Predictions: It’s time for bowls(!), contest (!) and BCS (ugh)
Welcome to the next-to-last BCS bowl season, or as we like to call it: “The mole in the middle of our forehead that the plastic surgeon said he can’t remove for another two years because the deals are in place, conference commissioners have been bagged, athletic directors already have used the free golf clubs, the booze cruise just left port, it’s too late to cancel the caterers, and, dang it, Mike Slive just took the last shrimp!” So we’re stuck.
After 15 years, it’s almost gone. After 17 years, it will be. (How did the BCS get to vote before it was 18?) We’re left with a palatable title game (Alabama-Notre Dame) but a nonsensical way of getting there and zero postseason drama.
BCS road map looks something like this.
Well, except this: (Promotion coming. I feel so dirty.) There’s still time to enter the “Sack Schultz” Bowl Special. We’re giving away $200 in gift cards to Marlow’s, which should buy a lot of wings. Don’t worry that some of the 36 bowls have been played because the contest is heavily weighted toward the BCS games. To enter, just go to ajc.com/go/SackSchultzBowl2012 and pick the winners of the remaining games.
Now, onto the games:
Georgia is in the Capital One Bowl. Not a BCS bowl. Why? Because the Bulldogs effectively were penalized for beating Florida, winning the East and playing for the SEC championship (then losing) while the Gators sat in a La-Z-Boy eating a box of Ding Dongs (not losing). This reaffirms the need for mandatory drug testing — not for players, but for everybody who came up with this system.
Picking bowl winners is tricky. Most of the best players usually have their heads in the NFL. (I think A.J. Green was hiding behind a bush in the Liberty Bowl.) But I don’t expect that to be a problem for Georgia. This is a pretty together group that seems to want to win its final game.
Nebraska? Just gave up 70 points and 539 yards rushing to Wisconsin. Were they eaten by lions or something?
Easy pick: Dogs cover 10.
20 BCS jokes (kinda, sorta)
BOWLING TIME
Nothing says bowl season more than a coach wearing wearing a dumb hat. (via @USC_athletics on Twitter)
Sun (Georgia Tech vs. USC): Monte Kiffin resigned from his son’s coaching staff at USC, yet for some reason still claims Lane in the family tree. Just as well. The Trojans have allowed 39, 62, 17, 38 and 22 points in the past five games. Lane was about to tell his dad he couldn’t drive any more. Trojans win but give me Tech and 10.
Chick-fil-A (LSU vs. Clemson): Add Tech as a round-robin, and this would be the Dan Radakovich Rolling Resume Bowl. Not to put all of this on Dabo Swinney, but the ACC went 0-4 against the SEC in the final week of the season and is 9-16 in bowls against Bigfoot in the BCS era. And here comes another pie in the face: LSU covers 4½.
Outback (South Carolina vs. Michigan): Hard-working, humble, disciplined, classy, widely respected and admired by players and coaches, never makes himself the story . . . you know, the funniest thing is Steve Spurrier probably thinks I’m describing him, not Brady Hoke. Wolverines cover 6.
Rose (Stanford vs. Wisconsin): We bow in the direction of new Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen, who made 106 phone calls to tell each of his Utah State players that he was leaving for another job. It’s sort of like what Bobby Petrino did, only without the phone calls, the human contact, the xeroxed note or the vapor trails. Stanford covers 6½.
To Chip Kelly: Before you leave, I have 3 questions
Hey, which way to the Orange Bowl?
Orange (FSU vs. Northern Illinois): Sit around children: Let me tell you about a time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and people cared about the Orange Bowl. Seminoles cover 13.
Sugar (Florida vs. Louisville): Will Muschamp has something he didn’t have in his first bowl game: a cheering section. Gators win, but take Louisville and 14.
Fiesta (Oregon vs Kansas State): Why is Chip Kelly wearing a Philadelphia Eagles jersey? Ducks cover 9.
Cotton (Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma): I’m not sure anybody did a better coaching job this season than Kevin Sumlin, and I’m including Brian Kelly and Bill O’Brien. On a related note, Bob Stoops seldom is in these conversations any more? Aggies cover 4½.
BCS (Alabama vs. Notre Dame): Nick Saban told his Michigan State players he wasn’t going to LSU. But he did. He told Miami, “I guess I have to say it. I’m not going to be the Alabama coach.” But about seven minutes later, he was. Now he’s denying he’s going to the Cleveland Browns. Know why I believe him this time? Bama has more NFL players. Tide covers 9½.
