The College Football Thread 12/20 - 12/30

[Bored 0]

Like last year I'm going to split the bowl season into two threads, one for the games before 12/31 and one for the bowls 12/31 and beyond. There will be a separate thread created for the MNC game once we get a little closer to it.

 

It's pretty amazing that a bowl game as relatively insignificant as the Junior Holiday Bowl (aka Poinsettia Bowl) will have the biggest match-up of all the non-BCS bowls. Attendance should be fine for that tilt but with the current state of the economy it will be really interesting to see the attendance figures of some of the lesser, and some would say completely unnecessary, bowl games. Humanitarian Bowl tickets are going fast!

As of Monday afternoon the University of Maryland says it's sold about 16 tickets to the game. The University of Nevada says it's sold 8 so far.

Can't find any updates since Monday but maybe they are in the 20's by now.

 

FRIDAY

FCS Championship: Richmond vs. Montana, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2

 

SATURDAY

EagleBank Bowl: Wake Forest vs. Navy, 11:00/8:00 AM, ESPN

New Mexico Bowl: Colorado State vs. Fresno State, 2:30 PM/11:30 AM, ESPN

St. Petersburg Bowl: Memphis vs. South Florida, 4:30/1:30 PM, ESPN2

Las Vegas Bowl: #16 BYU vs. Arizona, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

SUNDAY

New Orleans Bowl: Southern Miss vs. Troy, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

TUESDAY, December 23rd

Poinsettia Bowl: #9 Boise State vs. #11 TCU, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

WEDNESDAY, December 24th

Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii vs. Notre Dame, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

FRIDAY, December 26th

Motor City Bowl: Florida Atlantic vs. Central Michigan, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPN

 

SATURDAY, December 27th

Meineke Car Care Bowl: West Virginia vs. North Carolina, 1:00 PM/10:00 AM, ESPN

Champs Sports Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Florida State, 4:30/1:30 PM, ESPN

Emerald Bowl: Miami vs. California, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

SUNDAY, December 28th

Independence Bowl: Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

MONDAY, December 29th

PapaJohns.com Bowl: N.C. State vs. Rutgers, 3:00 PM/Noon, ESPN

Alamo Bowl: #21 Missouri vs. #23 Northwestern, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

TUESDAY, December 30th

Humanitarian Bowl: Maryland vs. Nevada, 4:30/1:30 PM, ESPN

Holiday Bowl: #13 Oklahoma State vs. #17 Oregon, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

Texas Bowl: Western Michigan vs. Rice, 8:00/5:00 PM, NFLN

[Damaramu 0]

FRIDAY

FCS Championship: Richmond vs. Montana, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2

 

Well that's just about the most interesting game this weekend. At least it means something....

[Slayer 0]

Go Spiders!

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Spiders 4 life. Maybe Virginia can fire Al Groh next year and bring Mike London back to coach the whole team instead of just the defense.

 

Re: the bowl poll - I usually like to go with "eat a bullet" whenever it's a choice in something like this, but I think FAU/CMU at prestigious Ford Field could actually be pretty fun. Prolific passers and C-level small school defenses could make it all right.

[Damaramu 0]

Well, I'm not really into either team. I just know the semi-final game with Richmond entertained the hell out of me. And I loved watching any App State game last season. Plus I know a bitch that was from Montana and is a huge Montana fan. So I'd enjoy Richmond winning!

[Slayer 0]

I have no vested interest either, I just wanted to say "Go Spiders"

 

Although Mrs Slayer is from Virginia and generally likes to see any Virginia school do well... except for UVA

[Damaramu 0]

I have no vested interest either, I just wanted to say "Go Spiders"

 

Although Mrs Slayer is from Virginia and generally likes to see any Virginia school do well... except for UVA

 

They've got a spider on their helmet.......they have to win. Then again a Grizzly is pretty cool, but they don't have it on their helmet!

[Psycho Penguin 0]

Richmond's comeback against Northern Iowa was pretty something, and they also beat Appalachian State at ASU, so I think they will win. It's a 7 seed against a 5 seed in the championship, by the way. If that happened in FCS, what would it be, USC vs Texas Tech? Sweet.

 

Anyways, the bowl games look alright. I went to FAU and I am a Maryland fan, so obviously I have interest in their games. I wanna see if Wake can rebound against Navy after the upset earlier this year. Memphis vs USF will be interesting. South Florida was a huge disappointment this year.

 

SATURDAY, December 27th

Meineke Car Care Bowl: West Virginia vs. North Carolina, 1:00 PM/10:00 AM, ESPN

Champs Sports Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Florida State, 4:30/1:30 PM, ESPN

Emerald Bowl: Miami vs. California, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

I don't care what anyone says, that's a solid day of bowl games there. I think the ACC can go 3-0 or 0-3 in those games depending on what teams show up. Miami/California is the interesting one. And I might be going to the Champs Sports Bowl but financially I am not sure now.

 

Holiday Bowl looks OUTSTANDING this year. Oklahoma State vs Oregon? Too bad it couldn't be Oregon State, but I'm still really looking forward to that one.

 

And I'm a NIU fan since 2003.. but I am not even sure I can stomach another one of their undeserved bowl games. I am amazed LA Lafayette got passed in favor of NIU, but I heard there is some controversy there.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Since 1995, Montana has gone 2-3 in FCS Title Games. Their most recent loss was 2004 to James Madison but their last win was 2001 over Furman.

 

This is Richmond's first Championship Game Appearance. Richmond made the playoffs before this year in 1984, 2000 (Quarterfinal Loss to Montana), 2005 (Quarterfinal Loss to Furman), and 2007 (Semifinal Loss to Appalachian State).

