Tag: Music City Bowl

The chaotic energy of the Music City Bowl between Kentucky and Iowa makes it the perfect hate-watch

Sometimes a game looks so bad on paper you can’t help but tune in

I simply cannot sit here with a straight face and tell you to watch the Music City Bowl on New Year’s Eve.

This is the biggest day of the college football season, after all, with playoff semifinals kicking off and a Sugar Bowl featuring Alabama and Kansas State. Yet as much fun as it’ll be to watch Nick Saban play a game he (probably) doesn’t care about against a team he recently trashed in a futile effort to boost the Crimson Tide’s playoff resume, I cannot devote my full attention to that contest.

Not when Iowa and Kentucky will be playing one of the most chaotic games of the season in Nashville.

The powers that be at the Music City Bowl may have banked on attracting two rabid fanbases to their exhibition game by selecting the Hawkeyes and Wildcats, but in doing so they entered pure Sickos territory: pitting two of the worst offenses in the Power 5 against each other, on network television, as starters for both teams continue to opt out or enter the transfer portal.

With a few weeks to go before kickoff, the rosters are already looking pretty lean. Kentucky quarterback Will Levis is sitting out to prep for the NFL Draft and his top running back, Chris Rodriguez, won’t play either.

On the Iowa side, quarterback Spencer Petras (shoulder) has been ruled out following surgery and backup Alex Padilla has entered the transfer portal.

No other QB on the roster has recorded any stats for the Hawkeyes this season.

All of that leads to a point total over/under that has hovered around 31 since the matchup was announced.

It may get even lower before kickoff the way things are going. The lowest point total in college football history also included this year’s Iowa team during a November game at Minnesota. The line was set at 31.5. The final score was 13-10, hitting the under by more than a touchdown.

Now consider the Under has hit in four of Kentucky’s last five games. Iowa’s last five games have produced the same result for the Under.

The Music City Bowl might even make the Army-Navy game look like an offensive showcase.

Of course I’m going to be glued to this game. How could you not be?

Iowa and Kentucky emptying their playbooks with second- and third-stringers leading the way is exactly the energy I want to take into the new year.

Will I enjoy this game? To be determined! But I know for sure I won’t be able to look away.

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2022 Big Ten bowl game tracker: All Big Ten bowl announcements

Here are this year’s Big Ten bowl games, including a pair of College Football Playoff teams.

For the first time in College Football Playoff history, the Big Ten will have two teams competing in the four-team playoff this season. Big Ten champion Michigan will be making its second straight appearance and Ohio State will return to the playoff for the fifth time. The Big Ten would love nothing more than to see the bitter rivals duke it out for all of the marbles in the national championship game, but history has already been made for the conference by having two playoff teams this year.

The Big Ten will have its traditional spot in the Rose Bowl occupied by Penn State, which finished in third place in the East Division but ended the season ranked in the top 10 of the College Football Playoff selection committee’s final rankings. It is the fourth Rose Bowl trip for the Nittany Lions since joining the Big Ten and the fifth trip overall. Unfortunately, Penn State doesn’t have a great Rose Bowl record to speak of, but this is a new opportunity against Pac-12 champion Utah.

The Big Ten is leaving one bowl spot vacant in its lineup this season with the three teams playing in the New Years Six and not having an additional bowl-eligible team to fill the remaining spot. Here is the entire Big Ten bowl lineup for this year’s bowl season.

Where the Hawks may be headed: Week 11 Iowa Hawkeyes bowl projection round up

The Iowa Hawkeyes are going bowling! What was once an “if” has now become a “when” and “where” for the Hawkeyes’ postseason matchup.

What looked like a bit of a farfetched thought just over three weeks ago has become a reality. The Iowa Hawkeyes are officially going bowling! Following their third straight win in a 24-10 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers, the Hawkeyes hit the bowl eligibility threshold of six wins.

After sitting at 3-4 and some leaving this team for dead, head coach Kirk Ferentz rallied the locker room in a way only he always can. He has the Hawkeyes playing complementary football, having fun, and right back in the thick of things in the Big Ten West.

In fact, while the Hawkeyes are tied among the top in the Big Ten West, they really have the inside track to making it to Indianapolis. All that has to happen is Iowa needs to win their final two while Illinois falls to Michigan on the road this weekend. Straightforward enough.

Regardless of the Big Ten West, the Hawkeyes have guaranteed themselves a postseason game. Let’s check out some of the potential landing spots.

Where the Hawks may be headed: Week 11 Iowa Hawkeyes bowl projection round up

A strong road showing has the Iowa Hawkeyes at 5-4 with three games to go. With one more win needed to go bowling, projections for Iowa.

With the Iowa Hawkeyes sitting at 5-4 after a strong road showing against the Purdue Boilermakers, the postseason is within reach as just one more win is needed to go bowling.

With the slate of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nebraska ahead, the Hawkeyes control their postseason destiny as they can beat any of the aforementioned teams, especially hosting two of them inside Kinnick Stadium.

With the Big Ten West once again wide open with four teams, including the Hawkeyes, tied at second in the conference with a 3-3 Big Ten record, the possibility of the Illinois Fighting Illini slipping up and making this a mess is very much in the realm of possibility.

The Hawkeyes have a bowl game in front of them, a season to salvage, and an outside shot at still taking home the Big Ten West title with a little help. Let’s see where the Hawkeyes are projected to land for a postseason bowl berth.

Penn State bowl projections heading into Week 8

Penn State’s loss to Michigan was a blow to the updated bowl projections

Things were looking pretty good for Penn State this season after starting the year 5-0. Then the road game at Michigan happened and, well, things are not quite as lush as they once were. The impact of a loss like the one Penn State suffered in Ann Arbor reflected in a much less optimistic bowl outlook for the Nittany Lions as the bowl projections from multiple media outlets were updated this week.