Rare footage of Nick Saban at The Improv
•
Time to settle up
“You can eat your betting money but don’t bet your eating money.” — Proverb.
Previous chapter (forgettable): 5-5 straight up, 3-7 against the line.
Bottom dollars (better): 115-40 straight up, 88-65-2 against the line.
Lilly Pick of Week: Lilly is continuing her boycott of the BCS system and declined to pick a bowl game. However, she did chew up a Western Kentucky media guide.
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180 comments Add your comment
Flat Tire and Still Refusing to Drink delusional Kool-aid
December 28th, 2012
11:26 am
Pitbull
Come up with something more than Im a Tech fan cause Im not
Just because I dont live in Delusionalville Ga doesnt mean Im a Tech fan
Flat Tire doesnt live in Delusionalville Ga.
December 28th, 2012
11:29 am
Enter your comments here
ARdawg
December 28th, 2012
11:46 am
Pitbull
I’ve known Flat tire on these blogs for years and I know he’s not a tech fan. He is in fact a DGD. I often don’t agree with the man or his thoughts although, sometimes I do but, I do not doubt his allegiance
Flat Tire doesnt live in Delusionalville Ga.
December 28th, 2012
12:31 pm
Thanks ARdawg
SC handled Nebraska with ease last year
December 28th, 2012
3:05 pm
I expect UGA to do the same this year.
Go cocks
SC handled Nebraska with ease last year
December 28th, 2012
3:06 pm
Clemson covers the 4.5 this year, because they got their arses smoked last year when WVa hung 70 pts on em in the Orange Bowl. Dabo cannot afford another drubbing and has put in much more preparation for this one. Clempson needs some redemption and will cover the 4.5
Put in Timeout by Ken Suguira,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned by Bill King, Chip Towers & only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
December 28th, 2012
5:16 pm
NEW DRINKING GAME: Drunk like a dWag
You will have to take a SHOT every time a UGa dWag fan CRIES: on a live game blog about Richt, Bobo, Grantham, the Refs or Murray. You will have to smoke a blunt if you are still sober after 5:00 minutes of Game Clock Time.
DawgNole
December 28th, 2012
7:46 pm
Will Co-Champ
December 27th, 2012
2:56 pm
The argument that GA should be in a BCS bowl over UF makes no sense. GA did not win the SEC east they were co-champions with FL, but they had the tie breaker due to the head to head vicotory . . . Had they played Texas A&M and LSU they would have had 2 more losses.
___________________
Who sez they woulda had 2 more losses?! fla beat A&M and LSU, and UGA beat fla, so your logic is deeply flawed.
DawgNole
December 28th, 2012
8:09 pm
Wet Willie…keep on smiling
December 27th, 2012
4:58 pm
This ND game is starting to worry me a bunch and I just hope we can beat them so we don’t have to listen to all the yankee media crow for months.
______________________
You have a good point there, but the insufferable Bammer fans on these blogs make it a really tough choice who to pull for.
DawgNole
December 28th, 2012
8:18 pm
Put in Timeout . . .
December 27th, 2012
6:28 pm
Most of the bowl games are such crazy match ups picking them is nuts. So glad I stopped betting about 10 years ago.
With Cincy having an interim coach for the game I think I’m going DUKE tonight. I think I will go with UCLA what the hell.
____________________
Yeah, bowl games are tough bets. Just to prove it to myself, I went with Duke and UCLA too. Blah!
DawgNole
December 28th, 2012
9:01 pm
TampaGator
December 27th, 2012
10:08 pm
Dawgnole….
I have said since that win that Georgia won that game square……..but the call on Easley was a bad call. A DT can tackle or obstruct a RB in the backfield at any time. That is the rule….bad call then. Bad call now. Georgia scored the decisive TD after that call….and that decisive TD pass would not have happened as it was a 3rd down play. But that is not the reason Florida lost, and I never said it was. Florida lost the game because they turned the ball over 6 times and the last one going in to score a TD with a chance to go for 2 afterword to tie the game. Georgia outplayed the Gators and deserved to win that game. The refs never cause a team to lose a game…..bad play does. And the Gators played poorly on offense that day….and Georgia’s defense had a lot to do with that….and the refs very little.
