Bowl Quiz: How many Bowl Games can you name? _______________________________________________ Today's Bowl Games Boca Raton Bowl Marshall vs. Northern Illinois Boca Raton, Fla. | FAU Stadium Tuesday, December 23 | 5 p.m. | ESPN San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl Navy vs. San Diego State San Diego | Qualcomm Stadium Tuesday, December 23 | 8:30 p.m. | ESPN
I think the Boca Raton Bowl tonight will give us a pretty good idea of just how good Marshall really is. I don't know that anyone truly thought they were going to be able to compete should they advance to a New Year's Six bowl, but they're still pretty talented and Rakeem Cato is the real deal at quarterback. NIU should give them a good test, as they are probably one of the better "Group of Five" programs in the country, not just this year, but over the last decade or so. The Poinsettia Bowl should might be the only bowl game that has a chance of being over in less than three hours. Both teams love to run the ball. Navy runs their option, led by quarterback Keenan Reynolds and SDSU features Donnel Pumphrey, who quietly rushed for 1,755 yards this season. It should also be a good crowd, which is more than you can say for most minor bowl games. This is a home game for SDSU in the most literal sense, as the game is played in their home stadium, and Navy will have a lot of support, as San Diego is obviously home to a lot of Navy personnel.
Today's Bowl Games Popeyes Bahamas Bowl Central Michigan vs. Western Kentucky Nassau, Bahamas | Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium Wednesday, December 24 | 11 a.m. | ESPN Hawai'i Bowl Fresno State vs. Rice Honolulu | Aloha Stadium Wednesday, December 24 | 7 p.m. | ESPN
You know, I'm glad a didn't bet the house, but WKU's hc is another example of someone making a log of money, but who has no concept of clock management.
Props to Central Michigan! Missed the two-point conversion and lost 49-48. They were down 49-14 going into the 4th quarter and scored 5 TDs, including a 75-yard pass and several laterals on the last of regulation. That was awesome.
Good that CMU didn't quit, but WKU went straight prevent on D, and did that hybrid half hearted clock bleed, where they would run, run, pass (incomplete) and sort of kill time, but not really. The worst was when CMU started using timeouts down 14 and WKU had the ball at midfield on 3rd and 10 (CMU had 2 timeouts left) and threw way down field. They didn't truly go burn clock mode until the last possession up 7. They could have easily run out the clock if they committed to the burn earlier. Also, instead of punting into the end zone, they could have punted to the 20 and run out the clock on the roll of the punt instead of killing it once it hit the end zone. Congrats on the miracle, lol.
I had WKU -3. Just a sickening loss. I'm so disgusted. Coach kept trying to break the record with the QB by going for it multiple times like on 3rd and 4 and 3rd and 10. Terrible clock management; they deserved to lose. I had a horrible feeling after the punt gave them one second left (was screaming for them to just throw it in the endzone or hoping the clock operator would just end it). Then the dreaded 2 point conversion...wow, I really wish CMU would've just won at that point. WKU's coach... just pathetic. This game and the SDSU game last night - just horrible being on the (right), but actual wrong side...
You were burned by the missed FGs? Yeah, Vegas has been killing it lately bc all the big money has been on the ridiculous losers this bowl season. Only thing that held up so far was Utah killing it like they were supposed to.
Today's games: Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech Dallas | Cotton Bowl Friday, December 26 | Noon | ESPN Quick Lane Bowl Rutgers vs. North Carolina Detroit | Ford Field Friday, December 26 | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN BITCOIN St. Petersburg Bowl NC State vs. UCF St. Petersburg, Fla. | Tropicana Field Friday, December 26 | 7 p.m. | ESPN
I don't have any ties to the University of Illinois, but I do currently live in the state of Illinois, so I feel the need to apologize on behalf of the rest of the state for subjecting you to that bowl performance from the Fighting Illini. I feel for the Illini faithful. That is a team that probably should have gone 3-9 or 4-8 with Tim Beckman getting let go at the end of the season. Instead, Minnesota laid an egg against them, they squeaked past Penn State in a game that was an embarrassment to the game of football, and I suppose I will give them some credit for beating the pants off of Northwestern in a game that they had to have to get into a bowl game. Point being...Beckman is going to be rewarded as if the program made great strides this season when I'm not sure that's really the case. It wouldn't shock me at all if the bottom just kind of falls out next season.