Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
How confident is the staff that Texas can win the final two games to become bowl eligible?
What a season it has been up to this point. Continue reading “Longhorns Wire Roundtable: Predicting whether Texas will make a bowl game”
Could we still see the LSU-Texas game we missed out on in 2020?
Two programs that had high aspirations going into the season are both in similar situations. Both teams are 4-5 after nine games and both are sitting in the bottom half of their conference standings with two wins in conference play. Both schools are in a bit of a conundrum when it comes to their quarterback situation.
Head coach Ed Orgeron stated this week they would go with a two-quarterback system as they opened up the positional competition this week. Both Max Johnson and Garrett Nussmeier will play this week against Arkansas and whoever plays better will stay in the game.
The Texas Longhorns on the other hand released their two-deep depth chart with the starter at quarterback listed as Casey Thompson or Hudson Card. Both teams haven’t performed at the level they expected and both need two wins over the final three games of the year. The difference being head coach Steve Sarkisian is in his first year and Orgeron is on his way out, still they could meet during the postseason.
Texas has matchups against Kansas, West Virginia, and Kansas State left on the docket. All three are very winnable games, according to the FPI they are favored in terms of win probability. That would give them a 7-5 record on the year.
LSU on the other hand has games against Arkansas, ULM, and Texas A&M. They are projected to win two of the final three games. The FPI has the Aggies with a 41.6% win probability in the season finale. That would give them a 6-6 record and that would avoid the first losing season in Baton Rouge since 1999.
Still, these teams seem poised for a postseason battle in the Lone Star State. According to the latest bowl projections from USA TODAY Sports, they could find themselves on the field in Houston, Texas, on Jan. 4 in the Texas Bowl.
The last time a Sarkisian offense faced off with an Orgeron defense, they dropped 55 points on the Tigers. This is a completely different team but you can bet he would attack them in a similar fashion with Bijan Robinson and Xavier Worthy.
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The Texas Longhorns learned on Sunday afternoon that they have been selected for the Valero Alamo Bowl. They will match up with Colorado.
Following the events that took place on championship Saturday, the Texas Longhorns now know their bowl appearance and the opponent. Continue reading “Going Bowling: Texas Longhorns to play Colorado in the Alamo Bowl”
Florida Gators football finished its 2020 regular season with a loss to Alabama but still has hopes of making a New Year’s Six bowl game.
The college football regular season, as well as the conference championship weekend, are now officially in the books and it is now time to look forward to the bowl games that will culminate this wild and tumultuous 2020 campaign.
The Florida Gators, who had College Football Playoff aspirations until its back-to-back losses to the LSU Tigers at home and a narrow defeat at the hands of the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, are still eligible for a New Year’s Six bowl despite its three losses. USA TODAY Sports projects the Gators to face the Oklahoma Sooners in the Cotton Bowl, so where does ESPN think they will land?
Writers Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach both had differing opinions on which bowl will host Florida and its high-powered offense. Schlabach agrees with USA TODAY Sports, foreseeing the Gators making their first-ever appearance in Dallas’ most esteemed football venue against the Sooners. Bonagura, on the other hand, sees UF returning to the Orange Bowl for the second-straight year to face the North Carolina Tar Heels in Miami.
While the 2020 regular season ended on a couple of sour notes, overall it was an impressive run for a program that dealt with the coronavirus as well as the brutal gauntlet of the SEC-only schedule. Though Kyle Pitts — and possibly more players — is skipping the final game to prepare for the NFL draft, whether it is the sweetness of oranges or the fresh feel of cotton, the Gators earned a place in their third-straight New Year’s Six bowl.
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Florida Gators lost the SEC title game to Alabama but it was much closer than most expected, resulting in UF nabbing a New Year’s Six game.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published by USA TODAY Sports and has been republished in its entirety below.
Let’s start with the easy part. Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State will be the top three seeds when the College Football Playoff releases its final ranking Sunday.
Now comes the part that will be debated: Who is No. 4?
Notice the choice of words. The part that will be debated, not the part that will be hard. Because the decision for fourth is simple. Notre Dame will be in the playoff.
Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher can argue for his team. And he should. But the resume isn’t there.
Cincinnati makes a compelling case with its run through the American Athletic. Had COVID-19 not wiped out two games or had there been more elite teams at the top of a competitive league, perhaps the argument would be stronger with the committee.
Oklahoma from the Big 12? Yes, the Sooners have won seven in a row, but this is a flawed team with two losses, including a blown 21-point lead at home to Kansas State, which was limited by positive coronavirus tests.
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So back to Notre Dame. Yes, the Irish were handled by Clemson in the ACC title game. But would any of these teams under consideration compete with the Tigers when they’re fully operational? Texas A&M trailed Alabama by 21 at half and lost by 28. Pretty similar result compared with Saturday, which kind of balances each other’s loss out.
