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Armadillo: Saturday's six-pack
-- TV ratings for national college football semifinals were down 36% from LY. Guy who decided to put the games on New Year's Eve may be looking for a job soon.
-- Weird seeing a Stanford player wearing #7; how is Elway's number not retired?
-- Gonzaga C Karnowski (back) is out for year; Arizona gets its C Tarczewski back tomorrow for its rivalry game with Arizona State.
-- Montreal 5, Boston 1-- Road team is now 12-4 in NHL's outdoor games.
-- ESPN football scout Todd McShay has five Ohio State Buckeyes in his top 32 players for April's NFL Draft.
-- Arizona State is an underdog tonight, first Pac-12 team to be a bowl underdog since Washington (+5) lost 28-26 to Boise State in 2012 Las Vegas Bowl.
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Armadillo: Saturday's List of 13: Some of this year's better bowl games.....
13) Duke 44, Indiana 41 OT-- Hoosiers gained 667 yards but lost; their kicker missed a FG on last play; he thought he made the kick. Duke wins its first bowl in 54 years.
12) Utah 35, BYU 28-- Rivalry game sold out Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, but in first quarter, Cougars turned ball over on their first five possessions and it was 35-0 Utah very early. I was in Westgate sportsbook sitting next to a guy who had bet on BYU- he was not happy. BYU wound up coming back- they had the ball late in game with a chance to tie the score, but Utah held on. Whittingham is now 8-1 in bowls.
11) Washington State 20, Miami 14-- Wonder how many times a Mike Leach team has been shut out in a half? Not only that, they hung on to win. Unusual.
10) LSU 56, Texas Tech 27-- You look at Texas Tech's chart for season; they allowed 300+ rushing yards in five of last eight games- it was evident that Leonard Fournette was going to run amuck in this game. He scored five touchdowns in an easy win.
9) Virginia Tech 55, Tulsa 52-- Frank Beamer goes out with a bowl win; almost 30 years ago I was at a Virginia Tech-Syracuse game in the Carrier Dome-- Syracuse killed them, 35-0, something like that, an awful game. The job Beamer did to lift the Hokies into national prominence shouldn't be understated.
8) Nevada 28, Colorado State 23-- Las Vegas Bowl wanted BYU-Utah instead of a Mountain West team, so these two schools from same league wound up playing each other- thats not supposed to happen. At least they hadn't played each other this year.
7) Baylor 49, North Carolina 38-- Bears lost their top two QBs, so they just ran the ball all day-- 84 times for 645 yards, Baylor ran 102 plays for 756 yards with its #3 QB taking the snap and mostly just handing the ball off.
6) The three 5-7 teams-- There are too many bowl games; lousy teams shouldn't be in bowls. So of course all three 5-7 teams won their bowl game.
5) Wisconsin 23, USC 21-- Trojans had won 14 in a row against Big 14 teams, but got upset here. USC desperately needs some continuity in its program; somehow they've kept winning enough games to get to bowls, but they'll be breaking in a new QB next year. Curious to see how Clay Helton builds his coaching staff.
4) Navy 44, Pitt 28-- QB Keenan Reynolds might've been Navy's best football player since Roger Staubach, its best athlete since David Robinson. He eneded his career with a home win; he has scored more TDs than any I-A player, ever.
3) Pre-game hype-- Always bet the over on pre-game hype; too much talking since ESPN seemingly has an infinite amount of time dedicated to promoting these games. ESPN actually owns ten bowl games, so they have a vested interest in hyping them.
2) Houston 38, Florida State 24-- Everett Golson missed his last college game due to a death in the family; he missed a year at Notre Dame because he got tossed out of the school. Disappointing career. Cougars had a great win here, both for themselves and the AAC, which went 2-6 in bowl games this year but won their biggest one.
1) Alabama 38, Michigan State 0-- Spartans lost two bowls to Bama in last six years by a combined score of 87-7; in between, they went 4-0 in bowls, winning all four by 4 or less points- they were underdog in all six of those games..
