College Football
Week 16 – Eight bowl games this week
Navy upsets Army,
bowl games begin this week, Duke hires big time, and Bryce Young wins Heisman
Trophy
It’s been busy!
The college football season came to an end Saturday before 82,282 fans at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It was the Army-Navy game. Coming into the game, Army was 8-3 and Navy was 3-8. Army was the overwhelming favorite.
On the opening drive, the Black Knights lived up to their favorite role. Just two minutes into the game, Army quarterback Christian Anderson scampered 56 yards for a touchdown to put the Cadets up 7-0.
Five minutes and 38 seconds later, Navy quarterback Tai Lavatai scored a touchdown on an 8-yard run. The game was tied 7-7. But by halftime, Army added to their score, kicking two field goals. The Black Knights led Navy at the break, 13-7.
The second half, however, belonged to Navy. Midway through the third quarter, the Middies scored a touchdown and went up 14-13. Midway through the fourth quarter, Navy’s Bijan Nichols connected on a 43-yard field goal. The Midshipmen increased their lead to 4 points.
Army never scored in the second half. The Cadets were shutout. The second half completely belonged to Navy. At the end, Navy upset Army 17-13.
But was it really an upset. Army’s eight wins were over teams like Georgia State, Western Kentucky, Connecticut, Miami (Ohio), Bucknell, Massachusetts and Liberty. Navy’s eight losses were to teams like Houston, SMU, Memphis, Cincinnati, Notre Dame and East Carolina. Navy definitely played the tougher schedule. The records were misleading. Maybe Navy should have been favored.
The day before the Army-Navy game, I was listening to the Rick Neuheisel and Chris Childers show “Full Ride” on the radio. It’s a good show. During one segment of the show, Neuheisel and Childers were interviewing actor Dan Lauria. Lauria played high school football at Lindenhurst High School in New Jersey, and played college football at Southern Connecticut State University on a football scholarship.
After college, Lauria served as a platoon commander in the Vietnam War, as a captain in the United States Marines. Neuheisel, Childers and Lauria were talking about the Army-Navy game. Sharing interesting, serious and humorous anecdotes about the game, Lauria said, “You know, the day of the Army-Navy game is the only day of the year that Marines cheer for the Navy.”
In the Navy, we had the Marines to keep us safe, secure and protected. The Army had dogs to keep them safe, secure and protected. You may wonder why? Well, when I was in the Navy, we were always told and taught to say, “The Army got first choice.”
Speaking of first, the first eight of 42 bowl games will be played this week – two games Friday night and six games on Saturday. Forty-two bowl games? It’s crazy, isn’t it? I think it has gotten out of hand.
Fourteen of the teams will be playing under interim coaches. Anymore, several of the players opt out of playing in the bowl games. Generally, they are the better players who are planning to enter the NFL draft. As a result, people are losing interest in the bowls. Attendance at many of the bowl games is paltry, pathetic.
Only the New Year’s Six bowls and maybe five or six others maintain interest. When the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams, they should use the bowls to play those 11 games. That will keep interest alive in those 11 bowls.
However, the CFP committee is talking about playing all but the semifinal and championship games at the home field of the higher-rated teams. That would be eight of the games. There is certainly reason and argument for that concept. But the bowls would dwindle and die on the vine. And maybe that’s what should happen to them.
Still, the bowls are a reward for the teams who do not make the playoff. I suspect as long as the bowls can secure sponsors and television contracts to finance the games, then they will continue – interest or no interest.
For bragging rights, the SEC has the most teams playing in a bowl game – 13. Everybody but Vanderbilt qualified for a bowl. That’s why the SEC teams only play eight and not nine conference games. And that’s why three or four of their non-conference games are against cupcakes. Otherwise, many, if not most, of them would not qualify for a bowl. Five of the 13 SEC bowl teams had 6-6 records. Half of their wins were over cupcakes. All seven teams in the SEC West Division qualified for a bowl.
The ACC has 10 teams playing in a bowl game. Like the SEC, the ACC teams only play eight conference games. And most of the ACC teams play three cupcakes among their non-conference games. Five of the 10 ACC bowl teams had 6-6 records.
The Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 have nine, seven and six teams respectively playing in bowl games. The Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 teams play nine conference games.
Among the Group of Five conferences, C-USA, the MAC and the MWC have the most teams in a bowl game. Each have eight. All six teams in the MAC West Division qualified for a bowl. The AAC qualified seven teams and the Sun Belt only four teams. There are four Independents playing in bowl games.
The Bahamas Bowl between Middle Tennessee and Toledo kicks off the bowl season at 12 noon ET on Friday. Among the eight bowl games on Friday and Saturday, the best and most interesting should be the new L.A. Bowl, matching Utah State against Oregon State. The L.A. Bowl is at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
The coaching carousel appears to be all but over. Of the 28 teams who had to find a new coach, only Temple is still searching.
Miami lured Mario Cristobal away from Oregon and back to his roots in South Florida. Oregon, in turn, surprised everyone, hiring Georgia’s defensive coordinator Dan Lanning to lead the Ducks.
Perhaps a bigger surprise than Dan Lanning going to Oregon was Duke’s catch. When the Blue Devils let David Cutcliffe go, most assumed the Dookies would go after some FCS coach or some lesser known offensive or defensive coordinator. After all, basketball is king in Durham and Duke just plays football – well, to play football. The Dookies want to win but they don’t want to take football too seriously.
Well, maybe Duke is taking a new outlook on football – a serious outlook. The Dookies hired a serious football coach – one of the best, if not the best, defensive coordinators in the country. Duke hired Mike Elko away from Texas A&M and Jimbo Fisher. At Texas A&M, Elko was one of the highest paid assistant coaches in the country, making $1.8 million a year.
The past 15 years, Elko has been a defensive coordinator under three of the best coaches in the country – Dave Clawson, Brian Kelly and Jimbo Fisher. When Fisher became the coach at Texas A&M four years ago, he hired Elko away from Kelly at Notre Dame. The past three years, several Power Five schools have approached Elko to become their head coach. He turned them all down. But this year, he said yes to Duke. Elko, 44, played college football in the Ivy League at Penn. Elko may do for Duke football what Steve Spurrier did for Duke in the late 1980s. Stay tuned!
As expected, Miami fired Manny Diaz and hired Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal. In four seasons at Oregon, Cristobal was 35-13 – 10-3 this season. He grew up in Miami, played football for the Hurricanes and his mother lives in Miami. Before Oregon, Cristobal was the head coach of FIU for six seasons (2007-2012) and on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama for four seasons (2013-2016). In 2016, he was the offensive coordinator at Oregon.
In three seasons at Miami, Diaz was 21-15 – 7-5 this season. Prior to becoming the head coach at Miami, Diaz was the defensive coordinator at Miami, Mississippi State (twice), Louisiana Tech, Texas and Middle Tennessee. In 2018, Diaz accepted the head coaching position at Temple on a Saturday. The next day, Sunday, he left Temple to become the head coach at Miami. Ironically, the head coach position at Temple is currently open. But I don’t think the Owls would be that stupid. James Franklin at Penn State, however, came to Diaz’s rescue. Franklin hired Diaz as the new defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions.
Miami not only hired a new football coach last week, but also Miami hired Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich to be the Canes new AD.
Nevada coach Jay Norvell is stepping down at Nevada but staying in the same conference and keeping the same position. He is, however, changing divisions in the same conference – the West to the Mountain. Norvell was named the new coach at Colorado State. In five seasons with the Wolf Pack, he was 33-26. At $620,000, he was the lowest paid coach in the Mountain West Conference. Norvell will make more money at Colorado State.
To replace Billy Napier, Louisiana elevated its offensive coordinator Michael Desormeaux to the head coach position in Lafayette. Desormeaux, 36, played quarterback for Louisiana from 2005 to 2008. He is a native of New Iberia, Louisiana.
