Spoiler Saturday, December 15th AUTONATION CURE BOWL Tulane vs. Louisiana 12:30pm | CBSSN Camping World Stadium | Orlando, FL NEW MEXICO BOWL Utah State vs. North Texas 1:00pm | ESPN Dreamstyle Stadium | Albuquerque, NM MITSUBISHI MOTORS LAS VEGAS BOWL Arizona State vs. (21)Fresno State 2:30pm | ABC Sam Boyd Stadium | Las Vegas, NV RAYCOM MEDIA CAMELLIA BOWL Georgia Southern vs. Eastern Michigan 4:30pm | ESPN Cramton Bowl | Montgomery, AL R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL Middle Tennessee vs. Appalachian State 8:00pm | ESPN Mercedes-Benz Superdome | New Orleans, LA _______________________________________ Tuesday, December 18th CHERIBUNDI BOCA RATON BOWL UAB vs. Northern Illinois 6:00pm | ESPN FAU Football Stadium | Boca Raton, FL _______________________________________ Wednesday, December 19th DXL FRISCO BOWL San Diego State vs. Ohio 7:00pm | ESPN Toyota Stadium | Frisco, TX _______________________________________ Thursday, December 20th BAD BOY MOWERS GASPARILLA BOWL Marshall vs. South Florida 7:00pm | ESPN Raymond James Stadium | Tampa, FL _______________________________________ Friday, December 21st MAKERS WANTED BAHAMAS BOWL FIU vs. Toledo 11:30am | ESPN Thomas Robinson Stadium | Nassau, NP FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL Western Michigan vs. BYU 3:00pm | ESPN Albertsons Stadium | Boise, ID _______________________________________ Saturday, December 22nd BIRMINGHAM BOWL Memphis vs. Wake Forest 11:00am | ESPN Legion Field (AL) | Birmingham, AL LOCKHEED MARTIN ARMED FORCES BOWL Houston vs. Army 2:30pm | ESPN Amon G. Carter Stadium | Fort Worth, TX DOLLAR GENERAL BOWL Buffalo vs. Troy 6:00pm | ESPN Ladd-Peebles Stadium | Mobile, AL SOFI HAWAI'I BOWL Hawai'i vs. Louisiana Tech 9:30pm | ESPN Aloha Stadium | Honolulu, HI _______________________________________ Wednesday, December 26th SERVPRO FIRST RESPONDER BOWL Boston College vs. (25)Boise State 12:30pm | ESPN Cotton Bowl | Dallas, TX QUICK LANE BOWL Minnesota vs. Georgia Tech 4:15pm | ESPN Ford Field | Detroit, MI CHEEZ-IT BOWL Cal vs. TCU 8:00pm | ESPN Chase Field | Phoenix, AZ _______________________________________ Thursday, December 27th WALK-ON'S INDEPENDENCE BOWL Temple vs. Duke 12:30pm | ESPN Independence Stadium | Shreveport, LA NEW ERA PINSTRIPE BOWL Miami vs. Wisconsin 4:15pm | ESPN Yankee Stadium | New York, NY ACADEMY SPORTS + OUTDOORS TEXAS BOWL Baylor vs. Vanderbilt 8:00pm | ESPN NRG Stadium | Houston, TX _______________________________________ Friday, December 28th FRANKLIN AMERICAN MORTGAGE MUSIC CITY BOWL Purdue vs. Auburn 12:30pm | ESPN Nissan Stadium | Nashville, TN CAMPING WORLD BOWL (20)Syracuse vs. (16)West Virginia 4:15pm | ESPN Camping World Stadium | Orlando, FL VALERO ALAMO BOWL (24)Iowa State vs. (13)Washington State 8:00pm | ESPN Alamodome | San Antonio, TX _______________________________________ Saturday, December 29th CHICK-FIL-A PEACH BOWL (10)Florida vs. (7)Michigan 11:00am | ESPN Mercedes-Benz Stadium | Atlanta, GA BELK BOWL South Carolina vs. Virginia 11:00am | ABC Bank of America Stadium | Charlotte, NC NOVA HOME LOANS ARIZONA BOWL Arkansas State vs. Nevada 12:15pm | CBSSN Arizona Stadium | Tucson, AZ GOODYEAR COTTON BOWL CLASSIC - CFP SEMIFINAL (3)Notre Dame vs. (2)Clemson 3:00pm | ESPN AT&T Stadium | Arlington, TX CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL - CFP SEMIFINAL (4)Oklahoma vs. (1)Alabama 7:00pm | ESPN Hard Rock Stadium | Miami, FL _______________________________________ Monday, December 31st MILITARY BOWL PRESENTED BY NORTHROP GRUMMAN Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech 11:00am | ESPN Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium | Annapolis, MD HYUNDAI SUN BOWL Stanford vs. Pitt 1:00pm | CBS Sun Bowl | El Paso, TX REDBOX BOWL Michigan State vs. Oregon 2:00pm | FOX Levi's Stadium | Santa Clara, CA AUTOZONE LIBERTY BOWL Oklahoma State vs. (23)Missouri 2:45pm | ESPN Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium | Memphis, TN SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION HOLIDAY BOWL (22)Northwestern vs. (17)Utah 6:00pm | FS1 SDCCU Stadium | San Diego, CA TAXSLAYER GATOR BOWL NC State vs. (19)Texas A&M 6:30pm | ESPN TIAA Bank Field | Jacksonville, FL _______________________________________ Tuesday, January 1st OUTBACK BOWL Iowa vs. (18)Mississippi State 11:00am | ESPN2 Raymond James Stadium | Tampa, FL PLAYSTATION FIESTA BOWL (11)LSU vs. (8)UCF 12:00pm | ESPN State Farm Stadium | Glendale, AZ VRBO CITRUS BOWL (14)Kentucky vs. (12)Penn State 12:00pm | ABC Camping World Stadium | Orlando, FL ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL (9)Washington vs. (6)Ohio State 4:00pm | ESPN Rose Bowl | Pasadena, CA ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL (15)Texas vs. (5)Georgia 7:45pm | ESPN Mercedes-Benz Superdome | New Orleans, LA _______________________________________ Monday, January 7th CFP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY AT&T TBD vs. TBD 7:00pm | ESPN Levi's Stadium | Santa Clara, CA