______________________
Your memory has failed you badly. You whined virtually nonstop for hours on Jeff’s blog that night about calls you interpreted as bad, and how you’d watched them over and over again on replay. It was a disgusting display of poor sportsmanship that revealed a lot about you–none of it positive.
DAGNABBER
December 28th, 2012
9:24 pm
J.S. eats DING DONGS.
and
S E Cucks
Fair n Balanced
December 28th, 2012
11:37 pm
Fl does have a good résumé. But Ga has the W in Jacksonville. Ga lost out in the polls due to having to play Bama in SECCG. That’s a fact. If we don’t have an SECCG, Ga sits there as #3 and goes to BCS Bowl. That’s a fact. We need a playoff in the worst way to really determine who is the best team at the end of the season. But any playoff should include 8 teams. Only allowing 1 team per conference in most cases is not going to determine the best team.
Flamboyant Sun Bowl
December 29th, 2012
2:04 am
All I remember is that victory formation.
Flamboyant Sun Bowl
December 29th, 2012
2:05 am
The USC SONG GIRLS are ………. coming.
Wet Willie...keep on smiling
December 29th, 2012
9:30 am
@DawgNole…I understand the part of the bragging Bama fans. I would add that folks like myself really have no problem with UGA (I have been a fan of UGA since the 60’s myself) but I don’t like the daily bashing of Nick Saban nor the daily jokes about us rednecks in Alabama. I was apart of the great Coach Bryant years (thought I would play there but I wasn’t good enough) but that didn’t stop me from learning from Coach Bryant. One of the not the biggest mistakes I made was not trying the walk-on route at Bama but let me tell you it was tuff in the 60’s. My HS HC was a captain of Coach Bryant’s 58 team and he had the pull to get me there but money was short at home so I had a scolly at a small college at that time named Livingston just below T-town.
UGA has to control the New-braska QB and if so they win going away provided the team really has their mind on their business. This is never known until the 1st qtr. It is very possible NU doesn’t want to even be at the game and is so Bobo should given them a full measure of Gurley play after play. Bobo tends to outsmart himself trying to not be predictable instead of just going with the power running game he starts throwing the damn ball for no reason. JMO
Nativebird
December 29th, 2012
11:33 am
Here’s hoping my Jackets get the snot beat out of them by 50, so that this idiot arrogant worthless GT head coach gets what he deserves…his butt fired, unceremoniously.
DawgNole
December 29th, 2012
1:31 pm
Wet Willie…keep on smiling
December 29th, 2012
9:30 am
@DawgNole…I understand the part of the bragging Bama fans. I would add that folks like myself really have no problem with UGA (I have been a fan of UGA since the 60’s myself) but I don’t like the daily bashing of Nick Saban nor the daily jokes about us rednecks in Alabama . . . .
___________________
Didn’t know you were a Dawg fan; glad to see it. You’ll never find a post in which I blasted Saban or criticized Bama rednecks as such. I just get ill with the many ignorant azzes on here, which is why most of my posts are “comments on comments”–both good and bad–although I’ll occasionally comment on what the columnist wrote.
On the blogs, when you combine that ignorance with arrogance and bragging on the part of a UGA or FSU opponent, it’s usually more than I can resist.
As far as Bama football, you’re in an enviable position, with a longtime winning tradition and a coach completely immersed in it. Those are the ingredients for top-notch recruiting, and as long as that continues, you guys will be hard to beat. Obviously, UGA came close this year, so that one will sting awhile. I’ll be pleased when we resume our series with y’all–even though it’ll only be for two games.
I generally pull for the SEC or ACC against teams from other regions; probably will again in the NC game–especially since it’s ND.
Rodster
December 29th, 2012
3:15 pm
Rice / Air Force was a tough one to call… I flipped a coin and went with AF. Unfortunate choice. I realize it’s only the 2nd bowl win for Rice in 57 years but with 4th and 8 and 1:46 left to play Rice’s choice to throw for the end zone when they already had an insurmountable lead was low class. They scored in a piling on manner. They could have run it on 4th and 8 and even if they turn it over it would have been okay.
DawgNole
December 29th, 2012
3:36 pm
Rodster
December 29th, 2012
3:15 pm
Rice / Air Force was a tough one to call… I flipped a coin and went with AF. Unfortunate choice. I realize it’s only the 2nd bowl win for Rice in 57 years but with 4th and 8 and 1:46 left to play Rice’s choice to throw for the end zone when they already had an insurmountable lead was low class. They scored in a piling on manner. They could have run it on 4th and 8 and even if they turn it over it would have been okay.
