Tag: Bowl Game

Wisconsin QB Tanner Mordecai had one of the nation’s best bowl performances

Wisconsin QB Tanner Mordecai had one of the nation’s best bowl performances

Wisconsin quarterback Tanner Mordecai closed his Badger career on a high note in the ReliaQuest Bowl against LSU. He completed 27/40 passes for 378 yards and three touchdowns, becoming the Badgers’ first 300-yard passer since Jack Coan in 2019.

Despite the final drive, the senior’s performance deserved to be complemented with a win. It was by far the best game of his Wisconsin career, and on the short list of his best games ever.

ProFootballFocus recently released its top-graded offensive bowl game performances and Mordecai fell at No. 9 with a grade of 85.7.

He was only surpassed by the following performances:

  • Washington QB Michael Penix Jr: 29/38, 430 yards, two touchdowns
  • Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart: 25/40, 379 yards, three touchdowns, eight carries, 14 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown
  • Iowa State WR Jayden Higgins: nine receptions, 214 yards, one touchdown
  • USC QB Miller Moss: 23/33, 372 yards, six touchdowns, one interception
  • Oregon QB Bo Nix: 28/35, 363 yards, five touchdowns
  • Oklahoma State QB Alan Bowman: 34/49, 402 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions
  • Oregon WR Tez Johnson: 11 receptions, 172 yards, one touchdown
  • Notre Dame WR Jordan Faison: five receptions, 115 yards, one touchdown

In Honor of Pop-Tarts Bowl – Which Pop-Tarts are the Best?

In honor of the @poptartsbowl – which is your favorite flavor?

Back in June it was announced that the bowl game formerly known as the Cheez-It Bowl was changing its title sponsor to Pop-Tarts.  It is a game that Notre Dame played in previously when it was the Champs Sports Bowl and then again when it was the Camping World Bowl.

Notre Dame doesn’t play in it this year, instead that battle is between Kansas State and North Carolina State and takes place tonight.

When the news came down that the sponsor changed this past summer however, I sent a message to the team here at Fighting Irish Wire asking their pick for best flavor Pop-Tarts.  Here is what we came up with:

Sun Bowl: Ticket Prices High on Secondary Market

Who out there is headed to the game?

The 2023 Sun Bowl pits two teams that have met just twice all-time, both in bowl games, together.  Notre Dame will serve as the home team in El Paso as they take on Oregon State.

Oregon State has won the previous two meetings between programs – the 2001 Fiesta Bowl and the 2004 Insight Bowl.

Notre Dame coming to a rare sight for the Fighting Irish helped make this game a sellout in rather short order.  However, the secondary market remains possible for tickets if you plan to be near El Paso next week.

You can get into the game with tickets on SeatGeek for just $14.  That will get you an end zone seat.

[afflinkbutton text=”See Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl tickets” link=”https://seatgeek.pxf.io/LXy7mo”]

If you have significantly deeper pockets, $700 will get you a seat on the 50-yard line roughly halfway up behind the Notre Dame bench.

The current capacity of the Sun Bowl is listed at 46,670 and you can bet that nearly all of those will be filled on December 29.

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Notre Dame All-Time Bowl History

What is your favorite Notre Dame bowl memory?

Notre Dame has played in 41 bowl games all-time, a number that might seem low considering they’ve been playing football for over 130 years.  However, Notre Dame didn’t play in bowl games out of their belief in amateurism for over 40 years which means for a lot fewer bowl appearances than several other blue-blood programs.

There have been great triumphs and incredible heartbreakers both over those 41 games.

Legends were made, thrilling wins were had, and heartbreaking losses also occurred.

Check out the game-by-game history of Notre Dame in postseason bowl games below.

More Bowl Game History from the College Wire Network:

Alabama / Aub / Fla / LSU / Tenn. / UGA // Mich. / Mich St. / Ohio St. / Wisc. // Okla. / Texas // ND // USC

What excites Greg Schiano most about Rutgers football going to a bowl game?

