2023-24 NCAA Football (Bowl Season)

Okay, the problem with college football right now is that it has suddenly become the opposite of what we always feared. For years we've been told that the playoff is undermining the regular season, but with the wave of transfers and stars sitting for the NFL draft, it is now the regular season that is exciting week after week while the bowl season is kinda boring (unless you made the final four). Though I've never been a fan of expanding the 4-team playoff we currently have, it feels like the 12-team version (starting next year?) will create more incentives for players to play instead of begging off the competition.  

Hey, college football: you've got to get these players to realize that they can cement all-time great legacies, create commodifiable personas and raise their draft stock by playing these games. The fans are watching, the attention is there, the matchups are (usually) well done, these can be exciting games that everyone wants to see and remember. The short term view of the draft impedes the long term view of living a good long life and having a full rich career that includes college highlights, as well. 

Right

Georgia Southern 21-41 Ohio

Florida A&M 30-26 Howard

New Mexico State 10-37 Fresno State

UCLA 35-22 Boise State

California 14-34 Texas Tech

Western Kentucky 38-35 Old Dominion

Fun game! Western came roaring back in the 4th quarter after going down 21-0 in the first five minutes! ODU was not that good this season, clearly overachieved in the 1st half and then just couldn't keep up down the stretch. Furious action late, a great W for WKU.

UT-San Antonio 35-17 Marshall

South Florida 45-0 Syracuse

Arkansas State 19-21 Northern Illinois

South Alabama 59-10 Eastern Michigan

Texas State 45-21 Rice

Kansas 49-36 UNLV

Virginia Tech 41-20 Tulane

(15) Louisville 28-42 Southern Cal 

(18) North Carolina State 19-28 (25) Kansas State

(14) Arizona 38-24 (12) Oklahoma

Felt like Arizona was going to pummel OU, then it felt like OU had righted the ship and we might be in for a barnburner. But instead Arizona got going again and the Sooners couldn't hang. The right outcome, though the shape of the game was a little weird. 

(22) Clemson 38-35 Kentucky

Fun game! 4th quarter was bonkers! Coming in, I thought Clemson was the better team, a team that had gotten better throughout the season and was going to beat Kentucky. Kentucky was okay this season, some weird ups and downs, not a bad team but probably not playing better than Clemson. As the game wore on, I thought Kentucky was generally the better team but then 3 straight turnovers in the 2nd half doomed them. But the 4th quarter was basically nothing but Kentucky either making big plays or giving the ball away, capped off by one last solid drive by Clemson that the Wildcats just couldn't slow down. Weird game but probably the right outcome.

(19) Oregon State 8-40 (16) Notre Dame

Yawn! Irish came to play.

(11) Mississippi 38-25 (10) Penn State

I was impressed with Ole Miss more than I thought I would be. Thought this would be nip and tuck, but not so much. Penn State just never found any offense (not a shocker, they never had much all season long).

Auburn 13-31 Maryland

(8) Georgia 63-3 (5) Florida State

Didn't watch much of this one--did anybody? Yeah, I get it: FSU was on their 3rd string QB and they basically mailed this in. But, why did get Georgia get stuck playing this team instead of one that was prepared to play--like, say, Oregon, who got stuck playing Liberty. Sorry, Seminole fans, I was never in on your squad and as the injuries mounted, your team completely melted and wasted a prime time slot against a really good team. No sympathy for Florida State--they should've been playing Liberty!

Wisconsin 31-35 (13) Louisiana State

Surprised how good this game was, I was never in on Wisconsin at any point this season. Good match from the Badgers, though, back and forth action, fun game. 

(23) Liberty 6-45 (8) Oregon

Why? Except for the fact that Oregon just couldn't solve Washington, one could make the argument that they were the #1 team this season....so why did they get stuck with Liberty? What a waste of a football game. I would've like to see Liberty against Iowa (or why not Florida State)? Could the 3rd string Seminoles have hung with Liberty? This was the clearest, worst scheduling misfire of the entire bowl season.  

(17) Iowa 0-35 (21) Tennessee

(3) Texas 31-37 (2) Washington

Wow, Washington really tried to give the game away late! But for the most part, I though UW was easily the better team from beginning to end. I'm a big fan of QB Pennix, I get that he's older but I think he can step into the NFL as a reliable backup on day one and I think somebody will grab him in the 2nd round (Patriots ought to nab him if he's there--even if they draft a QB in the 1st round, too!).

Wrong

Jacksonville State 34-31 (OT) Louisiana

Man, Louisiana really should've won this. They went up 31-24 with maybe 5 minutes left and then settled into a prevent defense that allowed Jacksonville State to dink-and-dunk their way right down the field to tie it up. There was too much time left to go into preventive shell, instead of just playing tough defense, they let plays build up in front of them and then just got swallowed up. Too bad, I really thought Louisiana was the better team.

Miami (OH) 9-13 Appalachian State

Georgia Tech 30-17 Central Florida

Troy 10-17 Duke

Georgia State 45-22 Utah State

James Madison 21-31 Air Force

Utah 7-14 Northwestern

Coastal Carolina 24-14 San Jose State

Bowling Green 24-30 Minnesota

North Carolina 10-30 West Virginia

Texas A&M 23-31 (20) Oklahoma State

(24) Southern Methodist 14-23 Boston College

Rutgers 31-24 Miami

Memphis 36-26 Iowa State

(9) Missouri 14-3 (7) Ohio State

Missouri was the best team Georgia played this season and though I didn't pick them to win (though I should have), their top 10 finish was not some SEC fetishism--it was legit, they were really good this year! We can make all the excuses about who the Buckeyes didn't bring with them (can't we just move transfer portal stuff to the spring?), the world expected THE Ohio State to put up more than 3 points. Good win for Missouri, who fustigated the Buckeyes from beginning to end. 

Toledo 15-16 Wyoming

(4) Alabama 20-27 (OT) (1) Michigan

Alabama had their shot to win and just couldn't seal the deal. Alabama's problem all year long was spotty QB and O-line play and that was on full display in this game, as QB Millroe had trouble with snaps and was virtually useless at getting the ball downfield. But when Millroe decided to run, he was effective, and Michigan's D was strangely unable to stop the one thing he was actually good at. Alabama stole the lead and felt like the better team but Michigan made the most of their final drive, got the game to OT and made plays while Bama floundered. Good W for the Wolverines, though I'm still not convinced they are better than Washington (or Georgia--or Alabama!).

Championship: Washington 13-31 Michigan 

I thought Washington was the better team most all season and I thought that even more after the semifinals. But Michigan's defense was superb in the final game, giving QB Pennix no time to throw and nowhere to put the ball. To be fair, Pennix made a lot of throws that could've been caught by NFL receivers, so I don't want to suggest that he had a bad game. No, it was that Michigan's pass rush got consistent pressure with only four rushers and the shape of the zone defense was marvelously designed. Throw in that early on Mihigan's RB's were able to go to full throttle and it made for a bottled Huskie game plan. The score looks like a blowout but Michigan scored two late TD's to blow it open, the real story of the game was that the high powered Huskie offense couldn't get going. The Wolverines ran the ball well early on and brought stifling defense throughout.