 

For Interest: The first ever FCS Champion was Florida A&M over UMass in 1978 35-28.

[RepoMan 0]

My cousin's in the band at NIU, maybe I'll catch a glimpse of her on TV.

[iggymcfly 0]

Fuck Richmond. Grizzlies are gonna take it down. Oh, and they're the 4 seed BTW, they were just #5 in the final poll.

 

I used to have UM season tickets from 1994-2003 before I went away to college. I don't follow Grizzly football all that close anymore, but I live about a mile and a half away from the campus, and I know a couple players on the team fairly well from poker. So I'll definitely be getting into the spirit this Friday and cheering big-time for the Griz. Probably will make a large degenerate wager too. (Montana's somehow a 1-point dog right now FWIW.)

[MFer 0]

DeMarco Murray's gonna miss the MNC with a partially torn hamstring.

 

*eagerly awaits Dama's reaction*

[Damaramu 0]

Well that sucks, but they did a pretty good job against Mizzou with Brown and Madu. It'll hurt but I think those two can hold it together. Especially since Brown has 20 TDs and over 1000 yards himself while Madu has nearly 500. That'll put Broyles back there returning kicks, and he's probably better with the ball in the open field than Murray anyway. I'm kind of excited to see that actually.

Besides, the real bread and butter of this team is Bradford hitting one of his 50 million receivers. And it's not like Florida can sell out to stop that with Brown in the backfield.

[Guest]

I still think Oklahoma's going to win. Their running game wouldn't be much of a factor against Florida in the first place.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

FBS: Losing the threat of the run is a big deal.

 

FCS: How does a team get a 4 seed in the tournament yet is ranked 5th?

[Bored 0]

Joe Paterno signed a thee-year contract extension. He'll be 85 when it expires. He really wants to die during a game, doesn't he?

[Damaramu 0]

Well, it's not like Oklahoma lost the threat of the run. Chris Brown is their leading rusher and their TD leader. So it's not like they lost their one and only running back. They did lose that "Is he going to run or catch it?" threat, but Brown has been a pretty capable receiver in the past. So we'll see what happens. Games still 3 weeks away, people could get hurt in practices or suspended or whatever. You never know. For all we know OU's entire offensive line could get into a barroom brawl the night before the game and spend the next day in jail.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

Oops. Sorry, I did not know much on OU's running game and figured Murray was a Heisman candidate by the way ESPN was sucking his dick today.

[MFer 0]

Well, Murray is 3rd in the FBS in all-purpose yards, but I don't expect OU to suffer too much. They're more than capable of filling the holes on offense and the return game.

[Urban Warfare 0]

Looks like Dan Mullen will in fact be calling plays for the Gators in the title game. I'm pretty concerned, given the situation that happened in 2001 when Mark Richt had taken the Georgia job but stayed on board at Florida State for their national championship to call plays. Richt proceeded to lead the Noles to zero offensive points.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

OU fans are familiar with what happens when a coordinator stays on to call plays as well (Mike Stoops in 2003 then they got bombarded in 2 straight games)

[Damaramu 0]

OU fans are familiar with what happens when a coordinator stays on to call plays as well (Mike Stoops in 2003 then they got bombarded in 2 straight games)

 

Stoops didn't stay on for either of those games.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

Stoops will help coach Oklahoma in its Big 12 title game against Kansas State on Saturday, but will return to Tucson after that and not stay with the Sooners for their bowl game.

 

I remember Stoops being mentioned about 3,700 times during the KSU game they lost by 28. It was a distraction. You're right about the bowl game, and OU played better in that one (lost by 10 I believe)

[Damaramu 0]

Stoops will help coach Oklahoma in its Big 12 title game against Kansas State on Saturday, but will return to Tucson after that and not stay with the Sooners for their bowl game.

 

I remember Stoops being mentioned about 3,700 times during the KSU game they lost by 28. It was a distraction. You're right about the bowl game, and OU played better in that one (lost by 10 I believe)

 

They lost by 7 and held LSU without a first down in the second half, but Stoops didn't call either game.

[iggymcfly 0]

FBS: Losing the threat of the run is a big deal.

 

FCS: How does a team get a 4 seed in the tournament yet is ranked 5th?

 

They were ranked 5th in the final coaches' poll. The seeding for the playoffs is done completely separately by a selection committee at the end of the season, much like the ones used for the NCAA basketball tournament.

[Urban Warfare 0]

I realize this is pretty late but living in Canada I just watched the Heisman Presentation for the first time and Christ, did Billy Sims ever make a complete ass out of himself. Not only did he embarrass Bradford, he made a mockery of the whole event. Pretty funny, though.

[Damaramu 0]

I realize this is pretty late but living in Canada I just watched the Heisman Presentation for the first time and Christ, did Billy Sims ever make a complete ass out of himself. Not only did he embarrass Bradford, he made a mockery of the whole event. Pretty funny, though.

 

He does that every year. But he apologized for it this year because he got a ton of heat for it around here.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

That was Billy Sims? I thought it was some random person in the crowd. What a damn idiot.

[Damaramu 0]

OU loses another for the BCS title game.

 

 

Luckily this one is just a backup DT who only has 20 tackles on the season. He started the season as a starter but got hurt against Cincy and hasn't really played reguarly since then.

 

But, this game is starting to shape up like the Fiesta Bowl last year where OU is missing half the team.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

I still think OU is going to win this game or at least make it close. That's the worst thing going for OU yet.