When I sit down to watch college football over Christmas break, I usually grab a beer and get ready to watch some of the best football of the year. This year, I was extremely disappointed.
This bowl season was one of the worst in the past decade. There was simply a startling lack of good games. It seemed like every other one was a blowout. I’m starting to think that the bowl ranking system might need some adjustments.
The opening round of the playoffs featured Clemson University (S.C.) and the University of Oklahoma in one game and the University of Alabama and Michigan State University in the other. Both of the opening round playoff games were huge disappointments. In hindsight, it’s easy to see that Ohio State University and Stanford University (Calif.) should have replaced Michigan State and Oklahoma in those games.
Why Stanford was playing University of Iowa in the Rose Bowl is way beyond me. I thought it was pretty clear that Iowa should definitely not be in that game.
Another matchup that I thought was appalling was University of Michigan and University of Florida in the Buffalo Wild Wing Citrus Bowl game. Florida had been struggling ever since losing their star quarterback, Will Grier, to a PED suspension earlier in the season. Michigan absolutely dismantled Florida; it wasn’t even a game.
Other bowl matchups that turned out to be extremely disappointing were the Outback Bowl between the University of Tennessee and Northwestern University (Ill.) and the Allstate Sugar Bowl between University of Mississippi and Oklahoma State University. Let’s move on to the best bowl games.
Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl
#18 University of Houston (Tx.) 38 vs. #9 Florida State University 24
Houston Head Coach Tom Herman has completely turned around the Cougars since leaving Ohio State last year. After upsetting a nationally renowned football program (Florida State), Houston is finally receiving national recognition. I should mention that Florida State had a key injury to quarterback Sean Maguire, who despite spraining his ankle, continued to play. Sadly for Florida State, it probably would have been better if they sat Maguire, because he came back to throw four interceptions after returning from injury. What I got from this game was that Houston is definitely going to have a national presence next year and may be the best team in Texas, so make sure to watch out for them.
National Championship Game
#2 University of Alabama 45 vs. #1 Clemson University 40
You can never bet against Alabama’s Coach Nick Saban. It’s now his fourth national championship with Bama in the past seven years. That’s absolutely ridiculous. Possibly the most entertaining part of this game was Clemson beating the spread on one of the last plays of the game. So much money was lost on that play – as Clemson’s last touchdown covered the pregame spread of 5.5. We can expect both of these teams to be contenders next year so make sure to continue watching these teams.
The biggest thing I got out of college bowl season this year was that rankings are still imperfect, and I can almost guarantee that there will be changes in the years to come. Good games make more money, and there is always incentive to make money. Let’s hope that there will be a huge improvement for next year’s bowl games.
