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Posted on 12/14/2006 5:43:54 PM PST by MikefromOhio
The college football bowl season is upon us. Some of these games are worth watching, others are pure and simple money grabs. That said, I do like the fact that there are bowl games for all of the conference winners. However, I do NOT understand why the 6th place Big Ten team or the 8th place SEC team has a bowl game to go too. It’s all about the money. Almost all of these games will be on ESPN or ESPN2, but I will highlight the channel that these games are on. This thread will cover all non-National Title games. I’ll put all of the minor bowl games first and separate the BCS games after that. I’ll be doing a separate thread for the BCS National Title game.
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Garrett Wolfe and Northern Illinois can regain some of the national respect it had early on this season when it ran the ball on Ohio State and it appeared that Wolfe was going to challenge some of the records that Barry Sanders set. Meanwhile TCU has climbed all the way back up and into the top 25 after a bit of a slump to start out the year. Remember TCU was one of the favorite picks as a small conference school to make it to the BCS. This one appears to be a bit of a clunker.
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BYU could really make a case for it being in the top 20 for NEXT year with a convincing win here. Oregon is again looking for some momentum to carry into the 2007 season. This game may be the best game of the early bowl games. Of course that might not be saying much.
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This game is so obscure that I had trouble finding the right helmet for Troy State. This is a game where the Sun Belt champion, Troy, is getting a reward for winning their conference. That’s fine with me. Rice, however, was a decent Conference USA team, but really this match-up isn’t exactly going to put butts in the seats or eyes on the TV sets across the nation. Troy does provide a bit of a local flavor as they are from Alabama, so expect a bit of a home crowd for them.
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South Florida has put in an impressive season, with victories over West Virginia and Pittsburgh. East Carolina’s best claim to fame is either the victory over a bad NC State team or maybe the 5 point loss to Navy. For whatever reason, I don’t think that this game will be very watch-able. I will say, however, that if South Florida puts on a good show, there is a very good chance that they will be in the top 25 to start next year.
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I’m sure sean327 will be thrilled to see his Lobos in a bowl game. However, I am having issues figuring out WHY this game is being played. But since it is, I’m also having issues figuring out WHY New Mexico is a 4 point favorite here. San Jose State took Boise State to the limit. Now during the regular season I was 2-5-1 when picking New Mexico games so maybe sean327 will like this pick.
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This may be one of the better early bowl game match-ups. These two teams seem to be about even, yet both play hard. Tulsa was supposed to contend for the CUSA championship this year but didn’t get it done. Utah was in a rebuilding mode and I’m sure the extra 3 weeks of practice have been welcomed by the coaches.
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CFN predicted that this game may be one of the best games to watch this year. I agree. ASU can’t stop anyone on defense and Hawaii is a WAC team – meaning they are prone to giving up points in bunches as well. This should be a fun one to watch on Christmas Eve, especially if both offenses show up. Also watch for Hawaii QB Colt Brennan to launch his 2007 Heisman campaign with a good showing here.
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One of the stupidest things about the bowl lineup is that a team that did not win their conference outright, as MTSU did NOT do in the Sun Belt, ends up getting into a bigger money bowl game than the actual champion (Troy) did. This opportunity was given to them because the Big Ten did not have enough eligible teams to fill out their bowl lineup with Ohio State and Michigan making the BCS. This game comes down to whether MTSU can slow down the Central Michigan offense. I don’t think that will happen and this game has bad match-up written all over it.
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FSU has struggled with active and athletic defensive fronts all year long. Guess what they drew in this match-up? The very same defensive front which beat on USC all day of course. Not a good sign for Florida State. Expect a boring game.
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I can’t imagine Alabama being ready to play this game. It means nothing, chances are they won’t have a coach at this point and they will still have issues throwing the ball. Oklahoma State, on the other hand, can throw on anyone. Sometimes they have issues stopping the other guy from doing the same thing.
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For Cal, this is about building for next year. For Texas A&M, it’s about building off of the surprising Texas win and proving that they can play with the big boys in a consistent basis. I think A&M will keep it close, but I wonder if they will score enough to hang with the playmakers that Cal can bring to the table.
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I kind of enjoyed watching Rutgers this year. They came really out of nowhere and really had every opportunity to go undefeated. K-State knocked Texas completely out of National Title contention with a surprisingly explosive win. Rutgers has the defense to stop K-State, but can they throw well enough to get the job done? We will find out. This game is on the NFL Network.
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This should be a well attended game if nothing else. This game comes down to Clemson’s ability to run the ball. I don’t think Kentucky will be able to stop them. That will mean that Kentucky will have to play mistake free on offense to score enough to keep it close. Kentucky is light-years ahead of where it was last year, but it’s not on that level yet.
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Remember Missouri? You know, one of the last remaining unbeaten teams as late as the last week of October? Since their first loss on October 14th, Mizzou finished out the year losing 3 of their last 5 games. Oregon State, on the other hand, was about two week short of beating USC in one of the bigger shockers of the year. Little did we all know that Oregon State would finish 3rd in the Pac-10 this year at the time.
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Houston won the Conference USA and probably should be ranked at this point in time. South Carolina was in position to possibly get a win against Auburn, Arkansas AND Florida. That, along with the Steve Spurrier influence, is why I am picking South Carolina to win easily here.
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They always are. It's getting to the point where you can wait until the 2nd round, or even the 3rd, and there'll still be quality RBs available.
