Yep, the College Football Playoff is on New Year's Eve. For most people, this is gonna be more an inconvenient quirk than any kind of real problem, right? A story at Sports Illustrated captures the gulf between the two sides of the Venn diagram that is College Football Fans and People Who Plan To Attend Glamorous Clubs:
Yep, the College Football Playoff is on New Year’s Eve. Here’s what to know, real quick
Good morning! This is your wakeup newsletter of college football stuff. We’re working tonight anyway.
Scott Halleran/Getty Images
The director of nightlife at the Edition calls the decision to play the semifinals on Dec. 31 “arrogant.” A Boston restaurant magnate says the games are “not a factor” in her restaurants’ New Year’s plans. And a nightlife kingpin in Los Angeles says this year’s playoff schedule is “idiotic” and “just stupid.”
The Playoff on New Year’s Eve is a bizarre experiment. It’s kind of arrogant, but so is assuming most people prefer luxurious parties that don’t have TVs to watching major sports championships with friends. Some people have to work, but everybody else will figure out how to handle this, and we’ll all have a good time.
Plus, even if the ratings are a letdown from last year's, ESPN still gets paid, so the machine will keep rolling.
So, let’s talk about the Orange Bowl semifinal in Miami! (4 p.m. ET, ESPN and WatchESPN)
- No. 1 Clemson’s defense vs. No. 4 Oklahoma’s offense could be the most entertaining matchup of the Playoff, and thus maybe even the season.
- The other matchup’s fascinating, too. OU’s D faces an elite quarterback for the first time since ... last year? Seriously. The Sooners’ plan for shutting down spread QBs could use a good test.
- Oklahoma’s the 4-point favorite, but the advanced stats prefer the Tigers by a little bit.
- Either way, it’s pretty ridiculous that OU’s Baker Mayfield wasn’t a Heisman finalist. [This sentence was unclear and made it sound like Clemson QB Deshaun Watson wasn’t as well; that link makes the case that Watson should’ve won it.]
- Thing to impress your casual-fan friends with: A very different Clemson blew away a very different OU in a bowl last year, with a former Sooners coordinator still on Clemson’s sideline both then and today.
And the Cotton Bowl semifinal in JerryWorld! (8 p.m. ET, ESPN and WatchESPN)
- No. 2 Alabama is the Vegas favorite to win the whole Playoff, given nearly a 50 percent chance by the advanced stats to win the title, the most-picked champion among our panelists, and by far the participant with the most raw talent.
- On the other side, No. 3 Michigan State is the kind of lucky team that doesn’t recruit especially well and has national outlets constantly confuse its head coach with an NBA coach.
- And you know what? If MSU QB Connor Cook balls out, the Spartans can win anyway. They’ll also have to shut down Heisman winner Derrick Henry (they’re excited about that), and the plan there is bone-crushingly simple.
- Though MSU needed some amazing moments of luck to make it this far, so did every other Playoff team.
- Thing to impress your casual-fan friends with: Nick Saban used to coach Michigan State.
Oh, and the Peach Bowl! (12 p.m. ET, ESPN and WatchESPN) No. 9 Florida State will have to play a bad game for No. 18 Houston to win, but Tom Herman's grill stays gleaming anyway.
Also, the entire state of Iowa is driving to Pasadena for Friday’s Rose Bowl, more or less.
TCU QB Trevone Boykin has been arrested after a San Antonio bar fight. A surprise, to say the least.
A five-star tackle, perhaps the country’s No. 1 recruit, says he picked Ole Miss in part because of the head coach’s religiosity.
Yesterday’s bowls!
- A Memphis Tiger who is allegedly a serial ball-stealer stole a ball, getting into a physical skirmish with an Auburn equipment staffer in the process. There’s video.
- EXTREMELY BOWL GAME: Memphis had 12 men on the field, Auburn got open anyway, and Auburn screwed that up, too.
- Auburn’s defense looked great! Its punter was its best QB on the day, though.
- A Pac-12 ref referred to North Carolina State as North Dakota State while standing in North Carolina.
- Dak Prescott capped the best career in Mississippi State history with a bowl blowout.
- Louisville’s Lamar Jackson has folks using names like Michael Vick and Johnny Manziel after beating Texas A&M.
- USC’s new head coach is already 0-2.
* * *
Memphis ball snatcher Equipment managers, game balls and middle fingers
See More:
