CollegeBowlProjections.com

Kyle Whittingham and his coaching staff at Utah completely embarrassed “the genius” Nick Saban and his staff in the Sugar Bowl tonight.  It appeared the Crimson Tide team had spent too many late nights on Bourbon Street because the Utes were faster and more tenacious in every aspect of the ballgame.

The Utes victory puts non-BCS teams with a 3-1 record in the championship games.  Utah claims two of those victories.  Although the Utes dominated tonight in the Sugar Bowl, they didn’t have an easy road to get to this game. They lived a very charmed season this year.

• The Utes scored a touchdown in the last minute at Air Force to claim a 30-23 victory.
• Its three toughest opponents (Oregon State, TCU and BYU) were at home this season.
• Behind 28-20 to Oregon State with 2:18 left in the game, the Utes scored a touchdown, two point conversion and last second field goal to win the game.  They also benefitted from a controversial pass interference call in the end zone.
• The Utes claimed victory against TCU(13-10) after the Horned Frogs missed two field goals attempts in the fourth quarter.

Utah capitalized on their opportunities and played their best game of the season against Alabama.  They turned their 10 point underdog situation into a 14 point victory in the Sugar Bowl.  The Utes deserve huge praise tonight in New Orleans.

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College football fans pain through every season with this ridiculous BCS process.  We deal with watching lousy and meaningless bowl games for a couple of weeks during the holiday season.  Unless your team is playing in the bowl game it most likely won’t catch your interest (Oregon State and Pittsburgh should issue an apology to anyone who watched more than five minutes of the Sun Bowl this year).

At least  you’ve convinced your wife every year you must watch all of these games in order to avoid tedious errands or work around the house when you have a couple of days away from work.  Enjoy the chips and dip and try to catch a nap on the couch while you watch these very mediocre games.  If you’re not watching Florida-Oklahoma, USC-Penn State, or TCU-Boise State this season you’re really watching a game that means very little. A playoff system would fix this problem but that debate is for another day.

Occasionally the bowl games create a great reason to keep watching them.  The Rice Owls and Vanderbilt Commodores ended their bowl victory droughts this holiday season.  Vanderbilt hadn’t won a bowl game since 1955 and Rice was last victorious in 1954.  Can you imagine the jubilation of the fans for each of these schools on December 31^st?  Can you imagine your favorite team not winning a bowl game for over 50 years?

Any sport fan can feel for these programs and their fans as they celebrated their bowl victory.  These programs alumni and fans finally had something to celebrate going into the next year. Fortunately most of us can’t understand the long wait they had to endure.  Congratulations Vanderbilt and Rice.  You’ve made a huge statement for the importance of bowl games every year.

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After 15 years “Touchdown Jesus” can celebrate a bowl game victory.  The Fighting Irish defeated the Hawaii Rainbows (we still think of them as the Rainbows not the Warriors) 49-21 on Christmas Eve.  The win was the first in a bowl game since they beat the Texas A&M in the 1993 Cotton Bowl.

More encouraging to Irish fans than the win should be the play of Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate.  Clausen threw for a Notre Dame bowl record 401 yards and 5 TD’s.  Sophomore receiver Golden Tate had 6 catches for 177 yards and 3 TD’s. Charlie Weiss has to be ecstatic that he is going to enter 2009 with such great momentum.  Perhaps Weiss can use the momentum to extend his stay in South Bend past next season.

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The TCU Horned Frogs defeated the Boise State Broncos 17-16 in the Poinsettia Bowl. This was a fight between two non-BCS teams who were just edged out of the BCS bowl games this season.  The TCU victory also gave the Mountain West Conference a 2-0 edge over the Western Athletic Conference in bowl games.  Colorado State earlier defeated Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl.

if TCU had beaten Utah earlier in the season then Boise State and TCU would of been fighting for the non-BCS slot.  The debate would of been whether TCU deserved to jump Boise State with one loss during the season.  The Horned Frogs dropped a game against Oklahoma.  Would you of picked TCU over Boise State?  Would Boise State’s victory over Oregon been enough to get them into the big dance?

The final result showed both teams were evenly matched.  Unfortunately neither team had the opportunity to show their game against a good BCS team in the bowl system.  It’s always unfortunate when Cinderella must face Cinderella in a match-up and the ideal situation for the BCS bullies.

Look for both of these teams fighting for the BCS bid next season.

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BYU players, coaches and fans ended the season on a sour note. They had high expectations for this season. Especially after they started the season defeating UCLA 59-0 after the Bruins came off a victory against the then-ranked Tennessee Volunteers, won a nail-biter in Washington, and then blew out their next opponent to prove the Washington win wasn’t a fluke.

Unfortunately everything fell apart at TCU on a Thursday night(warning to all ranked teams—don’t play on Thursday night) and then a meltdown by quarterback Max Hall—throwing five interceptions—against rival Utah.  The Las Vegas Bowl was a sloppy performance by both BYU and Arizona. The Cougars were playing there for the fourth year in a row and showed their lack of excitement on the field.The Cougars hoped to reach their first BCS bowl game this season but instead saw Utah get invited to their second BCS bowl.

The Cougars should be delighted if they represent the Mountain West next year for the fifth straight time.  It will be very difficult for the Cougars to contend for a BCS bid with rumors they will face Oklahoma in the new Dallas Cowboys stadium, hosting the Florida State Seminoles at home and perhaps hitting the road to Arizona State.

The Cougars have the advantage in the Mountain West Conference next season because they will host TCU and Utah at home.

The Cougars have three big questions going into next season:

• Will wide receiver Austin Collie enter the NFL draft?
• Will quarterback Max Hall return to form and limit mistakes on the field?
• Will the Cougars improve on the defensive side of the field in order to compete against their out of conference schedule?

CollegeBowlProjections.com is leaning towards another Las Vegas Bowl appearance or Poinsettia Bowl invitation for the Cougars next season.

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Charlie Weiss is back for another season. Will he be able to turn the program around next year and keep his job?  The Fighting Irish will return 16 starters which includes starting quarterback Jimmy Clausen from this 6-6 team.

The schedule should keep Irish fans happy next season and keep Weiss in the head coaching position.  How many victories do you see in 2009?

Eight victories seem very reasonable for 2009.  Eight victories should be enough to receive a Gator Bowl invitation and playing on New Year’s Day.

2009 Notre Dame Football Schedule
Sept. 5       NEVADA
Sept. 12     at Michigan
Sept. 19     MICHIGAN STATE
Sept. 26     at Purdue
Oct. 3        WASHINGTON
Oct. 10      Open Date
Oct. 17      USC
Oct. 24      BOSTON COLLEGE
Oct. 31      vs. Washington State (at San Antonio, Texas)
Nov. 7       NAVY
Nov. 14     at Pittsburgh
Nov. 21     CONNECTICUT
Nov. 28     at Stanford

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