Dec 17- 18 Bowl Games O5

 Hometown Lenders Bahamas Bowl: UAB 20 vs. Miami (Ohio) 16:  Blazers recover from a sub-par season

Duluth Trading Cure Bowl: UTSA 31 vs. Troy 27: I know Troy has a solid D  and UTSA starts some games slowly, but Frank Harris is a beast and will lead the Roadrunners to the W.

Wasabi Fenway Bowl: Cincinnati 22 vs. Louisville 21 in the land of Ted Williams and Yaz.

Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl Presented by Stifel: Washington State 28 vs. Fresno State 20: Bulldogs don't have enough bark to handle Wazoo who was hot early in Pac 12 play this season.

LendingTree Bowl: Southern Miss 24 vs. Rice 17:  Can Rice's O get steamed up? Not so sure?

Dec 13, 2022

In O5 news, I'm a bit surprised that CCU(SunBelt) QB Mccall entered the transfer portal. Maybe the HC taking the Liberty job played a role. 

Navy(AAC) fired HC Niumatalolo, the winningest coach in program history (109-83).

Dec 15, 2022

Bobby Petrino is exiting the HC gig at Missouri St and returning to 1a as offensive coordinator at UNLV(MWC) under new coach HC Barry Odom.

Dec 17, 2022

UAB 24 M-O 20. Correct on UAB , who tried hard to give the game to M_O. Two retired Super Bowl QBs were on the sidelines. Dilfer who's the incoming HC at UAB, and Big Ben, an alumnus of Miami(Ohio)

Troy 18 UTSA 12. Wrong on this one. The Trojans slowed down Harris.

Dec 18, 2022

Cincy D at least tried, the O vanished in Fenway. LOU 24 Cincy 7.  Fresno rolled Wazzo 29-6. Cougars were awful. I got those two wrong, but was correct on USM who road 329 yards rushing from Gore Jr to beat Rice 38-24.

Not usually a ton of news from Kent St, but its QB Schlee transferred to UCLA, and its HC Sean Lewis will become Colorado's OC for Neon Deion

O5 Bowl Games Dec 31

 Sun Bowl: Central Michigan 27 Wash St 24.  CMU has Lew Nichols, the leading rusher in the country, but its weak passing D that will be tested by Cougars QB Jayden de Laura.  This is the first meeting between the schools. If my guess is correct, the Pac 12 will go winless this bowl season.

Cotton Bowl: I'm rooting for Cincy big time, but the Crimson Tide D will probably give Ridder he!!

Bama 28  Cincy 20.

I have no idea why ESPN didn't re-slate the Sun Bowl in its Bowl Mania but did adjust the Gator Bowl. Maybe because the Sun Bowl is on CBS?

Jan 1, 2022

CMU 24  WSU 21. Nichols had a solid game, and the CMU D played a good first half. Delaura was benched in the second half and Gabels led WSU to some scores.

Cincy stayed in the game through three quarters, trailing 17-6, but had no answers for Young and Robinson.

Cincy OC Denbrock ,who worked with LSU coach Brian Kelly at Notre Dame (2010-16), will become the LSU OC.

Jan 4, 2022

USF extended most of their head coaches' contracts, including football coach Jeff Scott, men’s basketball coach Brian Gregory, and baseball coach Billy Mohl. Scott is 3-18 in two seasons. Gregory is 62-73 in five seasons. Not sure what all that is about.

Jan 6, 2021

Memphis(AAC) offensive coordinator Kevin Johns is the new OC at Duke. Just a few years ago Memphis was a school that would've been a candidate to go P5.

Jan 9, 2021

Charlie Batch, a former NFL qb, said his employer , GameAbove Capital, would pay Caleb Williams $1 million for one season with Eastern Michigan(MAC). 

Jan 12, 2022

Clayton Tune  and Alton McCaskill are staying at Houston. CBS sports' analysts are slotting Houston as the 2022 preseason favorite in the AAC over Cincinnati.  I'm sticking with the Bearcats as the favorite until I see otherwise. 

ULL(SunBelt ) is getting raided hard. Napier took a lot of coaches to UF and just poached RB, Montrell Johnson, from his old team

Dec 27- 30 O5 bowl games

Military Bowl: Two erratic teams. Temple (AAC) VS UNC(ACC). UNC got within a point of Clemson in a loss but fell to AppST. I suspect the ground game with Carter and two guys named Williams will do enough for a Heels  24-20 win over Temple, who lost to Buffalo but upset Memphis this season. I get the feeling the Owls aren't completely confident in their QB Russo.
Cheez-It Bowl: Air Force ground attack against Wazzoo aerial show in the first ever metting of these squads on the football field. Maybe Easop Winston , WSU WR, kicks it in gear. Washing St(PAC12) 41 AFA(MWC) 35
Cotton Bowl: Memphis(AAC) has some solid tools on Offense led by the passing of Brady White and running of Gainwell, but the don't see them getting by the tough Nittany Lions. Penn St (B10) 37 Memphis 27

dec 28

A Friday split: wrong on AFA, right on UNC.
AFA rushed for 378 yards with Remsberg getting 178 and Birdow 108. WSU rolled  the dice and lost on a few 4th and short attempts. AFA 31 WSU 21
Howell (25-34, 294 YDS, 3 TD) , UNC QB,  and the rest of the Tar Heels O had a great day in a 55-13 romp over Temple.

dec 29

Roy Patterson, the Memphis kicker , hit six FGs including a 51 yarder, to keep the Tigers close, but the Lions D scored a key TD at a crucial point in the 2nd half and Journey Brown rushed for 202yards  and 2 TDs on 16 carries in a 53-39 Penn St win.
I finished 2-1 in this set.

april 21, 2020

Both Memphis RBs, Gibson and TaylorJr, are getting a lot of consideration in mock drafts, but don't forget Darrell Henderson, a rd3 pick from Memphis in 2019  fell flat for the Rams last season. My favorite O5 RB in this draft is I, #ElijahMitchell from Louisiana Tech(CUSA) averaged 5.8 yards per carry for 1,092 yards and 15 touchdowns. 