Notre Dame has two victories against teams that will be in the top 15 of the rankings – Clemson and at North Carolina. Texas A&M will have one – Florida.
Yes, the Aggies won eight games in the SEC. Who you beat, though, matters. The only victory besides Florida against a winning team came against 6-4 Auburn. LSU finished 5-5. The other wins were against the five worst teams in the conference with a combined record of 11-38. It’s a similar schedule to what Notre Dame had in the ACC, except the Irish also played two more games and won the regular-season title in their league. A&M was second in its division.
When the committee delivers its final verdict, expect Notre Dame to be the one called.
Among the New Year’s Six, Coastal Carolina’s inability to play and a close loss by Florida means the Chanticleers get bumped out of a spot in favor of the Gators.
The bowl lineup for the postseason, including the College Football Playoff title games, stands at 33 games. Teams in bold have accepted berths.
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On Saturday the Oklahoma Sooners and Iowa State Cyclones will face off for the Big 12 title. The Texas Longhorns’ bowl fate rests on it.
With the regular season wrapped up following the cancellation of Texas’ season finale with Kansas, the Longhorns only have a bowl game remaining. Continue reading “The Big 12 Championship will impact the Texas Longhorns bowl bid”
According to 247Sports, the Texas Longhorns could be heading to Orlando for the Cheez-It bowl. Their opponent would be the Miami Hurricanes.
The Texas Longhorns are now waiting on their bowl matchup to be announced. That should come next Sunday following the final College Football Playoff rankings. They currently sit at No. 20. Continue reading “The Longhorns now projected to Cheez-It Bowl according to 247Sports”
Florida could face Oklahoma Sooners in the Cotton Bowl in what would be a battle of the Big 12 champion versus the SEC’s runner-up.
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There is still one regular-season game remaining for the Florida Gators — against the LSU Tigers — as well as the Southeastern Conference Championship Game against the Alabama Crimson Tide, but it is prime time when it comes to postseason prognostications.
247Sports published their college football bowl projections which placed the Gators in an unfamiliar destination against an unfamiliar opponent. Staff writer Brad Crawford picked Florida to face the Oklahoma Sooners in the Cotton Bowl in what could be a battle of the Big 12 champion versus the SEC’s runner-up.
Here is what Crawford had to say about the projection.
Projected matchup: Oklahoma vs. Florida
Big 12 champion vs. the SEC’s runner-up? This matchup would get a ton of interest nationally. Lincoln Riley vs. Dan Mullen is worth the price of admission, not to mention the elite quarterback battle between Spencer Rattler and Heisman frontrunner Kyle Trask.
Gators and Sooners have met only once on the gridiron, back in the 2008 BCS National Championship Game, which UF won, 24-14. Head coach Urban Meyer and quarterback Tim Tebow guided the program to sports immortality at then-named Dolphin Stadium, earning them their second national title in three years; the victory also represented the high-water mark of Florida’s football program.
Florida has never played football in the Cotton Bowl in its entire history. A face off with Oklahoma would be their first-ever appearance in Dallas.
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Over the last week, we’ve seen a couple of bowl games make the announcements that their annual contests won’t be played at the conclusion of the 2020 college football season. The Pinstripe Bowl made their cancelation known over the weekend while the …
Over the last week, we’ve seen a couple of bowl games make the announcements that their annual contests won’t be played at the conclusion of the 2020 college football season.
The Pinstripe Bowl made their cancelation known over the weekend while the Sun Bowl followed suit a few days later. Now we get word that an annual game out west won’t be played this season as the Las Vegas Bowl has been cancelled for 2020.
Full press release can be found in link below:https://t.co/mmHpYMmQ8X…-for-2020-season/ pic.twitter.com/c6KyiNPWAY
— Las Vegas Bowl (@LasVegasBowl) December 2, 2020
The Las Vegas Bowl was set to be played between a Pac-12 team and SEC team this season and was to be played this December. The SEC and Big Ten are set to alternate a tie-in to the game starting in 2020 and going through 2025.
The Las Vegas Bowl becomes the ninth bowl game to be canceled this post-season, joining the: Bahamas Bowl, Fenway Bowl, Hawaii Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Motor City Bowl, Pinstripe Bowl, Red Box Bowl and Sun Bowl.
As of now the plan is for the Las Vegas Bowl to resume in 2021 and be played for the first time in the new Allegiant Stadium, home to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.
Texas has commonly been projected to compete in the Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium on Dec. 31.
Once again, the Longhorns have been projected to compete in the Texas Bowl after the regular season concludes. Continue reading “CBS Sports Bowl Predictions: Longhorns likely to appear in Texas Bowl”