Greg Schiano is most excited about one thing about Rutgers football’s bowl eligibility.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Rutgers football is heading to a bowl game, but Greg Schiano doesn’t really care where his team ends up.

What matters, he says, is that his young Rutgers team continues to practice.

It is usually thought that going to a bowl game is equivalent to 15 extra practices. For young players in particular, this is valuable time beyond the twelfth game of the season.

Rutgers is bowl-bound by virtue of their sixth win, which they secured in mid-October. That means that the only downside of their current three-game losing streak is that affects their bowl placement.

And in what is his fourth season back with Rutgers, Schiano will be afforded the chance to fully plan out a practice agenda for his team. Rutgers enters the final season of the regular season at 6-5 (3-5 Big Ten).

Conventional wisdom and most projections have Rutgers heading to the Pinstripe Bowl (Bronx, New York) for a Dec. 28 game against an ACC opponent. With one game left in the regular season, Schiano said he isn’t looking at the projections.

[lawrence-related id=32287]

Instead, one thing excites him about a bowl game, and it is the most Schiano answer ever.

“I don’t really look at that very much. The thing, as you guys know, I get excited about bowl games because we get more practice,” Schiano said on Monday.

“You know, one of the things that allows winning teams to continue to be winning teams is additional practice opportunity, so that’s what excites me the most. I want the kid to always have a great time in the bowl and we’ll talk more about that next week. But yeah, that’s about the extent that I think about it. There’s other people that work for us that handle that stuff and they do a good job.”

As for this weekend, getting a seventh win in the regular is something that Rutgers hasn’t achieved since 2014. That was their first season in the Big Ten.

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Maryland, the opposition for Rutgers this Saturday at SHI Stadium (3:30 PM ET, Big Ten Network), is a strong team. Offensively, they are top four in the Big Ten.

On defense, they are a solid middle-of-the-pack unit that boasts speed.

“So we know what we’re in for and it’s going to be a battle. We both find ourselves in a similar position at 6-5,” Schiano said.

“And a lot of respect for what they do – and looking forward to playing the game.”

 

How social media reacted to Notre Dame-Clemson: Irish side

We know. You’re not happy.

Despite Clemson not being far removed from its championship days, all arrows appeared to be pointing towards Notre Dame in this one. Even though I reluctantly picked the Irish to win this one, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was better off choosing Clemson as I did before the season. That doubt turned out to be correct as the Irish lost, 31-23.

For the second consecutive season, the Irish will be relegated to playing in a lesser bowl. Even with the College Football Playoff out of reach, a New Year’s Six bowl berth would have been a nice consolation prize. Instead, they’ll be in a game that far fewer people care about, and that’s not good for the program that purports to be elite.

Irish fans undoubtedly were feeling all of this and more as they took to social media after the game to voice their frustrations. Here are a few examples:

Updated bowl game projections for Alabama after Week 9

See who and where Alabama is projected to play after the College Football regular season comes to a close.

Alabama only has one loss on the season, a Week 2 bout against Texas didn’t go the way of the Tide, but has been playing some solid football as the season begins to wind down. With the way things have gone recently, the Crimson Tide have worked its way back into the thick of the College Football Playoff race.

While there’s a clear path for Alabama to reach the CFP, college football experts at ESPN disagree. The latest bowl game projections (subscription required) by Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura have the Tide just missing the playoffs.

Boagura has Alabama facing Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl. The last time these two teams met in the playoffs was the 2018 Orange Bowl, which served as a CFP semifinal, and the Tide had no trouble getting past the Sooners. Recently, these two teams have been projected to meet in a bowl game, but there has been some disagreement as to which one.

On the other hand, Schlabach has the Crimson Tide going head-to-head with Notre Dame in the Peach Bowl. The Fighting Irish has had an interesting season, so participating in the Peach Bowl would be huge for the program, despite having multiple losses on the year.

With a few weeks left in the regular season and the possibility of a conference championship appearance, it’s difficult to correctly predict where Alabama will play in the postseason.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama football as the 2023 season progresses.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on X @SpurrFM. 

