Let's Go Bowling------2019-20 Bowl Game Running Thread

Stuff like this always breaks the day after I send in my bowl picks. I'm guessing it wasn't a discretionary suspension.

Sources: Three Sooners suspended for LSU game

 

That's exactly how it was two years ago when UAB went (and was the team just happy to be there).

 

Anyone interested in doing an SJ Bowl Pool on ESPN.com?

 

Finished my bowl pool but the problem, besides trying to figure out who will be inspired and who will mail it in, is with 41 games, it’s impossible to avoid having games with more points than you want to give them bite you in the ass

 

I must be remembering your post at the time. And people think nobody listens.

 

Don't get me wrong. I know that the coaches were aware of that tendency and were trying to push the guys past it, working on getting them to focus. It's just that you had a team that had practiced against each other for two years without playing a game, and when they actually won eight games and made a bowl, they were proud and joyful. They went to the Bahamas, and I'd be willing to bet that there were some guys on that team who had never even been to the beach before. They got caught up in all the bowl hoopla, and I think it cost them some focus.

I do have to put at least some of the blame on Coach Clark, because he and the school lobbied for the Bahamas Bowl. Everyone on that team had busted their asses for years to make that season happen, and Clark and the two or three assistants who stayed absolutely killed themselves. They put in massive hours researching the Juco guys they wanted to target and then recruiting them to come to a school that wasn't going to play a single game for a season (or two, depending on when they came). The Bahamas were a reward for the whole UAB Football family. Last year all of that mindset was gone. They were there to win, first and foremost, and they did.

I'm not sure how they could have avoided a letdown like that, honestly, unless it was by Clark being a stone bastard in the Nick Saban mold.

 

Big Ten commish: SEC/ACC snub would spur immediate Playoff expansion

Surprised Delaney said this on his way out the door and didn't do something when he had more juice. I do wonder what is going to happen to the sport in the next three to five years. Attendance is dwindling, ratings haven't boomed, and its become more a sport of the haves and have nots, and not enough games where the haves play each other.

 

If UAB players treated the Bahamas Bowl in that fashion, the Buffalo players might just refuse to go home tonight.

 

I'm on vacation next week and won't be back in town to go to the sports book until after New Year's, so I sat there for a good 10 minutes yesterday trying to plot out my bowl betting. There weren't a ton of games that just made me googly-eyed from a betting perspective. It's hard to see which teams will be mailing it in, which ones might be missing key players, and which ones are just mismatches with great point spreads.
Here's what I ended up with:
• Boise State +3 1/2 vs. Washington - Boise is really good. I think they'll win this game outright, but give me the points to be safe.
• A Dec. 28 three-teamer with: Memphis +6 1/2 vs. Penn State; Clemson -2 vs. Ohio State; and Notre Dame -3 1/2 vs. Iowa State - Mostly for shits and giggles just to have a reason to follow the non-playoff games, but I do like all three of those games. Penn State has the feel of that slightly overrated P5 team that runs into a buzzsaw, assuming Memphis isn't suffering without Mike Norvell.
• A Dec. 30 three-teamer with: Florida -14.5 vs. Virginia; Louisville +4 vs. Mississippi State; and Illinois +7 vs. California - The Florida spread might be high, but I think they're a bit underrated. Mississippi State is not very good, and I'm not real sure why they're favored. Illinois-Cal I flipped a coin. Honestly have no idea what to expect from either team.
• Alabama -7 vs. Michigan - Yes, please.

The one I missed, and might make a special trip to go put some money down on, was Utah -7 vs. Texas. I think most of Utah's key players are playing and they seem motivated, against a fairly middling Texas team. That's the kind of gem that makes bowl season great.

 

And it's going against a full day of NFL. Brilliant.

 

Ohio of the MAC stomped my Blazers and went home. I think Buffalo will find their way back.