Rose Bowl: Stanford, McCaffrey throttle Michigan State, 29-0

Was it a two year pent up grudge for the Rose Bowl loss to Michigan State 24-20?  Or a desire to show that Heisman runner-up Christian McCaffrey was the nation’s best player?  No matter the reason, #6 Stanford rock, rattled, and rolled to their fourth Football’s Final Four over the past six seasons with a convincing win over the Spartans.

From the start, McCaffrey ran, punt returned, and pass recept-ed all over the Spartans defense.  The only redeeming factor was that the Spartans defense initially kept the Cardinal out of the end zone.   Stanford kicker Conrad Ukropina hit 4 first half field goals, 2 in the first quarter and a pair in the second, while the Spartans offense sputtered, and the Cardinal led 12-0.  But a bit of trickery gave Stanford a chance to cross the goal line.  With 8:22 left in the half, Stanford QB Kevin Hogan faked a fumble and then found Michael Rector in the end zone for a 31-yard touchdown.  The Cardinal were cruising with a 19-0 halftime lead.

Unusual for a Mark Dantonio team, #3 Michigan State could not find a way to stick around score-wise to have a punchers chance at the end with their proclivity to scratch and claw out key wins.  In their third straight tournament, the Spartans had never been ousted in their first game, and losses like last season’s 1-point Sugar Bowl defeat to Alabama certainly demonstrated their grit.  But today, Stanford owned all the moxie.

In the third quarter, another Ukropina 31 yard field goal, followed by a 42 yard pass from Hogan to Rector finished the scoring.  Stanford finished up a 29-0 defeat of Michigan State to return to the Semi-Finals in San Antonio, and a match-up with Alabama.

Whether it is Jim Harbaugh or David Shaw at the helm, or Andrew Luck or Kevin Hogan under center, Stanford has been amazingly consistent.  Over the past six seasons, five Rose Bowl appearances, four Rose Bowl victories/Final Four berths, and one championship game appearance.  They hope to take the next step this season, and win another game in Pac-12 country, at the National Championship game in Arizona.

Peach Bowl: Alabama’s World of Coker cools Houston’s hopes; Tide rolls, 38-8

 

Ask Alabama about how they like the new tournament inclusion of Atlanta as a bowl site, and they will respond it is just peachy.  Alabama’s aura that they are the team to beat this year was solidified, as the Crimson Tide crushed a game Houston team.

 

Early Houston turnovers cost the Cougars, and contributed to Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry’s 1 yard TD score to give Bama an early lead, followed by Tide kicker Adam Griffith’s 47 yard field goal.  The first quarter ended with the Cougars down by 10.  And the Jake Coker was just beginning.  Coker hit Calvin Ridley with a 6 yard TD pass, and Alabama cruised to a 17-0 halftime lead. 

 

In the second half, Alabama special teams joined the domination act, scoring on a Cyrus Jones 57 yard punt return.  Believe it or not, Ridley caught a 50 yard TD pass from Coker.   Houston finally garnered some points as Chance Allen’s 17 yard TD pass from Greg Ward Jr, but Bama was ahead at the start of the 4^th quarter, 31-8.

 

Derrick Henry 11 yard TD run in the 4^th finished the scoring, in Alabama’s clear victory statement.  The Tide’s 38-8 victory earned them a trip to the San Antonio Semi-Finals to play the winner of the Rose Bowl.

Orange Bowl: Top seed Clemson’s strong second half downs TCU, 37-22

Though they are the top seed, Clemson’s road to a national title will not be an easy Sunday ride in the country.  The first stop on the journey was an Orange Bowl against the defending champions from Texas Christian.  The ninth seeded Horned Frogs proved they will be a tough out when they executed a comeback in the First Round to eliminate Notre Dame. 

Clemson seemed a bit tight early, and throughout the first half, concern that a “Clemsoning" was eminent seemed to occasionally wash over the faces of the Tiger faithful.  Clemson scored the only points of the first quarter on a Greg Huegel 26 yard field goal.  In the second quarter, Tiger QB Deshaun Watson’s 5 yard TD run increased the lead, but TCU quickly answered on Emanuel Porter 7 yard TD reception on a pass from Bram Kohlhausen to keep it close.  Huegel added two more field goals but TCU’s QB Kohlhausen ran in a TD from 8 yards out to narrow the score to 16-14, the halftime score.

