College football week 14 thread: The Greatest Story Ever Toad

[Oggiedoggie]

If you happen to be in Tucson on Dec. 30, and have 20 bucks in your pocket, you can watch Ohio play Wyoming (assuming someone doesn't just hand you a free ticket).

 

[micropolitan guy]

SC dropped six spots, from 4th to 10th. Yes, it got blown out, but six spots? I guess the good thing is it was irrelevant, because it was going to the Cotton Bowl regardless.

 

[Donny in his element]

SC dropped six spots, from 4th to 10th. Yes, it got blown out, but six spots? I guess the good thing is it was irrelevant, because it was going to the Cotton Bowl regardless.

Three that jumped USC won their championship game. The other three were the three right behind USC last week.

 

[Twirling Time]

The Liberty Bowl will be saddened to find out that everything east of Little Rock is a barren wasteland nowadays. No ticket bump from rich farmers anymore.

 

[Chef2]

Some quick thoughts on bowl matchups:

• Tennessee vs. Clemson seems like a very appropriate uniform match-up for the Orange Bowl
• We've got SMU vs. BYU in the ABQ for this year's Acronym Bowl
• I know they lost a lot from last year, and going 9-3 is nothing to be ashamed of, but Cincinnati going from the Playoff to the curtain-jerker Fenway Bowl on Dec. 17 is a jarring sight

• Rice (5-7) vs. Southern Miss (6-6) in the LendingTree Bowl at 4:45 p.m. on Dec. 17 is probably the most accurate depiction of the first weekend of bowl season I could ever hope to come up with
• How San Diego State wound up 7-5 and playing in a halfway decent bowl game (Hawaii Bowl vs. Middle Tennessee) is beyond me. That team sucked for the first half of the season
• Does the winner of the Birmingham Bowl between Coastal Carolina and East Carolina get to proclaim themselves the king of the Carolina directional schools?
• The Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix, with one-time Top 20 teams Wisconsin (6-6) and Oklahoma State (7-5), is the epitome of "Why do we have to play this game?"

• Kansas vs. Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl only came about because Missouri reportedly refused to play Kansas in the same game.
• Oregon vs. North Carolina in the Holiday Bowl could be a fun game, depending on who plays and if both teams can get their shirt together.
• Remember when Syracuse was a spunky 6-0 and was leading Clemson on the road at halftime? Yeah ... they finished 7-5 and wound up playing Minnesota in the Pinstripe Bowl.

• Oklahoma-Florida State was the national championship game in 2000, and could have been a Playoff game as recently as seven or eight years ago. Now it's the Cheez-It Bowl. Yikes.
• Maryland vs. N.C. State in a postseason game in Charlotte should be reserved for the ACC basketball tournament, not a college football bowl game.
• Notre Dame vs. South Carolina in the Gator Bowl might be a great game. Probably be better if Notre Dame's quarterback hadn't just peaced out, though.

• Gotta wonder what Alabama team will show up for the Sugar Bowl. One who has a bunch of players who opted out and the rest have the motivation of a piece of cheese? Or one that's reasonably competent. If K-State brings its full lineup that could be an upset special.
• LSU vs. Purdue in the Citrus Bowl, in a match-up of conference runners-up, is the "You were ThisClose" Bowl.

The Texas Bowl between Ole Miss and Texas Tech will be a race to 100 plays.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Three that jumped USC won their championship game. The other three were the three right behind USC last week.

I know, and it didn't change SC's bowl assignment. But even with the bad loss to an awfully good team, SC had 11 FCS wins and only two losses. KSU, Alabama and Tennessee have only 9 FSC wins; KSU has more losses.

I'm just glad they didn't listen to the begging from CBS and Saban and screw TCU.

 

[cjericho]

I know, and it didn't change SC's bowl assignment. But even with the bad loss to an awfully good team, SC had 11 FCS wins and only two losses. KSU, Alabama and Tennessee have only 9 FSC wins; KSU has more losses.

I'm just glad they didn't listen to the begging from CBS and Saban and screw TCU.

The FCS games really don't make a big difference. Tenn played UT-Martin and Alabama played Austin Peay. Those teams had no chance to win,
USC played Rice, which is FBS, but Rice had no chance to win. USC did fall a lot, but among good teams it's tough to win twice in a season.
Utah ran all over them.

 

[BTExpress]

Surprising stat: Winners of the first game actually have a 34-24 record in conference championship game rematches.

Winners of the first game only have a 7-16 record in bowl games/title games that are rematches.

 

[micropolitan guy]

The FCS games really don't make a big difference. Tenn played UT-Martin and Alabama played Austin Peay. Those teams had no chance to win,
USC played Rice, which is FBS, but Rice had no chance to win. USC did fall a lot, but among good teams it's tough to win twice in a season.
Utah ran all over them.

And I checked, Tennessee fell five spots after getting housed by South Carolina. And since it didn't change SC's bowl destination, NBD. Just thought it was interesting.

 

[Regan MacNeil]

Please no one end up in a basement due to heavy bowl-related gambling losses.

 

[jr/shotglass]

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Officials:

Peach (Georgia-Ohio State): Pac-12
Fiesta (Michigan-TCU): SEC

National championship: ACC

Double-check the replay crew for the national championship game now, please.