As I set the last Christmas ornament on the tree, saunter back to my recliner where I grab my hot mug of joe, at least I pretend the hot chocolate I’m sipping on is coffee, and unwind after a long day by the fire, a small smile creeps on my face. What causes this smug smirk you might be ask? Maybe you think it is the upcoming break from school, maybe his family is coming into town, maybe he is excited to wear usually socially unacceptable ugly sweaters and get complements on them, maybe he is excited to open presents or maybe in white girl fashion he loves the limited edition holiday Starbucks drinks. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong and horribly wrong. The reason I sit back in silent jubilance is because I know the best 17 days of the year are quickly approaching us: college football bowl season.
2013, the final year of the BCS system, has certainly been a college football season for the ages. We have a seen a new conference emerge in the American Athletic and have enjoyed the rejuvenation of historic programs such as Ohio state and Miami, while also the continued downfall of traditional powerhouses Florida and Michigan . We have seen successful teams, such as the ACC runner up Duke Blue Devils and Conference USA champions Rice Owls from schools where football usually plays a second fiddle to academics. We have seen momentous upsets, see the Utes of Utah knocking off Stanford early in the season or San Jose State snapping Fresno State’s undefeated season and BCS bowl dreams. Sadly however we have also been forced into off the field issues like Manziel’s money man autograph campaign, Winston’s rape case, or famous coaches flirting with firings like Mach Brown. We have seen the reemergence of the Big 12 with Oklahoma, OSU and Baylor, the continued dominance of the SEC from Alabama, Mizzou and Auburn, and the erosion of both the PAC- 12 with dismal Cal, Washington State and Colorado, and Big 10 with struggling Northwestern, Illinois, and Michigan.
We have been lucky enough to witness instant classics such as the 49-42 collision in College Station between my Aggies and the cargo wearing fightin’ Sabans, the 4th down fling of the Auburn-Georgia game, or the 4OT thriller between Michigan and Penn State. We stood witness to perhaps the greatest college football play of all time with Chris Davis’ 109 yard return of a missed field goal to crush Alabama and propel Auburn to the SEC championship game. Lucky for you Saturday sitting, hard hitting, chop licking college football fans, this 2013-2014 still holds 32 games worth of gridiron greatness to chomp on. Here is my preview of the bowl season.
Great matchups:
Lucky for those of you like myself so excited for bowl season that December 21st has been circled on our calendars since August, opening day provides us with the first of my self titled “3 must watch games” as USC takes on Fresno State at 3:30 ET in the Las Vegas Bowl. USC was one of the feel good stories of 2013, after firing Lane Kiffin after a quick 2 loses, they found their footing under interim coach Ed Orgeron and came roaring back eventually upending then ranked #4 Stanford in a huge upset. I’m interested to watch Fresno State, who seemed to be on their way to an at large BCS bowl game until they lost to unheralded San Jose State. Another reason to watch this game is to watch the best player you have never heard of in Fresno State QB David Carr play his last collegiate game ever. Carr has somehow silently put up video game stats against the Mountain West competition for three straight years. It should fun to see him try to throw through a strong veteran USC linebacking corp. The next game on my bill is the Orange Bowl between Ohio State and Clemson. Watching a Buckeye defense usually programmed for stopping the downhill run game characteristic of the Big Ten attempt to stop Taij Boyd and Sammy Watkins of the spread offense Tigers should be enough to draw your remote to ESPN on January 3rd. My 3rd must watch game happens that same day, but features former Big 12 and SWC conference foes Missouri and Oklahoma State facing off in the Bowl of Cotton here at the Jerry Star. Both teams were a December 7th win away from playing in a BCS bowl and possibly a national championship, so it will have to be seen which team puts away the disappointment first.
Snoozers
These games have earned the dubious distinction of eminently being dubbed must miss games by me. The First bowl game on this list unfortunately goes to the Beef O Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl between Ohio and East Carolina. If the name isn’t enough to turn you off, then the matchup between two schools most people don’t even know existed surely will. The second bowl on this list goes to the Holiday Bowl between Texas Tech and Arizona State. This game should be over after halftime as the 10-2 Sun Devils are head and heels better than than the 7-5 Red Raiders. Lastly the 3rd snooze game will be the Sugar Bowl between Alabama and Oklahoma. Last year Oklahoma got absolutely shell lacked in the Cotton Bowl by A&M and I have reason to believe this year Sugar Bowl will be same story different verse for Boomer Sooner fans.
Teams to watch:
Rice Owls- The Conference USA champions have taken huge steps in their football program, and hope to top it off with a Liberty Bowl Win.
Texas A&M- To see Johnny Manziel and Mike Evans play possibly their last college football games in the Georgia Dome is as good reason as any to tune into the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on New Years Eve against Duke.
Northern Illinois- Love dual threat QB’s quarterbacks? Check out Jordan Lynch, the nations second leading rusher, as a QUARTERBACK, in the Poinsettia Bowl.
BCS Title Game:
Auburn 45 Florida State 42, Nick Marshall’s arm not legs lead Auburn down the field on the last drive before Auburn kicker Cody Parkery nails a 37 yard field goal as time expired to lift Auburn to the BCS championship and gives the SEC’s it’s 8th straight national championship.
