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 You Didn’t Know About College Mascots

Concerned that your unicorn costume might be a little too much for trick or treating? Look no further. We have five potential Halloween costume candidates right here.  

Guaranteed to score you some candy,

The Last Night’s Game Team

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Five Things You Didn’t Know About College Mascots

1. Replacing its Indian mascot in the 2000s, the unofficial mascot for Dartmouth is “Keggy.” The barrel of booze may be a fan favorite but sadly the school isn’t very good at sports so the rest of the world doesn’t get to join in on the fun.  

2. Albert and Alberta are the gator mascots for the University of Florida. This year the team took the gator love a little too far, creating dreadful “swamp green” alligator skin patterned jerseys. Alligators everywhere were embarrassed by this new look.  

3. Last week Ole Miss decided that their bear mascot wasn’t cutting it and adopted the landshark as their mascot. Maybe they were hoping for a sponsorship from Landshark beer? (In case you’re wondering a landshark is defined as “a swindler of sailors on shore.”)

4. Stanford University’s team name is “The Cardinal” (after the color red). The school does not have an official mascot. A pine tree has become the de facto mascot but it is technically part of the band. We’re sure you’ve seen the jubilant tree on the sidelines and wondered why someone brought a giant car freshener tree to the game. Now you know.

5. Wichita State University is known as the shockers. (Yes, you read that correctly). The nickname was originally created because many of the players worked in the off-season harvesting (aka shocking) wheat in the fields. You learn something new every day.   

There's more where that came from

Be the most popular kid at the water cooler just by reading why the anthem protests hit a roadblock, there's a sign of hope in Las Vegas and why you won't be able to cheer on Team U.S.A. in the 2018 World Cup. FIND OUT MORE. 

The Rundown: 5 Bizarre Superstitions in Sports

You can’t talk sports without talking about superstitions. Athletes are some of the most superstitious people around…changing their driving route to the stadium if they had a bad game or growing out facial hair for the playoffs. Therefore, we bring you five of the more unique superstitions we’ve heard of, purely for your enjoyment.

Things are going to get weird,

The Last Night’s Game Team  

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FIVE BIZARRE SUPERSTITIONS IN SPORTS

1. Head coach of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team, Nick Saban, fuels his fire with a Little Debbie Oatmeal Crème Pie before each game. 

2. Basketball great Michael Jordan wore the North Carolina Tar Heels shorts that he had on when he won the college basketball national championship underneath his Chicago Bulls (NBA - National Basketball Association) uniform.  

3. Hockey’s Sidney Crosby has so many ‘traditions’ that we can’t list them all. Some include wearing the same jock strap for years and not calling/seeing his mom or his sister on game day. He swears every time he does, he gets injured. 

4. The golden thong was worn by former MLB (Major League Baseball) player Jason Giambi to help him break out of hitting slumps. Rumor has it that said tiny undergarment was left in the lockers of his teammates and they all began to hit well. (We warned you it would get weird).

5. The curse of the cover of the Madden video game is a well-known folk tale. Many of the NFL (National Football League) players featured were ‘cursed’ with a horrible season or a season ending injury after appearing on the front of the video game. Quarterback Tom Brady is on the cover of this year’s game. Hopefully his irrational fear won’t get the best of him otherwise they’ll be holding a séance at Gillette Stadium.   

OVERTIME

• Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook (NBA) won the regular season MVP on Monday night. In his acceptance speech we saw an emotional side of Westbrook. To top off the night, he also won the inaugural Best Style Award. Here’s how you can dress like Westbrook.

SIDELINE STAT

• It was a good week for University of Florida Gators alumni. NFL player turned baseball player, Tim Tebow received a promotion in the New York Mets minor leagues (MLB) and sports reporter Erin Andrews walked down the aisle. Not to be outdone, the Gators’ baseball team won their first ever national championship, defeating LSU (Louisiana State University) last night.

COACHES’ CORNER

• Since it’s baseball season, here are two universal superstitions you should know about in the game.

1. Ball players do not step on the foul lines (the white lines that run down the first and third baseline) when entering/exiting the field for fear of bad luck.

2. Never discuss a no-hitter or perfect game while it’s in progress. (A no-hitter means no offensive player gets a hit and a perfect game means no offensive player gets on base). Don’t be like Martha Stewart whose tweet allegedly jinxed a New York Yankees perfect game earlier in the season.