The College Football Posteason - Day One

Today's News Links:

Notre Dame has released their schedules for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons.  Full story here.

Utah hires former Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen as their new offensive coordinator.  Full story here.

Today's New York Times reports that the NCAA is investigating incoming USC head coach Steve Sarkisian amid allegations that one of his assistants at Washington provided a high school football coach with $4,500 to pay for a recruit's private tutoring.  Full story here. 

The Southeastern Conference has fined four schools (Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Missouri) a combined $60,000 for violating "league policies," namely rules regarding post-game celebrations, during the 2013 season.  Full story here.

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The College Football postseason has arrived and today's slate features four exciting games consisting of teams, with two exceptions, from west of the Mississippi river.  Today's four games, in order of scheduling, are listed below (All Times Eastern):

At 2:00 PM on ESPN the GILDAN NEW MEXICO BOWL, at University Stadium in Albuquerque, features Washington State (PAC-12) vs. Colorado State (MWC).  Washington State finished the season with 6-6 record with conference victories over USC and Arizona.  Even though they lost six games, Mike Leach's Washington State team came to within seven points of ruining Auburn's bid for a national championship (Final Score 31-24, Saturday, August 31st).  The Cougars are fourth in the nation with a passing offense that has averaged 364.5 yards per game.  Colorado State's main priority will be to neutralize the Cougars' passing game since WSU's rushing offense has only averaged 58.7 yards.   But that may be a difficult task for the Rams' defense since they have given up an average of 28.6 points during the season.  ESPN's Mark Schlabach predicts a shootout with the Rams winning by a field goal (41-38).  More analysis can be found here.


At 3:30 PM on ABC the ROYAL PURPLE LAS VEGAS BOWL is arguably the most anticipated bowl game of the day.  Both teams, #20 Fresno State (MWC) and #25 USC (PAC-12) are not only ranked, they also have had the college football world's attention for much of the season, yet for different reasons.  Despite winning the inaugural Mountain West conference championship, the Bulldogs were seen as a potential "BCS Buster" until their 62-52 loss to an unranked San Jose State in their last game of the regular season.  As for USC, the Trojans' salvaged their difficult season with a 9-4 record.  Unfortunately, USC will be without the man who led them after Lane Kiffin's dismissal earlier in the season.  Ed Orgeron, as the Trojans' interim head coach, has been credited with revitalizing a team that performed poorly in the first few weeks of the season.  However, Orgeron quit after the USC athletic department passed him over when it hired Steve Sarkisian as their new head coach.  Their current interim head coach, Clay Helton, according to an article in the Los Angeles Daily News, will lead a team that wants to win today for "Coach O."  As USC safety Demetrius Wright put it:  "It's pretty clear we want to win it for Coach O . . . The whole team wants to win it for him.  It’s still Coach O’s team. We know he’ll be watching.”  Further analysis can be found here.


At 5:30PM, ESPN will air the FAMOUS IDAHO POTATOES BOWL from Bronco Stadium at Boise.  The Buffalo Bulls (MAC) will play the San Diego State Aztecs (MWC) in a contest consisting of blue turf and two teams that are evenly matched, at least in terms of conference records.  Buffalo is making their second bowl appearance in fifteen seasons as an FBS-level program, and San Diego State recovered from losing their first three games to clinch a post-season bowl berth.  Buffalo has a strong defense (22.3 points per game) that includes MAC Defensive Player of the Year, Khalil Mack, as well as an offense that has averaged 30.8 points per game.  San Diego State may need to rely on their passing offense, which has averaged 262.3 yards per game, to outscore the Bulls.  Look for more analysis here.


Finally, the R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL, which kicks off at 9:00PM on ESPN, features an in-state match-up between Tulane (C-USA) and Louisiana-Lafayette (Sun Belt) at The Superdome.  ESPN's Mark Schlabach notes that tonight's game will be the first time that these two teams meet in the postseason.  Tulane is playing in its first bowl game since 2002 and LA-Lafayette is hoping to win its third consecutive New Orleans bowl.  Tulane's last game was a 17-13 loss against eventual Conference-USA champion Rice.  The Green Wave's defense may be the deciding factor in this contest since their offense is currently ranked 104th in passing and 102nd in rushing.  They will face a Ragin' Cajuns' offensive line that averages almost 35 points per game.  More analysis can be found here.


Enjoy today's games Everybody!  The next bowl game will be on Monday.