Sugar Bowl

Ho, Ho, Holy College Football Bowl Games – The 5 Things You Need To Know

If more football games are on your holiday wish list, then you must have been well behaved this year because it’s college football bowl game season. Been naughty? Don’t worry, here are the five things you should know about the 2017-18 bowl game season to put you back on the nice list.

5 Things To Know About This College Football Season

Say goodbye to your Saturdays because college football is back. Now you can join the college football conversation, which will save you from telling your college stories.

 

Some things are better left unsaid,

The Last Night’s Game Team


5 things to know about this College Football season

A little background - there are multiple divisions in college football. Today we’re going to talk about the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) teams, formerly known as Division IA. This division includes the majority of college football programs, including all of the massive ones you tend to hear about in the news.

  1. It’s a 12-game season. For many teams the season ends with a bowl game (think Fiesta Bowl or Sugar Bowl). For the top two teams, the season culminates with the National Championship on Jan. 8th.

  2. The Clemson Tigers are the defending National Champions. Their coach Dabo (pronounced da-beau) Swinney has been in the news lately for his massive contract extension.

  3. Waking up to watch ESPN’s College GameDay is football's equivalent to Saturday morning cartoons. The crew, including 82-year-old Lee Corso, travels to different campuses for the big game of the week. In addition to talking football, they have other shenanigans during the show that make it fun for even the non-football fan to watch. More on College GameDay.

  4. Break out the beer pong and portable BBQs because it's tailgating time. If you could care less how your team does this season, here are the top 10 tailgating schools. (Hint – the top school dots the “I” at halftime).

  5. College players vie for the Heisman Trophy, which recognizes the best athlete on the field. Last year’s winner, Lamar Jackson, will return as quarterback at the University of Louisville. The odds are against him to win another Heisman as only one player has ever won the award twice – Archie Griffin.

But wait there’s more

  • Find out how the world of sports is contributing to the flood relief efforts and why a Chicago Cubs player becomes emotional while visiting a children’s cancer hospital. You can find today’s Overtime, Sideline stat and Coaches’ corner here.

The Rundown: We're Never Eating Again

We made it through the holiday season and 2017 is finally here. We don’t know about you but the diet starts today. All that couch surfing while watching sports and spiked eggnog has finally caught up with us.

 

Break out the stretchy pants,

The Last Night’s Game Team

 

PS – Don’t forget to share your excitement for Last Night’s Game with your newly found treadmill buddy. 2017 is the year of the sports savvy!


NCAA Football (College)

  • Have we met? While you were celebrating the end of 2016, Alabama beat Washington and Clemson shutout Ohio State. The winners move on to the National Championship game on January 9th. The game will be a rematch of last year’s final game, which Alabama won. 
  • But wait there’s more. Don’t worry, if you missed out on bowl season football there are still a few major bowl games today. These games were moved from their typical New Year’s Day time slot because of an NFL scheduling conflict (the NFL played on Sunday).
    • Cotton Bowl (Arlington, TX) - Western Michigan vs Wisconsin
    • Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA) - Penn State vs USC
    • Sugar Bowl (New Orleans, LA) - Oklahoma vs Auburn  

NFL (National Football League)

  • See ya. Unlike most NFL coaches, Denver Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak is leaving the games on his terms. Kubiak informed the team he is retiring as head coach. Rumors have it he’s retiring for health reasons but we think it’s because he misses Peyton Manning.

Overtime

  • NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. may have been out most of the season with a concussion but he took the plunge on New Year's Eve. Earnhardt married his longtime girlfriend and everyone was there. Guess which leading lady caught the bouquet and might be the next one to walk down the aisle? (FYI - NASCAR stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing).  

Sideline stat

  • On Friday night Ronda Rousey made her much anticipated return to fighting after a lengthy absence. Albeit all that training for her comeback fight didn’t pay off as she hoped because she was knocked out in 48 seconds by champion Amanda Nunes. All signs point to Rousey retiring after her loss but pour one out for her because she’s a pioneer - the Amelia Earhart of women’s MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) if you will.

Coaches’ corner

  • Today is known as Black Monday in the NFL. It is the Monday after the regular season finishes when many losing coaches are shown the door. There have already been five coaches fired before today therefore the infamous day might not live up to the hype this year. “Tell me about it” said Black Friday.