Taxslayer Gator Bowl: Clemson Tigers (8-4) vs Kentucky Wildcats (7-5)
What you need to know: Clemson entered this season hoping to get back into College Football Playoff contention. Thanks to a promising QB in Cade Klubnik and Garrett Riley brought in to refresh the offense it seemed like they could return to the top of the sport. That didn’t happen, immediately, Clemson was pounded by Duke in their opening game. Dabo Swinney said Garrett Riley was brought in to “run the Clemson offense” what does that mean? We don’t know for sure but generally it didn’t work out. Clemson was struggling at 4-3 when Tyler from Spartanburg called into Dabo’s show, and somehow this rallied the team. Clemson won their last 4 games in impressive fashion, only the upset win over Notre Dame wasn’t by multiple scores. Kentucky’s season got off to a promising 5-0 start, but they got blown out by Clemson which started a 2-5 finish. The season ending upset win over Louisville was Kentucky’s lone highlight and their only win over a bowl team all year. Devin Leary was brought in to solidify the QB position and generally it was ok, it was difficult for him to establish a rhythm as Kentucky’s offensive line struggled again. One thing Kentucky did well was running the ball with Ray Davis, who is off to the NFL but currently is planning to play in this game. Getting closer to New Year’s with yet another Tax prep company sponsoring this bowl. It’s still odd this isn’t on New Year’s day though.
Previous Meetings: These programs have met 13 times with Kentucky holding an 8-5 edge in the series. They scheduled each other a few times but every meeting 1990 and later was a bowl game. Clemson beat Kentucky in the 2009 Music City Bowl the last time they met, interesting enough, that was Dabo’s first year at Clemson!
Motivation Edge: Without a doubt this was a disappointing season for Clemson and this is the lowest bowl they’ve been to in some time. Kentucky will be excited to have a shot at a big name program. That being said I’m sure Dabo wants to end with a bowl win to not hear from Tyler from Spartanburg again.
Best Bet: Clemson -5 – surprisingly a lot of bets have come down on Kentucky so far. Clemson is the hotter team and Kentucky hasn’t showed they can keep up with non-Louisville winning teams.
Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl: Oregon State Beavers (8-4) vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-3)
What you need to know: The proper name for this game is the “Opt-out” bowl. It’s literally easier to focus on who’s playing for each team compared to who isn’t. Oregon State will be run by a skeleton crew coaching staff after Jonathan Smith left for Michigan State (and left his gear behind at a local Goodwill) and will have 3rd string QB Ben Gulbranson starting, this situation isn’t as problematic as it sounds. Gulbranson actually started the final 8 games last season when Oregon State finished strong. Notre Dame is running a skeleton crew offense with Sam Hartman, Audric Estime and most of the receiving corp gone. Notre Dame is expected to be down 8 of the original 11 in their starting offensive lineup. That being said, their defense is still going to be strong. Xavier Watts was one of the best defensive players in the country, he’s playing this game and may even return next year. Overall a lot of the defense seems to be intact.
Previous Meetings: They’ve met twice before, both in bowl games. Oregon State has won both of those games. The Beavers are 1 of only 9 programs that Notre Dame has played and never beaten, and even better one of only 3 with multiple matchups against the Irish. Georgia and Chicago are the only other 2.
Motivation Edge: Hard to gauge with so many opt outs from both teams but what’s left of each side has some. Oregon State would love to take down a big name and show what’s happened to them is wrong. Notre Dame might be disappointed to be here but I’d imagine Marcus Freeman will remind the team about their record against Oregon State.
Best Bet: With all these opt outs your best bet is betting on a game that is not this one.
Autozone Liberty Bowl: Iowa State Cyclones (7-5) vs Memphis Tigers (9-3)
What you need to know: Iowa State entered this season in turmoil with several players not allowed to play due to betting on games. Despite the reduced roster the Cyclones found their way. Matt Campbell’s name stopped coming up for bigger jobs this offseason but this was one of his better coaching jobs. What helped was finding a good QB in RS-Freshman Rocco Becht who played well especially as the season went on. So far Iowa State appears to have most of the team intact for this game which helps. Memphis also had a solid season although they may have hoped to get into contention to win the American and that didn’t happen. Other than beating Boise State Memphis generally lost to the best teams on their schedule. Seth Henigan had a very good year at QB and can throw it all around. He does need to watch his interceptions in this game, he threw 4 of his 9 picks against Missouri and Tulane. Blake Watson is a great RB for the Tigers, he will be fun to watch. The issue for Memphis all season has been their defense, they’ve struggled to stop just about everyone. One good thing for Memphis is they’ve turned around what was a terrible recent run in bowls, they now have won their last 2.
Previous Meetings: These two programs have only met once, and it was the same exact bowl game in 2017. Iowa State behind a big game from Allen Lazard upset a ranked Memphis team 21-20.
Motivation Edge: Iowa State is thrilled to be here after a rough season last year and offseason prior to this year. Memphis will be glad to have a shot at an opponent from a bigger conference. It’s about even.
Best Bet: Over 57.5 – Memphis is the 2nd best over team in college football behind only LSU. Iowa State got a reputation for lower scoring games early this season but they’re perfectly willing to put up a lot of points if the opposing defense lets them. Iowa State is -9 on the spread which is a little too rich for me.
Goodyear Cotton Bowl: Ohio State Buckeyes (11-1) vs Missouri Tigers (10-2)
What you need to know: Ohio State enters this game once again falling short of their year and now they have quite a few opt outs. Kyle McCord who started all year has transferred, Devin Brown who competed for the starting job but came just short is expected to be healthy enough to play. Brown isn’t as good of a pocket passer but he provides a better running threat. A once deep backfield has seen a lot of transfers but surprisingly it looks like star RB TreVeyon Henderson will not only play this game but return next season. So far it has not been announced that Marvin Harrison Jr is going to the draft and skipping this game but something to keep an eye on. The defense looked great all year until it got exposed against Michigan. The question I wonder about not just Ohio State but all of the Big 10 trifecta at the top is their defensive rating, is it a product of the bad offenses they went against? This was a breakout season for Eli Drinkwitz and Missouri. It was led by QB Brady Cook who was very solid all season, he’s the key to this game, he generally played clean football but had issues with turnovers in both of Missouri’s losses. One more piece that led to the Tigers breakout was they unearthed an absolute gem in RB Cody Schrader, a transfer from Truman State, who was an absolute beast. Missouri also has a great duo of WRs, the best Ohio State has faced this year.
Previous Meetings: There’s more history here than you would expect. These programs have met 12 times. The most bizarre part of it is they met in Columbus for a decade straight from 1939-1949, I’d love to see what was behind that arrangement.
Motivation Edge: Ohio State is disappointed to be here after once again falling short. Missouri on the other hand is absolutely thrilled to be here, this is their biggest bowl appearance in some time and they’d love nothing more than to take down Ohio State.
Best Bet: Keep an eye on the status of Marvin Harrison Jr and a lot of the defense for this one. Depending on those we’ll see who’s the best side to go with. The over currently looks appealing though.
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