Former Colorado and San Jose State head coach Mike MacIntyre was named the new head coach at Florida International. Most recently, MacIntyre, 56, has been the defensive coordinator at Memphis. He coached San Jose State from 2010-2012 and Colorado from 2013-2018. MacIntyre has a 46-65 career record.
Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott was hired to be the next head coach of Virginia. He joined the Clemson staff in 2011 as the running backs coach. Elliott, 42, played college ball at Clemson.
Having lost his defensive coordinator to Oklahoma, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is now looking for both an offensive coordinator and a defensive coordinator. He also lost his athletic director too.
Oregon linebackers coach Ken Wilson is the new head coach at Nevada. Previously, Wilson was on the staff at Nevada from 1989-1998, and from 2004-2012. From 2009-2012 he was the defensive coordinator at Nevada.
Oregon hired Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning to be the Ducks’ new coach. Lanning, 35, was previously an assistant coach at Alabama and Arizona State. He went to Georgia in 2018 as the linebackers coach and became the Dawgs defensive coordinator in 2019.
So only Temple is left to find a new coach.
And finally, when LSU was trying to get Jimbo Fisher to leave Texas A&M for Baton Rouge, the Tigers were offering Fisher $15.6 million a year for eight years to become the LSU coach.
As expected, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young won the Heisman Trophy Saturday night. Young was first in the balloting with 684 first place votes and 2,311 total points (3 points for first place, 2 points for second place ad 1 point for third place votes).
Young is the first Alabama quarterback to win the Heisman. He is the second-straight Heisman winner from Alabama. Tide receiver DeVonta Smith won last year. Young is the third Alabama player to win the Heisman Trophy in the past six years and the fourth in the past 12 years. Amazingly, prior to 2009, no one from Alabama won the Heisman Trophy. The first Heisman Trophy was awarded in 1935.
Alabama became first program to win back-to-back Heismans since Oklahoma did it in 2017-2018. Only five schools have won back-to-back Heismans. The other three are Yale (1936-37), Army (1945-46) and USC (2004-05). Young was the 15th native Californian to win the Heisman Trophy.
Michigan defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson was 2nd in the Heisman Trophy voting, with 78 first place votes and 954 total points. Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett was 3rd with 28 first place votes and 631 total points, and Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud was 4th with 12 first place votes and 399 total points. Alabama linebacker Will Anderson, arguably the best football player, was 5th with 31 first place votes and 325 total points.
Auburn quarterback Bo Nix, who started the past three seasons for the Tigers, announced yesterday that he plans to leave Auburn as a graduate transfer. Nix, the former SEC Freshman of the Year, missed the last two games of the regular season after having surgery to repair a broken ankle. The son of former Auburn quarterback Pat Nix, Bo signed with the Tigers under former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn. It would be interesting if Bo transfers to UCF where Malzahn is coaching now.
After spending his first year at Ohio State, five-star quarterback Quinn Ewers announced he is transferring to Texas. Ewers entered the transfer portal earlier this month. He originally committed to Texas in 2020 before signing with Ohio State.
With the Army-Navy game, the coaching carousel activity, the Heisman Trophy and more , it was a busy weekend. And watch out for those Dookies. They may become the Devils of the ACC.
Touchdown Tom
Weekend Recap
Saved his job – Navy 17, Army 13 (Touchdown Tom said: Army 26, Navy 19). So I’m thinking Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo probably saved his job with this win. Had Navy lost, I think he would have been fired. The game was primarily a defensive battle. The teams only had 515 total yards combined. They only had 22 first downs combined – 11 for each team. All 13 of Army’s points were scored in the first half. Navy maintained possession of the ball for 34:25. Attendance in East Rutherford: 82,282
Week 15 Result: 0 winners, 1 fumble (0 percent)
Heisman Trophy
Presentation
- Bryce Young – Alabama (sophomore)
- Aidan
Hutchinson
– Michigan (senior)
- Kenny Pickett – Pitt (senior)
- C.J. Stroud – Ohio State
(freshman)
- Will Anderson – Alabama (sophomore)
FCS (Division
I-AA) Quarterfinals
James Madison 28, Montana 6
Division II Semifinals
Valdosta State 34, Colorado Mines 31
Division III
Semifinals
All four teams entered the Division III semifinals undefeated.
