With convention championships all wrapped up, the inaugural 12-team Faculty Soccer Playoff is lastly upon us and each bowl sport is ready for the subsequent month. The expanded CFP format ought to yield each unbridled chaos and simple strangeness. We’ll be watching a nationwide title sport within the third week of January?!
Faculty soccer just isn’t a zero-sum sport, after all. There are nonetheless dozens of bowl-eligible packages past the playoff scope. Lots of the postseason matchups look to be entertaining, some even hilarious. Right here’s your information to bowl season, with a number of superlatives adopted by the total bowl schedule.
Greatest gimmick
Pop-Tarts Bowl: Iowa State vs. Miami
Look, neither group is thrilled to be on this spot. Mario Cristobal’s group was undefeated and No. 4 within the nation heading into the second week of November. Then, to evoke Busta Rhymes, catastrophe struck within the type of a five-point loss at Georgia Tech and a four-point loss at Syracuse. Critically, who had Miami lacking the ACC Championship Recreation? The dispiriting finish to the season dropped the Hurricanes to No. 13 within the remaining CFP rankings.
Iowa State follows carefully behind at No. 18. The Cyclones made their convention title sport, solely to get smoked, 45-19, by Arizona State on Saturday evening.
As a substitute of taking a look at potential playoff byes, these packages will play for pastries. No less than this bowl is loaded with constructive (if surreal) vibes. The titular mascot holds an indication that reads “desires actually do come true” earlier than coming into an enormous toaster. The profitable coach will get showered in frosted strudels. The trophy is wrapped in foil. And sure, gamers completely get to eat the anthropomorphized Pop-Tart.
Even when the top-line skills like Miami quarterback Cam Ward choose out, the Pop-Tarts Bowl is all the things a non-playoff postseason sport must be.
Greatest early sport
Gasparilla Bowl: Florida vs. Tulane
It gained’t make for water cooler dialog — until that water cooler is someplace across the Gulf of Mexico — however the Gasparilla Bowl may make for the most effective watch of the early slate. Tulane reached the AAC Championship Recreation in its first yr below coach Jon Sumrall and Florida instantly has a number of momentum and a enjoyable, younger quarterback.
Florida’s season appeared off the rails for some time, earlier than the Gators closed with three consecutive wins. They upset a pair of high quality SEC foes in LSU and Ole Miss and thumped in-state rival Florida State. That trivet plate below Billy Napier has been turned off, no less than for the second. True freshman quarterback DJ Lagway has sparked a lot of that turnaround, beginning a lot of the second half of the season since Graham Mertz went down with an harm.
In the meantime, Tulane is 9-4 and averaged greater than 37 factors per sport, good for ninth within the nation. Quarterback Darian Mensah led the convention in yards per try and completion share, however he’ll reportedly enter the switch portal. However this offense is extra than simply its QB. Makhi Hughes is a pressure within the backfield, with 17 whole touchdowns and greater than 1,500 scrimmage yards. He’s a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award. And Mario Williams topped the AAC in receiving yards.
Weirdest matchup
Armed Forces Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Navy
That is Navy’s first sport towards an SEC opponent since 2011, when it performed at South Carolina. Stranger nonetheless, that is its first postseason sport towards an SEC opponent because the 1955 Sugar Bowl towards Ole Miss.
Oklahoma has despatched 389 alumni to the NFL, together with seven top-five draft picks since 2010. Navy is at 33, with two whole first-round picks… within the 1948 draft.
The soccer matchup itself can also be slightly unusual. Each packages performed Tulane this yr, with the Sooners profitable by greater than two touchdowns and the Midshipmen shedding 35-0. Oklahoma can also be thirteenth within the nation in speeding protection, whereas Navy is eighth on the bottom with virtually 250 yards per sport.
Between Navy’s wing-T offense and Oklahoma’s supreme volatility (they dominated Alabama, however completed 2-6 within the SEC), this must be one of many weirder outings of bowl season.
Most enjoyable bowl sport… if it have been final yr
ReliaQuest Bowl: Michigan vs. Alabama
A yr in the past we have been preparing for this matchup to be a CFP semifinal. Now? The stakes are, uhh, a bit decrease.
Alabama is the primary group boxed out of the playoff image, ending the common season at No. 11 within the CFP rankings. The Crimson Tide shouldn’t have any disgrace in shedding at Tennessee, however a loss at Vanderbilt and a 24-3 drubbing at Oklahoma? Yikes. That is nonetheless a top quality soccer group, seventeenth in factors per sport and tenth in scoring protection, however motivation and choose outs may sap the Crimson Tide.
Michigan will play its first non-CFP bowl sport since 2019, when the Wolverines performed the Crimson Tide within the Citrus Bowl. In fact, these groups additionally performed final yr on the Rose Bowl, with Michigan slamming the door on the Nick Saban period. The Wolverines will doubtless be huge underdogs, after going 5-4 in Large Ten play and ending 112th in factors scored. Every little thing right here is for the epilogue, although. Michigan’s upset of Ohio State is its de facto world championship and saved Sherrone Moore’s first season.
