, really bad.
Jacks BOWL Score: 7-2

FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl
Liberty vs #12 Coastal Carolina
Coastal Carolina had some luck the end of the 4th quarter when it was 34 both.
Liberty did knock on the endzone, and was almost IN the endzone, when the run over the center was stopped by a fumble and CCU did recover it, preventing a TD or a game winning FG.
The game went into overtime and Liberty was held for an FG there.
Coastal Carolina was on their drive unable to score a TD and tried an FG to tie the game again.
But that was blocked and that way did Liberty end the perfect season of the Chanticleers.
Jacks BOWL Score: 7-3

Well, that did not go too well, this time.
But who would have guessed such stuff ....

So off to the next few bowls coming.

Tuesday, December 29
Cheez-It Bowl
#21 Oklahoma State vs #18 Miami
@Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Florida
Yes, it's the same stadium on 26th did field the Cure Bowl and which will also field on 1st of January the Citrus Bowl.
They are busy down there.
This bowl here is operated since 1990 and had some many names during that time it is useless to write them all down.
The sponsor can obviously name it as he wants to.
For me that's a stupid tradition, but ... well let's not get into this.
Usually it's ACC vs Big12, and we have that kind of game this season.
Oklahoma State had some ups and downs this year, they started with 4 wins and were for some time the highest ranked Big12 team, named the only hope for the Big12 to get into the playoffs.
But as usual did OSU then start losing unnecessarily and before you could say 'hope' again they were even out of contention for a Big12 title and finished to far 7-3.
Miami had some hopes this year to get into Clemson territory, challenge the big bad Tigers, but got spanked on in the game against those Tigers by a margin of 25 points.
Still they hoped for 2nd place and a rematch, but Notre Dame did win and win and Clemson also did win and win and Miami did lose the last game, against North Carolina by 36 points.
It looked as if the guys had lost their motivation to play, finishing 8-2.
The Cowboys are favored in this game by 2.5 points, which is not really much.
Now we have two teams here, whom I don't trust.
Oklahoma State has some sort of tendency to suck when it counts, winning not often those important games.
And we have Miami, who did lose their motivation.
So, what kind of teams will we see?
Gundy, the OSU HC has a quite good Bowl record, so I guess he will motivate his guys to play.
And Miami ... I don't know.
I hope for an even match, but my gut says, OSU will win by more than a score. I hope it's right.
Cowboys win.

Tuesday, December 29
Valero Alamo Bowl
#20 Texas vs Colorado
@Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas
The dome in San Antonio is the home of the Spurs, the Basketball team, and they play in only half of the dome as far as I know.
Initially the dome was build to get an NFL team to San Antonio, but they still wait for that and with new build domes are now way fancier, I guess they will never see an NFL team playing there regularly.
The Alamo bowl is played since 1993 and does feature Big12 vs PAC12.
This season we got some strange matchup with Texas playing again here as last season (they won) and Colorado playing again here after 2016 (lost that one).
The strange thing here is, that Colorado had only (as all PAC12 teams) half of a season so, the strength of the team is a bit of a mystery.
They finished 4-1, losing only to Utah.
Texas on the other hand did play almost a complete Big12 schedule and lost 3 games (TCU, Oklahoma and Iowa State, at the end 6-3).
I think the people in Texas are sick of the Longhorns being THAT bad (they are used to win, not lose those important games) and I guess the Longhorns HC will have next season constant fire under his seat, except winning the damn conference.
Colorado did win and win the games they played, but had to skip many games because of Covid-19 and lost the last game.
Their HC is new on the team, and on his previous HC gig at UCLA he had a negative bowl record.
Not the best preconditions.
No wonder the betting industry sees Texas well ahead by 9.5 points.
I have nothing to add here.
Longhorns win.

Wednesday, December 30
Duke's Mayo Bowl
Wake Forest vs Wisconsin
@Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina
Played in the home field of the Carolina Panthers, this bowl is played under different names since 2002.
It's an ACC vs Big10 game, as we have this season.
But what a wacky matchup.
Wake Forest did finish 4-4 and are not in best shape this season.
Wisconsin did play 3-3 and did also not play well this season.
My initial feeling here was Wisconsin all the way and the betting line is Wisconsin -7.0, so I'm not alone here.
I guess it's not so high, because Wake Forest did play some good games and their HC has a good bowl record.
At the end I guess Wake Forest has a chance here, if they motivate their players and Wisconsin is not 100% in the game.
My take here is, I think the Badgers should win here in a closer game than the line suggest.
Badgers win.

Wednesday, December 30
TransPerfect Music City Bowl
#15 Iowa vs Missouri
@Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tennessee
This is played in the Tennessee Titans home stadium.
The bowl itself exists since 1998.
It's a Big10 vs SEC game, and we have the 5-5 Tigers vs the 6-2 Hawkeyes.
I do not really trust the Tigers, but I also don't trust the Hawkeyes.
Iowa started with 2 losses against not really impressive teams, granted Northwestern did win the division later, but then won 6 in a row, most impressive here is the last against Wisconsin.
Missouri did more or less lost all games against the contenders and won all games against the not-so-strong-teams from the SEC.
So mid-level SEC vs a Big10 team which might have gained some more steam, if the season would have been longer.
The Hawkeyes are 14.0 points favorite, which is a lot.
I think it will be close, the Tigers might even upset the Hawkeyes, if the play it right.
Still, I like the momentum of Iowa and pick them to win this.
Hawkeyes win.

Wednesday, December 30
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
#7 Florida vs #6 Oklahoma
@AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
One of the big bowls of the College Football Playoff series, outside the semis.
Played since 1937 this does field at-large-teams and what do we have here, in the home of the Dallas Cowboys?
Oklahoma did dream of leap-frogging into the TOP4 after beating Iowa State for the Big12-Championship, but fell short at 6.
They were not even able to leap-frog Texas A&M.
Florida would have likely gotten into the TOP4, if they would have beaten Alabama for the SEC-Crown, but they lost in a shoot-out.
Now we will see them battling it out in Texas.
Florida is 3.0 point favorite, still many believe Oklahoma will win. Hmmmm.
I think Florida has a great team this season and Oklahoma has some issues, they did almost fell to Iowa State twice the season.
I pick the Gators in this, they do look strong and big enough to challenge the Sooner.
Since ages do the Sooner lose against SEC teams, when it counts, so we will see, they do fall again, or not.
Gators win.

'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

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