Weekend winners/losers
We got a lot to get to, so we thought after the holiday we’ll combine the list on this full Tuesday.
UCF/Gus Malzahn. UCF delivered a staggering effort, especially in the second half, and its QB made one amazing throw after another. Auburn looked disinterested, and after signing that monster contract extension last month, that blame falls directly on Malzahn, who is now bagel-and-4 in meaningful bowl games with a lone postseason win over Memphis in Birmingham. More on the UCF situation in a moment.
Buffalo Bills/Baltimore Ravens. The crazy scenarios on the final Sunday of the regular season played out and left Baltimore on the outside of the playoff picture. (Side note: The NFL regular season ended less than 48 hours ago but after the Monday of college football we just experienced, well, it felt like it was two weeks ago, right?) The Bills ended the longest playoff drought in the four major professional sports thanks the Ravens’ collapse/Cincinnati Bengals rally Sunday afternoon. The Bills fans were so appreciative they started donating money to Cincy QB Andy Dalton’s foundation. They made donations in $17 increments, matching the 17 long years they have waited to return to the playoffs.
Mariah Carey/Mariah Carey. Major props to the pop diva and the ABC folks for staging round two of last year’s disastrous New Year’s Eve performance. If you remember last year’s debacle, well, we can all agree this was infinitely better. Even so, it was pretty underwhelming. Better for sure? Better than pretty good, we’re not so sure.
Big Ten/Jim Harbaugh. The Big Ten had a great bowl season for the most part, going 7-1. With about 20 minutes to go in the Outback Bowl, and with Michigan leading South Carolina 19-3, it looked a perfect run for the Big Ten. Then the wheels fell off and South Carolina scored the last 23 points. (Yes, that hurt on the picks, especially that last field goal with less than four minutes to play that toppled the over. Anyhoo, feels like it’s going to be a long offseason for Coach Khakis with a lot of unknowns, you know?
Bowl reflections
Yes, the Rose Bowl was amazing.
Yes, a majority of the country will be bellyaching about the all-SEC match-up in the championship game.
Yes, Alabama reminded us yet again to never doubt Alabama. (Side note: The element of the unknown – something Bama fans had tuned out over the last few years – aided in the engagement for the Sugar Bowl crowd.)
Yes, the Big Ten bowl numbers were great and the Pac-12 bowl numbers were lousy.
And yes, the Rose Bowl was and will forever be remembered as amazing.
We will have a lot of time to breakdown the Tide and the Dogs before next Monday’s title game in Atlanta. (Gang, here’s betting if you bought a couple of those tickets when they went on sale, you could turn those puppies into major coin.)
That said, the big talking point this morning after the UCF ‘upset’ over what looked like for the most part a listless Auburn bunch is the playoff format.
(Side note and confession: Just to make sure everyone knows, yes we went to Auburn. Yes, we are an Auburn fan. Yes, we were ticked and disappointed with Monday’s effort. But that’s why they play the games, right? And to be completely clear, we do not say “listless” about Auburn in a way to downplay UCF’s win. Quite the contrary, that’s Auburn’s fault, not UCF’s. Yes, there are different degrees of motivation for almost all levels of bowls short of the semifinals, but if a coach making that kind of coin can not or does not get his team ready to play, that’s on that team.)
Anyhoo, where were we?
Oh yes, Central Florida. First, that 5-foot-11, 180-pound quarterback made a half-dozen throws in the second half that were simply “Wow” throws. Second, the linebacker without a left hand – yes you read that correctly – was the best defensive player on the field for either team. What an amazing story. Third, it’s hard to see Scott Frost not succeeding at Nebraska. Yes recruiting will be a chore, but man that dude managed a game and team and moment like a superstar.
Much credit to all.
OK, the visor tips have been handled.
The talking points on a larger scale after that win center on the playoff format and the lingering ripples about an undefeated Central Florida team not being in the field of four.