I'd like to see what Brohm can do in the NFL, and I'd like to see what Colt Brennan has, too.
Wow, technical difficulties already. Groan.
Arnold Palmer
Every sport has one quintessential player who transforms the game from pastime to art form, a person who attracts public attention by presence alone. In the world of golf, this person is Arnold Palmer. The personable Palmer drew crowds, (eventually dubbed "Arnie's Army"), to the links to watch a sport that had previously been thought to be played exclusively by the elite. His expertise has secured him a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame in Jacksonville, Florida, the PGA Hall of Fame, the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh and the American Golf Hall of Fame in Foxburg, Pennsylvania.
Arnold Palmer was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania on September 10, 1929 to Milfred J. "Deacon" and Doris Palmer. "Deacon" Palmer was a golf professional and the course superintendent at the Latrobe Country Club . He passed his passion for the sport to his son. The young Palmer began playing golf with clubs cut down to his size and played in many local tournaments while still in grammar school. During his junior year of high school, Palmer played in his first national competition. While playing in this tournament Palmer met Buddy Worsham, a fellow competitor who convinced Palmer to join him in pursuing his education at Wake Forest College, (now Wake Forest University), in Wake Forest, North Carolina. The two golfers quickly became good friends.
In a championship match in the late 1940s, the Wake Forest golf team failed to qualify for final competition. Ellis Hagler, coach of the Duke University golf team and also a North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame inductee, asked if the Wake Forest squad would like to caddy for the Blue Devils in the finals of the competition. This angered Wake Forest coach and later inductee into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, Jim Weaver, who swore to improve the Wake Forest golf team. Intense work produced three Southern Conference titles for the Wake Forest Squad led by Arnold Palmer and Buddy Worsham.
Tragedy struck in 1950 when Worsham was killed in an auto accident. Arnold Palmer left Wake Forest and joined the Coast Guard, where he served three years, seeing action in the Korean Conflict and continuing to develop his golf skills. After his military service Palmer returned to Wake Forest in 1954 to complete his degree in Business Administration. In that same year Palmer led the Demon Deacons to their first Atlantic Coast Conference golf title. After graduating from Wake Forest Palmer accepted a position as a manufacturer's representative in Cleveland, Ohio. 1954 proved to be the beginning of other great things for Arnold Palmer. He met Winnie Walzer who would become his wife and won his first national golf title, the US Amateur Championship.
With the encouragement of his wife, Palmer became a professional golfer, won the Canadian Open in 1955 and captured television audiences with his aggressive golfing style and pleasant personality. In 1958 Palmer won three championships, including the Masters. Larger numbers of fans were beginning to notice Palmer and "Arnie's Army" was born.
During his long career Palmer won 91 tournaments. Half of these victories would come between 1960 and 1963. Sixty-one of Palmer's wins came on the PGA tour. "Arnie's Army" saw its leader victorious at the Masters in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964. Palmer won the US Open in 1960 and the British Open in 1961 and 1962. In later years, Palmer would win eleven tournaments on the Senior Tour. Palmer was named PGA Player of the Year twice, Associate Press Athlete of the Decade for the 1960s, 1960 Hickok Athlete of the Year, Sportsman of the Year in 1960 by Sports Illustrated and Golfer of the Century by the New York Athletic Club.
Today Palmer owns or manages several golf courses through his company Arnold Palmer Enterprises and is also an experienced pilot. His Palmer Course Design Company has designed over 200 golf courses while his Arnold Palmer Golf Academy is well known in the golfing world. He also gives much time to charity work and served as Honorary National Chairman of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation for 20 years. Arnold and Winnie Palmer have two daughters and five grandchildren.
Sorry, but all these sporting events have way worn out the Weekend at Ali's schtick. Give it a rest, it is like a "See the Bearded Lady" exhibit now.
Hugs - to you -for that info about Arnie! THE greatest !!!
2007 is looking to be a bit more than that though...
Slaton
The guy at Cal
Ian Johnson
The Texas guy :)
Mike Hart
DeShawn Winn
All of these guys would be 1st rounders any other year....
ooops my bad, 1984.
Bottom line, can't argue with you there...my original statement was a bit of bombast...
My god Ali looked horrible. I did not realize how badly he had deteriorated. He was bad at the 96 olympics, but he still looked like himself, I would not have known that was Ali if they had not said so.
Bad start for WF. That kick was going out of bounds.
If B.Jax for Nebraska plays all year for Nebraska he will be a top get too, baseballs for calfs.
Total bonehead play. Take the loss -- don't lose 10 more.
Wow. Big play by Skinner.
So was mine...lol. Of course its hard for a Nebraska fan to want a losing effort to be so great, but I just watched on ESPN classic and remember how I felt that day.
Whew!!!!! First down!! GReat pass!!!! Go Deacs!
We'll see. But some RBs will definitely go in round 1. For example, I can see the Jets trading up to get Adrian Peterson, or hoping that Marshawn Lynch falls to them.
Ummmmm, WF needs to learn to actually run forward.
Looks like Louisville has studied the films of Wake well - stopping these misdirection plays.....oh well....now we'll see how Wake can stop the Cardinals......eek.
That's his name....
Lynch is a sophomore I think....
I'm still reeling from last nights excitement....WF is the underdog in this one, right?
10 point underdog. That's a lot, and I don't really expect two Cinderella stories on consecutive nights.
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