Lane Kiffin vs. James Franklin, Auburn takes on Maryland minus Tua’s little bro, and we’ll see if Florida State can back up all that talk – that’s what’s on the bowl slate for Saturday.
And an Associated Press writer broaches the topic of what would happen with AP voters if Florida State finishes undefeated.
Everything starts with the Peach Bowl at 11 a.m. Central time (Peach Bowl boasts playoff-caliber matchup between No. 10 Penn State and No. 11 Ole Miss), the annual Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, where The Football Beat has photographer Dennis Jacobs on the scene (if you’re thinking we’re everywhere, yes, we are).
Two of college football’s – well – best personalities in Franklin and Kiffin meet up with programs that were arguably the third-best in each of their conferences: Franklin is having a difficult time breaking the Big Ten’s ceiling of Ohio State and Michigan, and Kiffin has to deal with at least Alabama and Georgia, and most of the time, LSU, although the Rebels managed to deal with that threat this year.
For Kiffin and the Rebels (10-2), they’re aiming for the first 11-win season in program history.
But like the Cotton Bowl – where Ohio State was hurt by several players not in the lineup, for whatever reason, such as the departure of quarterback Kyle McCord in the transfer portal and Marvin Harrison Jr. sitting out the game, likely due to the NFL Draft, although he hasn’t declared for it – there have been some changes since the regular season that could affect this game.
There have been changes at both coordinators positions for Penn State. Manny Diaz, who had been Penn State’s defensive coordinator, is gone, having taken the Duke head coaching position. And Franklin fired Mike Yurcich with two games left in the regular season after the Nittany Lions lost to Michigan.
Penn State hired Andy Kotelnicki from Kansas, but Kotelnicki won’t coach in the game. Instead, it’ll be assistants Ty Howle and Ja’Quan Seider sharing the duties.
“We don’t have any idea what they’re going to do,” Kiffin said Tuesday.
The two biggest opt-outs in the Peach Bowl, arguably, are Ole Miss defensive end Cedric Johnson and Penn State defensive end Chop Robinson.
It’s still possible that Ole Miss quarterback Jackson Dart and running back Quinshon Judkins could declare for the draft, but both are playing in the game.
“Honestly, not too worried about it right now,” Dart said this week. “Just focused on the bowl game and focused on my preparation and doing my job to help put my team in the best situation to win and help make history here.”
Now, Auburn – they’re a different story entirely.
Who knows? The people on the Plains fire coaches like it’s a bodily function. Hugh Freeze, you could be in trouble with a loss to Maryland in Nashville at the TransPerfect Music Bowl (Maryland, Auburn using Music City Bowl as 2024 preview with so many new faces).
All of my narrative about Freeze is a joke: he’s in his first season and he’s safe. And here at TFB, we like coach Freeze. He’s a nice guy, been given a second chance, back in the Southeastern Conference, and away we go.
His Tigers, though, had a heartbreak of a last-minute loss to archrival Alabama after the Gravedigger play, or Fourth-and-31, or the Milroe Miracle – whatever name it’s called, it was an unbelievable finish (ALABAMA’s 4TH & 31 GAME-WINNING TD HITS THE OVER (47.5) IN THE IRON BOWL 😱).
And Auburn (6-6), who had a better recruiting class than in recent years when there was more uncertainty with the program, will attempt to finish with a winning record.
In Maryland, though, there’s uncertainty because quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa announced Dec. 19 that he would not play in the game, preparing for the NFL Draft.
Terps coach Michael Locksley was vague about what we would see at the position in the game Saturday, although it will either be Billy Edwards or Cameron Edge.
“We’re excited to see what these young players have to offer as well as the quarterback situation we have,” Locksley said. “But to me the biggest thing is to come out and build momentum into the ’24 season.”
The Terps are 7-5, and aiming for finishing a third straight season with a bowl victory.
The Music City Bowl kicks off at 1 p.m. on ABC and ESPN+, ESPN’s online streaming service.
The story at the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl is the retirement of Wyoming coach Craig Bohl, who is retiring after 42 years of coaching, the last decade at Laramie (Wyoming’s Craig Bohl to coach final game against Toledo in Arizona Bowl).
The game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. Central, and features the 8-4 Cowboys against an 11-2 Toledo team that will be without running back Peny Boone, the Mid-American Conference’s offensive player of the year (if you guessed transfer portal, you win the pool).
Wyoming’s defense held six teams to under 100 rushing yards this season.
The Rockets won’t have their starting quarterback, either. Dequan Finn is transferring to Baylor. They will have quarterback Tucker Gleason, though, who passed for 529 yards and ran for 132 in three games earlier this season.
For Wyoming, look for running back Harrison Waylee to get lots of touches. Waylee averaged 95 yards a game (23rd best in the FBS) this season and had eight rushing touchdowns.
AP writer Tim Reynolds in his story (After missing CFP, Georgia and Florida State reset for a trip to the Orange Bowl) brings up the (asinine) possibility that AP voters would try and vote Florida State “their own” national champion if FSU somehow pulls an upset of heavily-favored Georgia on Saturday.
Quarterback Brock Glenn was asked about that possibility this week, and said “Absolutely.”
(Duh – why would the quarterback of FSU say anything else?)