North Central 26, Mount Union 13
Quotes of the Week
“I am disappointed in the university’s decision and the manner in which this played out over the last few weeks. The uncertainty impacted our team, our staff, and their families. These are real people that gave everything to this program. For that, for them, I hurt,” fired Miami coach Manny Diaz.
“You’ve got an obligation to the place that helped build and develop you and finish it out in the bowl. You owe it to your team, you owe it to your fans and you owe it to your coaches. It’s the most bizarre thing in the world to me. It’s one of the biggest absurdities I’ve seen, and it’s selfish too,” Mississippi State coach Mike Leach, blasting players who opt out of bowl games.
Touchdown Tom’s
Predictions for This Week’s Bowl Games
Middle Tennessee (6-6) vs. Toledo (7-5) – (C-USA vs. MAC) – (Bahamas Bowl – Nassau, Bahamas) – 12 noon ET, Friday, ESPN – Middle Tennessee and Toledo have the honor of kicking off the 2021-22 bowl season. Middle Tennessee finished the season about where the Blue Raiders were expected to finish – not at the top and not at the bottom. The Blue Raiders are terrible on offense, ranking among the worst in the country. They are a little better on defense, but not great there either. Middle Tennessee averages 29.8 points a game, but gives up 25.8 points a game. The team’s best win was a 34-28 victory over Marshall back on October 2. Toledo, on the other hand, finished below expectations this season. Luck was not with the Rockets. Four of their five losses were by a total of 11 points. Those four losses were all by three points or less. Toledo could have easily had a much better record. The Rockets offense and defense are fairly strong. Toledo has an outstanding running back Bryant Koback. He rushed for 1,281 yards. Koback was the 10th leading rusher in the country. The Rockets finished the season on a three-game winning streak. The Raiders are blinded by the Rockets’ red glare – Toledo 29, Middle Tennessee 16.
Northern Illinois (9-4) vs. Coastal Carolina (10-2) – (MAC vs. Sun Belt) – (Cure Bowl – Orlando, Florida) – 6 pm ET, Friday, ESPN2 – Although picked to come in last in the MAC West Division, Northern Illinois surprised everyone by not only winning the division but also winning the MAC championship. NIU is a strong running team and weak passing team. The Huskies are 5th in the country in rushing yards per game – 234.3. NIU’s big rusher is Jevyon Ducker. Ducker rushed for 1,038 yards. However, in passing, NIU was 105th in the country. NIU’s quarterback is Rocky Lombardi, a Michigan State transfer. The NIU defense is not good. The Huskies gave up 32.7 points a game. Seven of NIU’s nine wins were by eight points or less. Three of those wins were just by one point. Coastal Carolina was a hot team. The Chanticleers looked to be unstoppable. But quarterback Grayson McCall was injured and that slowed the Chanticleers down a bit. Still, McCall passed for 2,558 yards. CC was 6th in the country in points scored – 40.4 per game. The Chanticleers have a strong offense. The defense is pretty good too. They just gave up 20 points a game. CC’s two losses were by a combined five points. You have to wonder if and when Chanticleers’ coach Jamey Chadwell will leave for a bigger program. The Chanticleers keep the Huskies from raiding the hen house – Coastal Carolina 30, Northern Illinois 20.
