Georgia vs. TCU, Liberty Bowl 2016: Bulldogs pull away in 4th quarter

Every college football media outlet has somebody who does bowl projections, or weekly-ish guesses on which teams will end up playing in which bowls. At SB Nation, it’s me, for no other reason than I started doing it years ago and wasn’t smart enough to stop. I’m occasionally OK at it.

Going back to my preseason guesses, let’s review what went the most sideways. I didn’t list specific records for each team (though I did pick each game beforehand as a starting point), so this is more about which teams ended up the most tiers’ worth of bowls away from where some idiot had put them.

College football has been blessed by an embarrassment of riches at the running back position through the years.

Every decade has had its legends, and the 2010s have been no different, from the mythical Leonard Fournette to the Bama-killing Ezekiel Elliott to [insert Bama workhorse here]. Like Elliott, Florida State’s Dalvin Cook never finished higher than seventh in the Heisman voting, but he might have provided more indelible moments than anyone in the decade this side of Columbus.

Are you ready for a Georgia bowl bump?

The Dawgs battled back after allowing 16 straight points early on to beat TCU, 31-23, in the Liberty Bowl. It was in large part thanks to Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, and Isaiah McKenzie flexing the full might of the three-headed monster at Georgia’s skill positions. Chubb ripped off a 48-yarder here as a high point of his 142-yard day.

Perhaps you remember the last time TCU was in a bowl game? It was last season’s thrilling comeback against Oregon. This game should be a considerably less high-scoring affair with a Georgia team that struggled to put things together all season on offense. The Dawgs are led by freshman quarterback Jacob Eason, but it’s likely he hasn’t faced a defense as intricate as Gary Patterson’s group.

TCU wasn’t supposed to be in this game. In August, the Frogs were a trendy pick to get into the Playoff. But the season never truly got off the ground after losing a shootout to Arkansas in Week 2, and by Oct. 1, TCU had picked up a second loss after getting downed by Oklahoma. Georgia finished the season relatively strong. After losing four out of five during the end of September and October, the Dawgs rebounded to beat a resurgent Kentucky team and rival Auburn. The loss to Georgia Tech in rivalry week leaves an undoubtedly bad taste, but the Bulldogs are at least looking like they’re on the right track.

FPeak SEC occurred in late-October 2014.

When the College Football Playoff committee unveiled its inaugural midseason rankings, the league claimed four of the top six teams in the country: No. 1 Mississippi State, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Ole Miss, and No. 6 Alabama. At 6-1, No. 11 Georgia was within striking distance of a Playoff bid as well.

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.

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).

In today’s media landscape (sports and non-sports), self-reflection is unnecessary. You don’t really need to step back and look at what you got wrong or why; you just need to push forward with even more confidence than before.

But does Nick Saban self-reflect? Hell yes, he does! Verne Lundquist? Absolutely! Lamar Jackson? Yep!

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.

On the final week of the regular season this year, Georgia Tech beat Georgia 28-27 in Athens. The win for Tech was big — it marked the first time that the Yellow Jackets won consecutive times in Athens since the 1998 and 2000 seasons. Afterward, Tech celebrated by tearing up the historic hedges that surround the field at Sanford Stadium.

Fast forward a few weeks later, and it’s time for Bulldog running back Nick Chubb to make a decision about the NFL, given that he’s a draft-eligible junior. On Thursday, Chubb said he’d made his decision to return to UGA for his senior season after watching Tech players destroy the hedges.

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.)

There are plenty of things that are confusing about the way the College Football Playoff works.

One of these things is not that complicated, yet Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby (a man whom I believe to be wholly intelligent in his own right) cannot seem to get his mind around it.

The Big 12 did not have a team selected for the College Football Playoff for the second time in three years. And now Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby seems confused about what to do next.

Speaking to ESPN, Bowlsby said:

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.

Bowl season’s ramp up to New Years continues on Friday with the AutoZone Liberty Bowl kicking off the schedule heading into the weekend.