This should be fun...

3 days ago

With one minor exception, I am actually pretty happy with the way things ended in the college football world this past week. With the holidays coming to a close we got to see the epitome of college bowl season take place. There has been a lot of smack talk over the years about how even a good Big Ten team is just a fraction of any SEC team. Never mind the fact that the past two National Champions have been from the Big Ten.

That doesn't mean the SEC isn't impressive. They do have a legacy of winning after all. However, this past week we got to see just how well some of those teams stack up against our conference favorites.

I'll start with the non quarterfinal bowl games first.

We had the Independence Bowl where Coastal Carolina fell to Louisiana Tech 23 to 14. Then the Music City Bowl which really should have been a home game for Tennessee, but they couldn't stand up against the Fighting Illini who took the win 30 to 28 over the Volunteers.

Sadly, number 16 USC couldn't match that magic in the Alamo Bowl falling to TCU 30 to 27 in overtime. I have to give them an A for effort though. It was basically a hostile crowd playing down in Texas. I wouldn't be ashamed of that performance at all.

In the ReliaQuest Bowl we had another Big Ten win with number 23 Iowa upsetting number 14 Vanderbilt 34 to 27.

I actually can't even begin to cover how amazing some of these games were over the past few days. They were hard battles and very close. Take the Sun Bowl for example where Duke took down Arizona State 42 to 29 in a pretty thrilling back and forth game.

In the Citrus Bowl number 13 Texas easily handled number 18 Michigan 41 to 27. I can't say I am sad about that one. Being a Michigan State fan, I can't really stand Michigan. You might think I would still cheer for the team from Michigan even if it wasn't my team, but nope. I can't do that. Eff U of M...

Things continued to go a bit downhill for the Big Ten with Nebraska falling to number 15 Utah 44 to 22 in the Las Vegas Bowl. The first half of this game was actually really close, it wasn't until the second half that Utah really opened things up.

Finally, that just leaves us with the college championship quarterfinal games. New Years Eve was pretty awesome watching defending champions and number 2 ranked Ohio State fall to number 10 Miami in the Cotton Bowl 24 to 14. Again, you might think I would be cheering for the Big Ten team here, but it's Ohio State, so there is little chance of that.

In the Orange Bowl, new member of the Big Ten number 5 Oregon took down number 4 Texas Tech 23 to 0 in a stunning defensive display. It's impressive that they were able to shut out the Red Raiders. If you have been following them, you know they are a highly offensive team.

I don't really like Oregon, so I was kind of indifferent on that game, but it is nice to see another Big Ten team in the semifinals.

Finally, last night we had the Rose Bowl with number 1 Indiana absolutely destroying number 9 Alabama 38 to 3 and removing any doubt that they belong in the number one position. It was a magical game, slow at first, but then when Indiana got momentum they were unstoppable.

In the late game, we had number 6 Ole Miss taking down number 3 Georgia 39 to 34 in the Sugar Bowl. I actually didn't stay up to watch this game, but it is nice to see that the old standbys like Georgia and Alabama are out of the picture this year.

There are still a handful of bowl games happening today, but for the most part we are on break now until next week when Ole Miss faces Miami in the Fiesta Bowl and then on Friday when Indiana takes on Oregon in the Peach Bowl.

Which all leads up to the National Championship game on Monday January 19th.

Are you ready?