Today, we will preview the other
four major bowls and we’ll start with the Peach Bowl which will precede the CFP
semi-finals on New Year’s Eve. The Peach Bowl kicks off at noon and will
feature the Houston Cougars and the Florida State Seminoles.
Houston comes into the bowl
ranked number 18 in the country. They have a 12-1 record and won the American
Athletic Conference championship after defeating the Temple Owls in the
championship game by a score of 24-13. While the AAC isn’t one of the big five
conferences and Houston benefited from playing in a weaker conference, a 12-1
record is a pretty impressive performance. The Cougars biggest win of the year
was a 52-21 defeat of Navy on the last week of the regular season.
The Florida State Seminoles come
off a rather disappointing year where they finished 10-2 after winning the
National Championship in 2013 and being one of the semi-finalists in the CFP
last year. Losing a standout quarterback like Jameis Winston did hurt, but Sean
McGuire, who won the starting job midway through the season, performed well
once he got the full time gig, passing for 1128 yards and nine touchdowns. He
only lost one game as the starter and that was to ACC conference champ and
undefeated Clemson.
Expect the ACC to show the
dominance over Houston, a result of a team from a big five conference playing a
team from a weaker one.
Prediction: Florida State-42, Houston-17
On
to New Year’s Day and we start with the Fiesta Bowl, which kicks off at 1 pm
(11 am local time in Phoenix) and sees the number seven Ohio State Buckeyes
take on the eighth-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
I believe the Irish have been
playing over their heads all year and are not as good as their 10-2 record
indicates. By not playing in a conference, the Irish get to pick and choose
their opponents and, I’m sorry, but I’m not impressed with wins over the likes
of Temple and Boston College. And while they did hang tough with the Clemson
Tigers and Stanford Cardinal, I think Notre Dame has been overrated all season
long.
Having said that, I believe they
have a good chance to win this game as the Buckeyes have been underachieving
all year. Despite having an 11-1 record, Ohio State didn’t play like the
defending National Champions. There was a quarterback controversy that was not
handled well by head coach, Urban Meyer. There were unimpressive wins over Northern
Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota, then there was the lackluster performance
against Michigan State, a 17-14 loss to the Spartans that was the Buckeyes only
loss of the year.
Running back Ezekiel Elliott was
very vocal about the lack of plays that gave him the ball during the Spartans’
victory and has expressed he wasn’t happy with the coaches and has already
declared for the NFL draft. The Buckeyes are a powder keg just waiting for
someone to strike a match to blow it up and that match will be struck by the
Irish.
Prediction: Notre Dame-27, Ohio State-21
The Rose Bowl will be up next
and will feature the six-ranked, and Pac-12 Champions, the Stanford Cardinal
against the number five Iowa Hawkeyes, who lost the Big Ten Championship Game
to Michigan State, and in doing so, also lost their chance to be one of the
semi-finalists.
The Hawkeyes have been flying
under the radar all season long, despite finishing the regular season a perfect
12-0. Critics slammed them for playing in a week Big Ten West and they didn’t
get a sniff of the top spot of the CFP rankings until the middle of November.
But a strong showing against the Spartans in the Big Ten final proved they
deserve to be ranked in the top five and should be able to beat Stanford in the
Rose Bowl.
The Cardinal defeated the USC
Trojans in the Pac-12 Championship and come into the game with an 11-2 record.
Stanford was very close to going undefeated this year as they lost their first
game of the season, 16-6 to another Big Ten team, the Northwestern Wildcats.
Their other loss was in November when they dropped a tough 38-36 decision to
the Oregon Ducks. Their loss against Northwestern was the only game of the
thirteen they played that the Cardinal offense didn’t score thirty points or
more.
The Hawkeyes defense will be
challenged but they will keep Stanford in check and win another Rose Bowl for
the Big Ten.
Prediction: Iowa-28, Stanford-24
And
finally, the last of the major bowls will be the Sugar Bowl, which will kick
off in New Orleans at 8 pm on New Year’s Night. It will feature a couple of second-best
teams as the Big 12 runner-up, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, will take on the
second-best in the SEC West, the Ole Miss Rebels.
Ole Miss comes into the game
with a 9-3 record and ranked number 12 in the country. Three losses include a
53-52 overtime loss to Arkansas, a 37-24 failure against Memphis and a 38-10
drubbing at the hands of the Florida Gators, the winners of the SEC East and
losers to Alabama in the SEC Championship game. It must be frustrating to the
Gators to be passed over for a CFP bowl after having defeated Ole Miss earlier
in the year but the selection committee decided on the Rebels, who handed
Alabama their only loss of the season back in September 43-37.
Oklahoma State looked well on
their way to a spot in the semi-finals after starting 10-0, but losses to
Baylor, 45-35, and Oklahoma, 58-23, derailed that train pretty quick. Still, at
10-2, the Cowboys come into the Sugar bowl ranked number 16 and should give the
Rebels all they can handle.
In the end, the SEC will prove it’s
a better conference than the Big 12 when Ole Miss wins the Sugar Bowl.
Prediction: Ole Miss-34, Oklahoma State, 21
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