Western Kentucky (8-5) vs. Appalachian State (10-3) – (C-USA vs. Sun Belt) – (Boca Raton Bowl – Boca Raton, Florida) – 11 am ET, Saturday, ESPN – Western Kentucky has one of the most, if not the most, exciting quarterbacks in the country. His name is Bailey Zappe. Zappe passed for an unbelievable 5,545 yards, completing 69.2% of his passes and throwing for 56 touchdowns. In 13 games, he only had 11 interceptions. He was the No. 1 passer in the country. To catch Zappe’s passes, WKU had two of the Top 7 receivers in the country – Jerreth Sterns, 1st 1,299 receiving yards. with 1,718 yards and Mitchell Tinsley, 7th with It’s a good thing WKU has Zappe because the Hilltoppers are 1st in the country in passing yards but 125th in rushing yards. They are 2nd in points per game at 43.1. On the downside, WKU has a weak defense, giving up 28.7 points a game. WKU began the season 1-4 and then reeled off 7-straight wins, before losing the C-USA championship game. Four of their five losses were by eight points or less. Tyson Helton, brother of former USC coach and current Georgia Southern coach Clay Helton, is the coach of the Hilltoppers. Appalachian State won the Sun Belt East Division, before losing the conference championship game to Louisiana. Two of App State’s three losses were to Louisiana. The other loss was to Miami (Florida) by just two points at Miami. App State is pretty good on offense and defense. Probably a little better on defense. They have a good running back in Nate Noel – 1,074 yards. Also a good quarterback in Chase Brice. Brice passed for 3,022 yards, completing 61.7 % of his passes. App State averaged 34.2 points a game and gave up 19.3 points a game. The Little Mountaineers were on a six-game winning streak until they lost the C-USA title game to Louisiana. Hilltoppers can’t download the App – Appalachian State 30, Western Kentucky 28.
UTEP (7-5) vs. Fresno State (9-3) – (C-USA vs. MWC) – (New Mexico Bowl – Albuquerque, New Mexico) – 2:15 pm ET, Saturday, ESPN – This was an unexpected and amazing season for UTEP. The Miners were supposed to finish at the bottom of the C-USA West Division. And predictions had UTEP coach Dana Dimel getting fired at the end of the season. Instead, the Miners are going bowling and Dimel didn’t get fired. Seven games into the season, UTEP was 6-1. Then the Miners lost four of their last five games. UTEP is actually pretty weak on offense. A little better on defense. Miners quarterback Gavin Hardison passed for 2,966 yards. Led by quarterback Jake Haener, Fresno State had an outstanding season. Haener passed for 3,810 yards, completing 67.5% of his passes and throwing 32 touchdown passes. He only had nine interceptions. Haener was the 9th leading passing in the country. The Bulldogs have a terrible running game – 93rd in the country in rushing yards. The passing game is outstanding – 9th in the country. Fresno State averaged 33.6 points a game. The Bulldogs’ defense was decent. They gave up 20.2 points a game – 21st best in the country. Fresno State coach Kalen DeBoer stepped down to take the head coach job at Washington. The canary dies – Fresno State 33, UTEP 23.
UAB (8-4) vs. BYU (10-2) – (C-USA vs. Ind.) – (Independence Bowl – Shreveport, Louisiana) – 3:30 pm ET, Saturday, ABC) – UAB finished in second place in the West Division of C-USA. The Blazers don’t have a lot on offense, but they do play decent defense. Their leading rusher on offense is DeWayne McBride. He rushed for 1,185 yards. UAB averaged 29.4 points a game. On defense, the Blazers held opponents to 22.8 points a game. They were 12th in rushing yards allowed per game – 104.9. UAB is one of the six C-USA teams who will be moving to the AAC in a few years. BYU had a great season and deserved a better opponent in a bowl game. The Cougars were ranked 12th in the country in the AP Poll – 13th in the CFP rankings. UAB wasn’t ranked anywhere, anytime, anyhow. This was a slap in the face to BYU. The Cougars have a good quarterback in Jaren Hall. He threw for 2,583 yards, completing 63.9% of his throws. Hall only threw five interceptions. BYU had an even better running back in Tyler Allgeier. Allgeier rushed for 1,414 yards, scoring 20 touchdowns. He was the 8th leading rusher in the country. The Cougars have a potent offense but a weak defense. The offense scored 33.5 points a game. The defense gave up 24.2 points a game. BYU won five games, lost two games back-to-back, and then won its last five games. The Cougars had good wins over Utah, Arizona State, Utah State, Washington State, Virginia and USC. Their two losses were to Boise State and Baylor. The Cougars make the most of their independence – BYU 34, UAB 20.
