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

If football games are on your holiday wish list, then you must have been well behaved this year because there is an abundance of college football coming your way. Been naughty? Don’t worry, here are the five things you should know about bowl game season to put you back on the nice list.

Getting coal again this year,

The Last Night’s Game Team

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Five Things To Know About College Football Bowl Games

1. If the Oscars have the most coveted swag bags, bowl games are a close second. Players cannot be paid to play in the games but they can take home some great loot. Gifts this year include nice watches, rocking headphones and a PlayStation PS4.

2. There have been quite a few head coaching positions vacated and with the new coach not starting until next season, you’ll see a handful of teams playing with an interim coach. (Think Tennessee, Florida, Nebraska and Arizona State).

3. What’s in a name? Well for bowl games, it’s big money. The committees will do just about anything to please their title sponsors including naming the game itself something odd. The most memorable bowl game names this season roll off the tongue like the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl, Taxslayer Bowl and the Potato Bowl. And yes, there used to be a game called the Salad Bowl.

4. If you want to put your name on it, it’s going to cost you. Collectively, companies spend around $100 million on the naming rights for bowl games. The money, it goes to the conference and they divvy it out amongst the teams in their conference but not before taking a little for themselves.

5. Not all teams are invited to a bowl game. A team has to have a .500-plus record to be considered bowl eligible. The top four teams in the country will play in either the Sugar Bowl or the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. The winner of those two games will play each other in the National Championship Game on January 8th.

- Why does this matter? Once again football is going to dominate the conversation this month. There are 40 games between Sunday, December 16 and Monday, January 8 so there's no escaping the discussion. SCHEDULE

Keep the conversation going

Find out what Lindsey Vonn is doing with cheese that is upping her game, how basketball is overtaking football as the most popular sport in America and why a blizzard may have cost one player $500,000. READ

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Want to learn a little about college football with minimal effort? Join our college football bowl game pool where you can do just that. Simply pick the teams you think will win (or use the autofill function – we’re not judging). There are prizes for the winners (and even a few of the losers).  

Ps – Your picks need to be submitted by this Saturday.

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

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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.

• Curious how your team might do this season? Here are the Top 25 preseason football rankings.

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!

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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.