Tag: Quick Lane Bowl

Minnesota ran the worst trick play you’re going to see this bowl game season

What was that?

The Minnesota Golden Gophers took the “bowl games don’t matter” philosophy to new heights against the Bowling Green Falcons in Tuesday’s Quick Lane Bowl.

In what looked like a routine extra point attempt for Minnesota kicker Dragan Kesich, things got wacky once the Golden Gophers shifted the formation from a kick to some sort of spread-out look with the offensive linemen on one side, the receivers on the other and Kesich standing alone as the quarterback.

Rather than execute a weird pass play, the design called for Kesich to scramble to the end zone for a possible 2-point conversion. However, as you can guess, it didn’t work as Kesich was stopped before the goal line.

Instead of tying the game up, Minnesota bafflingly remained behind by a point late in the first quarter.

Instead of throwing this play out of the playbook, Minnesota needs to demolish this thing with the same fury Harry Potter used to get rid of all those Voldemort Horcruxes. Like, take a basilisk fang to this design.

If we see a worse trick play this bowl game season, we’ll be shocked. This was, through and through, an absolute disaster in football form.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1372]

New Mexico State 24, Bowling Green 19 Quick Lane Bowl What Happened, What It All Means

New Mexico State 24, Bowling Green 19: Quick Lane Bowl what happened, player of the game, and what it all means

New Mexico State beat Bowling Green 24-19 to win the Quick Lane Bowl. What happened, who was the player of the game, and what does it all mean?

New Mexico State 24, Bowling Green 19 Quick Lane Bowl What Happened, Player of the Game, What It All Means

[mm-video type=playlist id=01f1343a1wt7q817p7 player_id=none image=https://collegefootballnews.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Quick Lane Bowl What Happened

– New Mexico State got up 17-0 helped by two touchdown passes from Diego Pavia, but his legs closed it out. Bowling Green roared back in the fourth quarter with 12 points helped by a blocked field goal for a punt and a 19-yard touchdown catch from Tyrone Broden, but it couldn’t get the ball back. Pavia and the Aggie offense were able to grind down the final 6:27 minutes converting three third down tries.

– Bowling Green lost starting quarterback Matt McDonald early in the game with an apparent head injury. The offense sputtered without him, but it finally got kickstarted with a kickoff return for a touchdown from Ta’ron Keith early in the second half coming off a field goal.

– The Falcons turned it over twice, but they were both killers. They had their chances, but stalled drives, failed third down stops, and those giveaways  kept them from every getting control of the game. That had almost everything to do with …

100 Best Bowl Players | Ranking How Good the Bowls Were

Quick Lane Bowl Player of the Game

Diego Pavia, QB New Mexico State
He completed 17-of-29 passes for 167 yards and two scores with a pick, and ran 12 times for 65 yards. More than anything else, he was brilliant on third downs, which led to …

CFN Experts Picks Dec 20-27 | CFP NY6, Dec 28-Jan 2

Quick Lane Bowl Fun Stats

– Third Down Conversions: New Mexico State 11-of-17 – Bowling Green 3-of-9

– Time of Possession: New Mexico State 38:23 – Bowling Green 21:37

– In relief of Matt McDonald, Bowling Green QB Camden Orth completed 14-of-22 passes for 191 yards and a touchdown, and ran for times for 16 yards

Quick Lane Bowl What It All Means

How massive is this for New Mexico State? It’s the first ever bowl win for head coach Jerry Kill – he was 0-2 at Northern Illinois and 0-3 at Minnesota – the program goes off to Conference USA with a winning season – the first since 2017 and just the second since 2002. The Aggies won a bowl in 2017 – that was the first time it got one since 1960. Now they’re 3-0-1 all-time in bowls.

Bowling Green got to a bowl game. Start with that. Yeah, this was a losing season, but for a program that was so bad for so long – it didn’t win more than four games in a year from 2016 to 2021 – this was finally a step-forward season under Scot Loeffler in his fourth season at the helm.

Would it have been different if McDonald didn’t get knocked out of the game early? That’s not quite fair to either side – Bowling Green had its chances, but blew it. Now the program hasn’t won a bowl game since 2015 and is just 1-6 since taking down the 2004 GMAC.

[protected-iframe id=”361699434b6d70baf15f631ed2408ac1-97672683-92922408″ info=”https://www.googletagservices.com/tag/js/gpt.js” ]

– 2022-2023 Bowl Schedule, Predictions

College football fans absolutely loved New Mexico State coach Jerry Kill’s custom serape

New Mexico State’s Jerry Kill is easily the best dressed coach of bowl season so far.

New Mexico State head coach Jerry Kill might win the best-dressed award for the 2022 college football bowl season.

Kill’s Aggies were set to take on Bowling Green in the Quick Lane Bowl, one of those bowl games that certainly exists.

However, the New Mexico State coach wasn’t about to get upstaged by anyone else in the fashion game on Monday. He exited his team’s bus confidently wearing an Aggies serape for the ages while drinking a concoction from Starbucks.

If serape sales in Las Cruces weren’t already high, they’re about to skyrocket after Kill rocked one at the Quick Lane Bowl. Christmas might be over, but everybody’s got a birthday around the corner, right?

Wow, now that is a serape. Kill looked warm, but he also looked ready to take on the whole world.

 

Best bets for every bowl game, Pt. 2 (pre-New Year’s Six bowls)

Part 2 of our best bets for bowl season.

After a day off, bowl season picks right back up on Monday with the Quick Lane Bowl between New Mexico State and Bowling Green. That means its time for me to pick things up where I left off in Pt. 1 of my best bets for bowl season.

For those who tailed my previous picks, it’s been a good time. I’ve been picking a lot more winners than losers, and I hope to keep the good fortune on my side for 16 more bowl-game picks all the way up until the first NY6 bowl on Friday night.

Before we get into the picks, here’s a look at where things stand:

Bowling Green vs New Mexico State Quick Lane Bowl Prediction Game Preview

Bowling Green vs New Mexico State game preview, prediction, and breakdown for the Quick Lane Bowl on Monday, December 26

Bowling Green vs New Mexico State prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. Quick Lane Bowl, Monday, December 26

Bowling Green vs New Mexico State Quick Lane Bowl Prediction Game Preview

[mm-video type=playlist id=01f1343a1wt7q817p7 player_id=none image=https://collegefootballnews.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Bowling Green vs New Mexico State How To Watch

Date: Monday, December 26
Game Time: 2:30 ET
Venue: Ford Field, Detroit, MI
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Bowling Green (6-6), New Mexico State (6-6)
– Sign up and live stream college football on ESPN+

Bowling Green vs New Mexico State Quick Lane Bowl 5 Things To Know

Quick Lane Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History

– So, you want a bowl game with two teams that are really, really going to care? These two programs came into the season ranked among the lowest teams in college football, no one expected either one to have a shot at a winning season, and bowls are special for them no matter what, especially New Mexico State.

The Aggies got a break from the NCAA because a tragedy at San Jose State forced a cancelation of a midseason game. The played a 12th game anyway to have a Senior Day, rolling Valparaiso 65-3 to get to six wins, even though that made it two of the six wins coming against FCS teams, and … whatever. Head coach Jerry Kill’s team is in a bowl, and it’s rolling offensively.

– This is just the fifth bowl game for the New Mexico State program. It won the Arizona in 2017, but before that the previous bowl appearance was in the 1960 Sun. Bowling Green is 1-5 in its last six bowl games going back to 2004, with the last appearance a blowout loss to Georgia Southern in the 2015 GoDaddy.

