Ohio vs. Troy, Dollar General Bowl 2016: Troy beats Ohio in a turnover extravaganza

On Wednesday, I wrote that no one in the midmajor universe punches its weight as well as Western Kentucky. You could say the same thing about Skip Holtz.

In his last six years of leading a Conference USA school, Holtz has won nine games five times. He did it at East Carolina in 2008 and 2009, left for USF, then landed back in C-USA, at Louisiana Tech, in 2013. After a first-year reset, he’s gone 9-5, 9-4, and 9-5.

Troy beat Ohio, 28-23, in a turnover-filled clash at the Dollar General Bowl in Mobile, Ala., on Friday night. The win moved Troy to 10-3 on the year and got the Trojans to double-digit wins for the first time since becoming an FBS (or Division I-A) program in 2001. Ohio finished the season 8-6.

The teams traded scores throughout the game, and they also traded turnovers, though the Bobcats supplied most of them. By the time the night was over, the Bobcats had given the ball away five times, the Trojans twice, not counting turnovers on downs.

You may have been a little confused during the bowl announcements this season when you heard the “Dollar General Bowl” come across your phone screen. It’s not a new bowl, just a new sponsor.

This bowl has been in Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala. since 1999 and known as the GoDaddy.com Bowl from 2011-15. Dollar General — you know, that store you go to when you need a generic item you don’t want to spend a ton of money on — was announced as the bowl’s new sponsor in mid-August.

Both sides are right. Bowls are a cynical money-making exercise, an excuse for ESPN inventory, and an outdated way for all the wrong people to maintain some semblance of control over college football. They’re also happy, bonus football.

We are at both extremes in 2016. We once again had 80 bowl bids to give out and fewer than 80 bowl-eligible teams, a sure sign of bloat and excess. We’re also loaded with perhaps more interesting bowl matchups than we’ve ever seen.

Ohio will take on Troy in this year’s Dollar General Bowl (formerly the GoDaddy Bowl) on Friday, Dec. 23, in a game that could sneakily turn out to be one of the most well-matched games of bowl season. The Bobcats are coming off of back-to-back MAC Championship appearances, and Troy is coming off of a nine-win season.

Troy almost upset the No. 2 Clemson Tigers at home during Week 2, losing in a tight 30-24 loss. After that loss, the Trojans put together seven straight wins, but a home loss to Arkansas State gave the Red Wolves the edge in the Sun Belt title race. Still, nine wins and a Dollar General Bowl berth isn’t too shabby.

Bowl games are good. There are too many of them. Both things are true.

We’re holding steady at 41 on this year’s schedule, counting the National Championship, and again have multiple 5-7 teams that made it in because we ran out of 6-6 teams (Mississippi State and North Texas this time).

College football is like dominoes. One play goes right, and a team finds itself in the Playoff. One goes wrong, and a coach is fired.

With the exception of Alabama, which lapped its conference, this year’s Playoff teams all got there in part because things went just barely right in critical situations. Others missed out because things went just barely wrong, even if they didn’t know it at the time. Elsewhere, surprising twists thrusted legacy programs into course-altering coaching changes. (And plenty of things we thought mattered a lot, like Tennessee’s many September comebacks or Texas’ win over Notre Dame, ultimately didn’t.)

All wagers at -110 odds unless otherwise noted. Visit Odds Shark for updated lines throughout each game week.

College football bowl games are a different beast for bettors. Sure, the typical handicapping elements apply. Offense and defense matter. But there are some key elements at play that don’t apply as much during the regular season.

College football’s bowl season is upon us. A full schedule is here.

There are 40 bowl games spread from Dec. 17 to Jan. 2, with the National Championship on Jan. 9. Unless you’re watching on multiple monitors and are really committed, you won’t catch all of them. (If that is your plan, more power to you.)

Also, head over here for the fully updated bowl season calendar as it fills in, from the New Orleans Bowl through the Rose Bowl. We’ll also add picks, scores, and more to that calendar over time.

Our long national nightmare is over, because Dollar General has a bowl game now. Indeed, the GoDaddy Bowl has a new name, replaced by your favorite place to buy last-minute candles for your toddler’s birthday party. It’s a thing!