Smacchat Bowl Preview – BCS Championship - #1 Alabama vs. #2 Texas

No pomp and circumstance here, or wasted dialog on the “mountainous journey to get to Passadena” the bottom line is these are the two teams that are here and here’s how the match up. We’ve seen them both roll up huge points at times and seen them shut down by teams that weren’t playing any football after the turn of the decade. Both average huge points per game (TX 40, Bama 31) and are stingy on the other side of the ball (TX 15, Bama 11) so something gotta’ give. Both have QB’s that have proven their mettle in pressure situations and had great years, although Colt McCoy gets most of the pub this matchup is closer than people think. The passer rating is close (147 to 142) , the 45 does tower in passing yards 3512 to 2450, but you can’t deny that McElroy “just wins baby” and although a first year starter, has not lost a game (29-0) as a starter in high school or at Bama and this may be his coming out party. He doesn’t make mistakes as illustrated by his total of 4 ints this year, and puts their offense in position where they have enough room to execute their offense. In a game like this that may prove to be the difference. On the other side of the ball the 45’ needs this game to prove he can play on Sunday’s and can do more than roll up 64 points on UTEP, so he will be out to make a statement as well as get a victory. Both teams have had their ‘scare game’ this season Bama’s coming against Auburn where they were without the services of Mark Ingram and trialing 21-14 late in the 3rd, but Greg McElroy was able to lead them to victory with 3 straight scores including the winning touchdown pass with 1:24 to play. Texas had theirs in the B-12 championship where the ‘Black Shirts’ returned from folklore to stifle the Horns and hold them to a season low for points and force them to put together a game saving drive in the final 1:44, and there quite a few people in Lincoln who believe the powers that be owe them .01, and B-12 Championship trophy, and an apology. Lastly, this will be the classic battle of who will be able to enforce their will and on paper it looks like a classic as good as the SC/TX of 05’, but if the pressure of the moment forces a couple of turnovers for one school, both possess the running game that allow them to put their foot on the throat. I for one expect the afore mentioned and believe this is the perfect storm of setting, stage, and talent for one of the all time greats. The Smacchat pick, Bama in close low scoring game.
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Smacchat Bowl Preview – Orange Bowl Iowa vs. Georgia Tech

Well, the B-10 seems to have answered all of the critics this year as their top teams (OSU, Penn St. Wisconsin) have all won prime-time bowls with only Michigan St. not being able to answer the call. Now in contention to have the best record among BCS conferences this year, they look to the school that lead the conference for most of the season, and was their best shot at having a representative in the NCG, Iowa to carry the flag one more time, as the B-10 is 0-7 against the ACC in Bowl appearances over their last 7. Their opponent from the ACC Georgia Tech is playing with a massive chip on their shoulder, as they feel they deserve more respect as the #9 team in the nation, having one of the premier running backs and offenses in the nation. That said if they do get the running game off to a good start it could be long day for the Hawkeyes as they give up over 122 yards on the ground and GT averages better than 300. As much as we have capped on the B-10 this year, we’re not quite ready to issue retractions just yet and we’ll take GT in this one as well. If Iowa wins it, we’ll be the first to apologize.




Smacchat Bowl Preview – Fiesta Bowl Boise St. vs. TCU
Also known as “The People’s National Semi-Final” two of the four unbeaten teams in the country square off in what should be the first of the two final four games. Ok, we’ve chimed in too many times on why we’re in favor of a playoff system so there’s no need to re-visit, but what will be on display tonight are two teams that believe that they should have been given the opportunity to play for the National Championship and should make for a great game as both will leave it out on the field. TCU is laying some heavy lumber as a 7.5 point favorite and it is obviously because Boise St. gives up a ton of offense (300 yards per) each game and if you parlay that with a couple of turnovers and you could have a 14point game pretty easily. For the fans of football without any college affiliation this was slated from the day the matchups came out as the most entertaining of all of the bowl games and I expect to be as well. If you like offense and game that won’t be played as if next week’s BCS rankings depended on it, then this is the bowl game for you. Actually, it will be played for the pollsters, but only to show them what they could have had in Pasadena. Smacchat pick TCU.

Smacchat bowl Preview – Rose Bowl

Prior’s bad wheel, Ohio State’s team speed or lack thereof, and a terrible Big-10 record against the Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl, are all of the things that will be on OSU’s mind in addition to the Oregon Ducks come Saturday afternoon and all are valid concerns. However, one thing in their favor is a high powered offense that has competed AND won in big games and is going to play with fervor to get the monkey off their backs. Actually, this one may end up having a very simple equation if OSU can stop the run but that may be a tall request as the Ducks average 236 yards per game on the ground. However the Bucs D has only allowd opponents to 12.2 points and 262.5 total yards per game, and an average of 83.4 yards on the ground (fifth in the nation). Ohio State is one of five FBS teams that did not allow a 100-yard individual rushing performance. The Buckeyes can move the skin themselves as Pryor and the O have averaged 29.3 points and scored 30 or more seven times. Pryor completed 55.8 percent of his passes for 1,828 yards, 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and rushed for a team-high 707 yards and seven more scores. One caveat that could loom big is that the Bucks offense won't include wide receiver Duron Carter for this game. Ohio State officials announced Dec. 17 that the freshman, tied for fifth on the team in receptions with 13 for 176 yards and one touchdown, would sit out. For you fans of qualitative analysis Ohio State has won all seven meetings with the Ducks, including a victory in the 1958 Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes have limited Oregon to two touchdowns or fewer in each of the matchups - the most recent a 24-14 win in Columbus during the 1987 season and if this season's common opponents are an indicator, though, Oregon may have an edge. Ohio State's losses - to USC and Purdue - both came against teams the Ducks defeated.

