I suppose if I had more than passing levels of interest in the military or the state of Montana I’d be a lot more excited about what qualified as news in the world of college football yesterday. Huzzah for Indiana’ s Fernando Mendoza, who won this year’s Heisman Trophy last night and became the first Hoosier to take it home in the 90-year history of the award. But he won’t play a down of actual football for the rest of 2025, and at least in this space that’s what we tend to focus on most.
And yabba dabba doo for the good people of the state of Montana, who over the past two days came to learn of an impending showdown perhaps only seen in a battle of stampeding bighorns. The by-line-shy “staff” of THE FORUM gave this at least a smattering of attention:
The No. 3-seeded Montana Grizzlies proved too much to handle on Saturday afternoon, overwhelming the No. 11-seeded South Dakota Coyotes 52-22 in the FCS playoff quarterfinals at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
The Griz used the home crowd to their advantage in an all-around dominant performance in all three phases of the game in front of a home crowd of 22,750 fans. The win sets up an all-Montana semifinal in the FCS playoffs as the Griz will go to face No. 2 Montana State on Dec. 20 for a trip to the national championship.
Montana State ran for 227 yards as the Bobcats dominated the third-ranked rush defense in the country en route to beating Stephen F. Austin 44-28 on Friday to advance to the FCS playoff semifinals.
Adam Jones finished with 117 yards and Julius Davis had 96 on the ground for Montana State, which jumped out to a 24-0 lead. Justin Lamson had 246 passing yards for the Bobcats.
It’s sure a big deal in Bozeman and Missoula. But for ESPN and ABC, bragging rights involving the 161st and 185th ranked DMAs out of Nielsen’s 210 aren’t exactly going to move any needles significantly.
But what was especially significant in that AI-ish writeup was the fact that somehow 22,750 live human beings (we assume cattle couldn’t quite fit through the turnstiles) turned out to see a college football post-season game. Over the next 22 days we will once again be privy to plenty of examples to the contrary as not a day will go by between yesterday and January 4th where at least one football game, college or pro, will be played. And the college football that is being played, especially this week, would be better qualified to be classified as white noise for those of us who aren’t in Big Sky country.
Yesterday Bowl Season officially kicked off the SWAC-MEAC showdown now called the Celebration Bowl between South Carolina State and Prairie View A&M. You’re forgiven if you instead chose to watch Army and Navy do battle, as they have for more than 125 years. That used to be the coda to each of their seasons. But in an era of expanded bowls, they’ve both got follow-up games, Navy waiting until January 2nd with a trip to Memphis for the Liberty Bowl–the same day something called the Armed Forces Bowl will take place in, of all places, Dallas, where Rice and Texas State will do battle. And six days after Navy’s own home stadium in Annapolis will host the Military Bowl which, natch, will pit Pitt against its storied Beltway rival East Carolina.
And until we actually get the first real game of the now-expanded College Football Playoff on Friday night which, duh, is actually being played on the home turf of one of its particpants (as are the other quarterfinal round games), we will be treated to such vaunted matchups and destination venues as these:
Tuesday, Dec. 16
Salute to Veterans Bowl
Troy vs. Jacksonville State, 9 p.m. | ESPN
Wednesday, Dec. 17
Cure Bowl
Old Dominion vs. South Florida, 5 p.m. | ESPN
68 Ventures Bowl
Louisiana vs. Delaware, 8:30 p.m. | ESPN
Thursday, Dec. 18
Xbox Bowl
Missouri State vs. Arkansas State, 9 p.m. | ESPN
Friday, Dec. 19
Myrtle Beach Bowl
Kennesaw State vs. Western Michigan, 12 p.m. | ESPN
Gasparilla Bowl
NC State vs. Memphis, 3:30 p.m. | ESPN
Were you underwhelmed and perhaps expecting more familiar foes? Apparently, so was the NCAA. But this year, more than ever before, it’s clearer than ever that the traditional appeal and meaning of de facto exhibition games is less than ever. COLLEGE SPORTSWIRE’s JD McCarthy lamentingly reported that earlier this week:
While the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Iowa State Cyclones, and Kansas State Wildcats all earned bowl bids, they declined them. It normally takes six wins to be eligible for a bowl, but if enough teams decline the opportunity or fail to win six games, then 5-7 teams can take their place, with the order determined by their academic progress rates (APR).