Faculty Soccer Playoff first-round schedule
Friday, Dec. 20
No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame
8 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN
Saturday, Dec. 21
No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State
Midday ET on ESPN
No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas
4 p.m. ET on TNT
No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State
8 p.m. ET on ESPN
Full bowl sport schedule
Saturday, Dec. 14
Salute to Veterans Bowl: South Alabama vs. Western Michigan
9 p.m. ET on ESPN on the Cramton Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.)
Tuesday, Dec. 17
Frisco Bowl: Memphis vs. West Virginia
9 p.m. ET on ESPN at Toyota Stadium (Frisco, Texas)
Wednesday, Dec. 18
Boca Raton Bowl: Western Kentucky vs. James Madison
5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN at FAU Stadium (Boca Raton, Fla.)
LA Bowl: Cal vs. UNLV
9 p.m. ET on ESPN at SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, Calif.)
Thursday, Dec. 19
New Orleans Bowl: Georgia Southern vs. Sam Houston
7 p.m. ET on ESPN2 at Caesars Superdome (New Orleans)
Friday, Dec. 20
Remedy Bowl: Ohio vs. Jacksonville State
Midday ET on ESPN at Tenting World Stadium (Orlando, Fla.)
Gasparilla Bowl: Tulane vs. Florida
3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN at Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, Fla.)
Monday, Dec. 23
Myrtle Seashore Bowl: Coastal Carolina vs. UTSA
11 a.m. ET on ESPN at Brooks Stadium (Conway, S.C.)
Well-known Idaho Potato Bowl: Northern Illinois vs. Fresno State
2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN at Albertsons Stadium (Boise, Idaho)
Tuesday, Dec. 24
Hawai’i Bowl: South Florida vs. San José State
8 p.m. ET on ESPN at Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Advanced (Honolulu)
Thursday, Dec. 26
GameAbove Sports activities Bowl: Pitt vs. Toledo
2 p.m. ET on ESPN at Ford Subject (Detroit)
Price Bowl: Rutgers vs. Kansas State
5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN at Chase Subject (Phoenix)
68 Ventures Bowl: Arkansas State vs. Bowling Inexperienced
9 p.m. ET on ESPN at Hancock Whitney Stadium (Cellular, Ala.)
Friday, Dec. 27
Armed Forces Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Navy
11 a.m. ET on ESPN at Amon G. Carter Stadium (Fort Value, Texas)
Birmingham Bowl: Georgia Tech vs. Vanderbilt
3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN at Protecting Stadium (Birmingham, Ala.)
Liberty Bowl: Texas Tech vs. Arkansas
7 p.m. ET on ESPN at Simmons Financial institution Liberty Stadium (Memphis)
Vacation Bowl: Syracuse vs. Washington State
8 p.m. ET on FOX at Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego)
Las Vegas Bowl: Texas A&M vs. USC
10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN at Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas)
Saturday, Dec. 28
Fenway Bowl: North Carolina vs. UConn
11 a.m. ET on ESPN at Fenway Park (Boston)
Pinstripe Bowl: Boston Faculty vs. Nebraska
Midday ET on ABC at Yankee Stadium (Bronx, N.Y.)
New Mexico Bowl: Louisiana vs. TCU
2:15 p.m. ET on ESPN at College Stadium (Albuquerque, N.M.)
Pop-Tarts Bowl: Iowa State vs. Miami
3:30 p.m. ET on ABC at Tenting World Stadium (Orlando, Fla.)
Arizona Bowl: Miami (Ohio) vs. Colorado State
4:30 p.m. ET on The CW at Arizona Stadium (Tucson, Ariz.)
Army Bowl: East Carolina vs. NC State
5:45 p.m. ET on ESPN at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (Annapolis, Md.)
Alamo Bowl: BYU vs. Colorado
7:30 p.m. ET on ABC on the Alamodome (San Antonio)
Independence Bowl: Marshall vs. Military
9:15 p.m. ET on ESPN at Independence Stadium (Shreveport, La.)
Monday, Dec. 30
Music Metropolis Bowl: Missouri vs. Iowa
2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN at Nissan Stadium (Nashville)
Tuesday, Dec. 31
ReliaQuest Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan
Midday ET on ESPN at Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, Fla.)
Solar Bowl: Louisville vs. Washington
2 p.m. ET on CBS on the Solar Bowl Stadium (El Paso, Texas)
Citrus Bowl: South Carolina vs. Illinois
3 p.m. ET on ABC at Tenting World Stadium (Orlando, Fla.)
Texas Bowl: Baylor vs. LSU
3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN at NRG Stadium (Houston)
Thursday, Jan. 2
Gator Bowl: Duke vs. Ole Miss
7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN at EverBank Stadium (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Friday, Jan. 3
First Responder Bowl: North Texas vs. Texas State
4 p.m. ET on ESPN at Gerald J. Ford Stadium (Dallas)
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: Minnesota vs. Virginia Tech
7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN at Financial institution of America Stadium (Charlotte)
Saturday, Jan. 4
Bahamas Bowl: Buffalo vs. Liberty
11 a.m. ET on ESPN2 at Thomas A. Robinson Nationwide Stadium (Nassau, Bahamas)
(Photograph credit score: Julio Aguilar / Getty Pictures)
