Air Force vs. South Alabama, Arizona Bowl 2016: Schedule, scores, and more

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.

South Alabama and Air Force meet in the Arizona Bowl on Friday in Tucson, as the season’s non-New Year’s Six bowl season winds down. The Jaguars and Falcons took different routes to get here, and Air Force is the clear favorite ahead of kickoff.

The Jaguars started the season by winning at Mississippi State, but they struggled in the Sun Belt and finished 6-6, including 2-6 in the league. They ostensibly qualified for a bowl game because their game at LSU on Nov. 19 changed to a home game against FCS Presbyterian, and they won that game. But the Jags have earned their spot.

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 Bowls are a cynical money-making exercise, an excuse for ESPN inventory, and an outdated way for all the wrong people to maintain some semblance of control over college football.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).

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.

The second-ever Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl will get underway on the Friday before New Year’s from Tucson.