In this Oct. 22, 2016, file photo, Alabama defensive lineman Jonathan Allen (93) sacks Texas A&M quarterback Trevor Knight during the first half of an NCAA college football game, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Allen took the honor of top defensive player of the year of The Associated Press All-Southeastern Conference team announced Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016.(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)Fab 4 picks
Well, this has been far from entertaining. We dropped two more bowl games Wednesday, with Pittsburgh losing outright and Utah needing a late field goal to win but not cover.
Sometimes there are bad beats - games decided by freaky plays or untimely and/or meaningless scores.
There are also are simply bad picks, and we have certainly had a few of those from time to time.
But the last two were some of those times that we feel like we backed the right side, and that side outplayed the other, it just didn't work. That's the reason that 60 percent success rate in stuff like this is a level of excellence that would allow you to make your living doing this.
Utah outgunned Indiana by more than 100 yards but four turnovers became 14 points for the Hoosiers. It was worse for Pittsburgh, which had four scoreless trips inside the Northwestern 20 and still likely would have forced overtime if quarterback Nathan Peterman had not been injured.
Some times you're the windshield and some times you are the bug. We're feeling pretty insect-like right about now.
But, there's always tomorrow. Well, there's always tomorrow until the end of January, then there's always next season.
With all the college football between now and next Thursday, we have a lot of picks to make. In fact, there are so many picks to be had between now and next Thursday, we are going to have a rare Fab 4 picks in Monday's 5-at-10. Deal? Deal.
You may notice a little bit of a spin here. With the bouncing ball of motivation that has led the underdogs to an outright landslide this bowl season, we are trying some theories on the fly.
a) The Big Ten has looked good in these bowls; the SEC so far has not. (Yes, the sample size is limited, but when you get a gauge of the bottom half of a conference, it should reveal comparable strength, no?)
b) The aforementioned underdog is a staggering 18-6 against the spread so far in the bowl season with half of those being outright victories. In case you are wondering, the under is 15-9 so far in the postseason.
The big question is how do we use that knowledge heading into a Golden Corral-sized buffet of games in the next three days?
Very carefully, of course.
With that, let's get this thing rolling and try to escape the clutches of the soft brown diaper that has been our bowl picks to date. As always, picks are for entertainment purposes only (lines are from VegasInsider.com as of Thursday morning):
Auburn running back Kamryn Pettway tries to get around Arkansas linebacker Brooks Ellis during the Tigers' 56-3 home win over the Razorbacks in October. Pettway finished the game with 192 yards on 27 carries, including two touchdowns.* Arkansas-Va Tech over 60. This one feels pretty important for Bret Bielema, right? And the Hogs offensively are effective and at times explosive. The Hokies have Jerod Evans, who will be on the short list for Heisman consideration going into next year. This feels like a 28-28 game at halftime. That screams over.
* Tennessee minus-6 over Nebraska and over the 58. Nebraska without its quarterback. UT playing in front of a heavily orangeade crowd. Nebraska without its best defensive player. UT getting its middle linebacker back. Nebraska is 9-3, but in its two matchups against truly dual-threat quarterbacks, the Cornhuskers allowed five TDs in an escape against Oregon and 62 points against Ohio State. Here's thinking the Vols are going to post half a hundred by themselves.
FILE - In this Dec. 29, 2015, file photo, LSU running back Leonard Fournette (7) hurdles tight end Colin Jeter (81) as he rushes against Texas Tech during the first half of the Texas Bowl NCAA college football game in Houston. Fournette will sit out the 19th-ranked Tigers’ match-up with No. 15 Louisville in the Citrus Bowl, a decision that ends Fournette’s highlight-filled college career. (AP Photo/Bob Levey, File) * LSU-Louisville over the 59.5. Let's look at what we know. A) Louisville was thrashed in the run game against Kentucky in the season finale. B) Louisville coach Bobby Petrino with a month to prepare is going to have some special ball plays ready. C) LSU running back Derrius Guice is the best No. 2 running back in the country and without Leonard Fournette, Guice will get a lot of chances to shred the Cards. D) The players wanted Ed Orgeron to get the head coaching job, and he got it. Are they prepared to play for him? Now do the math, A+B+C+D= more than 59.5 points.
* FSU plus-7 over Michigan. This could very well be two of the preseason top-five teams in the country heading into 2017. FSU's youth may benefit from the extended prep time as much as any team in the country. OK, side research tidbit here: After a sluggish September, FSU No. 6 in the country in defensive efficiency since the first week of October, right behind Michigan. Yes, the total of 52 is tempting, but that number is one special teams TD or big Dalvin Cook run from getting popped. So give us a touchdown - and buy the half of course - when two defenses this athletic get together.
* Clemson plus-3.5. Ohio State has played two teams this year with defensive lines comparable to Clemson's, and Michigan and Penn State combined for 14 sacks against the Buckeyes. J.T. Barrett has been really in the final month of the season. And do we really think that Deshaun Watson is going to let his team lose a game like this?
