2024-25 NCAA Football (The Bowls)

The playoff:

1st Round

Indiana 17-27 Notre Dame (It took Indiana forever to get any offense going. Notre Dame cruised)

SMU 10-38 Penn State (SMU, as in the ACC final against Clemson, did absolutely nothing in the 1st half and were ground up quick)

Clemson 24-38 Texas (Clemson put up a good fight but just didn't have enough to beat Texas)

Tennessee 17-42 Ohio State (Yeah, the score is accurate, this was a pummeling)

Quarterfinals

Penn State 31-14 Boise State (Like SMU, Boise State just couldn't move the ball on the Nittany Lion D)

Texas 39-31 (OT) Arizona State (Crazy game! Felt lik Texas had the game wrapped up early, but the Longhorns kinda sucked all through the 4th quarter, ASU got hot, made plays and tied the game up--and it felt like they were going to steal it, but the Longhorns came to their senses, made some plays of their own and moved on)

Ohio State 41-21 Oregon (A straight-up Buckeye thrashing; the score was 31-0 almost instantly and the game felt over early; Oregon had a good drive before the half and again after halftime, but that was pretty much it)

Notre Dame 23-10 Georgia (Notre Dame forced a fumble right before halftime deep in UGA territory and were able to convert a TD before the half; then the ran back the 2nd half kickoff for a TD and that 14 point burst was the difference in the otherwise even contest)

Semifinals

Notre Dame 27-24 Penn State (Felt bad for the Penn State QB, who threw a late pick to set up the winning FG, tough to go out like that in what was otherwise an even contest)

Ohio State 28-14 Texas (OSU induced a late scoop-and-score just as the Longhorns were about to tie the game up; so on the one hand the game was much tighter than the score suggests and yet....I never thought Texas was gonna win, so....I dunno...about right, I guess)

Championship

Ohio State 34-23 Notre Dame (Notre Dame scored a TD on their opening drive but the QB endured some serious abuse to make it happen, so even though the Irish got off to a good start, you knew they were gonna have trouble keeping it up. And then the Irish defense didn't show up at all and it was 31-7 at the half. OSU's attack faltered in the 2nd half and Notre Dame had some nice moments, but it wasn't enough and the Buckeyes comfortably cruised to the title)

Some are saying that what the Buckeyes went through to win was unprecedented but I would point back to the run the Buckeyes had in 2015: destroyed Wisconsin in the Big 10 final (with a 2nd string QB), handily beat mighty Alabama (with a 3rd string QB!), and smooshed Oregon like a bug in the championship. I thought that was an even more amazing run because I had long considered the Buckeyes out of it before that improbable run. This time, I thought the Buckeyes were the 2nd best team and were able to knock out Oregon (the best team) early on, so as impressive as this run was, it wasn't shocking at all--the way 2015 was. Congrats to the Buckeyes, another great run from one of the all time great programs. 

The other bowls  (*):

Ones I got right: 21

South Alabama 30-23 Western Michigan

Memphis 42-37 West Virginia

Western Kentucky 17-27 James Madison

Cal 13-24 UNLV

Ohio 30-27 Jacksonville State

Tulane 8-33 Florida

Coastal Carolina 15-44 UT-San Antonio

Northern Illinois 28-20 Fresno State

South Florida 41-39 San Jose State

Rutgers 41-44 Kansas State

Oklahoma 20-21 Navy

Texas Tech 26-39 Arkansas

Syracuse 52-35 Washington State

East Carolina 26-21 North Carolina State

Brigham Young 36-14 Colorado

Louisiana Tech 6-27Army

Iowa 24-27 Missouri

Louisville 35-34 Washington 

Baylor 31-44 Louisiana State

Duke 20-52 Mississippi

North Texas 28-30 Texas State

Ones I got wrong: 14

Georgia Southern 26-31 Sam Houston

Pittsburgh 46-48 Toledo

Arkansas State 38-31 Bowling Green

Georgia Tech 27-35 Vanderbilt

Southern California 35-31 Texas A&M

Connecticut 27-14 North Carolina

Boston College 15-20 Nebraska

Louisiana 3-34 Texas Christian

Iowa State 42-41 Miami

Miami (OH) 43-17 Colorado State

Alabama 13-19 Michigan

South Carolina 17-21 Illinois

Minnesota 24-10 Virginia Tech

Buffalo 26-7 Liberty

(*) I just pick winners, no spreads.