But Clemson asserted their dominance and justified their seed in the second half.  Wayne Gallman’s 1 yard TD rush and Deshaun Watson’s 35 yard pass to Hunter Renfrow pushed the Tiger lead to 30-14 in the third.  Clemson’s defense continued to limit TCU, and Gallman added a 4 yard TD run to give a comfortable Clemson cushion of 37-14.  A late TCU TD narrowed the final score to 37-22, but the Horned Frogs title defense season ended, and Clemson moves on to the San Antonio Semi-Finals with hopes of being the new champions.

First Round Shreveport: Become a Houston nut! Ten-seed Cougars upend Iowa, 34-16

Over the past three seasons, when the tournament withdrew the automatic bid to the Big East/AAC and gave it to the highest ranked champion among the "Group of Five" conferences, that champion has come in as the tenth seed, but not easy pickin's for their Power Five opponents.  Two seasons ago, Missouri needed two touchdowns in the last three minutes to defeat #10 seed Central Florida by 1.  And last season, #10 seed Boise State defeated Mississippi State and #2 Florida State on their way to Football's Final Four.

As 61 degrees and clear skies enveloped Shreveport, throngs of excited Hawkeye fans joined the Cougar faithful at Independence Stadium.   But of the teams on the field, Houston seemed to be the joyous, carefree side of the gridiron.  Though Iowa’s team included noticeably larger physical specimens, the quick Cougars, such as QB Greg Ward Jr seemed to have all the right moves to get between and around Hawkeye defenders in the open field.  So when Ward scooted into the end zone from 7 yards out, one could sense that this game may not be won by strength, but stealth.  Houston fans cheered, and the Cougars danced on the sidelines like kids at Chuck E Cheese. 

 

The Cougar fun continued as wide receiver Demarcus Ayers lofted a 20 yard pass to a wide open Chance Allen in the end zone, followed by another Ward TD run, and Houston took a 21-0 lead to the halftime locker room.

 

Houston’s offense sputtered in the third, and one wondered if their magic was dissipating, but Iowa could only muster a field goal in the third.  But despite a 21-3 lead, a sense of nervousness emanated from the Cougar fan sections.  And early in the fourth, Matt VandeBerg’s 36 yard TD reception pass from C.J. Beathard brought Iowa within 21-9.

But throughout the fourth, Houston’s offense resumed having an answer for every Hawkeye advance.  Two Houston field goals and a touchdown run were able to answer another Hawkeye TD, and Houston eased to a 34-16 victory.

 

Houston moves on to the Peach Bowl to take on second seeded SEC champ Alabama.

First Round Chicago: No Boykin, no problem; TCU comeback shocks Notre Dame, 30-28

The story line of the defending national champion #9 Texas Christian team travelling to Chicago to play a strong #8 Notre Dame team that lost heartbreaking games to Clemson and Stanford should have been that the winner would be a dark horse candidate to stir things up in the college football tournament.  Instead, the suspension of TCU star QB Trevone Boykin days before the game stole the headlines.  Certainly, taking Boykin away from the Horned Frogs and having to play in December-y Chicago would provide an immense hurdle for TCU.

And it certainly was typical December Saturday in Chicago, but at 30 degrees and no precipitation, it was neither a frozen tundra nor pelting rain (that Louisville and Northern Illinois experienced during a First Round game in recent years).  But Notre Dame seemed on their game early while TCU played to the script of being out of sorts.  The first quarter saw the Irish take the lead on a Josh Adams 3 yard TD run, followed in the second quarter by a DeShone Kizer 1 yard TD run, and Notre Dame was in 100% control with a 14-0 lead at the half.

