Bowl games

#1
hUTch2002

hUTch2002

Wait til next year!
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#1
Since the bowl games kick off today I thought I’d throw out some thoughts on how the Power 5 conferences will perform. Last year Big 10 fans pointed to their bowl record as proof they were the best conference but if you look at the fact they were favored in every game except for 2 it shouldn’t have been a surprise. The SEC had bad matchups last year so they actually also performed pretty much as expected. So who has the favorable matchups coming into this year? That would be the SEC and Pac 12. Those conferences will have the best records. The SEC is favored in 9 of the 11 bowl games and by more than a TD in 4 of them. All of the other Power 5 conferences combined are more than a TD favorite in 3 games. The Big 10, even though they should have an advantage because their best team isn’t off to the playoff, will be in for a much rougher bowl season as they are favored in 3 of 9 games. However, they won’t perform as poorly as the Big 12 who is favored to win 1 of their 7 games and that’s by less than a FG and the QB has elected not to play. The ACC will have some success but it is interesting that only 6 of their 11 bowl games are against Power 5 teams and 7 if you include Notre Dame. So that means 4 bowl games are against non-Power 5/ND when no other Power 5 conference has more than 1 such game. The ACC is only favored in 3 of 11 but they aren’t more than a TD underdog in any game. The Pac 12 is favored in 4 of the 7 with one push. I predict SEC 10-1, Pac 12 5-2, ACC 6-5, Big 10 3-6, Big 12 0-7. Does that mean the Pac 12 is the second best conference? No. It just means they have good matchups this bowl season. On paper the Big 10 actually should go 2-2 against the SEC as the matchups are favorable for the Big 10 but I have a feeling UF beats Michigan with the disappointing end to Michigan’s season and some of their players sitting out. Anyone want to share what they see for this coming bowl season?
 
#2
#2
Being favored in so many bowl games is in itself a sign of strength.

The SEC typically plays more or less the same number of games against the same conferences each year. Never gonna play the PAC (unless they get into the playoffs), and will play about a third of bowls against each of the B10, B12, and ACC. With maybe one or two Group of 5 matches mixed in.

And within each of those groupings, it usually goes more or less that the #4 team from conference X is against the #4 (or #3 or #5, but near-peer) from conference Y. If it turns out that the #4 team from X is ranked in the top 15, while the #4 team from Y is unranked and unheralded, that is itself a sign that conference X was the stronger conference. So naturally the Top 15 team will be favored against the unranked opponent.

The B10 went 7-1 in bowls last year. That makes them the best Power 5 conference of 2017 during bowl season (the PAC had the best inter-conference record of the regular season).

No argument here with that claim.

Shifting to this year, I do like the SEC's chances of coming out of bowl season on top. We certainly were the best conference in the regular season, and it wasn't even close. :)
 
#3
#3
Is anybody else watching the "Cure Bowl" in Orlando, with Tulane vs. ULL?

I have never seen such an empty stadium at a bowl. Could be a sign there are too many of these things. Or maybe they should have put in a more local "home" team.
 
#4
#4
orangebloodgmc said:
Is anybody else watching the "Cure Bowl" in Orlando, with Tulane vs. ULL?

I have never seen such an empty stadium at a bowl. Could be a sign there are too many of these things. Or maybe they should have put in a more local "home" team.
Click to expand...

Watching Ut St vs North Texas. NT has made an amazing turnaround since we played them in 2015, when they were 1-11. Now 9-3 and have a great OC in Graham Harrell. Put up 36 pts/game. But their QB looks injured at the moment.
 
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#5
#5
I'll be going to the Camelia Bowl (Eastern Michigan/Georgia Southern) here in Montgomery in a couple of hours, i hopefully it's a good game.
 
#7
#7
orangebloodgmc said:
Is anybody else watching the "Cure Bowl" in Orlando, with Tulane vs. ULL?

I have never seen such an empty stadium at a bowl. Could be a sign there are too many of these things. Or maybe they should have put in a more local "home" team.
Click to expand...

Weather is sort of "blah" today in FL and look at the match-up. The re-built Citrus Bowl is pretty nice, though.
 
#9
#9
orangebloodgmc said:
Is anybody else watching the "Cure Bowl" in Orlando, with Tulane vs. ULL?

I have never seen such an empty stadium at a bowl. Could be a sign there are too many of these things. Or maybe they should have put in a more local "home" team.
Click to expand...

Bowl attendance has been awful for most of the bowl games for a long time now, and the Cure Bowl in particular has never drawn well. If you want to see an empty stadium, watch the Bahamas Bowl.
 
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