Eastern Michigan (7-5) vs. Liberty (7-5) – (MAC vs. Ind.) – (Lending Tree Bowl – Mobile, Alabama) – 5:45 pm ET, Saturday, ESPN – One thing about Eastern Michigan, the Eagles have been playing competitive football in recent years. There was a time when EMU was the UMass or New Mexico State of college football. They were lucky to win a game. Those years are past. The strength of EMU’s offense is its passing attack. The Eagles average 263.6 passing yards a game. They have a stable quarterback in Ben Bryant. Bryant passed for 2,921 yards, completing 68.8% of his passes. He only threw six interceptions. Unfortunately for the Eagles, their running game was 112th in the country. Also, unfortunately, for the Eagles, their defense is sad. EMU scores 31 points a game and gives up 27.8 points a game. Liberty began the season at 5-1. Then the Flames lost four of their last six games. Their best win was 36-12 over UAB. Their worst loss was 42-14 to Louisiana. On offense, Liberty’s strength is its quarterback – Malik Willis. Willis passed for 2,626 yards, completing 61.6% of his passes. He threw 24 touchdown passes. The Flames average 31.8 points a game. On defense, they give up 21.7 points a game. The Eagles are scorched by the Flames – Liberty 33, Eastern Michigan 26.
Utah State (10-3) vs. Oregon State (7-5) – (MWC vs. Pac-12) – (L.A. Bowl – Los Angeles, California) – 7:30 pm ET, Saturday, ABC – The L.A. Bowl is making its debut. This is the best game of the first week of bowl games. Both teams play exciting football and both had much better seasons than expected. Neither was supposed to be in a bowl game. Picked to finish at the bottom of its division, Utah State won the Mountain Division of the MWC. The Aggies then went on to win the MWC championship. The Aggies were under first-year coach Blake Anderson who left Arkansas State after the 2020 season to take over the program at Utah State. The Aggies strength is quarterback Logan Bonner. Bonner passed for 3,560 yards, completing 61.2% of his passes. He threw 35 touchdown passes. Aggies receiver Deven Thompkins was the 2nd leading receiver in the country with 1,589 yards. Utah State averages 33.2 points a game and gives up 25.3 points a game. The defense is a little weak. Utah State had good wins over Washington State, Air Force and San Diego State. Like Utah State, Oregon State was picked to finish at the bottom of the Pac-12 North. The Beavers finished third. Oregon State has a good running back in B.J. Baylor. He rushed for 1,259 yards. Quarterback Chance Nolan is solid. He passed for 2,414 yards, completing 63.5% of his passes. The Beavers are similar to Utah State on defense – not that good. Utah State had good wins over Utah and Arizona State. They average 32.8 points a game on offense and give up 25.9 points a game on defense. Beavers dam the Aggies – Oregon State 33, Utah State 28.
Louisiana (12-1) vs. Marshall (7-5) – (Sun Belt vs. C-USA) – (New Orleans Bowl – New Orleans, Louisiana) – 9:15 pm ET, Saturday, ESPN – Louisiana had a great season in 2021. But the Rajin’ Cajuns will be without their coach in the New Orleans Bowl. Billy Napier has departed for Florida. The Cajuns are the champions of the Sun Belt Conference. They lost their first game and then proceeded to win 12-straight. The Cajuns are not flashy on offense. However, quarterback Levi Lewis passed for 2,647 yards, completing 60.3% of his passes. He only threw four interceptions. Louisiana averaged 30.7 points a game and gave up 18.3 points a game on defense – 11th best in the country. The defense was definitely better than the offence. Marshall is playing under first year coach Charles Huff. The Thundering Herd has a strong offense and is so-so on defense. Leading the offense are running back Rasheen Ali and quarterback Grant Wells. Ali rushed for 1,241 yards and scored 20 touchdowns. Wells passed for 3,436 yards, completing 67% of his throws. Marshall averaged 34 points a game and gave up 22.8 points a game. The Herd was 12th in passing yards. Buffalo gumbo – Louisiana 25, Marshall 24.
Touchdown Tom
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