The proliferation of bowl games that facilitated 5-7 postseason participants (2-0, suckers!) accelerated in the last five years. However, it began with a creep at the turn of the millennium. Before various pre-Christmas bowls surfaced in the early 2000s, this week between Dec. 25 and Jan. 1 was the appetizer ahead of the New Year’s […]
Category: Big Ten
“Missed” Indiana Field Goal Underscores Imperfection of Review
College football’s decision-makers should do with the missed Indiana field goal attempt what officials in Saturday’s Pinstripe Bowl couldn’t: give it a long, thorough review. The attempt, which would have sent the Hoosiers and Duke to a second overtime, was met with controversy on the field. Clips of the kick show different outcomes. Indiana's game-tying […]
Bowl Preview Bonanza Part III: Bowl Season Is Rolling
Now that Christmas is past, the bowl season kicks into high-gear. For college football fans, the coming week is akin to the various post-Christmas sales retailers offer immediately after Dec. 25. For bargain-hounds, the holidays are just beginning. It’s the same for football junkies, who have a deluge of games now through New Year’s to […]
For New Coaches Like Clay Helton, A Chance at Reinvention
From Clay Helton at USC, Mike Norvell at Memphis and D.J. Durkin at Maryland, this year’s head coaching carousel netted numerous first-timers jobs. In fact, per CBSSports.com’s Dennis Dodd, 69 percent of the FBS head-coaching hires in 2015 are newbies. The influx of fresh faces into the coaching fraternity will yield the sport’s next generation […]
Steve Harvey Calls Great Moments in College Football History
It’s OK, Steve Harvey. It’s easy to understand how a broadcaster could announce the wrong winner during a live event. But imagine, if you will, a college football world wherein the most spectacular finishes got the Steve Harvey treatment. On second thought, why imagine when I can give you just that! “Fourth-and-five, the national championship […]
No, The SEC Isn’t The Best Conference — But Is There One?
An AL.com column came across my timeline Thursday morning, positing this question: What happens to the "SEC is weak" narrative if the conference wins the games it's supposed to win this bowl season? https://t.co/T8OvFgJSU1 — AL.com sports (@aldotcomSports) December 17, 2015 Bowl season is the last hope for the SEC to salvage its reputation as […]
PODCAST: Ohio State Year in Review and Look Ahead
The CFB Huddle Podcast looks back at the wild season that was for Ohio State with Tony Gerdeman of The Ozone, and Eric Seger from Eleven Warriors. On the docket: J.T. Barrett’s DUI, Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook snubbing two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin and more. The podcast also looks ahead to Ohio State’s next […]
Expansion to An 8-Team Playoff Won’t Satisfy
The second-ever College Football Playoff came together as perfectly as could be imagined, and yet, din for an 8-team Playoff is loud. Spinal Tap loud. When it comes to major media outlets and personalities pushing for Playoff expansion, it goes to 11. USA Today alone published two columns on an 8-team Playoff in the same […]
Re-Rock The Vote: Heisman Snubs Remembered
Saturday, one of either Derrick Henry, Christian McCaffrey or Deshaun Watson will join the most illustrious and exclusive club of college football as Heisman Trophy winners. For the runners-up, supports may well argue their inclusion on another roster comprised of some of the sport’s all-time greats: that of notable Heisman snubs. Each of this year’s […]
Championship Week: Previewing The Conference Championship Games
Conference championship weekend marks the last hurrah of the college football regular season. Cue the music. What a wild, fun ride it’s been from the last weekend of August, when Montana and North Dakota State officially kicked off the 2015 season, to this point in December. Coincidentally, Montana plays North Dakota State again in Saturday’s […]
Week 13 Heisman Top 10: Derrick Henry Charges Ahead
Heading into Championship Week, the Heisman Trophy pack has a clear top five — and one pace-setter ahead of them all. Alabama running back Derrick Henry’s spectacle against rival Auburn put the junior in pole position with just one week to go. Henry’s one-man show Saturday was reminiscent of the ubiquitous martial-arts movie scenes, wherein […]
Projecting The Dec. 1 College Football Playoff Ranking
So, this is it: the one before The One. Tuesday’s is the last time the College Football Playoff committee plays pretend with the rankings before issuing the actual final four and bowl pairings. Heading into Championship Week, at least one of the four spots is spoken for. The ACC, Big Ten and SEC Championship Games […]
Week 13 Black Friday Six-Pack: Thankful for College Football
Welcome to Black Friday, the unofficial inspiration for such dystopian fiction as the Mad Max series or The Purge. America’s chaser for a day spent gorging itself on food is a day manically chasing discounts on products. No, you haven’t stumbled upon an anti-consumerist manifesto; this special, Black Friday edition of the CFB Huddle Saturday […]
The Option Offense Revival
In this season’s college football record shop, the option offense is a piece of classic vinyl, unearthed from a milk crate of yesteryear’s hits. Put it on the turntable, give it a spin, and a few tracks in you ask yourself, why isn’t more contemporary music like this? The success of option teams this season […]
Projecting The Nov. 24 College Football Playoff Ranking
I’ll cop to being among those who worried about the College Football Playoff damaging the regular season. Two years into the system, I feel rather foolish. Now, I still have reservations about the slippery expansion slope and will gladly cite the FCS Playoffs growth from 16 to 20 to 24 teams in the last six […]