Outgoing Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin is preparing for Washington while also assembling a staff as Florida Atlantic's new head coach.* Alabama minus-13.5 over Washington. Yes, Washington is much better offensively than anyone Alabama has faced this season. But that's more a testament of the mediocrity of most of the SEC offenses than anything else. There are a lot of sharps and Vegas insiders putting big backing on the Huskies - the line has dropped roughly three points in the last three days - and Alabama giving less than two touchdowns makes the price right. It's impossible to look at this game and not remember what Alabama did to USC and what USC did at Washington. And in a bowl season in which guessing motivation has been a huge part of the equation, there has been no team more motivated than Alabama all season long.
College regular season: 49-34 (59 percent)
NFL picks: 9-3 (75 percent)
Round 1 of the bowls: 5-7 (41.6 percent)
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FILE - In a Friday, Dec. 2, 2016 file photo, Washington quarterback Jake Browning (3) throws against Colorado during the first half of the Pac-12 Conference championship NCAA college football game, in Santa Clara, Calif. Browning and wide receiver John Ross are the biggest names on the high-scoring offense which powered Washington to a playoff spot against Alabama in Saturday's Peach Bowl, but running back Myles Gaskin has helped provide balance that makes the Huskies a good test for the Crimson Tide's top-ranked defense. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) College football playoff
The leaders of the non-Power Five conferences are getting together and discussing a potential four-team playoff for their leagues.
It's an interesting pitch.
Job No. 1 would need to be coming up with a better name than the 'Non-Power Five' or 'The Other Five' or whatever they are calling themselves.
If they are going with Group of Five, well, that needs work, too.
Here's the story and more details.
The biggest question here is whether it's more profitable or not. And that means can they get a TV deal that generates more cash than the current bowl set-up.
The long-term ripple effects could be fewer bowls and more divide.
If they want to do this, they best be prepared for the potential fall-out that the divide could grow to a point that the Group of Five moves closer to the FCS than the Power Five in perception and position.
It also could very well have a short-term benefit and a long-term negative. What if this shiny new toy is cool and Western Michigan and Boise State played a knock-down-drag-out great game, but then in three years, after the newness fades, it's Northern Illinois and Navy in a nooner on Dec. 19?
We're all for everyone exploring ways to better their situation, especially in a time when the dollars are flowing.
But this feels like the Group of Five is angling to create the football version of the NIT, and that seems doomed over the long haul.
Alabama freshman linebacker Mack Wilson celebrates a special-teams hit during the top-ranked Crimson Tide's 33-13 win against Texas A&M on Oct. 22.---
Bowl take aways
There are several bowl items that we need to discuss.
First, Texas A&M, what was that? The Aggies were somewhat disinterested, and there's going to be a time in a few years when Myles Garrett is on the short list of best pass rushers in the NFL and Christian Kirk is on the short list of best WRs on Sunday. And we are going to look around and ask, how was Texas A&M so mediocre when both those cats were in College Station?
Also of note from that game, KSU poured confetti on 77-year-old coach Bill Snyder rather than the normal Gatorade or ice water. When asked about it, Snyder was classic, saying, according to ESPN: "I think they realized realized we could go back to the hotel and celebrate, or go back to the hotel and run all night."
As for the Aggies' loss - which dropped the SEC to 1-2 in the postseason with the lone win being Mississippi State's escape against Miami of Ohio - well, the questions have to start being asked about Kevin Sumlin's long-term future at A&M, right?
Also of note, Miami thumped West Virginia, giving the Hurricanes their first bowl win in a decade and securing the fact that Mark Richt will win more games in his first year in Miami than Georgia will in its first year without Richt since 2000. As for the Hurricanes, if quarterback Brad Kaaya comes back - and that's a big if considering the lack of depth and top-end talent in this quarterback draft class - The U could be a preseason top-10 team going into 2017.
We will update the bowl scoring stats in Friday's 5-at-10. Deal? Deal.
FILE- In this Feb. 27, 1959, file photo, working long hours on the set of "Say One For Me," so she can fly to Spain and start another movie, actress Debbie Reynolds is visited at the studio by her children, Carrie, 2, and 1-year-old Todd. Reynolds, star of the 1952 classic "Singin' in the Rain" died Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016, according to her son Todd Fisher. She was 84. (AP Photo, File) ---
This and that
- Man, 2016 keeps taking and taking. Debbie Reynolds died Thursday, just days after her daughter Carrie Fisher died. Rough week and a rough year.
- Is there one team in all of sports that has been more meaningless but gets more coverage than the New York Knicks over the last 20-plus years?
- Happy 28th birthday to Eric Berry, one of our favorite non-Auburn SEC players ever.
- Thought this was interesting: Lane Kiffin said the previous FAU staff recruited quarterback De'Andre Johnson, who was dismissed from FSU for hitting a female student.
FILE - In this July 30, 2014 file photo, actor Ted Danson attends the world premiere of "Lexus Short Films" at Regal LA LIVE in Los Angeles. CBS on Wednesday, May 13, 2015 announced it is ending its long-running hit "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" next fall with a two-hour finale, and star Danson will move to the spinoff "CSI: Cyber." (Photo by Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP Images, File) ---
Today's question
Have you offered a mailbag question? We have exactly one spot left.
In honor of Berry's birthday, who were your favorite SEC football players that played for rival/opposing schools. Berry is likely ours; that dude was so fun to watch.
If you want a Rushmore, let's go here. First, since today is Mary Tyler Moore's 80th birthday and Ted Danson's 69th, let's do a Rushmore of people with multiple sit-com hits.
Go and enjoy the day.