The final two days of calendar year 2013 in the college bowl season saw Mack Brown coach his final game, and Johnny Manziel play what most believe will be his final game at Texas A&M. Mack didn’t get a fitting exit, but Johnny Football went out in style, leading a dramatic comeback. These two games lead up our review of December 30-31
Two of college football’s most storied programs take the field on Thursday night in New Orleans. The Sugar Bowl matchup is Oklahoma-Alabama (8:30 PM ET, ESPN). What follows are the Notebook Nine, the key points to know going into the game…
New Year’s Night’s college football action will feature the Fiesta Bowl, as the Baylor Bears and the Central Florida Knights take the field in Tempe (8:30 PM ET, ESPN). The nine key points to take into this game—the Notebook Nine—based on personnel matchups, season-long performance, historical context and the view from Las Vegas are below.
The major bowls get started in the late afternoon of New Year’s Day, with the kickoff of the Rose Bowl between Michigan State and Stanford (5 PM ET, ESPN). What follows is the Notebook Nine—the nine points to keep in mind, covering everything from personnel matchups, to each team’s season performance arc, to the Las […]
New Year’s Day doesn’t bring an end to the college football season and settle a national champion the way it used to, but in terms of raw volume, January 1 still brings the biggest feast of the college bowl season. Four games will set the table in the early afternoon, with three Big Ten-SEC matchups.
The college bowl season took a break for the NFL on Sunday, but gets back going full blast on Monday. We’ll take a look at the eight games that will go over the course of December 30-31, as the SEC swings into action and the Pac-12 looks to build off a strong early showing as most of their upper crust takes the field.
The ACC has been on display over the last two days of the college bowl season, both the present and the future and no game was more eye-opening than the whipping Louisville, arriving in the conference next year, put on current ACC member Miami.
It’s awards time in college football, as we get set for the bowl season that begins on December 21. The Heisman Trophy will be awarded on Saturday night in New York City, and around the country the all-conference teams have been chosen and league Player of The Year awards given out. Here’s the rundown on all those who were honored as the 2013 college football conference MVPs, and TheSportsNotebook’s thoughts on whether each was deserving.
There will be no controversy over the national championship game participants in this final year of the BCS. We’ll get a true championship game, one that requires the SEC champion to be beaten on the field by someone outside their conference, and with a clear alternative having emerged as the challenger. Florida State will play Auburn for the national title on January 6 in Pasadena and we have the Michigan State Spartans to thank for bringing us the clarity.
It’s time for the best day of the year on the college football calendar, and one of the best days to be a sports fan. College Football Championship Saturday, the first Saturday of December has taken the place of New Year’s Day in the culture of college football.
Oregon played its way first out of the national title race, then out of the conference championship. Stanford missed a chance to be in the discussion for the national title. But no team fell harder down the stretch than the Oregon State Beavers.
The ACC has a higher percentage of its teams bowl-eligible than any BCS conference.
Eleven of the fourteen ACC schools won at least six games and made themselves eligible for a bowl invitation. That’s 78.5 percent, which stands narrowly ahead of the Pac-12 (9/12, for 75 percent) and SEC (10/14, for 71 percent).