____________________
I had AF too, Rodster. They just aren’t what they were on the gridiron a few years ago, when they always seemed to have solid teams.
dry dirt road
December 29th, 2012
7:53 pm
I am a Tech grad, and expect USC to beat Tech easily. CPJ cannot pass, only run, and he runs it to the sidelines. He has no defense, allowing the score to run up, trying to win by outscoring with runs. This offense is abnormal and therefore hard to watch. Usually when other teams’ games are watched they run some variations of the original shotgun, such as pistols and wildcats. Students want a normal education at Tech, not abnormal. They want to conform at Tech and after graduation, not be nonconformists. Tech has never beaten USC and they sure won’t this year.
dry dirt road
December 29th, 2012
8:02 pm
Yeah, CPJ is lousy. We gotta fire him like Gailey and get soembody new. CPJ could’nt even beat MT, and was manhandled by the small school at BD by their one running back and their defense. Tech needs to ask somebody like Shawn Jones or Joe Hamilton if they’d like to be head coach. No team would be willing to run a triple option offense because passes emanate from saps at the los, easily shut down by some defenses with better rushes than others.
dry dirt road
December 29th, 2012
8:05 pm
passes emanate from snaps, not saps or jerk centers
dry dirt road
December 29th, 2012
8:11 pm
Man, will Northern Illinois ever get blown out by FSU. Unless it’s the same type of game where MTSU blew out Tech.
Athens PD
December 30th, 2012
8:22 am
If my lousy luck and their good luck continues, UAT will beat ND. Here’s hoping I’ll have a better year.
Athens PD
December 30th, 2012
8:22 am
If my lousy luck and their good luck continues, UAT will beat ND. Here’s hoping I’ll have a better year.
Wet Willie...keep on smiling
December 30th, 2012
8:59 am
FSU is in a no win situation with their bowl game. All risk and no reward.
@Dawgnole….Mickey Andrews was my DC at Livingston in 68. I should say Coach Andrews and he was a great coach and even better person. He did great work at FSU. I just wish Coach Stallings had selected Mickey in 90 instead of Brother Oliver to be the DC at Bama and if so Mickey would have been the HC at Bama once Coach Stallings retired. Timing is everything in life no doubt. Nick Saban was looking for a college job and Alabama just happen to be in need and that is the only reason Nick is at Bama. Being lucky is a good thing.
DawgNole
December 30th, 2012
11:03 am
Wet Willie…keep on smiling
December 30th, 2012
8:59 am
FSU is in a no win situation with their bowl game. All risk and no reward.
@Dawgnole….Mickey Andrews was my DC at Livingston in 68. I should say Coach Andrews and he was a great coach and even better person. He did great work at FSU. I just wish Coach Stallings had selected Mickey in 90 instead of Brother Oliver to be the DC at Bama and if so Mickey would have been the HC at Bama once Coach Stallings retired. Timing is everything in life no doubt. Nick Saban was looking for a college job and Alabama just happen to be in need and that is the only reason Nick is at Bama. Being lucky is a good thing.
______________________
You said a mouthful there about FSU–my “other” favorite team–in Tuesday’s Orange Bowl. Nothing the Noles do against N Illinois will earn any respect. Of course, that’s what they get for losing to NCST and fla. I just wish–as I have since ‘92–that they didn’t play in the weak-azz ACC. They made their bed, and now they have to lay in it.
Yeah, Andrews was a fine coach–especially during FSU’s heyday–who overcame major events in his personal life that few knew about. My brother and I were raised in Tallahassee back before and during the Bill Peterson days at FSU. Sold peanuts at Doak Campbell as kids, so we’ll always have an allegiance to the Noles. Don’t know if they’ll ever regain their dominance of the 90s unless they can break away from the football-sorry ACC.
Vampire Bill
December 30th, 2012
2:20 pm
Great comments about Spurrier.. LOL
Buzz2011
January 1st, 2013
10:48 pm
Great call Shultz on GT.. Not only did GT win, they
held your Trojans to 7 points. 7 points…………………
Cover the 14 Shultz, that is GT wins by 14…
Your average drops again on GT …