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

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