– Bowling Green started out the season 1-3 in what seemed like another lost year, and it closed rough losing two of its last three games. In between, though, it went on a nice midseason run, shocked eventual MAC champion Toledo on the road, and now it brings its fun passing game to Detroit.

– The Quick Lane is a reboot of other Detroit bowl games, getting going in 2014 with a mixed bag of games. The 2020 version was canceled, four were ugly blowouts, and three were entertaining. Last year was the first time a Power Five team wasn’t playing in it. This keeps that going.

CFN Experts Dec 20-27 | CFP NY6, Dec 28-Jan 2

Why Bowling Green Will Win The Quick Lane Bowl

The passing game has been fun.

The Falcons might not run all that well, and they offensive line is miserable in pass protection, but Matt McDonald is able to get the offense moving through the air when it gets on a little bit of a roll.

It’s a simple formula. When the offense gets to 247 passing yards it has a shot – it’s 4-2 when it gets there and 2-4 when it doesn’t.

The other side is hit or miss, but the pass rush was as strong as any in the MAC and should be disruptive enough to force a few mistakes. New Mexico State doesn’t have big problems giving the ball away, but the D isn’t great at generating mistakes.

However …

Why New Mexico State Will Win The Quick Lane Bowl

It’s a Jerry Kill team, so in a perfect world it would like to start running and get physical. The program isn’t there yet in its Kill’s first season, but his offense has been crushing it over the last month.

QB Diego Pavia was supposed to be questionable, but he’s expected to give it a go. The offense takes on a different look if he’s able to go. He might not wing it around too much, and he might not be consistent, but he threw seven touchdown passes in his last two games and 11 over the last five – and he can run a little bit, too.

Bowling Green will give up 200 yards through the air. It’s not awful against the run, and it has a great pass rush, but the New Mexico State offensive front is good in pass protection. The quarterbacks get time to take shots down the field, and in the perfect conditions indoors, the O will stretch the field.

Quick Lane Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History

NEXT: What’s Going To Happen, Bowling Green vs New Mexico State Prediction, Quick Lane Bowl History

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Big Ten will be leaving one bowl game vacant

With two teams in the College Football Playoff, the Big Ten is set to leave one bowl spot vacant

On Sunday the entire bowl game lineup for the 2022 season will be locked in once and for all. And as the bowl games are being filled, the Big Ten could be leaving one of its bowl tie-ins without a Big Ten team. With the Big Ten sending two teams to the College Football Playoff, the Big Ten will not be able to fill all of its bowl slots.

Michigan and Ohio State are both expected to be in the College Football Playoff. Michigan is the lock at 13-0 with the Big Ten championship. Ohio State, at 11-1, needed just a little bit of help over the weekend and may have gotten it from Utah, who knocked USC into the two-loss category in the Pac-12 championship game. With two teams in the playoff, that bumps everyone else in the Big Ten’s bowl lineup up one spot, including Penn State going to the Rose Bowl despite finishing in third place in the Big Ten East this season.

The bowl spots expected to be filled by the Big Ten after the Rose Bowl include the Citrus Bowl (vs. SEC), ReliaQuest Bowl (vs. SEC), Music City Bowl (vs. SEC), Duke’s Mayo Bowl (vs. ACC), Pinstripe Bowl (vs. ACC), and Guaranteed Rate Bowl (vs. Big 12). Those spots could be filled by the rest of the Big Ten’s bowl-eligible teams; Purdue, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Maryland. The lone remaining bowl game would be the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit, which pairs a Big Ten team up with a team from the MAC.

While the Big Ten will certainly not be hurting by not being able to fill all of its contracted bowls, it will be more than making up for it with two teams dipping into the College Football Playoff revenue pool, so it’s a win for the Big Ten anyway.

This is also a win for a team like New Mexico State, an FBS independent that finished the year at 6-6, although two of those wins came against FCS opponents. New Mexico State has already received approval from the NCAA to be bowl eligible, which was needed as only one win against an FCS team can count toward a team’s win total for bowl eligibility without NCAA approval.