According to Brett McMurphy of On3, four teams that met that threshold have decided not to go bowling, with the FSU Seminoles, Auburn Tigers, UCF Knights, Baylor Bears, and Rutgers Scarlett Knights all declining the invitation.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL HQ’s Joe Cox amplied the vitriol in his report on SPORTS ILLUSRATED’s website:
Notre Dame’s bowl denial will probably draw the most attention. The Irish finished one spot out of the College Football Playoff, and accordingly decided that they would pass on the gamut of lower bowls. Notre Dame was purportedly offered a spot in the Pop-Tarts Bowl to play the team ranked behind them in the CFP rankings, BYU, but turned it down flat.
While the NCAA had exactly the number of teams with six or more wins that it needed to fill the bowl vacancies, these three teams declining bowl berths caused the bowls to have to dip into the pool of 5-7 teams. A multitude of 5-7 teams declined bowl bids before Appalachian State finally completed the bowl picture by agreeing to play Georgia Southern in the Birmingham Bowl.
At least seven teams were reported to have turned down last-minute bowl invites off of 5-7 seasons. The list includes Florida State, Auburn, UCF, Baylor, Rutgers, Temple, and Kansas. The 11th hour bowl chaos led to more than a few jokes online. While the 82nd bowl berth was finally filled, at least 10 teams passed on postseason play on a memorable Sunday.
Maybe the first time a gimmick like a human mascot wearing an edible costume allowing themselves to be baked alive for several minutes to become a particpation trophy was noteworthy. Maybe the second time seeing teams play games in converted baseball stadiums in frigid conditions was worth getting excited about. Maybe there’s someone at all out there thrilled about the chance to tailgate in 30 degree weather like the late December days in the Northeast or even the evenings in the Southwest could offer. It sure seems like those days are long gone.
And honestly, did you even know was a tertiary game to that silly Pop-Tarts Bowl and the veneable Citurs Bowl in at least a semi-desirable destination like Orlando? Certainly the good people of Central Florida could care less. And as for how another halfway decent place to visit this time of year, witness the reality check that my neighbors allowed to slip into the DMs of THE LOS ANGELES TIMES’
The LA Bowl will crown its last winner when Washington and Boise State play Saturday, according to On3.com’s Brett McMurphy. Hollywood Park, which is owned by Stan Kroenke, operates the LA Bowl. The game’s six-year contract is scheduled to end after Saturday’s game and it will not be renewed. The game was created in 2020, matching the Mountain West champion against the fifth selection from the Pac-12. The collapse of the Pac-12 as a power conference made it increasingly difficult to complete the bowl field, but other factors have made bowl season more challenging for game organizers.
And the show that they did put on last night did scant little to even prompt a rethinking, and even the otherwise positive IDAHO STATESMAN’s Shawn Goodwin couldn’t conceal his disdain:
Boise State used to strike fear into the hearts of Power Five (now Power Four) football programs…But that was then. This is now – and “now” means that the Broncos’ reputation has taken a big hit. The latest chance to beat a Power Four program came Saturday night against Washington in the LA Bowl. As has often been the case recently, Boise State fell drastically short. After taking a 3-0 lead about three minutes into the game, the Broncos (9-5) didn’t score again until a touchdown with a little over a minute remaining concluded a 38-10 loss to Washington (9-4).
Maybe Goodwin was ticked that he had to schlep all those miles to play before a handful of equally frustrated hardcores and a veritable handful of locals. It’s a lot different setting than when the Broncos had a de facto home fame on their own storied Smurf Turf, the aptly monickered Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Which, of course, this year will feature Utah State and Washington State.
Oh, BTW: The announced crowd, per the write-up in this morning’s LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS (don’t get me started, the TIMES’ deadline is dusk) was 20,260–in the nation’s #2 DMA, or about 10% below what the turnout was on campus in Bozeman, Montana, the hyphenate of DMA #185.
Here some food for thought for the disinterested across the board: Take a look at how the smaller FCS division does it. An elimination tournament of a total of 31 games, all but the championship game played on the home field of the higher-seeded team. Similar to what we’ve seen in college basketball, where post-season expansion has reduced secondary tournaments’ importance to levels even below that of the Cure Bowl. But at least , the FCS, NIT and the recently added College Basketball Crown has wisely chosen to give participants–not to mention their alumni and student body–as many as three more home games and ticket/merch reveue, as well as the opportunity for more actual fans to show up and root them on. Fans that actually will brave whatever elements there are–or aren’t–to party hearty. The Crown added the additional inducement of real money for its participants.
I have more than just a hunch that allure, at a sufficient level, might get a few more of the nay-sayers to say yes. Maybe not a super pissed-off Notre Dame, whose current AD just happens to be a former head of NBC Sports that wasn’t all that keen about being part of a de facto made-for-TV group of games run by his former archrival. But maybe at least Rutgers might lament. And for the right price, spending part of the holidays in central New Jersey ain’t all that bad.
Courage…