TCU finally hit a field goal in the third quarter, but when Kizer hit Chris Brown on a 4 yard TD pass, the Notre Dame 21-3 lead seemed as safe as a pot of gold at the rainbow’s end.  Even when TCU QB Bram Kohlhausen tossed a 26 yard TD pass to Jaelan Austin, it seemed like a temporary blip on a dominant ND defensive performance.  However in the waning moments of the third quarter, Kohlhausen’s 2 yard TD run brought TCU within 21-17, and nervousness  began to bubble up among the Irish faithful. 

But when the fourth quarter scoring started with a Will Fuller 81 yard TD reception pass from Kizer, the ND fans certainly had to think luck was on their side, with a 28-17 lead.  But TCU answered with a Jaden Oberkrom 34 yard field goal, and later when the Horned Frogs’ Aaron Green scored from two yards out to narrow the lead to 28-27, the Soldier Field crowd knew nails would be bitten in the final minutes.  With 3:08 to play, Oberkrom hit a 22 yard field goal, and TCU took their first lead, 30-28.  An ineffective Irish offense never came close to putting ND in a position to score, and Texas Christian’s hope to repeat as champions were alive, as the Irish’s hopes of a spoiler role were dashed.

Texas Christian moves on the Orange Bowl to face the top seeded, undefeated Clemson Tigers. 

ESPN's Mark Schlabach and I predict the tournament's First Round and Bowl games

(Actually, Mark predicted all the bowl games here, and I plugged in his predictions into my tournament algorithms.  That is if the games turns out like he predicts, the tournament will turn out as presented below.  Usually I use Stewart Mandel's picks, but I cannot find picks with a score or margin of victory by Stew this season.  If they are out there, let me know)

ESPN's Mark Schlabach and I have our predictions for the two First Round games and the four Bowl games in the ten team tournament:

First Round Shreveport:
Mark: Iowa over Houston by 2
Me:  Iowa over Houston by 3

First Round Chicago:
Mark: Notre Dame over TCU by 1
Me:  TCU over Notre Dame by 4

Orange Bowl:
Mark: Clemson over Iowa by 8
Me: Clemson over TCU by 6

Sugar Bowl:
Mark: Ohio State over Oklahoma by 1
Me: Ohio State over Oklahoma by 3

Peach Bowl:
Mark: Alabama over Notre Dame by 12
Me: Alabama over Iowa by 11 

Rose Bowl:
Mark: Stanford over Michigan State by 2
Me: Stanford over Michigan State by 3

Final Four in San Antonio:
Mark: Clemson vs Ohio State; Alabama vs Stanford
Me: Clemson vs Ohio State; Alabama vs Stanford

Semi-Finals on New Year's Eve? *sigh* the College Football Playoff still cannot get it right

So much promise, but the College Football Playoff decides to play both Semi-Final games on New Year's Eve.  So then New Year's Day gets capped off with, drum roll please, a meaningless Sugar Bowl, with Ole Miss versus Oklahoma State.  I think.  I just know it is an SEC team against a Big XII team.

Does the Playoff think bringing back "tradition" means putting the games on the same day every year?  That tradition never held even in the good old days.  Orange Bowl was on both New Years Eve and New Year's night (but I don't think ever at 4 pm, like this year.  Otherwise, how could we have the nighttime halftime extravaganzas like the video below!).  The Fiesta Bowl was on Christmas Day, the Cotton Bowl all over the calendar, the Sugar Bowl head to head against the Rose Bowl, and who knows where the Peach Bowl has been.

So here is my solution, as I have to save the college football establishment from itself.  Again.

Okay, we keep the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl as the last game of the night.  If one of them has the Semi-Final game, they play on New Year's night, otherwise New Year's Eve.  Whoever else has a Semi-Final, then they play 1pm on New Year's Day, got it?  Let's pair the Rose Bowl with the Peach Bowl for Semi-Finals.  In years when they have the Playoff games, Peach Bowl at 1pm, Rose Bowl at 5pm on New Year's Day (the Rose Bowl will be the same time, same day, every year).   A non-playoff Sugar Bowl can follow them.  We can start next year, pairing the Rose and the Peach.  The Fiesta has had a lot of years in the spotlight and the Championship game this year, so they can wait a bit.  That's it, that's the plan, please reconvene.  You are welcome!