Penn State being a near lock for a New Years Six bowl berth is no longer the case, although it is not out of the question just yet. The next couple of weeks could be a huge factor in keeping Penn State’s NY6 bowl hopes alive and well. And perhaps if Penn State managed to at least keep things close at Michigan, things could still look a bit more optimistic for a NY6 invite. As it stands now, the bowl projections are sending Penn State to other bowl games, with a wide variety of options on the table.

But there is one projection still sticking to an Orange Bowl projection for the Nittany Lions.

Here is a look at some of the bowl projections from multiple media outlets heading into Week 8.

USA TODAY Sports predicts matchup against Big Ten team with interim coach in latest bowl projections

The Tigers are projected to face Wisconsin in the Music City Bowl.

LSU had a rough game against the Tennessee Volunteers last week as the Vols strolled into Baton Rouge and beat the Tigers 40-13. Before the game, LSU had cracked the AP Top 25 for the first time this season, but after the big loss, LSU dropped out.

According to the latest USA TODAY Sports bowl projections, LSU is projected to play Wisconsin in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 31 in Nashville.

The Badgers are in a weird spot this year. They are 3-3 this season, and they fired their head coach, Paul Chryst, last week. Jim Leonhard took over after Chryst was let go and he led the Badgers to a 42-7 win over Northwestern in his first game as a head coach.

[autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] and the Tigers look to rebound from the loss to Tennessee this weekend as they travel to Gainesville, Florida, to take on Billy Napier and the Florida Gators. LSU is currently 4-2 this season and 2-1 in conference play.

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ESPN disagrees on LSU’s bowl projection after Week 4

Where are the Tigers heading in the latest projections after the shutout against New Mexico?

After a shutout win over New Mexico 38-0, the LSU Tigers improved their record to 3-1 on the season.

How does that change the opinion of ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach on where they think LSU will be playing in their possible bowl game?

According to Bonagura, LSU will be facing off against the NC State Wolfpack in the Gator Bowl on Dec. 30. A matchup against the Wolfpack would be an interesting one. NC State is currently 4-0 on the season, and its only close game was in Week 1 at East Carolina. Since then, the Wolfpack knocked off Texas Tech at home 27-14 for a high-quality victory.

We will see what NC State is really made of as it travels to Clemson this Saturday.

According to Schlabach, LSU will take on Maryland in the Music City Bowl. There are a couple of Alabama ties in Maryland that would make this one interesting. Former Alabama offensive coordinator Mike Locksley is the Terrapins’ head coach, and Taulia Tagovailoa (Tua’s little brother) is their starting quarterback.

The Terrapins are 3-1 so far this season after a 34-27 loss to No. 4 Michigan last week in Ann Arbor.

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Where LSU sits in ESPN’s post-Week 3 bowl projections

Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach are split in their projections for LSU.

ESPN released its latest bowl projections after three weeks of college football. Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach have different ideas of where the Bayou Bengals will wind up at the end of the year.

Bonagura has LSU playing against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the Gator Bowl while Schlabach has it playing the Michigan State Spartans in the Music City Bowl. Pitt shares a common opponent with LSU in the Tennessee Volunteers, who Pitt lost to 34-27 at home in Week 2.

The Tigers will take on Tennessee on Oct. 8 in Baton Rouge. That could be a measuring stick for how that game would end up going if the two were to meet.

There has been a good bit of hype surrounding the e Spartans coming into the season, and after starting 2-0, Sparty took a trip to Washington to visit the Huskies and got pushed around. Washington showed they had a bite that followed their bark as they beat Michigan State 39-28.

We’re still very early in the season, so there are a lot of games between now and bowl season, but it’s always fun to speculate.

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Here’s CBS Sports’ bowl prediction for Florida after Week 2

CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm thinks the Gators could be Nashville-bound this postseason.

The Gator Nation was riding high after Florida football earned its first win of the 2022 campaign with an upset victory over the Utah Utes. Unfortunately, that all came crashing down in Week 2 as the Kentucky Wildcats came into town and earned its second straight win over the Gators — the first time that has happened since 1976-77.

Despite the fact that quarterback [autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag] was a shadow of the player the media fawned over after the season-opening win, Mark Stoops’ team was not exactly chopped liver. Led by a dual-threat quarterback Will Levis — who is no slouch himself — UK entered the Swamp ranked No. 20, and despite a hostile sell-out crowd, came away victorious.

After the dust settled, CBS Sports Jerry Palm gave his updated predictions for the bowl season this winter, with the Gators switching venues from last week’s destination. Palm now has Florida facing the Minnesota Gophers in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl held in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 31.

The TransPerfect Music City Bowl celebrates its 25th year anniversary this season. Florida has never played in the bowl game before while Minnesota has appeared thrice, scoring wins in 2002 and 2004 against the Arkansas Razorbacks and Alabama Crimson Tide, respectively, before dropping its 2005 matchup with the Virginia Cavaliers.

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National media’s bowl projections for Penn State football in 2022

Penn State is hoping to return to a big bowl game in 2022 as the new season is about to kick off for the first time. For a program that has gone .500 over the past two seasons, the Nittany Lions are hoping to return to their winning ways that were …

Penn State is hoping to return to a big bowl game in 2022 as the new season is about to kick off for the first time. For a program that has gone .500 over the past two seasons, the Nittany Lions are hoping to return to their winning ways that were the norm prior to the 2020 season. And if the preseason bowl projections are any indication, Penn State has plenty of ways this season could end in the postseason.

Here is an assortment of preseason bowl projections for Penn State this season, with plenty of possible bowl opponents from the SEC to choose from.