It certainly helps that argument that the Knights beat the team that handed the two teams in the title game their only losses of the season. (Side note: Please don’t try to tell an Auburn fan about being unbeaten and left out. We’ve got the T-shirt.)
So what does the absence of UCF in a four-team field mean?
And if you have an eight-team field, should a Group of Five team get an automatic bid?
Those questions are not as directly related as you may think.
Before we cover that, let’s go ahead and state this: I firmly believe expansion is coming to the playoff. Not if. When. I’m not for it, mind you, for reasons we have stated on here multiple times. And yes, it will devalue the regular season in drastic ways.
So, we are dealing with when not, if on the expansion.
And when they expand, will or should the top-ranked Group of Five team be included?
That’s not as easy as you may think. First, UCF is the complete outlier here. And if you think motivation is not part of that equation – well, Memphis was the next best group of five team and they got beat by Iowa State at home in its bowl game.
This UCF story is the fairy tale. The Group of Five narrative that likely will never be repeated. So do they re-write the rules and guidelines for the unicorn, knowing that if you guarantee group of five team a spot, for every UCF you get you will get two two-loss Navy teams and a potential three-loss Tulsa. Plus, how does the decision work picking the best Group of Five.
Yes, this year it was easy. Couple of years ago with Houston it was easy.
Side note: We also believe expanding the playoff would eventually lead to a complete overhaul of FCS football, up to and potentially in an extreme case, it’s demise. If Group of Five teams – and conferences – start sharing in the big cash grab that is the playoff, especially when it expands, a lot of teams will have to decide if they want to move up.
And rest assured, the money is the biggest factor in all the decisions made here. Not the football or the format.
Anyway, enjoy the talk, we’re running low on time.
Feel free to comment away and tell me how I’m bitter or what have you.
But the emotion of overhauling the system seems like a contrived narrative.
Heck, Central Florida should be saying they deserved Alabama’s spot, since, you know they did something the Tide could not and whipped Auburn.
UCF in the expansion talk is just a convenient extra item.
Bowl numbers that count
What a bleeping’ Rose Bowl, right?
Let’s drop some crazy stats from the semifinals and the end of the bowl season, shall we?
Nick Saban is now 11-2 at Alabama against teams that beat his team the previous year. Also of note: Saban is 11-0 against former assistants and all 11 are by at least 14 points, so there’s that.
Georgia’s comeback (down 17) was the largest in Rose Bowl history. It was the first overtime in Rose Bowl history and featured the most points (104), which topped last year’s game (101). The glory tandem of Sony Michel and Nick Chubb now have 8,198 rushing yards, the most combined total by teammates in FBS history.
As for our Bowling for Bowls of Bowl Game Success (Bowler optional), we had several folks absolutely crush the back half of the bowl slate. Tom P. came from way in the back by hitting 12 of the last 13 games against the spread. But he came up a point short of the lead and has the same title winner as AuburnTideFan. Brian E. and Dawg747 are still in it, and if Georgia wins, they will split first place. (We’ll send each a gift card for lunch somewhere downtown. Deal? Deal.)
Here are the unofficial results as of right now, and please let me know if you have quibble.