I'm such a sucker for bowl games. I'll probably end up watching an embarrassing number of these. UNT/Utah State should be a lot of fun. Two of the better G5 teams this season. To me, like so many bowl games, it will come down to how motivated USU is under an interim coach. Even though they've named the next head coach (Gary Andersen in his second time around at USU), you just never know how teams will play in those situations. On the other hand, UNT might be emboldened by the fact that they're hanging on to their head coach after it looked like a near certainty that he would be gone to K-State. Louisiana (which is what ULL is called now) vs. Tulane would be fun, if it were the New Orleans Bowl. Instead, it's taking place in Orlando, which will give it a bit of a sterile atmosphere, I'm sure. The Las Vegas Bowl is interesting, if only because I'm not sure how I would have reacted if you had told me two years ago that Jeff Tedford and Herm Edwards would be facing off as opposing head coaches in a bowl game in 2018.
I'm pretty sure that the players and coaches and fans and families are more interested in Orlando in December than staying in LA.
Oh absolutely. The folks that are going to travel to an out-of-state bowl game anyway were undoubtedly excited. But there are enough alumni of both schools in the city that I think it would have created a fun atmosphere. These two programs played in this game back in 2013 and it drew more than 54,000 people, a record for the game.
Charlie Strong pulled off the full Ron Zook this year. Zook famously got Illinois off to a 6-0 start in 2011 before losing the final six regular season games of the season. The next couple of years will be interesting for Strong at USF. That program has pretty high expectations, and it only made expectations higher that Strong seemed like a perfect fit in that job. He's always recruited the state of Florida particularly well, and the last time he was at a job at that relative level (Louisville, mostly pre-ACC years), he did a really good job.
I followed along with this a little bit earlier today, and it just seemed like a weird situation. There were apparently some logistical challenges, including players with flights out of Dallas scheduled for later tonight, and there was severe weather all around, but it was surprising how quickly they pulled the ripcord on canceling the game. Given that sponsors shell out good amounts of money to have their names associated with these games (no matter how inconsequential the game might be), I kind of expected bowl officials to string things out as long as possible in hopes of squeezing the game in. It's a bummer for the seniors (including a very productive BSU quarterback in Brett Rypien) whose final game went like this after weeks of waiting and preparing to play the game, it's a bummer for the families of players who spent good money to get there to see it, and it's a bummer for people like the officials, team staffers, and media members who might have missed Christmas with their families yesterday to travel to a bowl game that ultimately didn't take place. I get that there's always risk of something like this happening, and no one can control the weather, so I'm not saying anyone should be blamed or that anyone should be particularly aggrieved, but it just sucks for a lot of people and it was a surprise that everyone gave up on it so quickly.
So, anyone else watch that abomination of a game they call the Cheez-I(n)t bowl? Setting football back 100 years, wow. 9 interceptions (or something like that) 10-7 OT Final That.was.awful.
It was awful but in a comical way. I was expecting 6 OT’s before an actual OT score. Actually no it was pretty much the worst game of football I have ever watched.
https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2018/12/27/18157269/cal-tcu-cheez-it-bowl-2018 8. TCU put in a QB with drop foot, a condition “caused by weakness or paralysis of the muscles involved in lifting the front part of the foot,” per the Mayo Clinic.
I wonder and ask this every year at this time. What is the point of these stupid Bowl games??? Other than for the sponsors and schools (and players that aren't going to the NFL to get riches but are getting gifts, etc from these games) what's the point? What's the point for fans to shell out money to these out of state games to go watch their team play and possibly say they won the Cheezit/Dollar General/Autozone Bowl? The Bowl games for the playoffs I understand but the others? Is it just to make the schools and their teams feel good at the end of the season? That definitely didn't work for UH.
Drove through it last night on my way back from Houston. Flash flooding, frequent lightning for hours, etc. The worst winds were actually in East Dallas near Fair Park - 70+ mph. Can't say I'm surprised it got canceled, especially with the other factors you mentioned.