Before we take a look at tonight’s bowl game I want to touch on the controversy surrounding what the Colts did yesterday against the Jets. If you’ve been under a rock then you missed that Indy got out to a 15-10 lead and then pulled Peyton Manning and the rest of the starters. They didn’t score again, and the Jets waltzed to a deceptively easy 29-15 win. Coach Jim Caldwell has spent most of his time since making the decision defending it. This stinks in a whole lot of ways. There’s the fact that this was a home game, so they effectively robbed their fans of their ticket prices. There’s the fact that resting the starters hasn’t worked in the past for Indy, and it’s especially meaningless because there are three weeks between this game and the first playoff game. There’s the fact that intentionally throwing a game away like they did makes a mockery of any of the legal betting that happened on the game. Most significantly, though, the Jets were in the midst of a very intense chase for the wild card spots, so by throwing this game away and handing the Jets a win they were intentionally hurting the chances of every other team trying to earn one of their spots. I understand a team wanting to be at their best for the playoffs, but doing it at the expense of the chances of other teams is vile.
Independence Bowl
Georgia (-6.5) vs. Texas A&M
Monday, December 28, 5 pm ET
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We’ll be back with more Bowl game goodness on December 28th.
In the mean time, relax, have a great holiday, don’t eat too much turkey (unless you want to), and enjoy the season.
All the best to you and your families.
Little Caesars Bowl
Ohio (-3) vs. Marshall
Saturday, December 26, 1 pm ET
If you are a big believer that motivation is a key factor in bowl games then you won’t have any problems picking a side in this one. Ohio hasn’t won 10 games since 1968, but they have the chance to do it this year if they win this one. That’s a huge milestone for any team. Marshall, on the other hand, had such a frustrating season that their head coach resigned right after the season – just before he would likely have been fired. They are coming into this game with an interim coach, and that almost never goes well. On the plus side for Marshall, stud running back Darius Marshall is back in action for this one after missing two games due to injury.
Meineke Car Care Bowl
Pitt (-2.5) vs. North Carolina
Saturday, December 26, 4:30 pm ET
Continue reading “Bowl Previews – Little Caesars, Meineke Car Care, Emerald, Music City”
There are 31 bowl games left to play, and over the next several days we are going to look at each of them. Today we’ll begin by looking at three games, starting with tonight’s potentially brilliant Las Vegas Bowl.
Las Vegas Bowl
Oregon State (-3) vs. BYU
Tuesday, December 22, 8 pm ET
Continue reading “Bowl Previews – Las Vegas, Poinsettia, Hawaii”
I love the craziness of kickers in the NFL. A couple of weeks ago Shaun Suisham was the bum in Washington when he missed a kick that would have let the Redskins beat the Saints. He was cut immediately after the game. This week Dallas’ Nick Folk missed a 24 yard field goal that would have given the Cowboys an easy win, and instead forced them to sweat the end of the game. Folk was cut today as a result of that kick and his general habit of missing kicks. Ironically, Folk’s issues came against the Saints as well – at this rate no kicker is going to want to play against the Saints. The best part of this drama – the Cowboys have chosen to replace Folk with none other than Suisham. One man’s garbage…
There is just one bowl game on tap for today, and it’s far from the best one of the season. It’s still worth a look, though:
New Orleans Bowl
Middle Tennessee State (+3.5) vs. Southern Mississippi
8:00 pm ET
The three weeks of brilliance that is the bowl season gets underway this afternoon with the first of 34 games. There aren’t that many games that look like they could be massive blowouts, but the very first game out of the gate – the New Mexico Bowl between Fresno State and Wyoming certainly does. Here’s a look at the two games that get us started today:
Like many sports fans, I have spent a lot of time last night and today thinking and reading about Chris Henry. Strange story. Awful Story. Senseless story. By all reports the guy was finally getting his life in order, and we have seen before that he is one heck of a player when his mind is on the game, so it seems like a horrible waste for things to have turned out like they have. The details will likely come out and perhaps make more sense of what now seems exceptionally odd, but ultimately it doesn’t really matter. The thing to focus on here is that 26 years old is way too young for anyone to go regardless of the problems they have had or caused.
I’m back in action after spending the last few days in Vegas – just a few casual days of fun with my wife. While I was down there I obviously did the same thing I do every time I am down there – I spent as much time as I could sitting in the sportsbook. This time around it was the Venetian for the most part. While I was sitting there I spent a lot of time thinking about the difference between playing games live and playing online. Here are a few of them:
Yesterday was the good – the six best bowl games. Today, the bad – the five worst bowl games:
1. New Orleans Bowl – Southern Mississippi and Middle Tennessee offer a couple of interesting factors – most significant, this is the final game for Southern Miss running back Damion Fletcher. Despite that, it’s hard to imagine a pairing that could be less inspiring and less captivating to anyone from the casual fan to the avid follower. Most bowls give us a reason to care. This one just plain doesn’t.
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