[listicle id=26963]

[lawrence-related id=27126,27123,26960,26871,26851]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01ey902ehrs6e9bvhw player_id=none image=https://nittanylionswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Follow Kevin McGuire on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on Twitter and like us on Facebook for continuing Penn State coverage and discussion. Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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.

Wisconsin plays MAC opponent in latest USA TODAY Sports bowl projections

See where Wisconsin football lands in the latest USA TODAY Sports bowl projections:

After a blowout loss to the Illinois Fighting Illini, the Wisconsin Badgers are projected to play the Toledo Rockets in the Quick Lane in the latest USA TODAY Sports bowl projections.

Related: Kansas HC Lance Leipold comments on Wisconsin football job opening

The Badgers have never played in the Quick Lane Bowl, which is played every year at Ford Field in Detroit. However, they have faced off against the Rockets twice. Wisconsin matched up against Toledo in 1982 and 1989 at Camp Randall Stadium and was able to win won both games.

This week’s College Football Playoff teams remain the same with Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State and Alabama.

The Badgers will look to end their two-game losing streak on the road this weekend against Northwestern under interim head coach Jim Leonhard.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbyzzyj3n3jt6m7 player_id=none image=https://badgerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Week 6 Iowa Hawkeyes bowl projection round up

The Iowa Hawkeyes sit at 3-2 and are projected to go bowling. Here’s an around-the-nation look at bowl projections for Iowa.

Sitting at 3-2 on the season, the Iowa Hawkeyes are looking to string together a few wins to ensure a postseason trip, but in all reality, stay alive in the race for the Big Ten West championship.

In what has felt like doom and gloom from Hawkeyes fans, Iowa is sitting at 1-1 in conference play, the same or better than every single other team in the Big Ten West. After a slower start to the season than some may have liked, the ultimate goals for the Hawkeyes are still in their control.

Iowa also controls what bowl game they could make an appearance in this postseason. Playing in the postseason is what a lot of teams set out to do prior to the season. It is an extra game at a fun location, fans can travel to a unique spot, and it allows one more game before the long offseason.

Going into Week 6, it is time to look at a nationwide bowl projection roundup for the Hawkeyes. There is a feeling that Iowa may be settling into a bowl game in one of the biggest cities in the world.

Full 2022-23 Big Ten bowl game and College Football Playoff schedule

Here is the entire Big Ten bowl schedule for the 2022 season.

The Big Ten officially confirmed a good number of kickoff times for throughout the duration of the 2022 college football season. Nestled in the release was a reminder about the Big Ten’s bowl lineup for the upcoming season that includes eight direct bowl tie-ins and the possibility of more bowl spots for the conference if things go well this season.

The Big Ten will take part in three New Years Day bowl games, which due to the NFL schedule will actually take place on January 2. The crown jewel of the Big Ten’s bowl lineup, of course, is the Rose Bowl Game, which remains in its traditional timeslot while the Sugar Bowl was forced to move to a noon kickoff to avoid a scheduling conflict with the NFL’s Monday Night Football programming. Yes, the Rose Bowl will serve as a leading for Monday Night Football to help ring in 2023.

The Big Ten will remain a part of the new year tradition with spots in the Tampa Bay Bowl and the Citrus Bowl in addition to the Rose Bowl.

Each of the Big Ten’s bowl games will be played after Christmas, although the possibility of a surplus of bowl teams could allow for a Big Ten team to play prior to Christmas if a bowl is in need of filling a spot.

The College Football Playoff is also once again playing its national semifinal games on New Year’s Eve, on Saturday, Dec. 31. This year’s playoff games will be held in the Peach Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl. The College Football Playoff national championship game is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 9 to bring a close to another season of college football.

Which of these bowl games will Penn State be playing in? We’ll have to wait and see. For now, here is the full Big Ten bowl lineup, plus the playoff schedule.