Ready for more bowls?
We're inching closer to Christmas, but the bowls are just getting started. Saturday's slate saw some riveting action for the football-starved viewer. BYU almost pulled off the greatest comeback in bowl history and Arizona and Appalachian State had to go to the wire to secure wins over New Mexico and Ohio.
Kenneth Dixon also scored four touchdowns for Louisiana Tech in the New Orleans Bowl to become the NCAA's all-time touchdown leader. Keenan Reynolds will get to do something about that next week.
Here's your bowl schedule from today through Saturday.
Monday
Western Kentucky vs. South Florida [Miami Beach Bowl] (ESPN, 2:30 p.m.). Western Kentucky and South Florida clash in Marlins Park this afternoon.
Marlins Park is a curious venue for football. It's a curious venue for anything, for that matter. The baseball stadium is conspicuous as a somewhat frivolous use of public money for a stadium on the grounds of the former Orange Bowl that no one wanted.
Still, this is a bowl game and you'll probably watch it.
This matchup pits the 11-2 Conference-USA champion Western Kentucky against 8-4 South Florida. Western Kentucky is a three-point favorite this game, but don't sleep on South Florida. The Bulls started the season 1-3 with one of those losses an 18-point crushing by Maryland. Thereafter, South Florida won seven of its next eight contests, losing only to Navy.
Tuesday
Akron vs. Utah State [Potato Bowl] (ESPN, 3:30 p.m.). The Zips play in their first bowl game since the 2005 season (and only its second ever) tomorrow.
College football fans love the MAC for its peculiar brand of exciting, offense-heavy football. Most programs are equally endowed too. Northern Illinois has been the best program for the past several years; Bowling Green is even back-to-back MAC champion. However, almost all MAC programs recruit the same caliber players, have the same quality facilities, and have the same kind of coaching staff that uses the MAC gig as a stepping stone to the next level (usually the Big Ten).
With that in mind, Akron has been among the worst programs in the MAC. The Zips went 30-78 in the nine years after winning the MAC in 2005. It never finished better than third in the MAC East, and that was in 2006.
That changed this year with a 7-5 record that brings Terry Bowden's Zips (yes, that Terry Bowden) to Boise for a December bowl tradition---football in Boise.
Utah State is a seven-point favorite in this game, however.
Temple vs. Toledo [Boca Raton Bowl] (ESPN, 7 p.m.). Tomorrow's game will be the second featuring a team ranked in the top 25 in the playoff standings. The No. 24 Temple Owls clash with the MAC West co-champion Toledo Rockets in Boca Raton.
If you followed both teams this season, this matchup intrigues for how deflating the end of the regular season was for both. The 10-3 Owls were threatening to secure the New Year's Six invite before losing by 21 at South Florida. It still won the East Division of the American Athletic Conference and played in the first ever American Athletic Conference Championship Game. However, it lost by 11 in Houston.
Toledo had its own brand of disappointment. Northern Illinois lost its regular season finale at home to Ohio, which paved the way for Toledo to supplant the Huskies as MAC West representative in Detroit. Northern Illinois had played in the MAC Championship Game every year since 2010 while Toledo had not been since 2004. However, the Rockets lost at home to Western Michigan.
Temple is a three-point favorite.
Wednesday
Boise State vs. Northern Illinois [Poinsettia Bowl] (ESPN, 4:30 p.m.). Conference powers Northern Illinois and Boise State play in the Poinsettia Bowl, another early bowl season tradition.
College football fans know Boise State well. The Broncos have won three Fiesta Bowls in the past ten years and was notably the "Group of Five" (i.e. mid-major) invite to the New Year's Six last season.
This season fell short of expectations. Seven first-half turnovers to Utah State resulted in a 26-point loss to Utah State. The Broncos lost two home games to New Mexico and Air Force down the stretch and finished with an 8-4 record.
Northern Illinois, the gods of the MAC this decade, fell short of expectations as well. The Huskies lost on senior day to Ohio and lost by 20 to Bowling Green in the MAC Championship Game. The Huskies are 8-5 this season and could finish 8-6.
Boise State is an eight-point favorite.
Georgia Southern vs. Bowling Green [GoDaddy Bowl] (ESPN, 8 p.m.). The MAC is a curious conference. The conference champion plays a bowl game in Mobile, Alabama. Honest to goodness, almost any destination for a MAC team is better by comparison.
This is a battle of interim coaches. Dino Babers used his second MAC championship to land the open Syracuse gig. Brian Ward, BG's defensive coordinator and interim coach, will join him after this bowl game.
Georgia Southern lost its head coach to Tulane. It may seem like a lateral move, and it is. However, Georgia Southern is not as generous with pay for head coaches or assistants as Tulane. That's saying something.