Coaches steal some of the thunder from the bowl games, Holiday Bowl Preview

UPDATE *** Leach out at Texas Tech
Texas Tech fired coach Mike Leach on Wednesday, two days after he was suspended by the school as it investigated his treatment of a player with a concussion. The school handed a termination letter to Leach's attorney, Ted Liggett, minutes before the two sides were to appear in a Lubbock courtroom for a hearing on the coach's suspension. Liggett said Texas Tech general counsel Pat Campbell approached him outside the courtroom and told him that win, lose or draw in the hearing, Leach was out effective immediately. Liggett told the judge there was no need for the hearing on Leach's request that he be reinstated to coach the Valero Alamo Bowl. Texas Tech plays Michigan State on Saturday in San Antonio. Ya know, there’s simply has to be more to this than locking a kid in a closet for a couple of hours. This may be a “Tiger Woods” type of scenario where the more the media looks into it the more comes out because as it stands it simply doesn’t make much sense right now. In short, why would Leach make the effort to monitor the James health but do it from a CLOSET? If he was worried about his health and wasn’t trying to make a statement, then move him to the training room for observation. Conversely, if the kid was that busted up why didn’t he request to go to a hospital or go home? I mean this is Craig James’ son so he’s no stranger to be pampered, I’m sure if he ask for something he normally gets it. Now it appears Leach and his attorney are going to fight this in court as Leach will lose 800k alone for not coaching in Alamo bowl, and he just signed a 12mil contract extension. What's your take on this? Let us know here and in any of the quick links.

The Christmas break is a brief window before the bombardment of bowl games that come reigning down of a daily basis until next year, and is normally a chance for the NFL to set the stage for their upcoming playoff but the NCAA found a way to stay in the headlines throughout the break with a couple of major coaching incidents that will be topic of discussion for months to come, let alone though the bowl season. The darling coach of last year’s season Mike Leach, was suspended by Texas Tech beginning immediately and will miss the Alamo bowl on Jan 2 as the Red Raiders take on Michigan State, as it stands right now. Leach’s attorney believes his indefinite suspension will not stand up under appeal but as it stands right now he is not the coach. Adam James the player in question is certainly not anonymous being the son of ESPN’s Craig James, so you knew the story was going to get additional pub. The James’ have also made a statement that stated their opinion and it doesn’t look like this is something that’s going to go away any time soon. If that didn’t have enough shock value for you then Urban Meyer resigning for medical reasons then having a good team practice and then deciding not to retire but take a leave of absence after the Sugar Bowl, certainly should have met your quota. Not to joke about a man with a serious medical problem but either it is or it isn’t. Last time I checked a heart condition is made worse with any kind of stress and if he were to retain any kind of ‘decision making’ position at Florida there would be immense stress so that would be no solution. Furthermore, why come out and make a decision in haste when you haven’t fully thought it through? Did one of the old UF alumni suddenly lend you his pacemaker so then it was ok to stay? Or was it the backlash of all of the recruits that could be lost if you leave your post too soon? A leave of absence may be just enough to keep the talent from seeping to someone else in the SEC until another big name replacement can be found? In any case this much like the Leach story appears to be far from over and there will be plenty more chapters to be written so stay tuned. Oh yea, the peak of the bowl season is this weekend in case it got lost in the shuffle. What do you think of both the Leach and Meyer situations? Let us know here and in any of the quick links.

Smacchat Bowl Preview – Holiday Bowl

Arizona a surprise team to come out of the Pac-10, as that is usually reserved for the school that loses the tough game to USC to finish in third place. As content as they may be to be staying close to home and in warm weather (it may rain but anything is better than the -20 below that UCLA had to endure) the Wildcats may still have a hangover because of how close they were to competing in their first Rose Bowl, one D-stop to be exact against Oregon. It may seem like light years ago to the rest of the football world but the hard luck losers will be feeling it for quite some time so the question is do they look and the empty seats at the top of Qualcomm Stadium and think what if or do they focus on the chance to knock off a big named program? On the other side of the ball Nebraska is working it’s way back to prominence and this is a major step. The 9-4 record is impressive because they’ve competed in their marquis games and held their own. They could be one good recruiting class away from a return to the top 10 and this would help that cause. The Pac-1 typically has problems with athletic quarterbacks we’ll see if they do again tonight. We like the Huskers despite the road trip.

Smacchat Bowl Preview – Champs Sports Bowl
Only the second game this bowl season where both teams are ranked(Miami 15, Wisconsin 25) the Champs Sports should be worth watching as it pits two big football programs, having decent years at 9-3, although sub-par for the expectations of the programs. Wisconsin needs to come out and punch the Canes’ in the mouth and show that their not afraid of them (or their street cred) otherwise Miami by get the crowd that should be in their favor behind them. I know the Badgers travel well, but playing in Orlando should be an advantage for Miami. On the Red side of the ball, Wisconsin will need to get that vaunted rushing game going that averages 206 yards per game, and they should be able to as Miami gives up over 100 yards per game on the ground. It’s a bit of a clash of styles and should be a close game. We think the Canes need to a win to help complete their return to prominence, and like them in this one. Here’s the statline.