-- TV ratings for national college football semifinals were down 36% from LY. Guy who decided to put the games on New Year's Eve may be looking for a job soon.
-- Weird seeing a Stanford player wearing #7; how is Elway's number not retired?
-- Gonzaga C Karnowski (back) is out for year; Arizona gets its C Tarczewski back tomorrow for its rivalry game with Arizona State.
-- Montreal 5, Boston 1-- Road team is now 12-4 in NHL's outdoor games.
-- ESPN football scout Todd McShay has five Ohio State Buckeyes in his top 32 players for April's NFL Draft.
-- Arizona State is an underdog tonight, first Pac-12 team to be a bowl underdog since Washington (+5) lost 28-26 to Boise State in 2012 Las Vegas Bowl.
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Armadillo: Saturday's List of 13: Some of this year's better bowl games.....
13) Duke 44, Indiana 41 OT-- Hoosiers gained 667 yards but lost; their kicker missed a FG on last play; he thought he made the kick. Duke wins its first bowl in 54 years.
12) Utah 35, BYU 28-- Rivalry game sold out Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, but in first quarter, Cougars turned ball over on their first five possessions and it was 35-0 Utah very early. I was in Westgate sportsbook sitting next to a guy who had bet on BYU- he was not happy. BYU wound up coming back- they had the ball late in game with a chance to tie the score, but Utah held on. Whittingham is now 8-1 in bowls.
11) Washington State 20, Miami 14-- Wonder how many times a Mike Leach team has been shut out in a half? Not only that, they hung on to win. Unusual.
10) LSU 56, Texas Tech 27-- You look at Texas Tech's chart for season; they allowed 300+ rushing yards in five of last eight games- it was evident that Leonard Fournette was going to run amuck in this game. He scored five touchdowns in an easy win.
9) Virginia Tech 55, Tulsa 52-- Frank Beamer goes out with a bowl win; almost 30 years ago I was at a Virginia Tech-Syracuse game in the Carrier Dome-- Syracuse killed them, 35-0, something like that, an awful game. The job Beamer did to lift the Hokies into national prominence shouldn't be understated.
8) Nevada 28, Colorado State 23-- Las Vegas Bowl wanted BYU-Utah instead of a Mountain West team, so these two schools from same league wound up playing each other- thats not supposed to happen. At least they hadn't played each other this year.
7) Baylor 49, North Carolina 38-- Bears lost their top two QBs, so they just ran the ball all day-- 84 times for 645 yards, Baylor ran 102 plays for 756 yards with its #3 QB taking the snap and mostly just handing the ball off.
6) The three 5-7 teams-- There are too many bowl games; lousy teams shouldn't be in bowls. So of course all three 5-7 teams won their bowl game.
5) Wisconsin 23, USC 21-- Trojans had won 14 in a row against Big 14 teams, but got upset here. USC desperately needs some continuity in its program; somehow they've kept winning enough games to get to bowls, but they'll be breaking in a new QB next year. Curious to see how Clay Helton builds his coaching staff.
4) Navy 44, Pitt 28-- QB Keenan Reynolds might've been Navy's best football player since Roger Staubach, its best athlete since David Robinson. He eneded his career with a home win; he has scored more TDs than any I-A player, ever.
3) Pre-game hype-- Always bet the over on pre-game hype; too much talking since ESPN seemingly has an infinite amount of time dedicated to promoting these games. ESPN actually owns ten bowl games, so they have a vested interest in hyping them.
2) Houston 38, Florida State 24-- Everett Golson missed his last college game due to a death in the family; he missed a year at Notre Dame because he got tossed out of the school. Disappointing career. Cougars had a great win here, both for themselves and the AAC, which went 2-6 in bowl games this year but won their biggest one.
1) Alabama 38, Michigan State 0-- Spartans lost two bowls to Bama in last six years by a combined score of 87-7; in between, they went 4-0 in bowls, winning all four by 4 or less points- they were underdog in all six of those games..
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