Georgia Southern is two years into FBS play and has an 8-4 record, though. That's certainly something.
Bowling Green is an eight-point favorite.
Thursday
Middle Tennessee vs. Western Michigan [Bahamas Bowl] (ESPN, 12 p.m.). Why isn't the Bahamas Bowl in the New Year's Six? This bowl game is in its second year but it's already one that teams from the MAC and Conference-USA wish they had.
Both teams are 7-5, but Western Michigan is the five-point favorite in this game.
San Diego State vs. Cincinnati [Hawai'i Bowl] (ESPN, 8 p.m.). The 8 p.m. ET kickoff in Hawaii on Christmas Eve is another bowl season tradition.
This an interesting matchup on paper. San Diego State, the Mountain West champions, have the better record at 10-3. The Aztecs started 1-3 (two losses at California and at Penn State), but won eight straight.
However, 7-5 Cincinnati looks much more explosive in the stat sheet. The Bearcats' offense out-gains San Diego State 559.4 yards per game to 378.3 yards per game. San Diego State's defense concedes just 287.9 yards per contest, which is good for No. 5 in the country. Will it hold the Bearcats' No. 5 total offense in check?
The Aztecs are a two-point favorite.
Saturday
Connecticut vs. Marshall [St. Petersburg Bowl] (ESPN, 11 a.m.). Is this bowl game a reward or punishment? This game is played in Tropicana Field, a somewhat lifeless venue for any athletic contest.
The bowl itself was previously sponsored by magicJack, Beef 'O' Brady's, and Bitcoin. That's quite a motley crew.
I had to verify that Connecticut actually belongs in this game. Lo and behold; it does. The Huskies, the team you remember losing at Missouri in arguably the worst game of the entire season, is 6-6. It had that home upset of Houston, the only blemish for Tom Herman's Cougars on the year.
Still, it's hard to find many superlatives for the Huskies. Two of its other wins were five-point wins over Villanova and Army. It beat Tulane, 7-3 too.
Marshall is 9-3. Its loss in the regular season finale to Western Kentucky cost the Thundering Herd an invite to the conference championship game.
Marshall is a five-point favorite this game. That seems... generous.
Miami vs. Washington State [Sun Bowl] (CBS, 2 p.m.). Who knew Washington State would be one of the surprise stories of the entire season? Despite losing at home to Portland State to start the season, Washington State is having its best season since 2003.
Miami, meanwhile, is waiting for the next era to start. Mark Richt takes full control of the program after this game.
Washington State is a three-point favorite. We all hope it takes Miami to the seventh floor.
Washington vs. Southern Mississippi [Heart of Dallas Bowl] (ESPN, 2:20 p.m.). Washington needed an Apple Cup win to secure at least a 6-6 season. It did so with authority. It beat rival Washington State 45-10, though the Cougars were playing without its starting quarterback.
If you're curious, the Pac-12 is not a tie-in to the Heart of Dallas Bowl. The bowl is connected to the Big Ten, the Big XII, and the Conference-USA. However, there are too many damn bowls and not enough bowl-eligible teams to fill them. So, Washington is en route to Dallas.
That said, Washington is a nine-point favorite over 9-4 C-USA West champion Southern Mississippi. That also seems generous.
Indiana vs. Duke [Pinstripe Bowl] (ABC, 3:30 p.m.). Two traditional basketball powers playing a football game in Yankee Stadium. Sign me up.
Indiana is a three-point favorite in this game and I kind of expect it to cover. Jeremy Cash, Duke's All-American safety, is out for this game. Indiana's defense couldn't stop a nose bleed, but its offense can score on almost anyone.
Tulsa vs. Virginia Tech [Independence Bowl] (ESPN, 5:45 p.m.). Frank Beamer's legendary coaching career will end in Shreveport, Louisiana. Again, I'm not sure this bowl game is a reward or a punishment.
For a while, Virginia Tech was staring down a 5-7 season that could have cost the Hokies a bowl invite. It rallied to beat Virginia in Charlottesville and send Mike London to greener pastures. At 6-6, the outcome of this will be an interesting final sentence in the story of Frank Beamer's legacy. Could he go out a "loser" with a team with a losing record?
Vegas says "no". Virginia Tech is a 14-point favorite, the biggest favorite among any team playing this week. Tulsa's defense concedes 531.5 yards per game. Only Texas Tech and Kansas have worse defenses.
UCLA vs. Nebraska [Foster Farms Bowl] (ESPN, 9:15 p.m.). Nebraska is 5-7 this season and is playing a bowl game entirely because of its APR. I'm not the first to make this observation, but I think that means Bo Pelini deserves a performance bonus from Nebraska.
I said last week that I still expect Nebraska to have its hat handed to it by the Bruins. The Bruins are a seven-point favorite.