Alabama football bowl game projections after Week 8

Alabama projected to face a potential undefeated conference champion in latest bowl game predictions.

Alabama’s early-season loss to Texas at home did serious damage to the Crimson Tide’s chances of reaching the College Football Playoff, but it did not eliminate the possibility of a playoff push, which is exactly what we are witnessing now.

Following the Tide’s impressive comeback win against Tennessee, the latest bowl game projections by ESPN (subscription required) have Alabama out of the playoffs.

College football experts Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura both have the Crimson Tide facing Oklahoma in their respective projections. The difference, however, is that Schlabach has Alabama in the Peach Bowl, while Bonagura has them in the Cotton Bowl.

Oklahoma is currently undefeated, with an impressive win over Texas, and appears poised to run the table in the Big 12. If this is the case, it would be the second consecutive season that Alabama takes on a Big 12 champion. Last season, the Tide defeated Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama football as the 2023 season progresses.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on X @SpurrFM. 

Takeaways from UNLV’s 45-27 Win Over Nevada

Recap of the win over Nevada.

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Takeaways from UNLV’s 45-27 Win Over Nevada

Big rivalry win for the Rebels

>/Follow @michaelbraydaly & @MWCwire

 

The Game’s Biggest Takeaways

 

UNLV prevailed with an 18-point win on the road over Nevada on Saturday evening.

UNLV’s offense exploded and carried the team to a resounding victory in a bitter rivalry game. Nevada window dressed the score in the fourth quarter, as the Wolfpack trailed the Rebels by 24, 38-14, at the end of the third quarter. Nevada scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, which closed the gap a bit before the game ended.

Quarterback Jayden Maiava passed for 267 yards and two touchdowns in the win. Both of his touchdowns went to wide receiver Ricky White. Including his two receiving touchdowns, White had eight catches for 174 yards.

In the ground game, Donavyn Lester ran for 99 yards and three touchdowns in the win. On defense, UNLV kept Nevada in check for most of the game. Nevada was held to 14 points over three quarters. Nevada quarterback Brendon Lewis was intercepted twice by UNLV’s defense. Lewis had two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown for the Wolfpack.

With the win, UNLV improved to 5-1 on the season and is looking to seek bowl eligibility for the first time since 2013. UNLV will take on Colorado State on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 5 p.m. MT. 

Bowl game is now the only hope for this season

Getting to a bowl game would be an impressive feat at this point, even though that will hardly be salve for Razorback fans’ wounds from this season.

Arkansas is now at the halfway point of the 2023 season.

This writer thought they would be 4-2 at this point. Instead, it is the inverse. The Razorbacks have lost four straight games, something they have not done under Sam Pittman since his Covid-19 SEC-only first year when they ended the year on a four-game losing streak.

There are six games remaining on the schedule. Arkansas has qualified for a bowl every year Pittman has been here (although it was COVID-aided in ’20) and he probably doesn’t want that to change this year.

The Razorbacks have to go 4-2 to get to .500. The games are at Alabama, Mississippi State at home, at Florida (a place Arkansas has never won), Auburn at home, FIU at home and Missouri at home.

If Arkansas wins out at home, which is not an easy task in the slightest, they will go bowling.

Anything better than that will just get them a better bowl.

Fans hoped for something much better than that in the summer and the preseason. There was talk of 9, maybe even 10 wins. KJ Jefferson and Rocket Sanders were touted as the best QB-RB duo returning in the conference.

Sanders missed three of the six games with an injury and hasn’t looked the same since.

Jefferson has looked out of sync most of the year, save for moments of brilliance against LSU.

If Arkansas could figure it out offensively, i.e. stop the silly penalties, win in the trenches more consistently and develop the running game, it’s playing well enough on defense to win the majority of its remaining contests.

That’s just way easier said than done.

Pittman is going to have to figure out how to make sure the players don’t let go of the rope. A lopsided loss to Alabama, and things may go sideways.