AuburnTideFan – 29 + 76 = 105 (Alabama)
Tom P. – 16 + 88 = 104 (Alabama)
Dawg747 – 30 + 74 = 104 (Georgia)
Brian E. – 32 + 72 = 104 (Georgia)
Richard J. – 27 + 70 = 97 (Georgia)
Mark W. – 24 + 68 = 92 (Oklahoma)
Bow6770 – 18 + 71 = 89 (Alabama)
scole023 – 25 + 61 = 86 (Alabama)
Andrew B. – 22 + 64 = 86 (Georgia)
5-at-10 – 25 + 60 = 85 (Georgia)
Ron W. – 19 + 66 = 85 (OU)
Dan Crotty – 24 + 61 = 85 (Alabama)
Zack F. – 20 + 64 = 84 (Clemson)
Backup QB (aka June Jones) – 19 + 64 = 83 (OU)
DJ12 – 23 + 60 = 83 (Clemson)
Brandon E. – 25 + 58 = 83 (Georgia)
Mrs. 5-at-10 – 23 + 60 = 83 (Georgia)
Ted T. – 18 + 60 = 78 (Alabama)
Runner-up of Life – 24 +53 = 77 (Bama)
Andrew O. – 21 + 54 = 75 (Clemson)
WDE – 25 + 50 = 75 (Clemson)
Jason G. – 18 + 56 = 74 (Georgia)
McPell – 18 + 55 = 73 (Alabama)
No-it-all – 12 + 61 = 73 (Georgia)
Brent R. – 27 + 44 = 71 (Clemson)
Shelley – 22 + 49 = 71 (Alabama)
Butter – 19 + 52 = 71 (Alabama)
Jason T. – 23 + 47 = 70 (OU)
Mark P. – 17 + 53 = 70 (Clemson)
Todd C. – 28 + 41 = 69 (Georgia)
Mike R. – 19 + 49 = 68 (Clemson)
Jeremy G. – 17 + 50 = 67 (Georgia)
Spy – 20 + 46 = 66 (Clemson)
Chris B. – 10 + 56 = 66 (Alabama)
Big-brained Hal – 23 + 42 = 65 (Clemson)
Michael P. – 12 + 53 = 65 (Clemson)
Skip – 13 + 51 = 64 (Georgia)
Mark from Maine – 14 + 50 = 64 (Georgia)
Pete L. – 16 + 47 = 63 (Alabama)
Ben C. – 19 + 42 = 61 (Georgia)
Hangtime – 7 + 54 = 61 (Georgia)
Sportsfan – 20 + 40 = 60 (OU)
Bonita Springs Vol – 12 + 47 = 59 (OU)
Fat Vader – 14 + 44 = 58 (Clemson)
Scotty B – 14 + 44 = 58 (Georgia)
Todd Ca. – 8 + 49 = 57 (OU)
Mr. Spud – 13 + 44 = 57 (OU)
Josh T. – 14 + 42 = 56 (Clemson)
Mother – 12 + 44 = 56 (OU)
Ellis M. – 22 + 33 = 55 (OU)
JonMac – 14 + 40 = 54 (OU)
Chris J. – 10 + 44 = 54 (Clemson)
Will C. – 12 + 40 = 53 (OU)
JD – 6 + 41 = 47 (Clemson)
This and that
– Our NFL picks finished the regular season 33-35-1 with last week’s 2-3 showing. Poor. Our bowl picks are 17-16 against the number with one game left. (Our regular season college picks finished 50-30-1 against the spread, so we wanted to make sure we added in some positives.)
– Here is a complete list of all the state championship football teams from all the states. According to that list, Massachusetts has 10 football state champs. Nuts. http://www.maxpreps.com/news/hDkWBOUvAE-vh238Dyjc0Q/2017-high-school-football-state-champions.htm
– There are now six NFL head coaching spots open. With Arizona, Oakland, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis and the New York Giants. There’s a real chance Cincinnati could also be in play. Side note: Johnny Vols Fans can empathize with Johnny Raiders Fans as the Grumors Mill has started swirling around the open Oakland gig.
– Also of note from the bowl games, anyone else read Kirby Smart’s lips after the Rose Bowl win? Yeah, that’s not fit for print.
Today’s question
True or false Tuesday. Who’s ready.
True or false, UCF would have won a semifinal game against any of those four.
True or false, the two best teams made the college football title game.
True or false, Oakland is the best opening of the NFL jobs out there.
Tommy Morrison would have been 49 today.
As for a Rushmore, let’s do this in honor of UCF. Rushmore of best college teams that did not win a national title.
Go and enjoy the day.