Friday the 13th Football, Mumme and more

Yesterday morning I scanned the sports TV schedule and focused on the two games involving ACC teams , UNC/Wake Forest and BC/Kansas(B12). It's been five years since the Terps divorce from the ACC went into effect for the 2014/15 marriage with the Big 10, and I still forget from time to time.
Jamie Newman led the Deacons to a 21-0 halftime lead, and they hung on for a 24-18 win over UNC that oddly doesn't count in the ACC standings. They're in different ACC divisions and haven't met since 2015, and many wonder why this long time rivalry hasn't been made a part of the ACC schedule .
Kansas stunned BC 48-24 for its first road win over a Power 5 school in nearly 11 years. Carter Stanley tossed three TD passes for the Jayhawks.
In a game matching Hal Mumme coaching disciples, Leach and Holgorsen, Washington St (pac12) survived 31 -24 over Houston (AAC). #AnthonyGordon threw for 440 yards and three touchdowns for his third straight 400-yard game for WSU. BTW, Hal Mumme was on the sidelines and was interviewed during the TV broadcast.

Sept 15

Big Saturday for the Big 12: TCU over Purdue(B10). KST over Miss St(SEC). WV over NCST(ACC) .
UCF (AAC) rolled Stanford (PAC 12)

Oct 4

It's been a rough time for Mumme's disciples, Holgorsen and Leach, since their Friday the 13 matchup. Holgorsen's star QB King took a healthy redshirt, and Leach called his players sloppy and soft after a 67-65 loss to UCLA.

Jan 14, 2020

 King graduated in Dec and entered the transfer portal yesterday. Leach is now in charge at Miss St

Jan 21

West Virginia RB #MartellPettaway opts for grad transfer to #MTSU (CUSA) In 2019 he rushed 19 times for 72 yards and two touchdowns. When he played for Holgorsen in 2018, he rushed for 623 yards, six touchdowns. 
King leaves Houston for Miami U

jan 22

Hawai'i hires Todd Graham ,ex-ARIZ St  HC (2011-17 ), to be HC.  He started his coaching career on Rich Rodriguez's staff at West Virginia as linebackers coach in 2001

april 5

Times have changed  #mikeleach, Miss St football coach tweeted about a woman knitting her husband a hanging rope during the quarantine got slapped by the PC internet cops. In 1992 #jackiesherill, then the Mississippi St coach, allowed a bull to be castrated in front of his team  and got less flack. 

april 19, 2020

  I saw this headline : Miami's D'Eriq King is poised to have a Joe Burrow-like impact for the Miami Hurricanes in 2020 and laughed. He!!, If the Canes average two TDs a game on O, that would be an improvement.

MAY 10, 2020

I was looking around at transfer news and saw Tyler Carr, TE from Texas Tech,  was headed to Hawaii and his OC would be GJ Kinne who was a low level asst on the Eagles(NFL) staff last season. When I read more of Kinne's bio , I learned that he was once put into protective custody when his father , who was also his high school football coach was shot in the chest by the disgruntled parent of one of the team's players at Canton HS in Mesquite,TX.

June 4, 2020

RIP Johnny Majors who had 185-137-10 lifetime record at three stops : Iowa St, Pitt, and Tenn. He ended his career in 2007 as Asst AD at Pitt. He led Iowa St (Big Eight) to its first   bowl game, the Sun Bowl in 1971, in which they were crushed by LSU 33-15.

Jackie Sherill replaced Majors at Pitt in 1977.

June 5, 2020

Marinos's statistics dipped during his senior year, which saw Pitt transition from head coach Jackie Sherrill to new coach Foge Fazio. Sherill took the Texas A&M job in 1982.

June 29, 2020

 I found this while reading an article on Rolovich , who left Hawaii(MWC) for Wazzoo. Hawaii's athletic budget of 46M is smaller than East Carolina (AAC), UMass(Independent) and James Madison (1AA)

June 24, 2021

Mumme just took a job in a developmental football league called “The Spring League” . Don't know WTH that is!!!!!!

March 1, 2022

Art Briles, who lasted four days at Grambling after Hue Jackson hired him.   S. Miss considered hiring Briles as an asst in 2019. Shawn Oakman, one of the Baylor players involved in that mess, was eventually exonerated. One a side issue, I noticed Mumme is a Tarleton St grad, and wonder if he chats with Gillepsie, their hoops HC.

May 3, 2022

D'eriq King jumped from the Houston Cougars to the Miami Canes in 2020 looking for an eventual big NFL  payday. Pats signed him as a UFA.

Dec 12, 2022

Mike Leach, the Miss St HC, is in the hospital and reports are that he's been fighting pneumonia for months. Zach Arnett, the Dawgs DC, is running the team heading into the bowl matchup against Illinois